Your Thoughts Determine Your Feelings

Are you experiencing fearful thoughts? Are you worried and anxious? I know I’ve had moments this past week. Despite all the study and the reading and writing that I do, I am not immune to experiencing fear and anxiety. No one is. In this current world crisis that we are all going through, fear abounds, and despair is very prevalent. 

But do you realise that your feelings are based on your thoughts? Your feelings come from your thoughts. Your thinking is what causes you to fear. 

Your body chemistry is not to blame for your feelings. Your thoughts originate in your heart. Your feelings come from your thoughts and your thoughts come from your heart. 

The Bible is very clear on this point. 

Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Proverbs 23:7a  For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: 

We feel what we feel because of how we think. My husband has often told me, “It’s all in your head.” I don’t like to hear this, especially when I’m sick or upset or worried. But it seems, most of the time, he’s spot on! It is all in my head.  I worry about things and work myself into a state just because of how I’m thinking. I can actually worry myself sick! 

When I begin to have these worries, it’s because I don’t have the right view of God.  I am not fully trusting God in the particular situation and so I begin to have ‘evil thoughts’ and then these thoughts translate into feelings and the raw emotion spills out. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, emotions are not wrong. God created us with emotions and they are a gift. He made us to have and show feelings. Imagine a life without feelings? Being with your friends yet feeling no pleasure. Holding a newborn without elation. Feeling no relief at good news shared. Without emotions, you couldn’t experience good feelings. 

Life without emotion would be colourless and bland. We don’t need to be afraid of our feelings. We just need to not let them control us. Don’t let your feelings be what defines you. 

Thoughts come from our hearts. What is going on in your life may tempt you to have wrong thoughts. But it’s up to you whether you give in to that temptation. It’s up to you what you choose to think about. We are not excused from wrong thinking just because the world is falling apart. God holds us responsible for our thoughts. 

God doesn’t want us to focus on our feelings. He wants us to focus on our thinking and the choices we make. We should be watching our thinking, not our feelings. As I said before, our feelings are based on our thoughts. So, it’s what we think about that we need to rein in. 

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Now, fear can be helpful in certain circumstances.  When fear serves as a caution and alerts us to danger, be it spiritual or physical, it can be a good thing. Fear drives us to be cautious about certain things that could be harmful. 

But when fear keeps us from carrying out God’s will and our Biblical responsibilities, fear becomes a bad thing. When we have fear that stops us from doing what God would have us do. Whether it be leaving all that we know and love to go to the mission field, or whether it be something as small as helping a friend in need. If fear drives us to disobey God, then that fear is not a good thing. Our thoughts have caused us to have feelings of fear and these fears don’t need to be there as we have so many promises in the Word to cling to. 

I know, it’s easy to say, ‘don’t fear’, God commands us not to fear. But it’s not so easy to actually live it. I know that in counselling others, I have often quoted the scriptures on living without fear and they are good verses to memorize and comfort others with, but at times I find myself failing to practice what I preach. Why then is it so hard to grasp? Because of my thoughts! 

Yes, it all comes down to my thinking. Yet again. I begin to dwell on the circumstances around me, I take my eyes off the Lord and begin to have doubts at His ability to keep me under the shelter of His wings, and my thoughts take control and pretty soon, Boom! feelings of fear take over. 

Proverbs 1:33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

The Bible tells us that if we’ll just hearken, or listen attentively, hear intelligently, consider and obey the Lord, we will dwell safely and we will be quiet from fear. That’s not a quiet like a shushing, that’s a quiet that means peaceful, restful and at ease. 

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

When we are fearful, we lack faith. Our faith needs to grow and be grounded in the Word of God. The Lord will test our faith and that may be what is happening right now. How strong is your faith? Will it stand up during troublesome times? 

Don’t rely on your feelings to guide you. They lead us astray continually. How we feel comes from our hearts. Our hearts need to be in tune with God. The closer we are walking to Him, the more faith we have in Him, the more we trust Him, the surer we are to weathering life’s storms. Yes, at times, the waves will crash over us and threaten to hold us under, but if we are trusting God like we should, we’ll feel His strong arm pulling us up again onto the rock, steeling ourselves against the next wave and the next. 

Don’t let your fears drown you. And don’t let your thinking cause you to fear. Remember that it’s your thoughts that cause you to respond or react to your circumstances. 

Beware of what you think about! 

“Feelings come and feelings go,

And feelings are deceiving;

My warrant is the Word of God--

Naught else is worth believing.

Though all my heart should feel condemned

For want of some sweet token,

There is One greater than my heart

Whose Word cannot be broken.

I'll trust in God's unchanging Word

Till soul and body sever,

For, though all things shall pass away,

HIS WORD SHALL STAND FOREVER!”

Martin Luther