Your emotions
Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.
Let’s just say it as it is. Positive emotions are often overlooked when it comes to dealing with chronic illnesses or general wellbeing. However, it is important to note that positive emotions play a vital role in our healing process.
One of the most significant benefits of positive emotions is that they boost the immune system. When we experience positive emotions, our body releases endorphins and serotonin, which help reduce stress and anxiety. This, in turn, helps to lower the levels of cortisol, a hormone that is known to suppress the immune system. Therefore, positive emotions can help improve the body’s ability to fight off infections and diseases.
Secondly, positive emotions help to reduce inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation is a common problem among people suffering from chronic illnesses. It can lead to various health issues, including pain, fatigue, and even depression. However, studies have shown that positive emotions can help to reduce inflammation in the body, thereby reducing the symptoms associated with chronic illnesses. This means our emotional health is a gateway to our physical wellbeing.
Positive emotions also help to improve mental health. Chronic illnesses can affect a person’s mental wellbeing, leading to depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts. However, positive emotions such as gratitude, hope, and contentment have been shown to improve mental health. They help to increase resilience, improve coping skills, and provide a sense of purpose and meaning.
This means we must be very aware of those things that disrupt our emotional well being and protect our emotions from negative influences or what people call negative vibes.
Pray
Set your timer for 10 minutes. Sit down, close your eyes and clear your thoughts. It isn’t easy to quiet down. Thoughts from everywhere will begin to bombard you. You will even feel tempted to speak in tongues (don’t).
Whenever a thought comes to you, say “release” in your mind. Keep doing this to clear the clutter in your mind.
After the 10 minutes, rise up and start rejecting negative emotions from your system.
Anxiety
This common negative emotion can manifest in physical symptoms such as difficulty breathing, sweating, and trembling. It can also lead to constant worry and a feeling of unease.
Pray
Anxiety, I reject you. I command you to lose your hold over my life (or your loved one) in the name of Jesus. I break free from anxiety and all its underlying symptoms in the name of Jesus.
Anger
Anger is another negative emotion that can be difficult to identify, especially when suppressed. It can manifest in physical symptoms such as tension, headaches, and high blood pressure. If you feel angry or irritable often, it may be a sign of underlying anger that needs to be addressed.
I work in a school environment, and I must say that working with two of my staff has often caused me to forget my phonetics and go down in broken English or Yoruba because of how often they get on my last nerve. Earlier this week, one of them did it again, and I was so vexed I wanted to go home. I had an instant headache. I had to shout at the woman because she never follows the rules. You dare not shut your eyes. A child with a clear anaphylaxis procedure can end up in crisis because she does not follow due process.
Anyway, I felt the tension in my hands and legs and asked myself, “Why does this bother you so much? Just let it go before you injure yourself”. I had to work myself out of the anger.
Listen, that quarrel is not worth it, okay? That shouting and rage are bad for you. Release it, stop thinking, and let it go.l You can walk away, you can stay away. Protect the gates of your emotions.
Pray
Pray in tongues if you can for a few minutes.
Everything causing tension in my body be gone in Jesus name.
Tensions in my chest, limbs, head, I release you now, no you are not a part of me.
Identify the causes of tension – is it finance, relationship tension, that toxic situation etc. let it all go.
I shake off this tension. I shake it off from my head to my feet – stresses be gone in Jesus’ name.
Depression
Depression is a negative emotion that can be difficult to identify because it can manifest in many different ways. Some common symptoms of depression include feeling sad or hopeless, losing interest in activities you once enjoyed, and changes in appetite and sleep patterns. If you are experiencing these symptoms for an extended period, it may be a sign of underlying depression.
Even the name is self-explanatory – Depress.
Depress as a noun – “act of pressing down, state of being pressed down”
“dejection, state of sadness, a sinking of the spirits”
Depress as a verb – “put down by force, conquer,” “push down physically, press or move downward,” “deject, make gloomy, lower in feeling.”
There is a force of depression, and it is demonic.
Luke 10: 18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Mark 16: 17 And these signs will follow those who [d]believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
Take authority over that spirit by the power and authority you have in the name of Jesus.
Pray
I have been given the authority to overcome the power of depression. I command you to get out of my life, get out of my home.
You gloomy spirit afflicting me (or loved one), get out now in Jesus’ name. I have authority over you. I command you to go now and never return.
You depressing spirit, I command you to leave now.
You cannot conquer me; You cannot overpower me. I am purchased with the precious blood of Jesus. I refuse to be downcast. I refuse to be depressed.
Guilt
Guilt is a negative emotion that can be particularly debilitating. It can manifest in physical symptoms such as nausea, headaches, and feelings of shame and self-blame. If you find yourself feeling guilty often or struggling to forgive yourself for past mistakes, it may be a sign of underlying guilt.
Guilt – a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation.
The fact of having committed an offence or crime.
Ezra 9: 5 At the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God. 6 And I said: “O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.
Have you not found yourself in such a situation? You feel so guilty about a situation, so much so that you feel ashamed. You may have erred in another situation, so you feel guilty. Guilt eats you up. If you do not protect yourself from these feelings of guilt, you are opening yourself up to mental or physical sickness.
To set yourself free, you might first need to make amends by forgiving yourself, asking God for forgiveness, and, if applicable, asking for someone to forgive you.
Pray
Psalm 51: 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
Pray this prayer even if you don’t think there has been bloodshed. Bloodshed is a gateway because the blood, like Abel, cries for vengeance.
Pray – O Lord, deliver me and my family from the guilt of bloodshed. (that husband or son who made the lady commit abortion, that ancestor who shed innocent blood, etc.)
Ezekiel 18: 19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
Pray – I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I will not bear the guilt of my father’s errors. My children will not bear the guilt of my errors.
I have been acquitted of all my transgressions and found “not guilty.” Hosea 10:2. Everything that stood against me has been nailed to the cross. The power of the consequence of sin is broken.
There is no longer a legal ground to afflict my body because I am guiltless by the blood of Jesus. Amen.
When David found himself struggling with negative emotions, he spoke to himself.
Psalm 42: 11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Gratitude
One way to overcome negative emotions is to practice gratitude. Gratitude is the practice of focusing on the good things in your life and being thankful for them. When you focus on gratitude, you shift your attention away from negative emotions and toward positive ones. You can practice gratitude by keeping a gratitude journal, listing things you’re thankful for each day, or simply reflecting on the blessings in your life.
We once had a business speaker come to our church here in Mississauga. She was not a believer, or should I say she was not a churchgoer. Anyway, her business story was profound. One of the things that touched me was when she spoke about her cancer journey. She had to undergo chemotherapy, and daily she found something to be thankful for. Sometimes, it was little things like “no nausea” or the ability to get up. She found something to smile about and kept a record of her journey.
This is what God wants us to do.
Psalm 100: 4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
What are you thankful for? God is attracted to our hearts of gratitude/ Be thankful to Him and bless His name. Why? For the Lord is good, and His mercy is everlasting.
Song – You’re a Good Good Father
Be thankful to God in your own way.
Where is your mind?
Colossians 3: If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3: 1Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honor, and authority! 2Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.
3Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ. TPT
Protecting your emotional gate means setting your heart on things above where Christ wells. You are focusing on the news from heaven, not the local news. This is how to manage your emotional gate. What are you listening to and hearing, and how is that affecting your body?
Pray – I set my mind on things above, where Christ dwells. My mind is focused and clear, listening out for what God, my Heavenly Father, will say to me.
I protect my emotional gates by making Heavenly news my priority, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Forgiveness
Matthew 6: 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Very early in my marriage, I associated unforgiveness with severe chest pain (it felt like a rock was on my chest), limb pain, and headaches. Even if the other person wronged you, forgive. The devil is legalistic. Just forgive as Christ told us to.
Pray – I forgive ….. (mention all names) I release you from my heart in Jesus’ name. Call the names of your siblings, spouse, children, parents, friend, boss, employee, pastor etc. Forgive them in Christ Jesus so that you do not bear the load of an unforgiving heart.
.Remember that forgiveness is not about condoning bad behaviour but releasing negative emotions and moving forward with love and compassion.
Focus on today
Matthew 6: 11 Give us this day our daily bread
Matthew 6:24-26
Finally, scripture teaches us to focus on the present moment and trust in God’s plan for our lives. When we worry about the future or dwell on past mistakes, we can become overwhelmed with negative emotions. By focusing on the present moment and trusting in God’s guidance, we can find peace and strength to overcome negative emotions and live a fulfilling life.
Pray – Lord, give me the grace to trust You continually and not to worry about tomorrow. You have promised me a prosperous future with a happy ending Psalm 37:37. TLB , NLT.
Thank You, Father, that I do not have to worry about tomorrow because You have declared the end from the beginning, and it is good. Amen.
Next week we will continue with possessing the gates of your body as we examine what it means to have a good eye. “If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light”.
Conclusion
Give glory to God for the help of the Holy Spirit in leading us to protect the gates of our emotions leading to a healthier body.
