Creflo Dollar - Mastering Your Emotions With Joy
If you have your Bibles for a little quick review, let's go to 3 John, verse 2. And this morning we're gonna talk about "Mastering Your Emotions with Joy". How do you master your emotions with joy? Now, one of the things we've talked about, well, emotions, we've defined those as feelings, of course. They're feelings, so you'll hear me use "emotions" and "feelings" interchangeably. They are feelings on the inside that are caused by pain or pleasure to move you in a direction. Now here's the interesting thing: Your emotions, whether they're negative or positive, can move you in a direction. That's interesting. When I say, "move you in a direction," they literally can move your whole life in a direction, your emotions.
So, now think: If you have an enemy, and he's trying to move you in a direction away from the Word of God, guess what he's gonna hop on? Your feelings, your emotions. He's tryin' to move you in a direction. And so, likewise, remember, there are godly emotions. The objective is not to become emotionless. We don't wanna be Christians that try to pretend like we don't have the emotions. At the same time, godly emotions will move you closer to the will of God for your life, but we have to deal with the issue of emotions because feelings are real. Emotions are real. Emotions, they're given to you by God, but what happens is sometimes, instead of us mastering emotions, we allow our feelings to master us, and what happens is, when they're negative feelings and you don't know what to do about those negative feelings, then they master you. They move you in a direction away from the will of God, so you gotta talk about emotions 'cause they're moving you.
Circumstances come up in your life and you know what happen? They trigger, if they're bad circumstances, they'll trigger negative emotions. If they're good, they may trigger godly emotions. So this is not about not having emotions. This is about learning how to harness those emotions, whether good or bad, where, you know, instead of them, those emotions, mastering your life, you are mastering life because you know how to master your emotions. If you don't know how to master your emotions, you will not master life, but if you want to master your life, master your feelings, master your emotions. 3 John chapter 1, verse 2, let's read it out loud together. Ready? Read. "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper, be in health, even as thy soul", that word "prosper" or "being successful," he says, "I wish that you could prosper and be in health, be successful, and be successful in your health, even as your soul prospers".
So what does he say here? "As goes your soul, so goes your life. As goes your soul", say that: "As goes my soul, so goes my life". So the condition of your mind-set will determine the condition of your emotion-set. Remember, you feel like you feel because you're thinkin' what you're thinking. You feel like you feel because you're thinkin' what you're thinkin'. Your mind-set determines your feeling-set. "I'm depressed. I feel depressed". That's 'cause you're thinking about somethin' that's causing the depression. "The Anatomy of Life," once again, real quick, what you expose yourself to the most will determine how you think. How you think will determine how you feel. How you feel will determine the decisions you make.
Your decisions will determine the actions you take. Your actions will determine the habits you create. The habits you create will determine your character, and your character will determine your destination in life. So where you are right now today happened as a result of that progression I just showed you. The good news is, if you do not like your destination, if you do not like where you are today, you can change it. How? If you don't like your destination, change your character. If you don't like your character, change your habits. If you don't like your habits, change your actions. If you don't like your actions, change your decisions. If you don't like your decisions, change the way you feel. If you don't like the way you feel, change what you're thinking, and if you don't like how you're thinking, change what you're exposing yourself to. That is called "The Anatomy of Life".
In other words, if you understand that progression, you can, at any time, change your life. Powerlessness is a feeling that you're stuck where you are, and I'm tellin' everybody in here today, I don't care where you are, what kind of mistake you made, what kind of dumb decision you made, you're not stuck. Turn to your neighbor and say, "You're not stuck". In other words, you can get out of it, praise the Lord. Turn to the other side and say, "You can get out". A'ight? And so, "As goes your soul", now, your soul, you are a spirit being. You are a spirit being. You have a soul. You live in a body. I say that because religion, over the years, has used spirit and soul interchangeably as if they are the same. You are not your soul. You are not your body.
See, when you die and they put you in a box, that's not you. That's the house you used to live in. You are a spirit-being. You possess a soul. You live in a body. So when you bury your loved ones, somebody says, "Well, how", and your loved one's a born-again, "Oh, well, I apologize you lost your loved one". You say, "No, they're not lost. I know exactly where they are because the Bible says, 'To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.'" Look up there. You are not your body. You are not your soul. You are a spirit-being. Say, "I am a spirit-being. I have a soul. I live in a body". Now, what is the soul? Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. Your soul is the compartment. It is the part of you that is responsible for your feelings, your chooser, and your thinking. That's your soul. You have a soul. You have feelings.
Now, like I said, Satan wants to surf your emotions until he can move you away from the will of God for your life. So this is important. He's tryin' to move you away from the will of God for your life. There was somethin' that each of you have been born to do. You are not a mistake. I don't care how it happened. Don't tell me what happened, how your mama got pregnant. You are not a mistake. 'Cause there are people that try to get pregnant all the time on purpose, and it don't happen until God gettin' ready to, you are not a mistake. Turn to somebody and say, "You are not a mistake. You have a God-given purpose. You have a will of God to fulfill. There is somethin' you're supposed to do. You are here for a reason".
Now, you might be actin' crazy right now, but God knows how to take crazy and mix it in with the rest of the clay as he is working on a masterpiece that, one day, will be used to make a mark somewhere that cannot be erased. You are not a mistake, but Satan wants to ride on those emotions. Every time you miss the mark of somethin', every time you do somethin' kind of off, he wants to get on there and just kind of take you farther and farther away from the will of God for your life, and so we're tryin' to show you how to gather the right mind-set to take you to the right direction, and the Bible says, "To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace".
How do you get a spiritual mind? Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, here it is: The Word of God. Why do I pause there? Because that is the very thing the devil has been trying to separate us from, even Christians. You guys don't realize we're in a drought right now. It's the drought of the Word. If Satan can separate you from the Word, you can hear a bunch of truths, and if you're not careful, you'll hear some things that sound good, but may not be true. "What do you mean"? Like, "God helps those who helps themselves. That's what the Bible says". That ain't in the Bible, and that ain't true. Benjamin Franklin said that, and God don't help those who help themselves. God helps people who need help.
You see what I'm sayin'? You can listen to things that sound inspirational, but they, too, can go against the Word of God, and whatever goes against the Word of God is carnal in its nature, and it'll end up leading you away from God's Word. It's something about knowing that it's in The Book. The Word gives you a spiritual mind, and that spiritual mind will harness your emotions. Your spiritual mind, all the things you know from God's Word will help you to have authority over your emotions. Everything you know from God's Word will help you to have authority and to have mastery over your emotions, and that's why the devil says, "I got to keep people away from the Word of God because if I don't keep 'em away from the Word of God, then I won't be able to surf their emotions and move them away from the will of God for their lives.
So they can't do no better if they don't know no better, and so I'll let 'em come to church. I'll let 'em shout, enjoy the message, feel inspired, jump up, scream and holler, and go out and say, 'We had church today. It was so good.' 'But what did he preach about?' 'I don't know, but it was really, really good.'" That's what he wants because he can now govern your emotion, and then, if he can produce you and cause you to be more emotional in church, then he can train you in livin' by your emotions, and you'll go home and say, "I don't feel like God loves me," instead of goin' home and say, "I know God loves me 'cause his Word says so, and I can show it to you in the Bible". You know, Taffi teaches on biblical equality. "I don't believe that. That's just women liberation".
See, he can do that 'cause, if you don't see in the Word, then you can go, but if you get in the Word and she takes you line by line and you see where that is and you're like, "Oh, my God, I was mistaken, I didn't know that", and so what happens is you got a lot of women who are trapped into that old tradition, and they have an anointing that the Body needs, and we all have to suffer because they don't have the freedom and the liberty to release their anointing, and you think all of God's anointing you think is on a man. All of God's anointing is not on a man. If all of God's anointing was on a man, man didn't need Eve, but man needed an Eve to complete him.
All of God's anointing is not on a man, and I'm asking you women to step out of that traditional way of thinking and recognize that God has called you. He's anointed you. He's appointed you, and we need you in the Body of Christ in order to reach the destiny that God wants us to reach, and as long as you stay stuck in that old tradition, thinkin' you're bein' right, but you didn't get enough Word to know that was wrong. You never saw it in the Scripture. You saw the Word here, but you didn't know what it meant. Say out loud, "I have a right to control my emotions". Say it again: "I have a right to control my emotions". All right, say this: "I can control my emotions. I have authority over my emotions. My emotions don't lead me. I lead my emotions".
Look at John, real quick, John 14, in 1. I have authority over my emotions. I can control how I feel. You ever heard people say, "I just can't help I feel like this". Yes, you can. "Well, why did you beat the guy up so bad"? "I just couldn't help it. He disrespected me". Listen to me, and please get this: People sin, not because the devil made 'em do it. People sin because they want to. "Golly, I'm in the bed. How I end up in this bed, and who is this I'm layin' with? And where is my clothes? Oh, my God, how did this happen? The devil made me do it". No, that's not how that happened. You made a decision. Read verse 1, out loud together. Ready? Read. "Let not your heart", do you see the implication here? "You let not your heart be troubled". Just because trouble comes doesn't mean it has to overcome, amen. You are accountable for your emotions. Say out loud, "I'm accountable for my emotions". Say out loud, "I'm accountable for how I feel".
Now, this morning, I wanna show you a weapon, a weapon that we can use against negative emotions and a weapon we can use to ignite godly emotions. Igniting negative emotions, Satan will use your negative feelings to move you from the will of God for your life. Godly emotions will escort you closer. Godly emotions and self-control will escort you closer to the will of God for your life. I wonder how close some of you have been, but you lost it. I wonder how close some of you have been. Now, please listen to me. Circumstances happen in life, and those circumstances will trigger some bad emotions. I'm not saying you're never going to trigger bad emotions. I'm saying, when those bad emotions show up, you understand that you have the authority to correctly harness those emotions so they don't damage you or anybody else.
What I am saying is emotional stability can be achieved by a Christian who understands that they have mastery over their emotions. So, yeah, you'll trip out when stuff go crazy. I mean, you could be in here, and we shout and have joy and laugh and throw our hands up, and then you go outside and look down, and your tire's flat, and all of a sudden, negative emotion come in. You know that famous word, "sh.". you know what I'm sayin'. You know, okay, that's not the sin. The sin is, are you gonna keep that there so long where it conceives somethin' and then get born in your life? What're you gonna do with it when it shows up? It's gonna show up. "In this world, you will have tribulation". It will show up.
What will you do with the negative feelings when they show up? You know, your husband says somethin' to you, maybe called out your name, and you thought, "Okay", 'cause you in your feelings now, "a'ight, we gon' handle this, mm-hmm, he gon' sleep tonight, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, I know where all the knives are, mm-hmm". You're conceiving murder on the inside of that offense, you know? You might not murder him, but you'll sure scare him real good, you know? "Hey, wake up". "Mm, what you doin', baby"? "I can cut your throat out right now. You understand what I'm sayin'? I can cut your throat out right". See, and the more you say it, see, if you can control your mouth, you can control your feelin'. "I can cut your, don't you ever talk back of me".
You remember how your mama and daddy used to whup you when you really messed up and everything? "Oh, my God, just don't talk while you whup me. Just whup me silent". 'Cause sometime, when they talk while they whup you, "Didn't I tell you to be in this house at 8 o'clock, but now you gon' do what you want to do"? I call it a "syllable beatin'". They just beat you by the syllable. Now, some of y'all millennials are like, "What are you talkin' about? I've never experienced that before". Heh-heh-heh, yeah, thank God. All right, now, let's get started here. John 16:33, "These things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have", what? "Peace". Now, notice, when he said, "In the world you shall have tribulation".
All right, let's settle that. I don't care what church you go to, I don't care how long you've been saved, you gon' have some trouble. But, now, notice what he says when the trouble comes: "But," oh, my God, "be of good cheer". Why would you say that? Why would you say you gon' have trouble, but when the trouble comes, that's when you need to be of good cheer? He did the same thing when the disciples were in the middle of the storm and they was screamin' out, "Oh, my God, help us. We gon' die". And Jesus said, "Be of good cheer". Who does that? "'Be of good cheer'? We're in a hurricane. The boat is full of water. We about to die". And Jesus says, "Be of good cheer".
What? He's not saying that just to be saying it. There must be some type of power, some kind of results, some kind of dynamite action that can happen as a result of you makin' your mind up in the middle of a hard time, finding some cheer. "Be of good cheer". Now, notice what he says 'cause I know he's talkin' about joy here because he's saying, "This is why you can be of good cheer in the middle of tribulation". He says, "I have overcome everything the world has thrown". So what he says is "Know this. Know that there is nothin' that you gon' go through, where trouble is concerned, that I hadn't already taken care of".
So he says, "If you already know that I've taken care of it, you have a reason to be joyful and cheer" because you know that, whatever you're goin' through, Jesus has already taken care of it, and if you would be of good cheer, I believe he's saying here you're gonna reap the benefits of what Jesus has already done, amen. Turn to your neighbor and say, "Be of good cheer". Now, look at Philippians chapter 4, in 4. "Be of good cheer". I tell you what, that's probably one of the most challengin' things you can do in life is, when trouble comes, try to be joyful and happy. You have to really talk yourself into this.
Look what he says. This is a strong recommendation: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice". Why would you say this? Because, if you break the word "rejoice" down and look at it for what it really says in an action point, the word "rejoice" means to brighten up. It means to leap, and it means to spin around, and I'm lookin' at those action words. If you're in a bad mood, don't nobody wanna brighten up. If you're in a bad mood, who wants to leap, and who wants to spin around? I double-dog-dino-dare you to try it. The next time you get some bad news, say, "Ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-hah, oh, ho-ho". Just do it. Just do it.
You'll never know what I'm talkin' about until you do it. I tell you what. One time, they came in and said, "Twenty million dollars in debt". I didn't know what else to do but "Ha-ha-hah, whoa, ho-ho, woo, hoo-hoo, Jesus". Well, and I don't know what, $20 million debt? What else you gon' do? I thought what I was doin' was the least I could do, but I found out it's the most powerful thing a Christian can do, that in the middle of trouble, he says, "Rejoice". Why? That's what I'm constantly, when I read the Bible, I just don't read it and say, "Oh, that's a nice Scripture".
There's got to be a reason he is saying, "Rejoice," or he wouldn't say it, and he keeps saying, "Rejoice". "Yeah, but, Lord, they just said I had cancer". "Rejoice". "Rejoice that I have cancer"? "No, don't rejoice that you have cancer. Rejoice that I have healing. Rejoice". "Rejoice because I'm $20 million in debt"? "No, rejoice because I am your provider". Help me now. Make sure I'm sayin' this right. Joy is the fuse to your faith. Like you have a fuse to a stick of dynamite, joy is the fuse to your faith. Joy will cause your faith to become explosive. Dynamite is explosive. When it is ignited, it will rearrange and change things.
Joy is the fuse to your faith. When it is ignited, your faith, like dynamite, will rearrange and change things. The joy of the Lord is like lightin' that fuse. I don't know what some of y'all been standin' in faith in, but I believe if you'll release your joy, then your faith will become explosive, praise God. Ah, a'ight, a'ight, come on, let's go. Look at John 15, in 11. Joy, don't forget what I just said, what you're excited about. I see all of you guys walkin' out here today and lightin' your dynamite.