Second That Emotion

Typically, we don’t have emotions about something unless we have a thought about it first.  We are bombarded by thoughts positive and negative every waking hour. If our thoughts are out of control, so will our emotions be out of control.  2 Corinthians 10:5 can save a lot of heartache if we just do what it says.

Transcript

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Hey friends, this is Jesse B and thanks for tuning in to another episode of Unfiltered. Today we're going to be talking about taking every thought captive. But before I do that, I trust that you all had a great and hopefully safe July 4th celebration. 250 years is a great milestone for this nation, and I am proud to have been born in, raised in, and still living in the U.S. I'm proud to be an American. I know that America has its flaws and systems need to be revamped a little bit, but you know, hey, I think that it's still one of the greatest nations, if not the greatest nation in the world. So anyway, before we get started, though, another story here, or I guess it was the first story. Um I had a little bit of time on my hands, so I decided to do an internet search for Unfiltered with Jesse B podcast just to see what would come up. For the most part, AI got the individual show descriptions right, but I did notice some pretty big discrepancies with Spotify, and I don't know how these things get generated, but it was big enough to catch my attention. And it was on the Gethsemane experience, and the description said something about an interview with Cathy Tricoli, and then it had a picture of Jensen Franklin next to it. So um I just want to clear the air on here. I have never met nor interviewed Kathy Tricoli. Uh that particular seg segment I did reference one of her books, Am I Not Still God, and by the way, I still highly recommend this book, but in no way, shape, or form was it an interview. Now, as to why Jensen Franklin's pictures showed up as a thumbnail with that episode, I can't figure that one out. I have no idea. Now it would be cool, I admit, that if I could interview Kathy Tricoli, I mean, not only have I always liked her music, but she has an amazing testimony. She really does. And I do like Jensen Franklin. I don't uh catch his sermons very much, but I am reading one of his books titled The Spirit of Python. Um so far, so good. But anyway, I just want to clarify that I don't know either one of these people, nor have I interviewed them, or am I affiliated with either one of their ministries. So just wanted to clarify that, and it's gonna cause me to pay more attention as to what's going on out there. But anyway, on with the show. Uh 2 Corinthians 10 5, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. According to the American Journal of Medicine, the brain averages about forty eight point six thoughts per minute, amounting to 70,000 thoughts per day. And this information was a result of studies from the Laboratory of Neuroimaging at the University of Southern California. However, in 2020, a study of the thoughtworm method at Queen's University, researchers were able to identify detectable thought transitions referred to as thought worms using brain scans and estimated that the average young adult experiences about 6.5 thought transitions per minute, which equals around 6,200 thoughts over a span of 16 waking hours. So as you can see, depending on where you get your information, the numbers are going to vary, and it will also depend on the individual, their environment, and current situation as these studies were conducted. But regardless, I think that we can all agree that we're constantly thinking about things all the time, including things that we don't necessarily want to think about, which seems to be a place where we struggle the most. Now, the reason that thoughts are so important to the Lord, in my opinion, is because thoughts are the driving force in our emotions. I worked with a counselor for a while just in order to overcome some emotional baggage that I had been carrying around from my past, and so one of the things a counselor told me is that we do not have emotions about something unless we have a thought about it first. So one of my homework assignments was to write down everything that I was feeling, all those emotions, and then trace it back to a thought. If that thought was the result of a bad conversation I had with someone, for example, I was to take notes of my emotions, trace it back to the thoughts, and be able to separate black and white truth from the gray, which would be emotions. In other words, knowing what was really said as opposed to what I thought was said. For example, if my boss was really upset with me, was my boss upset and giving me more work to do as punishment? Or was my boss upset that a different employee couldn't get the task done and they needed somebody who could do the job? So that would be one example. As for a situation that I'm mad at, um, you know, I could easily get mad at a slow driver for making me late, but am I really mad at that driver or am I mad at myself because I hit the snooze button two times too many? See, that's how we can just, you know, trace our emotions back to a thought. Anyway, I don't know if that made sense, but kind of did to me. Thankfully, we have the Lord who doesn't charge for such sessions and is available twenty-four-seven, and we can take our thoughts too regardless if they're good or bad, positive or negative, praiseworthy or anxiety driven, loving or hateful, repetitive, etc. etc. We also need to understand, Galatians 5 17, and I'm paraphrasing that, that the flesh disires what is contrary to the spirit. And both are constantly at odds with each other. Therefore, taking your thoughts captive and obedience to Christ is not a natural process, but it is something that can and should be learned. A good way to start that process is to take some time, think about what it is that you're thinking at the time of these emotions, especially if it's something that you seem to dwell on and it's just constantly replaying in your mind. Identify whether it's lies, anxiety, or just biased reasoning. Because more times than not, especially in dealing with other people, we need to ask, is it something that they said or is it just what we thought they said? Is it something they really didn't do, or were my expectations just unreasonable? Did that person fail to communicate with me, or did I just assume that that person could read my mind? So a lot of things to think about with that. The next thing that you need to do, and sorry for my clumsiness, I've dropped some papers, but next thing you need to do is evaluate your thoughts. Do your thoughts align with the teaching of Jesus, or do these thoughts contradict his teachings and his character? The next thing is replacing those negative thoughts with biblical truths. For example, if you feel like a failure, look at Proverbs 24.16, which says, For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes. The next and most important is surrender. First Peter 5 7 instructs us to cast all anxiety on him because he cares. This isn't just about never thinking another bad thought. That's not the goal. It's, you know, we're going to have negative thoughts. There's going to be things that are going to make us anxious, angry. There's other thoughts that we associate with negativity. It's not about neglecting those thoughts, but it is about bringing those thoughts to God and surrendering them to his control. And when we learn to do that, our emotions will follow, further shaping us into the sons and daughters Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us to be. So forgive my clumsiness. Like I said, these shorts are unedited. So anyway, you're just getting the real me, the raw deal, unpolished, unedited, and unfiltered. So anyway, I appreciate you guys. Thanks for listening. Love you. Good night.