This article was originally written by Amy Baker and published to LifewayResearch.com

Feelings or emotions are a powerful part of our lives. Have you ever been overwhelmed by shame? Exhausted by depression? Consumed with anger? Dominated by rejection? Devoured by bitterness? Most of us can say yes to at least a few of those negative emotions. But do we have to be controlled by our emotions?

You can learn to identify and understand your emotions, turn to God for help and hope, and even make your emotions work for you instead of against you. It starts by understanding how God made you and your emotions.

Emotions are a part of God’s creation

Feelings are a “very good” part of who we were created to be (Genesis 1:31). We experience emotions because God does and we were created in His image. God grieves, rejoices, weeps, exults, is angry, and loves (see Genesis 6:6; Isaiah 62:5; 63:9; Jeremiah 31:20; Hosea 11:1–8; Ephesians 4:30). Emotions enable us to laugh, rejoice, and enjoy. They allow us to experience affection, love, passion, and enthusiasm, to be glad, to delight, and to know exhilaration.

The capacity to experience “negative” emotions is also part of God’s good creation. We might think all negative emotions—sadness, loneliness, frustration, fear—are the consequences of the curse of sin. However, when “no helper was found corresponding to” Adam (Genesis 2:20, CSB), God declared it was “not good” (Genesis 2:18, CSB), suggesting that some negative emotion was involved—perhaps sadness, loneliness, or frustration. But sadness didn’t turn to depression, loneliness to despair, or frustration to rage.

Living in a perfect garden untouched by sin, a perfect remedy was immediately presented. God created Eve, to whom Adam emotionally responded, “Wow, she’s like me!” His delight was probably enhanced because he experienced negative emotions earlier when no suitable helper was found. Prior to the fall, it seems reasonable “negative” emotions were simply the catalyst that produced more brilliant positive emotions.

Broken by Sin

After sin entered the world, feelings became twisted and warped. Before the fall, Adam and Eve knew nothing of shame, grief, depression, anger, fear, and discouragement as we experience them today. Emotions then were never the instruments or results of sin. Sadly, now sometimes we almost wish we could go through life numb and devoid of emotions—good or bad—to avoid the wretchedness bad emotions produce.

Trapped by your emotions

Without realizing it we can sometimes find ourselves making decisions based only on our feelings, doing what feels good and avoiding what doesn’t. Letting our emotions take over, however, generally makes us feel worse rather than better. Being in the grip of such emotions as shame, rage, and fear makes us feel lousy, and other bad feelings come to the party, such as helplessness, hopelessness, and dread. We may feel dominated, isolated, overwhelmed, exhausted, or incapacitated.

It’s hard to change from feeling angry, despairing, jealous, discouraged, and hopeless. But God wants to help us with our troubling emotions, and He also wants to free us to love Him and others, to live with purpose and significance despite how we feel at any given moment.

Jesus lived in our broken world and experienced the shame of the cross, the discouragement of rejection, the frustration of failure, and the grief of loss. His substitutionary death and resurrection can rescue us from sin and bondage to feelings. He can restore us and help us respond appropriately to our emotions. Christ wants to capture our hearts in such a way that our ultimate desire is to serve Him and His kingdom despite our emotions.

If not feelings, then what?

As Jesus prayed in the garden before His arrest, He was “deeply distressed and troubled” (Mark 14:33, CSB). Jesus told His friends, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death” (Mark 14:34, CSB). Soon after that, He was arrested, tortured, mocked, insulted, lied about, and unjustly sentenced to death.

So, what’s the example Christ left for us to follow (1Peter 2:21-25)? Do we see a man enraged by insults, cowering in fear, doing whatever it takes to be released from His suffering and negative emotions? He trusted His Father to set things right and lived to please His Father. This was the pattern of Jesus’s ministry from the beginning.

We too can live to please the Father as we are guided and directed by the truth of God’s Word. God’s Word offers a superior way to approach life. Jesus didn’t live by the emotions that are so easily aroused by physical pressures. Even at the cross, He didn’t hurl insults at those who insulted Him. He lived by truth, and He’ll help us live by truth too.

Jesus could live by truth because He lived in complete dependence on the Author of truth. He said He could do nothing without His Father in heaven (John 5:19, 30). And we can do nothing without Jesus’s help (John 15:5). Jesus clings to the Father; we cling to Jesus. When feelings seem ready to overwhelm us, we can cling to Him and receive His grace to help us live as He lived (2 Corinthians 10:6).

The ability to know and live by every word that comes from the mouth of God is liberating. We can become someone different—different from a person engulfed in shame; different from a person gripped by anger; different from a person demoralized by others.

Is there any way to change my feelings?

Frequently, although certainly not always, feelings are linked to our desires, our thinking, and our actions. While we can’t directly control our feelings simply by telling ourselves to buck up or be happy, we can powerfully influence them by what we choose to desire, to think, and to do.

We were created to desire God (Psalm 42:1). But far too often we pursue whatever pleases us. We want to be respected, or in control, or accepted, or comfortable. These desires and others become the grid through which we interpret what happens to and around us, and these interpretations powerfully influence our emotions.

Our desires (and fears) can lead us to experience powerful emotions based on how we interpret our situation—what we believe to be true. This interpretation can be influenced by what we think we need. But we may be wrong about the situation and even about our needs.

Christ can begin to change our desires and how we perceive our situation if we ask Him. On the cross, Christ despised the shame and looked instead to the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:1-2). We too can find joy in trials if we submissively persevere in faith (James 1:2-4).

Of course, there may be times when bad feelings don’t seem to be linked to your desires, thoughts, or actions. On these occasions it’s wise to ask God to help you search your heart in case wrong thoughts and desires are influencing you without your realization.

You may also want to explore physical influences such as poor diet, lack of exercise, thyroid issues, and other illnesses that can often contribute to disordered emotions. Then ask for Christ’s help to renew your commitment to Him so you can glorify Him as you handle your negative emotions.

As we do so we can begin to experience emotional changes. Our emotions, both negative and positive, can begin to accurately reflect the emotions of our Creator, as we look forward to right feelings forever in heaven with Him (Psalm 16:11).

This article was published on LifewayResearch.com and appears in the Life Counsel Bible. Adapted from “Managing Your Emotions: Keeping Your Feelings from Running the Show” by Amy Baker (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2013).