Emotional Problems

[00:00:24] and today's episode is entitled Emotional Problems. This is something that's been used throughout

[00:00:33] our culture constantly every day. People are talking about emotional problems. Well, let's see what

[00:00:39] I will have to say about emotional problems. And I think you're going to be surprised at

[00:00:45] how important it is that we address this in the way that I'm addressing it. Lady tells me,

[00:00:52] my husband says that I am having emotional problems with our emotional problems. Can you tell

[00:00:58] me what to do about them? Well, the answer to the question is very simple. Emotional problems

[00:01:04] are not emotional problems. The words Emotional Problems are another example of those many

[00:01:11] euphemisms that exist in the area of psychology and psychiatry, which have confused

[00:01:17] the public so greatly. For instance, there's the euphemism mental illness. Now, there's

[00:01:24] no such thing as mental illness, except of course organic brain problems. But when people

[00:01:34] have a kind of non-physical sickness that is caused by some non-physical cause, which

[00:01:41] is strange and unusual, and it operates in some non-physical realm, which of course is to say

[00:01:49] that it doesn't exist in those terms. Now, the word mental illness is simply a euphemism

[00:01:56] again. And there's another euphemism around like this word Emotional Problems or mental

[00:02:02] illness. And that word is nervous breakdown. Very frequently to euphemize things, people

[00:02:11] will call difficulties in life a nervous breakdown. But get this, nerves do not break down.

[00:02:20] They work very well. They work beautifully. And indeed anybody who's suffering from what

[00:02:26] is called a nervous breakdown is nerves are working all too well. He wishes they weren't

[00:02:32] because he has many bad feelings transmitted by those nerves. If he truly had a nervous

[00:02:38] breakdown and his nerves really literally broke down, it would be like being numb from

[00:02:45] head to foot. Now, there's no such thing. Really, as an Emotional Problem, your problem

[00:02:52] is not with the emotions at all. Your emotions are working very well. When you're depressed,

[00:02:58] when you're upset, when you feel pain, when you're distressed, when your body is aching,

[00:03:04] when you're tired, when you're weary, your emotions have been working. In fact, overworking,

[00:03:11] working very, very well. Indeed, there are times when you wish that your emotions weren't

[00:03:17] working quite so well at all. Emotional Problems are not problems with your emotions. The emotions

[00:03:23] are functioning just exactly as they were intended to function. They're functioning the

[00:03:29] way that God intended them to function and they're problem-lies somewhere else. So the words,

[00:03:35] emotional problems are simply euphemistic words. By the way, if you don't know what a euphemism

[00:03:43] is, that's simply a way of making something you don't like sound a little better or at least

[00:03:50] you try to take the edge off the sound of something you don't like. For example, in

[00:03:55] the airplanes of Wildback, they used to have a chuck bag, which is also a euphemism. The

[00:04:02] words chuck bag, they used to have the words for vomiting. And more people did that because

[00:04:10] those were the words that were written on the chuck bag, then they changed the words from

[00:04:15] vomiting to the words air sickness. That didn't help very much either. Now you'll see

[00:04:21] words like that from motion is comfort on the bags or nothing at all except tick-tack

[00:04:27] toe designs or something of that sort. So you can play games on the edge of the bag. I have

[00:04:33] a dentist who's a good friend of mine, a Christian friend I go to and he does not talk about

[00:04:38] any more. He talks about it this discomfort. Are you having discomfort, he'll say? As always,

[00:04:46] I say, now come on, Jean, let's just get right down to where it is. It's playing old-fashioned

[00:04:52] pain in your chair. Well, this is a euphemism where you take some words and some words that

[00:04:58] you don't like particularly, and you kind of throw them off a bit, take off the rough edges,

[00:05:04] smooth them out and use other words. But to see the trouble is that when people try to

[00:05:10] euphemize the facts about themselves, they get themselves into trouble, difficulty, and problems

[00:05:17] that the euphemism keeps them from solving so that when you call problems a emotional problem,

[00:05:23] you're really talking about something else and as long as you think about the problem is

[00:05:28] usually a problem with your emotions, you realize you can't do anything about it because how can

[00:05:34] you change your emotions? It's not very easy to sit down here and work up the right kind of

[00:05:39] emotions that I want. But say I'm very angry and I want to stop being angry. Well, what do I

[00:05:45] do to stop being angry? I mean, where are the buttons that I push? Where are the switches that

[00:05:51] are? How do I turn off the emotion? Emotions don't work directly. You don't just sit down and suddenly

[00:05:59] get a warm, benevolent feeling for somebody by clumping it up. Emotions don't lump. They don't come

[00:06:07] that way. So how do you deal with emotions? It's true that your emotions may be upset. It's true

[00:06:15] that your emotions may be working over time, but your problem is not an emotional problem.

[00:06:22] The emotions are only the effect of the problem. They are not the cause of the problem. Now get that

[00:06:28] again. They are not the cause of their problem. They are not at the root of your difficulty.

[00:06:36] And as long as you try to attack the emotions or try to change the emotions, you will fail. That's why

[00:06:43] a lot of counseling over time, which is feeling oriented, which talks about venting feelings,

[00:06:50] staying with the feeling and looking for feelings, not for facts. And all that sort of nonsense

[00:06:56] is entirely unbiblical. Now your problem if it truly is a problem that creates emotional difficulty,

[00:07:05] then your problem is a behavioral problem. Our emotions are upset when we have judged

[00:07:12] that we are not living according to the will of God. In Genesis 4, the first seven verses,

[00:07:19] we have the story of Caner and Abel. And it's interesting that the Lord comes to Cane and he says to him,

[00:07:26] why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? And then he says, if you do right,

[00:07:36] will not your countenance be lifted up? Now, would God as saying to Cane is this. He's saying you're upset.

[00:07:44] You're feeling elousing. Your emotions are working in a way. It's unpleasant to you because of the way

[00:07:49] that you are acting. But if you do the right thing, you will feel better. When you do well,

[00:07:57] your countenance, your face, your emotions, which of course are reflected in that countenance,

[00:08:04] will be lifted up instead of cast down or fallen, as it says in verse 6. So the answer is this.

[00:08:12] The answer to the problem of emotional difficulty in one's life is not to go after the

[00:08:18] emotions but to look at your own behavior and attitudes before God. The way that you think

[00:08:26] and the way that you live leads to the way that you feel. When you do those things, which are

[00:08:32] pleasing to God and your conscious tells you that you are doing what places God, you feel right.

[00:08:39] When your conscious triggers bad emotional feelings within you, it's because that conscience

[00:08:45] has judged you to be out of fellowship with God by what you're doing or what you're thinking

[00:08:52] of doing or the attitudes that you have towards people or toward God. So the key here is not the

[00:08:59] emotions but the key is the behavior and the thinking and the attitude which leads to those emotional

[00:09:06] responses. So today, if you're having problems, don't keep focusing on your feelings. Take a hard

[00:09:14] look at your life, get out of paper and pencil today right down all the things in which you know

[00:09:20] that you're not pleasing God, either as a mother or a father, as a husband, as a wife, as a child,

[00:09:26] as a parent or simply as a Christian. Whatever it is that you've been doing wrong, make it good,

[00:09:34] long, hard in return of all of those things and then start dealing with them. First, in repentance

[00:09:40] and prayer and then start doing something about them according to the will of God. And I guarantee

[00:09:46] you on the basis of the word of God that if you do right, God says to King and to you, you will

[00:09:54] feel right, you're counting it, you're face, you're emotions behind that face will be lifted.

[00:10:02] So I hope that this is giving you a different viewpoint with respect to mental illness,

[00:10:08] mental problems, nervous breakdowns, emotional issues. The Bible says these things are just

[00:10:15] not causes of the life that we're living. It has to do with our thoughts and our behavior,

[00:10:22] change our thoughts, change our behavior, don't change your feelings. Sounds easy

[00:10:28] until you have to do it. So, recognize your blessings. Have a great day and we'll talk to you later.