Personal Development on Emotions

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Emotions are Divine: Why Pastors Need Biblical Permission to Feel

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John 11:35, Psalm 5:5, Psalm 6:1, Psalm 78:58, Psalm 78:40, Psalm 18:19, Psalm 25:6, Psalm 5:7, Exodus 20:5, Exodus 22:23, Isaiah 15:5, Luke 15:null, Genesis 23:2, Genesis 42:24, 1 Samuel 1:10, 2 Samuel 1:11-12, 2 Kings 8:11-12, 2 Kings 22:18-20, Mark 14:72, John 20:11, Acts 20:37, Revelation 5:4

When the Professor Weeps: A Personal Story About ten years ago, I was teaching a course on the psalms for my seminary students in the midst of a personal health crisis. It wasn’t in my notes, but I ...

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Author

Eugene Peterson

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Pity is one of the noblest emotions available to human beings; self-pity is possibly the most ignoble . . . . [It] is an incapacity, a crippling emotional disease that severely distorts our perception...

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Our Emotional Lives are Complicated

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Marc Brackett

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So, how are you feeling? It’s not a trick question. But it’s more complicated than it sounds. We’re always feeling something, usually more than one thing at a time. Our emotions are a continuous ...

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Faith and Feelings Can Go Together

Author

Casey K. Tygrett

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Psalm 42:5, Romans 12:15, Ephesians 4:26, Lamentations 3:19-23, James 4:8-9

Too often we are given a choice—emotions or faith and belief. Yet as Dan Allender and Tremper Longman observe, Emotion links our internal and external worlds. To be aware of what we feel can open ...

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The Origins of Emotional Intelligence

Author

Marc Brackett

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In 1990, Peter Salovey and John Mayer published a landmark paper, “Emotional Intelligence,” in a little-known journal (after it was rejected by multiple top-tier publications). That article has since ...

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An Emotional Reckoning

Author

Brené Brown

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In navigation, the term reckoning, as in dead reckoning, is the process of calculating where you are. To do that, you have to know where you’ve been and what factors influenced how you got to where yo...

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Stepping Over our Wounds

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

Genesis 4:6-7, 1 Samuel 1:6-8, 18 , Luke 15:28-32, Jonah 4:1-4 , Ephesians 4:31-32, Psalm 55:22

Sometimes we have to “step over” our anger, our jealousy, or our feelings of rejection and move on. The temptation is to get stuck in our negative emotions, poking around in them as if we belong there...

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Author

Timothy Keller

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Every one of our sinful actions has a suicidal power on the faculties that put that action forth. When you sin with the mind, that sin shrivels the rationality. When you sin with the heart or the emot...

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Descend upon our hearts, Spirit of God,

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2 Corinthians 1:3-4, 1 Kings 17:8-16, Psalm 147:3, Isaiah 40:29-31, John 14:26, Romans 8:26-27

Descend upon our hearts, Spirit of God, For our wills are weak, and we need your power. Our spirits are dry, and we need your refreshment. Our minds cannot comprehend, and we need your enlightenment....

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Harry Potter’s Dementors & Depression

Author

Mark Meynell

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Scripture

Isaiah 40:29-31, Job 3:25-26, 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, John 16:33, Psalm 34:17-18

When J. K. Rowling created the Harry Potter universe, she naturally drew on her own experiences to flesh it out. This is true even for such alarming creatures as ‘dementors’. These are soulless beings...

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St. John of the Cross on Spiritual Growth

Author

John Ortberg

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The famous medieval reformer and mystic, St. John of the Cross, wrote about some of the differences between the early days of a new convert and the long road of obedience that makes up the spiritual l...

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Author

Etty Hillesum

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1 Kings 19:11-13 , Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 , Isaiah 30:15 , Luke 10:38-42, Matthew 6:6, Psalm 46:10

But it’s not so simple, that sort of “quiet hour”. It has to be learned. A lot of unimportant inner litter and bits and pieces have to be swept out first. Even a small head can be piled high inside wi...

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Heavenly Father, we confess that we often forget

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Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

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Heavenly Father, we confess that we often forget Who it is that we worship. You, Lord, are the great God Almighty and our Heavenly Father. Yet, at times, we deny that truth by living in fear and respo...

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Father–nothing escapes your notice, is

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Philippians 4:19, Revelation 21:4, Romans 8:26, Acts 1:8, Psalm 46:1, Matthew 5:9

Father–nothing escapes your notice, is beyond your care or too hard for you to take on, whether it concerns nations or individuals. You have a heart for all the world–not just our little piece of it. ...

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Author

Louisa May Alcott

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"I am angry nearly every day of my life, Jo, but I have learned not to show it; and I still hope to learn not to feel it, though it may take me another forty years to do so."

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O Holy One, we call to you and name you

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O Holy One, we call to you and name you as eternal, ever-present, and boundless in love. Yet there are times, O God, when we fail to recognize you in the dailyness of our lives. Sometimes shame clench...

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A Person’s Reaction Determines Their Power

Author

Howard Thurman

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If a man knows precisely what he can do to you or what epithet he can hurl against you in order to make you lose your temper, your equilibrium, then he can always keep you under subjection. It is a ma...

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Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

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Every time you feel hurt, offended, or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: “These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth, even though I cannot...

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Author

Rick Warren

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Scripture

Proverbs 23:7, Romans 12:2, Philippians 4:8, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Colossians 3:2, Matthew 22:37, Isaiah 26:3

The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel determines the way you act.

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Loving God, we confess today: We don’t

Author

Austin D. Hill

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Ephesians 4:32, Psalm 51:10, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Matthew 22:37-39, Romans 5:8

Loving God, we confess today: We don’t even know what love truly is. We talk about love when we talk about favorite television shows and foods. We talk about love as if it happens to us. We describe l...

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Author

Ovid

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Genesis 50:15-21, 1 Samuel 1:1-20, Lamentations 3:19-24 , John 11:32-35 , Luke 7:36-50, Psalm 56:8

Truly, it is allowed to weep. By weeping, we disperse our wrath; and tears go through the heart, even like a stream.

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Author

Elisabeth Elliot

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Choices will continually be necessary and -- let us not forget -- possible. Obedience to God is always possible. It is a deadly error to fall into the notion that when feelings are extremely strong we...

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Author

George Herbert

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Ecclesiastes 3:1, Romans 8:22, Job 14:1, James 1:2-4, Psalm 130:1-2

I cried when I was born and every day shows why.

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Author

Rick Warren

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Scripture

Proverbs 14:30, Exodus 16:2-8 , 2 Chronicles 32:7-8, Matthew 6:25-27, Ephesians 4:31-32, Psalm 34:8-14

It’s not just what you eat that matters, it’s what eats you. You can have all the right macrobiotics and organic food, but if your body is filled with resentment, worry, fear, lust, guilt, anger, bitt...

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Author

Watchman Nee

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But when the cross is working deeply a believer comes to know himself. He realizes how undependable are his ideas, feelings and desires.

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Looking to Be Filled In All the Wrong Places

Author

Ashley Hales

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The more I use stuff to fill up my hungers, the more distance I put between God and myself. And as I continue to fill up my infinite hungers with finite things (when I run through the Starbucks drive-...

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Dear Lord Jesus, we feel our sins. They

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:21, Psalm 103:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 8:1, John 6:40, Romans 10:9-10, 1 John 1:9

Dear Lord Jesus, we feel our sins. They bite and gnaw and terrify us. Where shall we go? We will look to You, Lord Jesus, and believe in You. Although our faith is often weak, we look to You and find ...

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Mental Health Today

Author

Alan Noble

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1 Kings 19:1-18, Job 3:6-7, Lamentations 3:17-26, Matthew 26:36-46, 2 Corinthians 1:3-11, Psalm 42:5-11

We don’t know what we are doing, and I think this is especially true about the way our society deals with mental health. In just the past fifteen years, I have witnessed a massive shift in how evangel...

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Let us love the Lord God with all our

Author

Francis and Clare of Assisi

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Scripture

Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Psalm 34:1, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Lamentations 3:11-23, Romans 3:23-24

Let us love the Lord God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. Let us love Him with all our understanding, powers, and fortitude. Let us offer to Him our every effort, ...

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Tides and Currents

Author

Russ Metcalfe

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Scripture

Isaiah 30:21, Proverbs 4:25-27, Philippians 3:13-14, Romans 5:3-4, James 1:12

I found that tides and currents do not determine destination. That is what rudders and engines and sails are for. While you don’t dare ignore the tides and currents, you also never get anywhere if you...

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