Taking Your Feelings out of The Driver's Seat

by Alexandra Copeland

Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross of Calvary, our Heavenly Father has given us tremendous privileges. 1Corinthians 15:57(NLT) tells us, “But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is really good news! God also tells us in Ephesians 1:3 that through Christ, He’s given us ALL spiritual blessings. This means there’s not one spiritual blessing that you and I lack. For some, this is a truth that sounds too good to be true. They’re like, “Mmmmm! If that’s true and I have all spiritual blessings, why do I feel so crummy all the time?” The truth is that sometimes our feelings are the last to get the message that an internal change has occurred. This is why our feelings should not dictate what we will or won’t believe. Understanding this is a huge part of growing spiritually. We have to take feelings out of the driver’s seat of our lives and put the Lord Jesus Christ in their place.  

You are not perfect. I’m not perfect. None of us are perfect. We are going to make mistakes and sometimes we make some doozies. This is especially true when it comes to relationships. We get our hearts broken and we’re left with feelings that cause us to be insecure. Some of us develop fears and anxieties because of the hurt and pain we’ve experienced in life. This robs us of the joy God has given us through Christ. 1John 4:18(NLT) tells us, “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” God’s love has no fear. As a matter of truth, His love totally obliterates fear. But when we don’t depend on God’s love but instead depend on others or situations to sustain our joy, we are going to be disappointed. Whenever we fail to realize that our trust has been misplaced, we punish ourselves by being fearful. 

1John 1:9(NLT) tells us, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” Most believers know that if we humble ourselves, confess our sins to God as 1John 1:9 says, and ask Him for forgiveness, He will give it to us. He will forgive our sins, but we can’t continue doing the same things we’ve always done. To repent of our sins is to have a change of mind and a change of heart about the sinful behavior. It’s to acknowledge that our relationship with God is the most important of any relationship in our lives, and because of our relationship with God, we want to be better; this is the attitude of a repenting heart. Because not only do we want to be better for God, we realize that through Christ we CAN be better…not perfect, but better.   

God forgives us, and again, this we know because His Word tells us so. It’s common for us to acknowledge that He forgives, but often we don’t accept His forgiveness in the depths of our hearts and souls. In other words, we don’t walk in His forgiveness, and we don’t believe that we can be better because of it. Instead, we continue to self-punish by carrying the baggage of hurt that makes us feel bad all the time.  

There’s no question that we should have authentic sorrow when we’ve done something that displeases God, but we shouldn’t wallow in this. Romans 8:1 declares that there’s no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. God doesn’t want us to feel sad, and to have a dark cloud hanging over our heads. He wants us to have faith in Him and His promises. This for many of us is a totally new way of thinking and feeling. It’s putting on new feelings of faith instead of fear and dread. It’s having an attitude of gratitude for the blessings we have. This is something we must be dedicated to learn every day, and everything we need to put it into practice is already in us through the Spirit of Christ that abides within.  

Romans 13:12(NKJV) tells us, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Colossians 3:10(NLT) says, “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.” God is commanding us to take off the things of darkness and put on the things of light. He gave us free-will. He’s not going to take over our minds and hearts and start throwing out the negative stuff and replacing it with the positives of His Word. No. He has given us governing authority over our thoughts and emotions. We must make the choice to do some housecleaning. 

The process of taking off and putting on isn’t always easy. It’s not perfect and sometimes it’s not pretty, but God through His infinite mercy and grace has given us a strategy. He said in 2Corinthians 10:5 that we’re to capture our rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Jesus Christ. When we think about past heartaches and pain; when we’re faced with conditions and situations that were tough; when our past tries to stake a claim on the wonderful future God has in store for us, we need to capture those thoughts of worry, angst, and doubt. Then we need to tell ourselves that those thoughts do not represent who God says we are. They don’t tell the truth about God’s promises, they don’t tell the truth about who we are in Christ or what God has given us. Therefore, they gotta go.  

Then, we replace those negative thoughts with thoughts that represent the mind of Christ. We should begin to think about all the good things God has promised and the good things He is going to bring into our lives. This is how we take those negative and sad feelings out of the driver’s seat. We are sons and daughters of the Most High God. He created us to have authority and dominion over our own lives. Feelings are too temporary and unstable to steer us into the infinite possibilities God has in store. Only Jesus Christ deserves to be Lord, and if we’ll continue to grow in our faith and trust in him, we will walk in the victory he has won for us and let the joy that he has given us be our strength. ■ 

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Taking Your Feelings Out of the Driver’s Seat” by Alexandra Copeland. Springfield Fellowship © 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.