REVOLUTION: ARE YOU EMOTIONALLY OVERWHELMED? Part 3

Many thoughts/statements in this article are taken/influenced from “Learning to Tell Myself the Truth” by William Backus

When we have an emotion, any emotion, it’s not something in our head only. Our entire body is involved – heart, blood vessels, muscles, lungs, skin, glands, stomach, brain chemicals – all the body’s systems are, to some extent, thrown into a different gear.

Did you know…

· Pizza - When you look at a piece of pizza on a commercial that your brain releases a chemical? It wasn’t just the pizza on TV but HOW we look at that pizza longingly. Our brains become saturated with chemicals, our bodies respond, our tongues salivate …AND we love the experience. We get a rush of the emotion associated with the pepperoni, cheese and red sauce.

· Sex – When a man sees any part of a woman with the smallest sense of emotional interest there is a firestorm of chemicals released in the brain from pure adrenaline to dopamine. Once the brain is saturated with this chemical it is very difficult to “will power” your way beyond temptation. The temptation transitional issue moves from being the image to the biological chemical that is released…it is the immediate drug of choice. So the addiction isn’t about robotic functionality but is the emotional experience.

Behavior Driven By Emotion

If emotions engage all our physiological systems and releases the firestorm of doping chemicals in our brain you can imagine then why emotions are much more overwhelming than simply being a sterile label. To say, “I am angry” doesn’t just mean that academically I am experiencing an intellectual propensity toward reaction. No, to be angry means that every part of my body and brain is radically affected to powerfully compel my reaction…to move me to an action. So to bring significant changes in our behaviors requires that we deal with deeper issues than just trying to bear “discipline” and “will power” upon our rational vision.

Questions of Reflection:

When is the last time you experienced the full throws of emotion that…

• God is radically in love with you?
• That you are relationally and martially loved?
• That you are more than a conqueror in this life?
• That you can do anything (all things) through Christ?
• That you are favored?
• That you are content?
• That you are a 40 years old woman, a bit overweight, a few wrinkles and radiantly beautiful?
• That you are a 50 year old man, making half of what you dreamed but feel deeply successful in life?

Join the Revolution! Before you commit to the 8-week challenge, you might want to check out the first teaching on the topic via video, audio or teaching script. Isn’t it time you joined a revolution?

• Video, Audio, Scripts and Exercises - http://www.mylifepointe.com/audio-and-video-teachings-from-olathe-lifepointe-church.aspx

Let me know what you think?