Wake Up, Look Up

[Music]

hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach

wrock and in today's episode we're

asking the question can you handle you

this is based on a book that's getting

ready to come out by Ethan cross called

shift and it's a book about handling

your own emotions which I have to be

honest with you most of us are not

really good at and I'm talking about

myself here as well one of the things

cross points to in his book is that in a

2015 study uh we find that 90% of the

time you and I are dealing with a major

dominant emotion 90% of the time there

is a big feeling that is happening in me

and happening in you whether we're aware

of it or not and that's interesting

because 40% of Americans believe you

cannot control your emotions think think

about that that means 90% of the time

I'm dealing with something that 40% of

you think is impossible to deal with

which means as much as I like to think

of myself as independent and

freethinking and autonomous I'm really

just driven by whatever emotion I'm

feeling in the mo in the moment and

cross has written his book to help

people deal with that he he uses an

approach called distanced selft Talk

which is basically the idea that I need

to learn to speak about myself to myself

like instead of saying I feel angry I

say you are angry that somehow by

stepping outside of myself I can get

perspective I don't know if that works

or not but it does make me think about

what the Bible says and listen the Bible

has a lot to say about emotions uh

because God knows who we are he knows

that we're struggling I think of a

recent survey at the church where I work

that said that 20% of the men in our

church would identify their anger as the

number one problem facing them and their

family God knows we struggle with

emotions which is why he said a lot

about it but I don't want to teach you

distanced selft talk instead I want to

say the Bible for thousands of years has

been telling you that the right and best

way to deal with your emotions is in

prayer there's a great quote by John

Calvin that I love and he says this

prayer changes us it doesn't change God

there's nothing we go to God and ask him

to do that is good that he isn't already

inclined to do even when God gives us a

no it's because he's got something

better for us he is infinitely good

infinitely wise infinitely just we don't

pray to move the hand of God we pray so

that God's hand might move us it's

aligning ourselves with the heart of God

this is what Paul means by the way in

Philippians 4 when he tells us that when

we're dealing with anxiety we should go

to God in prayer and then he says that

God's peace which passes understanding

Will Comfort us but you got to notice

the order of operations he says when

you're feeling anxious that's an

acknowledgement of at least one big

emotion you need to go to God In Prayer

you need to tell God I feel anxious and

you get the peace from God not magically

but by realizing in that God loves you

enough to hear your big emotions that

God loves you enough to actually talk

about your negative feelings for some of

us it might produce shame to go to God

and admit we're worried because worry is

a kind of a lack of faith but God knows

that and God tells us to bring it and

when we bring it and leave it with him

we walk away with peace knowing there's

a God who loves us even though we're

dealing with anxiety by the way Jesus

modeled this

in Luke 22 when he's facing his own

death and The Crucible of his torture

and his resurrection he prays he prays

he goes to God with his concern and if

Jesus dealt with emotions that were so

big he needed to take them to God then

what does that mean for those of us who

are squarely in the not Jesus category

listen Isaiah 26:3 has this beautiful

line about the peace that comes from

knowing

that that God will help you with your

problems that all those who look to God

are at rest because he will handle it

listen friends the path forward in your

emotions is not to swallow them or to

muscle your way through them or to stop

paying attention and just distract

yourself with doom scrolling or

netflixing the answer is to go to God In

Prayer what if prayer is not as much a

duty not as much a religious ritual as

much as it is going to the person who

loves you most and best and just

unburdening your heart and believing

that not only does he love you not only

does he want to hear about it but he

actually can help 90% of the time you're

dealing with an emotion that is too big

for you maybe the four out of 10 people

who think we can't control them are

right but even if they are we know

someone who can help so why would we

wait any longer to go to him and pray

hey thanks so much for watching this

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