God gave humans emotions to prompt us to do something. And since God says that all of the commandments hang upon loving God and loving others (Mat 22:37-39), I know that emotions help us live in healthy relationships and stay connected to God and others.
Emotions are a good gift from God. He is the one who created us to be feeling creatures. Our wise creator embedded emotions in our humanity to serve a useful purpose in our lives. Just as our minds enable us to think and our wills enable us to choose, so our emotions enable us to respond.
The Bible's Take on Emotions
First, the Bible states that any emotion (happiness, sorrow, worry) should be brought in prayer to God, as stated in Philippians 4:6-7, for bringing our concerns to God allows His peace and guidance to come to us.
Emotions are a gift because they exist to tell us something. They point out the parts of our lives that need attention. These emotional gifts can help us fix what is wrong and find fulfillment in life – if we know how to listen. Our culture often tells us that certain emotions are frowned upon and must be suppressed.
God speaks through impressions in our emotions.
Keep in mind that the thoughts God has towards people are always thoughts of love, grace, protection, joy, conviction (not condemnation or shame), forgiveness, mercy, comfort, etc.
What's at stake in human emotion is the glory of God. If we don't delight in him, we dishonor him. That's why we perish if we don't cherish him above all. That's why God commands us over and over to delight in God, and be glad in God, and rejoice in God.
Psalm 34:15, 17-19, says, “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry. The righteous cry, and the LORD HEARS and delivers them out of ALL their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
We form our feelings from a combination of unique sensory input and the brain's best predictions. What is this? The theory is that the brain doesn't just spontaneously create emotions per the situation. Rather, the source of emotions is in each person's individual experiences.
Existing work posits that emotions are innately programmed in the brain's subcortical circuits. As a result, emotions are often treated as different from cognitive states of consciousness, such as those related to the perception of external stimuli.
Identify your emotions, then choose to trust what God says
Listen to your thoughts and your emotions. Then, when you notice you aren't trusting God in an area of your life, ask God to help you trust his Word. Instead of believing your emotions, choose to believe what the Bible says.
To love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is the most important commandment (Mark 12:30). We love God when we let him into our anger, happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, and surprise. We worship God with our emotions when we cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
Because God loves you, you can show your trust in Him by talking about all your feelings and circumstances with Him — the good and hard — through prayer. Don't let your emotions rule your life; bring them to God so He can help you address them.
To manage our emotions in a biblical way, we need to stop ruminating on sinful thoughts and meditate on the truth of God's Word. “Whatever is true . . . think about these things . . . and the peace of God will be with you” (Phil. 4:8–9).
/ˌɡɒdz ˈɡɪft/ If you say that someone thinks they are God's gift (to someone or something), you mean that that person believes that they are better than anyone else: He thinks he's God's gift to women (= he thinks he is extremely attractive to women). Want to learn more?
And yes, emotions are created by our brain. It is the way our brain gives meaning to bodily sensations based on past experience. Different core networks all contribute at different levels to feelings such as happiness, surprise, sadness, and anger.
Emotions arise from activations of specialized neuronal populations in several parts of the cerebral cortex, notably the anterior cingulate, insula, ventromedial prefrontal, and subcortical structures, such as the amygdala, ventral striatum, putamen, caudate nucleus, and ventral tegmental area.
While emotions start as sensations in the body, feelings are generated from our thoughts about those emotions. Or in other words, feelings are how we interpret emotions and let them sink in. We use the word, "feel," for both physical and emotional states.
These emotions include love, hope, joy, forgiveness, compassion, trust, gratitude and awe.
The New Testament features, in varying degrees of prominence, a number of attitudinal phenomena that in modern parlance would be called emotions and the practices in which emotions are expressed: joy and rejoicing, gratitude and thanksgiving, remorse (grief) or regret and repentance, compassion, anger, fear, sorrow, ...
They include sadness, happiness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust.
Tears, I believe, are a gift from God to cleanse, heal, and allow us to humble ourselves to the Lord. Tears can draw us closer to God during our trials and tribulations. See how you will learn how to allow the Holy Spirit to get you through trials and tribulations.
Research has found that in addition to being self-soothing, shedding emotional tears releases oxytocin and endorphins. These chemicals make people feel good and may also ease both physical and emotional pain. In this way, crying can help reduce pain and promote a sense of well-being.
Certainly the Spirit of the Lord can bring strong emotional feelings, including tears, but that outward manifestation ought not to be confused with the presence of the Spirit itself” (in Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service [2004], 99).