The emotional believer tends to trust their feelings more than the facts presented to them. This individual “over-feels” and places their faith in their emotions rather than in the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Faith is not a walk of feelings; however, feelings anchored in faith must be expressed for us to maintain a healthy relationship with God and others. Not all feelings are inherently wrong, but we encounter an issue when our feelings contradict the truth. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Feelings are all the way through the Bible, and none of us are exempt from them except in rare cases. The best way to describe those who live by their emotions is the carnal believer—they think like mere natural people when, in essence, we are meant to be spiritual people. “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

So where does the problem begin? The problem begins when you believe your feelings judiciously, without question or doubt. Therefore, the emotional rollercoaster continues to go up and down in your life. “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8).

There’s plenty to say about how people feel, but Scripture clearly indicates that whenever someone fails to emotionally regulate, they often find themselves in situations that they sometimes can’t escape from.

For instance, Moses killed a man because he couldn’t manage his emotions (Exodus 2:11-12). Then there’s the person who feels fearful or anxious constantly and lacks peace of mind—this is evident with Martha. Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.” (Luke 10:41). You don’t have to be.

The Bible is full of verses that talk about sensuality, impulses, desires, and delusions that take us out of the will of God and make void the Word of God. “That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.” (Ephesians 4:14).