By your patience possess your souls. Luke 21:19 (NKJV)

Our soul is made up of our mind, will, and emotions. It’s been said that our mind is our thinker, our will is our chooser and our emotion is our feeler. So, how do we possess and protect our soul? By what we think and choose. And what we think and choose will impact what we feel.

If we are not diligent in this, we can think our way right into a fit, letting our emotions get upset. The way we take control of emotions is by our thoughts and words. When our emotions feel upset, we need to check our thoughts. What have we been dwelling on? When we identify wrong thoughts, we can cast them down by telling them to go, and then by speaking God’s Word.

Wer can hold onto our peace by choosing right thoughts, and then using right words.. Meditating on God’s Word and saying it with our mouths is how we control our feelings. Yes, we will have emotions we don’t like, but we don’t have to let them get the best of us. Instead we can choose to let our spirit rule over our soul. The proper alignment for the three-part man is:

• The spirit man is king, getting direction from the Holy Spirit and ruling over the whole person.

• The soul man is the servant, doing the will of the spirit and directing the physical body to get in line.

• The body/ physical man is the slave, with no option but to obey the soul, which is ruled by the spirit.

A king rules, a servant serves, and a slave obeys. As the spirit directs our thinking to line up with Word of God, we think on good things. As a result, we have good emotions.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)

This verse tells us the right things to think on in order to have good feelings. As we think right, we will speak right. As we speak right, we will feel right. As we feel right, we will respond right. However, if we choose to think negative thoughts about ourselves, our circumstances and other people, bitter emotions will follow. Consider this: a harsh, hard attitude is simply the result of continuously bad, unforgiving, and pessimistic thinking and talking.

God’s will is for us to have happy, healthy, stable emotions. When we think on the right things, the right emotions will follow. It’s simple, really.