From Larry W. Tippets book “Receiving Personal Revelation’: (From Chapter 13)
Distinguishing Between Emotion and the Spirit. . . .
“The Spiritual part of us and the emotional part of us are so closely linked that it is possible to mistake the impulse for something Spiritual.” ~ Boyd K. Packer 10
. . . . Our Heavenly Father communicates with us through our minds and our feelings. A frequent concern of many people is the difficulty of distinguishing between their own thoughts and feelings and those that come from God. This is especially true in understanding the interplay between powerful emotions and the Spirit. “Was that strong (or subtle) feeling really from God, or was it just me?” It is something that each of us needs to wrestle with and will require time and experience. Furthermore, we should be trying to mature to the point that our own thoughts and feelings are increasingly in harmony with God’s will. Ultimately to become more like God means that we will think more like God. Hence, it may not make any difference whether our thoughts and feelings are our own or from God. He rejoices in our spiritual formation as He sees that our attitudes, feelings, and thoughts are progressively more like his. Elder David A. Bednar taught:
The process of discerning between our will and God’s will becomes less and less of a concern as time goes by and as we strive to rid ourselves of worldliness—and thereby cultivate the spirit of revelation in our lives. That is, as we mature spiritually, we begin to develop sound judgment, a refined and educated conscious, and a heart and mind filled with wisdom. It is not just that we have grown older, nor have we simply become smarter and had more experiences on which to draw, as important as those experiences are. Rather, the Holy Ghost has over time been expanding our intellect, forming our feelings, sharpening and elevating our perspective, such that we increasingly think and feel and act as the Lord would under similar circumstances. In short we have made steady progress in obtaining the “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). (” . . . Line Upon Line, Precept Upon Precept. . . ” BYU Idaho Devotional, 11 Sept 21)
In this chapter we explore ways that our personal journals can be a valuable tool to assist us in this challenge and opportunity.
Thinking and feeling are two of the most natural and all-pervasive aspects of human functioning. We might even say that conscious life consists primarily of thinking and feeling and the behavior that flows from those processes. Since the primary means by which our Heavenly Father speaks to us is through our minds and our hearts, it is critically important that we understand the powerful influence that our thoughts have in directing the course of our lives.
Behavioral scientists seek to understand the interplay between mind and heart. Thoughts and feelings almost always go together, but some experts believe that emotions flow from what we are thinking about, while others suggest that thoughts can also be a product of our feelings and resultant behavior. I believe that God speaks to each person uniquely, according to their own intellectual and emotional makeup, but I want to emphasize how frequently God chooses to speak directly to our hearts, meaning our innermost being.
A prophet of God has said, “In your emotions, the spirit and the body come closest to being one” (Boyd K. Packer, “Personal Revelation,” Ensign. September 1999, 61). That is an intriguing statement, suggesting that emotions are a powerful bridge between body and spirit. Emotions,properly understood and managed, can bless us, but they can also complicate our lives. On another occasion Elder Packer wrote: “The spirit part of us and the emotional part of us are so closely linked that it is possible to mistake an emotional impulse for something Spiritual”” (“Candle of the Lord,” Ensign January 1883, p.56). That statement gets to the heart of the confusion many people experience as they try to discern what the Holy Ghost is saying to them.
Thoughts and Feelings—Positive or Negative
One way I have learned to determine whether an emotional impression has divine roots of not is by simply noticing whether the emotional impression is positive or negative, helpful of harmful, productive or unproductive. As a general principle, positive emotions—-love, joy, peace, gratitude, happiness—tend to be productive and edifying and are encouraged by God; whereas many negative emotions—-hate, bitterness, moodiness—tend to be unproductive or even destructive and are encouraged by Satan. Of course, some negative emotions are simply a normal response to the disappointment and sorrows of mortality, and we should not think that we are being influenced by Satan as we experience them and deal with them productively. For example, parents who lose a child to premature death will be deeply sad. When a friend betrays a secret or tells lies about you, irritation or anger is a normal response. A child who has been badly hurt will not even understand her emotions; she just feels them. ~Larry W. Tippetts, Receiving Personal Revelation (Covenant Communications, Inc. American Fork, UT 2017) p.119-21 (continued)
