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Jesus Wants to Shepherd Your Emotions: Deep Dive with Dan & Sheila · Growing Closer to God with Guided Meditation

• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine the most emotionally stable, spiritually mature person you know.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Picture them in a moment of intense crushing pressure.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Are they openly weaving?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: Probably not.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Are they visibly exhausted, maybe sighing heavily, or sweating in absolute sheer terror?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Again, probably not.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: We tend to equate holiness and maturity with this sort of um emotional flatlining.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we really do.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: We think if we are truly mature, well, nothing really rattles us.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: But today's source material proves that assumption is completely structurally wrong.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome everyone.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Dan, and alongside me is Sheila, and we are Pastor Young's AI co-hosts.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: Hi, everyone, and today we are continuing our ongoing exploration into the emotional life of Jesus.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: We are.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: We're doing a deep dive into a text called How Jesus Forms Our Emotional Life by Pastor Robert Young.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: And our mission today is to uncover what Pastor Young terms emotional discipleship.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: Which is a fascinating concept.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: And let's just be really clear up front here.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: This isn't about, you know, learning how to suppress your feelings better or being tightly controlled.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's not behavior modification.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: No, not at all.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's about allowing Jesus to essentially shepherd the inner world.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because to understand how Jesus leads our emotions, we first have to shatter this massive illusion that he didn't actually have any.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the myth of the Stoic Savior.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: We have to move from just the theory of emotional discipleship to looking at the actual documented emotional life of Jesus.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron Powell Right.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because we subconsciously filter spiritual growth through historical philosophies like Greek Stoicism, where detachment is basically the ultimate goal.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell And the assumption there is that strong feelings are a sign of weakness or maybe a lack of faith.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: But the text entirely upends that it points out that Jesus is radically, vividly emotionally alive.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: He's not detached at all.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: The source material gives some very specific examples that we um we usually just read right past.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like it notes that Jesus doesn't just shed a single dignified tear.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: He weeps loudly over his friend Lazarus.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron Ross Powell Loudly.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: And again over the city of Jerusalem.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And he feels anger, but it's this unique anger mixed with grief at the sight of injustice.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: He experiences deep exhaustion, physically sighing deeply in his spirit.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: He even expresses actual astonishment at the faith and the unbelief of the people around him.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, on the cross, he feels profound, crushing loneliness.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: So because Jesus feels so deeply, the implication is that our emotions are not the enemy.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: They aren't inherent flaws that we need to suppress.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron Ross Powell Right.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: They are actually profound, God-given signals.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: They reveal what we love, what we fear, what we truly value.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell Okay, let's unpack this a bit.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like emotions are essentially the check engine lights on our car dashboard.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a great way to put it.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're signals giving us vital information about what's happening under the hood.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: A check engine light isn't a sign that the car is inherently defective.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's a diagnostic tool.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: But that pushes the conversation forward because how are we actually supposed to react when that light comes on?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: When the dashboard is flashing blinding red, human instinct is to either panic or just like put a piece of black tape over it.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we don't have to look at it.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: But the source text points us directly to the Garden of Gethsemane as the ultimate model for processing those signals.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell The Gethsemane model.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: And we don't need to rehash the historical narrative of Gethsemane since we generally know the setting, but look at the actual spiritual mechanics of what Jesus does there.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell He starts by naming his emotions truthfully, right?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: He doesn't minimize them.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: He tells his friends and the father, and the text highlights this direct quote my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: There is zero pretense there.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: He strips away all the spiritualized language.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron Powell He really does.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: He brings these raw feelings into conversation with God.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: He prays his emotions rather than praying around them.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: That distinction is so important, praying the emotion itself.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: Pastor Young breaks down his specific prayer, and it's basically a blueprint.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: First, Jesus says, if it is possible, that phrase exposes his unvarnished desire.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, his desire.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Then he says, Let this cut pass.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: That shows his raw honesty about his dread.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: And he concludes with, yet not my will.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Which is his ultimate surrender.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: The sequence is everything.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: Desire, then honesty, then surrender.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: But let me play devil's advocate for a second, because I know the friction this creates for you listening right now.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: Isn't it a bit, I don't know, self-indulgent or dramatic to drill so much on how we feel.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's a common pushback, but the text counters that naming your emotions isn't traumatization, it is truthful communion.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Truthful communion.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot surrender what you refuse to acknowledge.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: If you're pretending you aren't terrified, you physically cannot give that terror to God.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're hiding it.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Honesty is the literal doorway to healing.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus didn't pretend he wanted to go to the cross, he stated his dread and then submitted.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: I want to dive into what we do next with that honesty, but let's take a very quick break in our deep dive right here.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: Sounds good.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: We want to remind you to follow up on today's topic with the Monday to Friday daily devotions.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: They are incredibly helpful for putting this into practice.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: And remember, you can always contact Pastor Young by clicking the links in the description box below.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: We'd love to hear from you.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus feels deeply, but he responds wisely.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: He never once reacts impulsively.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Here's where it gets really interesting.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's like treating our emotions as consultants.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: Consultants, yes, I love that phrasing.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: We want to sit through their presentation.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: We want to hear their data about the fear or the anger.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: But we absolutely do not let them sit in the CEO's chair to make the final executive decision.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: The text affirms us entirely.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: Emotions are invitations, not dictators.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: They are meant to be teachers, not tyrants.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Which is why the contrasts the text provides are so sharp.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: They are.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: Look at how Jesus processes the consultant's data.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: His anger leads to healing, not to punitive harm.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Right, like healing the man with the withered hand.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: His grief leads to compassion, not despair.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: His physical exhaustion leads to rest, not withdrawal.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: His loneliness leads to prayer, not bitterness.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: He listens to the data without being controlled by it.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: To do that, the text provides four discerning questions we must pause and ask ourselves.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: First, what is this emotion telling me?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: Second, what is the lie beneath it?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Third, what is the truth Jesus is inviting me into?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: And fourth, what is the wise, loving response?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: Let's ground that for you listening.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine you're in the middle of a massive conflict at work.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: You're vibrating with anxiety and defensiveness.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: We've all been there.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: So you stop and ask, what is the lie beneath this feeling?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you might realize the core lie is my entire identity and worth are tied to winning this argument.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: And if I lose, I am unsafe.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Just identifying that lie diffuses half the panic right there.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: It exposes the false narrative so you can replace it with the truth.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: But eventually the consultant finishes the presentation.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: The questions are answered, the lie is exposed.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: But we are still left with the actual situation.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: So what is the final step in the process?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: The ultimate goal is surrender.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: The climax of emotional discipleship is not my will, but yours be done.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: But crucially, the text says Jesus does not deny his emotions, and he doesn't obey instead of feeling.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: He obeys through feeling.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: So what does this all mean for us practically?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: How is obeying through feeling different from just suppressing what you feel, gritting your teeth, and doing the right thing anyway?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, think of suppression like trying to hold a fully inflated beach ball underwater.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's exhausting.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: It requires a massive, continuous expenditure of your willpower.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: You are forcing the emotion out of sight, but the pressure is building.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually your arms get tired.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: And that beach ball violently explodes to the surface.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: It usually mutates into resentment or severe burnout.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because suppression ignores the heart completely.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: You're just white knuckling it.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: Surrender, on the other hand, is like letting the beach ball float on the surface of the water.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: You acknowledge it's there.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: You see it, you feel it, but you aren't fighting it anymore.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: Surrender brings the fully felt heart under God's gentle leadership.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's emotional alignment rather than suppression.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: That turns emotional chaos into emotional peace.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Staggering difference in posture there.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: But rewriting our internal physics like this, it doesn't happen overnight.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: No, emotional formation isn't instant.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: It requires a rhythm of life.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Which brings us heavily to the how.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: The source material focuses on actionable, daily rhythms to actually implement this emotional discipleship in your life.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: Because we can't expect to have the emotional resilience of Jesus in our darkest moments if we aren't practicing his daily habits in our mundane moments.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Spot on.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: The text outlines several specific practices.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start with solitude, withdrawing to quiet places to process with the Father.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: Which is terrifying in our modern context.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: We are addicted to noise because noise distracts us from the dashboard lights.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Solitude forces you to sit with the feelings you've been outrunning all day.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: The second rhythm is community.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: It seems paradoxical to follow solitude with community, but Jesus modeled both.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: He invited close friends into his emotional world, Peter, James, and John.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: Even when they failed him and fell asleep in Gethsemane, he still wanted them there.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: Emotional discipleship is not a solo endeavor.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Next is scripture, but anchoring emotions in truth, saying it is written.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: Right, providing a fixed point of reality outside of your current emotional storm.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: But what anchors you when the sorrow is just too heavy, this is the one I want to lean into.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Lament.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's a practice often totally ignored in modern culture.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: We view sadness as a problem to be medicated or solved.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: So how does treating lament as a structured daily or weekly practice actually shift our perspective on our own sadness?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: Lament perfectly bridges the gap between feeling deeply and praying honestly.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: It is a highly structured practice of crying out to God.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Expressing sorrow honestly and biblically.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: Giving your sadness a language and a sanctuary, it stops being a failure of faith and becomes a holy experience.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: It gives you permission to be broken.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: And we see that healing supported by the next rhythm, which is rest.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Honoring our emotional and physical limits.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus literally slept in a boat during a storm.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: You cannot spiritually bypass your physical limitations.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: Embracing rhythms of renewal is an act of humility.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: And all of these solitude, community, scripture lament rests, they culminate in surrender, continually yielding the emotional life to the Father's will.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: To bring this full circle, when Jesus forms our emotional life through these rhythms, it produces incredible fruit.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: We stop numbing, we become more present.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: We become more compassionate because we feel with others rather than judging them.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: We become more courageous, more self-aware of our triggers.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: We become more spirit-led.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, our emotional world mirrors Christ's.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's a total transformation.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: As we wrap up this deep dive, I want to leave you with a final provocative thought to mull over this week.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, let's hear it.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: If Jesus, who was literally perfect, needed practices like solitude, deep community, and lament to process his emotions.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Why do we so often think we should just be able to handle it on our own?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: That hits hard.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: What would happen if this week you treated your next difficult emotion as a sacred invitation to encounter God rather than a problem you need to quickly solve?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: A beautiful invitation to walk into.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Something to really think about.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for joining us on this deep dive.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: We will see you next time.