God did not create employees for a corporation or soldiers for an army. He created children for a family. That is His heart for us and our reason for being—so He could love us!

Not only that, but because we are made in God’s image and He is love, we are, in fact, wired for love. In her book, Switch On Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health, cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Caroline Leaf teaches how it has been scientifically proven that we have no circuitry for fear; fear is a learned response. We know there is no fear in love; so again we see even through our physiology how God designed us only for love (see 1 John 4:18).

There is actually a term, optimism bias, to describe the phenomenal fact that we all naturally and instinctively tend to express positive feelings, think healthy thoughts, and hope for the best. Love, hope, joy, peace—these Kingdom emotions are what we are intended to run on and anything contrary interferes with God’s perfect design. Fear, anger and unforgiveness short-circuit our systems and cause stress neurologically and biochemically as well as emotionally and spiritually.

There are so many revealing Scriptures that teach us about our mind/body/heart connection. We know we prosper and are in good health to the degree that our soul is in good health (see 1 John 3). And I especially appreciate what the Aramaic Bible in Plain English brings out of Proverbs 14:30: “He that cools his anger is a healer of his heart, and envy is the decay of the bones.”

Perhaps we have considered these to be more poetic refrains and not taken them literally, but science is finally catching up with ancient wisdom and research studies confirm their truth. The Lord let us know in no uncertain terms that negative emotions bring negative physical repercussions in our body. The empowering insight, though, is that the converse is also true—when we cool our anger, we heal our heart. When we walk in love and forgiveness and positive emotions, it has an equally transformative effect for good in our bodies as well.

God wasn’t just giving us rules for the sake of rules; He was literally giving us instructions of how best to take care of ourselves. In fact, the Hebrew word for “commandment” (mitzvah) is also translated “prescribed,” so we see how God’s commands are a prescription for us that turn on healing genes and keeps us healthy. Proverbs 19:16 puts it this way: “Keep God’s laws and you will live longer” (GNT). His laws really are for our own good!

To summarize, we can consider a simple picture: If we fill the gas tank of our car with chocolate syrup (!) we know it’s not going to fuel the engine and the car isn’t going to go anywhere. Similarly, when we fill our hearts and minds with negativity, we won’t get very far either.

The fuel of our lives is peace and faith, compassion and gratitude. We were designed first and foremost, above all else, to love and be loved. God’s love is the energy we are meant to run on, so we must practice giving and receiving it. Every moment of every day, we must learn to live loved.

Need help?

If you know God loves you, but still don’t feel it, we can help. Emotional Freedom Techniques allow you to release unhealthy emotions and experience Father’s heart – unsurpassed peace, unspeakable joy and unrelenting love.

Learn more in our book or download the training MP3s I recorded with Dr. Jim Richards. There is more! Tap into God’s peace and joy today.