Pursue a new heart. It’s not enough to simply pursue a deeper knowledge of God. God wants you to ask Him to transform your heart. Rather than just seeking to learn more about God, seek to connect with God in love. Love – not just a deep knowledge of humanity’s sin and need – what was motivated Jesus to die on the cross to save the world. Love is the force God intends to motivate you to relate to Him and others faithfully. Ask God to give you a heart that’s constantly growing more loving.

Express your emotions. Don’t hesitate to release your emotions – both good and bad. You need to deal honestly with every emotion you experience. Ask God to show you how you may have been hiding your true feelings from yourself and other people. Remember that God already knows exactly how you feel at any given time, and He loves you no matter what. Talk with God often about your emotions, and ask Him to help you express them in honest and healthy ways to the people in your life.

Be passionate. Passion, which is fueled by emotions, gives you the motivation to do whatever God calls you to do and empowers you to achieve great results. Instead of serving God just out of a sense of obligation, because you know it’s the right thing to do, let your love for God fuel a sense of passion within you to serve. Passion will enable you to live a whole and healthy life – one that moves beyond drudgery and burnout, one that will help you discover joy even in the midst of pain. Passion will make it easier to obey God’s commands, because you’ll be motivated not just by what you should do, but because that’s what you really want to do. That kind of obedience will bring God’s power into your life. You can find fresh passion by: reading the Bible with a new perspective (as a story of real people feeling real emotions in their real lives in connection to a real God), engaging in vibrant prayer while walking outside in God’s creation, finding something bigger than yourself (like helping someone else in need) and pouring your heart into that effort, and letting go of attempts to control your own emotions while opening yourself up to feeling them fully.

See your emotions as your friends, not your enemies. Rather than viewing your emotions as enemies that can cause you trouble, embrace them as friends, since God designed them to empower, encourage, and strengthen you. You can trust your feelings to counsel you about the people and situations you encounter. Ask God to direct your emotions in the right way. Choose to fill your mind with what God loves (which you can discover by getting to know the Bible well) and avoid what God hates (anything that glorifies sin or celebrates evil). Use your feelings about whatever you encounter in life to help you identify what you truly believe and what you value most. Then let your emotions motivate you to act faithfully in response to them. Keep in mind that even negative emotions like anger or jealousy can help you by showing you areas in which you need to grow.