Emotionalism

Some say Pentecostalism is full of emotionalism. They contend that dancing before the Lord, exuberant worship, leaping, and just plain "gettin wit it" is all based on emotion, and not the leading of the Holy Spirit. To be quite honest, I would say they are mostly right.

Let me build a bit of a foundation.

A story is told  of a wife coming down the stairs with her suitcase in hand. Her husband of almost 30 years is sitting in his Lazy-Boy watching the game. "I'm leaving you Bruce!" Bruce barely turns his head towards her. "Why's that Linda?" "Because you never tell me you love me any more!" Bruce straightened his chair to the upright position, looked toward Linda and said, "30 years ago, at our wedding, I looked at you and told you I loved you! If I had changed my mind, I'm sure I woulda let you know!"

So let me ask you; how would your wife act if you stopped telling her I love you? How would she act if the passion was dimmed, and the emotions ran dry? According to psychologists' women need to be touched 20 times a day. How would your lovely wife react if you never touched her? How would your bride respond if you decided to leave the emotions at the proverbial door?

We, as the church are also, the Bride of Christ. He surely has proven his love for us daily through the death of Christ. Daily, he allows us new breath and new opportunities. If he didn't do any of these things, I would say he deserves no reward of emotion. However, he did! He deserves us to love on him.

Do you think it was the Spirit of God possessing King David when he danced? Do you think it was the Holy Spirit taking control of him? I see no proof of that. Rather he proved himself to be exuberant in spite of his internal struggles. He understood that if you do the deed, the feelings will follow.

Luke 6:26 does not implore us to Leap because of joy, rather to leap in order to receive joy. Do the deed and the feeling will follow. 

Does the Bible ask us to dance for joy, no. However, it seems to me David gave us a strong example, and when you couple that with Luke 6, we can now build upon it.

You may call me an emotionalist, and to that I say... Yep! I am so terribly emotional about what God has done, and is doing in and through me, that I can't help but leap, dance, and run. You may call me an emotionalist,  but that's ok with me.