Consider Newtons second law F=ma. Imagine you exerting a pushing force on, say, a balloon. The balloon will of course exert the same magnitude of force on you. But because the mass of the balloon is relatively small it must "compensate" by having a greater acceleration. You, having much greater...
I think what you are looking for in terms of "tying energy and force equations" is the equation of work W=F*d. Force times distance yields the unit of Joule, the unit of energy. Is this along the lines of what you are looking for?