Dear Precious Friends,
On this most beautiful of new days, this thankful Thursday, may we live the words in this prayer. As human beings we are certainly filled with emotions and hormones too!!!
It can make our decisions and choices very difficult and as Christians we are to seek God, His Word, His Ways, His truth and His life for all our choices and especially how we live.
We are bombarded daily with triggers that affect our emotions which include life happenings...
So let's explore a little more about how we are to let the Holy Spirit lead us and not our feelings and how to discern the difference!
OF course we go to God's word for guidance since it is our absolute truth, our 100% blue print for life and the great gift God has given us for every detail we need during our life here on earth:
As believers, we’re called to live by faith. And yet so many of us choose to live by something else—our feelings. Have you ever made a decision because it simply “felt right”? Have you ever said something because it “felt like the perfect moment”? I know I have. Before I became a believer, I lived fully by feeling. My feelings informed my reactions to life and directed my every step. If a pathway wasn’t accompanied by a nice feeling, it wasn’t the one I took.
My worship time was even regulated by my feelings as well—if I felt near to God, then I had worshiped effectively and rightly.
Do you live by your feelings? Do you live in a similar way that I did? If so, we need to consider what God’s Word has to say about our feelings and what living by faith actually looks like.
DID YOU KNOW.... Your Feelings Can’t Be Trusted????
The Bible is quick to tell us that our feelings (or hearts, more accurately) can’t be trusted.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding (Prov. 3:5).
Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered (Prov. 28:26).
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jer. 17:9).
Why are our hearts deemed so untrustworthy? Two reasons: They are constantly changing and affected by sin.
Our feelings are about as certain as the sand on the beach. The sand is always being moved, pushed forward and backward by both wind and water. It’s kicked and thrown by people running across it, children building with it, and dogs digging in it. It may appear to be a solid foundation for your sandcastle, but add just a little too much water and the entire building will collapse.
Our feelings are no different than that sand. They’re easily changed by people and circumstances. One moment you could be happily reading a book in your favorite chair, and a few minutes later be angered by the trail of mud your dog just brought in. You may have felt down when you first woke up this morning, but after an invigorating run with your favorite music playlist, your day is looking a lot brighter. See how fickle our feelings are?
Our feelings can also be influenced by others. A speaker could make you feel passionate about a new social justice need. A worship leader could make you feel like God’s presence is all around you. A pastor could make you feel guilty. A friend could make you feel happy again. A salesperson could make you feel anxious that you don’t have the latest product. Our feelings are so easily influenced and changed by words, actions, and tones.
This is where we can see the folly of trusting our feelings. How can we rely on something to inform us that is always swaying? We wouldn’t take confidence in a leader if they were always second-guessing and changing the plan of action. Why would we trust your feelings any better? They aren’t certain, and they are poorly informed.
Because of the fall, our entire being is affected by sin. Our bodies decay, fail, and die, and our hearts are corrupted. Our hearts desire that which is sinful, and we must always be fighting against that. Paul himself writes about this battle we have with the flesh:
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me (Rom. 7:15–20).
SO what are we to do????
Let's learn from one of the greatest examples in scripture:
Let's Take the example of Noah.
By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith (Heb. 11:7).
Noah was living in a world of pagans who hated God and loved sin. He was building an ark because God was going to send rain—something never seen before this time. Noah was already old, and he spent many years building this ark. Do you think he felt like building it? Do you think he felt fearful of the sinful people around him—what they might think or do? Do you think he was tempted to give up or to not trust God? Probably. But he chose to live by faith in God. His faith in God propelled him forward, not his fickle feelings.
We’re faced with the same decision today, friends. We can live by our feelings or by our faith. If your faith is in Christ, it’s solid and trustworthy. Your feelings are forever shifting and influenced. Which will you look to?
In the end, it is God and His Word that should inform our feelings, not the other way around. When we are tempted to listen to your feelings or your feelings are overwhelming you, stop and look to God’s Word. Compare what you are feeling to what He says.
Do our feelings line up? Great—follow what God’s Word says. But if your feelings contradict God’s Word, you need to say “no” to them. Those are the feelings we put off and ignore. Though they may feel strong, they’re not trustworthy. God’s Word is our source and foundation. Live by it, not your feelings.
NOW THAT MY FRIENDS IS TRUTH.
AMEN!
