Dear Precious Friends,
On this beautiful Saturday Morning, we take a moment as we wake up to thank our Lord for giving us a new day, knowing He has us here for a purpose and centering ourselves in His word for truth that fills and feeds our spirit.
It is tough being human... our feelings often take over. It should be obvious that Scripture calls us to be a people who feel what we believe, who not only know truth but experience it. There is an order to this. Our feelings and emotions must be governed and guided by truth. We are to fear the Lord, hate evil, love the truth, mourn over sin and injustice, and rejoice in our sufferings. These are not naked commands but precepts given by God in light of who He is and what He has done. We are supposed to feel the weight and the power of the truth revealed in Scripture. Theology should do more than inform us—it should warm and stir our hearts. And if it doesn’t, then we have missed the connection that God’s revelation is designed to make between head and heart.
The key is not to pursue feelings themselves but to pursue the Lord Jesus Christ by looking to Him, knowing His ways, pondering His promises, and obeying His commands. Faith is what gives birth to feeling. The emotional component of the Christian life isn’t always as present as we would like. It often lags behind. as the English Reformer John Bradford said, “Faith must first go before, and then feeling will follow.”
Consider how often we find ourselves afraid when we face the unknown or the dangerous. When we run up against the fragility of life or the potential of loss, anxiety and fear are right beside us, working their way into our hearts. This is precisely when God calls us to “fear not.” yet the hope for relief from fear is not found in ignoring what lies ahead, but in looking to the God whose sovereignty is certain and whose promises are sure. It is when we seek the Lord and ground our faith in Him that our fears are overcome (Ps. 34:4). The trouble itself may not disappear, but the knowledge of God conquers what makes us afraid. His love for us, demonstrated in His adoption of us in Jesus Christ, is just one of the truths that replaces fear with comfort and confidence (Rom. 8:15).
Pain and suffering are not only common to all, but for the Christian, they are to be expected as a consequence of following Jesus. We know the feeling of dread that can accompany severe trials.
But the lifting of our heads and the courage of faith is tied to God’s character and promise. We know that He is “near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Ps. 34:18). We can cast all our anxieties on Him because we are assured that He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).
Our Faith always leads us to the Father, Feelings must be "governed by His truth".
Here are some scriptures to meditate on:
To achieve victory, we must live by faith .
For we walk by faith, not by sight(2 Corinthians 5:7).
We are warned to walk by faith, not by our emotions. Walking by sight is not limited to just our eyesight; it also includes our other physical senses.
We must not be moved by what we see, but by the Word of God.
For we walk by faith not by sight or appearance (2 Corinthians 5:7, AMPC).
We cannot trust our emotions to lead us, because emotions can change. They can swing wildly from one direction to another, based on our senses.
We must base our lives on God’s unchanging Word, not on our fluctuating emotions.
Our faith, not our emotions, gives us victory. Controlled emotions equal spiritual maturity.
For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith (1 John 5:4).
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).
Only then will God’s ways, higher than our own (Isa 55:9), truly begin to look as lovely as they are. The mind is renewed by intention and feeding it the truth.
Proverbs 28:26
Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Our thoughts create our feelings, our feelings create our actions. I pray our thoughts are filled with God's truth so we feel the power of the Holy Spirit taking over and leading us in truth.
AMEN!!!
