Over the past year or so, the Lord has taught me a lot about feelings. Through a lot of changes and just things of life, He has shown me how I’ve based so much of my life and relationship with others and God on how I feel. It’s been a slow process of walking with Jesus as He’s shown me where I’ve been wrong and of choosing (& how to choose) to listen to the truth He’s speaking into me and letting Him shift and reframe my mindset. I still don’t get it right every time, and I don’t have it all figured out by any means, but I wanted to share a few of the things God has taught me in this season:
- God is not a feeling. I so often want to get frustrated and say that I don’t feel close to God or that I don’t feel like He’s near to me, but that’s just not true. We are told countless times in scripture of God’s presence in our daily lives and that He will never leave us or forsake us (Psalm 139, Matthew 28:18-20, Deuteronomy 31:6, etc.). It’s our choice to choose to believe the Truth of God’s word - over our feelings.
- I do not worship a feeling, nor do I look to a feeling to guide me. A few months ago during my church’s worship service, I was thinking about how I wanted to worship but I didn’t “feel” it, which frustrated me. The Lord very quickly convicted me that I don’t worship a feeling. I worship God. If I’m waiting to feel a certain way to bring praise to my King then I’m worshipping my feelings and the experience I have during worship. Not Jesus. As far as guiding, feelings make a terrible guide. God’s word says the heart is deceptive above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). There’s nothing wrong with having feelings and processing them with the Lord, but if we base our life and our decisions on them, we will quickly be led astray and down a wrong path. As believers, we look to God’s word and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in Truth.
- Faith is not a feeling. It’s our choice to choose Jesus and to follow Him. It’s our choice to choose to believe the Truth of the gospel. It’s not about everything going the way we thought it would and having all the warm-fuzzies. It’s choosing to remain firm and confident in the gospel and the decision you made to trust and follow Jesus - knowing the hope and joy set before you.
- Being obedient and faithful to the Lord isn't about feeling a certain way or again, not about warm-fuzzies or that feel good feeling we love to feel. It's dangerous for us to wait for a feeling or to seek that above seeking God. You're not going to "feel it" all the time, but you get to choose to do what the Lord is asking of you anyways; which is actually a pretty sweet thing. You will find that Jesus is better than any feeling you could feel. It is better to choose Him and to seek Him; He is the One we worship and love, not our feelings.
- Peace (and joy, comfort, etc.) are not feelings. The second I start to base peace on how I feel, I'm anxious. I try to control and manipulate situations or relationships to go smoothly so that I can "still have peace." But that's not peace. The reality is that peace comes from knowing Jesus and knowing Truth; which cannot be changed.
I think there’s much more that can be said about feelings, but I felt led to share a few of these things as the Lord has been patiently teaching me along the way.
Let's stop basing our faith on feelings when it was meant to stand on Truth.
