Yesterday in the second service I was making light of "feelings". Most of what I deal with in my office everyday is people's feelings; "I don't feel in love", "I don't feel like God is with me, I can't feel him" and so on.
Feelings are great, I love when the right song is played or I am in the right mood and something definitely touches my emotions. Any speaker worth their salt should be able to move your emotions that is evident in this presidential campaign year. However, emotions are the steak sauce of life, they are something that adds flavor and zest but are not the thing that will sustain you, you can't live on steak sauce. Truth(knowledge) based on love is where we as Christians should stand our ground, it is the steak.
A cursory glance of history will show us what happens when a move of God shifts from truth to feelings. There was just a great celebration surrounding the Azusa street revival. This revival was birthed in servant prayer, seeking the Lord with all of heart, mind, soul, and strength. Pursuing Him with everything that was within them. Thousands came to know the Lord and even thousands more were impacted but then something happened there was a shift into idolatry, people began pursuing the signs, the feelings, and not the one they originally sought to bring the revival. Division began and what began also as racial healing turned into racial tension and denominations were created and reinforced along racial lines.
Every move of God that shifted from truth and the pursuit of the knowledge of God did not last. Those that continued to seek Him and did, sustained and we still have the effects of it today. If it was not for George Whitfield, the American revolution would not have happened. If it was not for Martin Luther we would not be free to read our Bibles or to worship God in truth. The Apostles were not emotion based but knowledge and truth based, however I am sure that had great emotional times as they saw many coming to Christ, with signs and wonders following. It was not what sustained them, it was knowledge of the Word and God himself.
Feelings are temporary moments of excitement and exuberance and once again I love them, I am not against them but if most of the prophets, Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah included would have gone by their feeling to follow the call of God, they never would have. You will find dozens of Scriptures talking about understanding the knowledge of God and gaining that knowledge because it is the aspect of God that sustains us long term, strengthens us and keeps us going. Feelings come and go, be blessed when you have them but understand God is calling for something deeper; knowledge of the truth of who He is, His call on our lives, and His great love for us (which is not based on feelings but instead on a decision he made to first love us)
"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" Colossians 1: 9,10
Feelings are great, enjoy them, develop them but they will not sustain you or cause growth, only knowledge of the truth and living out His love (which is a choice not an emotion) will bring true relationship with success in the Kingdom. Feelings if not couched by the knowledge of God can become an enemy, a deception, and idol. They can become something that stands against our coming into the very presence of God. We have to believe God at His Word not based on how we feel.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled" 2 Corinthians 10:4-6
Feelings are great, I love when the right song is played or I am in the right mood and something definitely touches my emotions. Any speaker worth their salt should be able to move your emotions that is evident in this presidential campaign year. However, emotions are the steak sauce of life, they are something that adds flavor and zest but are not the thing that will sustain you, you can't live on steak sauce. Truth(knowledge) based on love is where we as Christians should stand our ground, it is the steak.
A cursory glance of history will show us what happens when a move of God shifts from truth to feelings. There was just a great celebration surrounding the Azusa street revival. This revival was birthed in servant prayer, seeking the Lord with all of heart, mind, soul, and strength. Pursuing Him with everything that was within them. Thousands came to know the Lord and even thousands more were impacted but then something happened there was a shift into idolatry, people began pursuing the signs, the feelings, and not the one they originally sought to bring the revival. Division began and what began also as racial healing turned into racial tension and denominations were created and reinforced along racial lines.
Every move of God that shifted from truth and the pursuit of the knowledge of God did not last. Those that continued to seek Him and did, sustained and we still have the effects of it today. If it was not for George Whitfield, the American revolution would not have happened. If it was not for Martin Luther we would not be free to read our Bibles or to worship God in truth. The Apostles were not emotion based but knowledge and truth based, however I am sure that had great emotional times as they saw many coming to Christ, with signs and wonders following. It was not what sustained them, it was knowledge of the Word and God himself.
Feelings are temporary moments of excitement and exuberance and once again I love them, I am not against them but if most of the prophets, Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah included would have gone by their feeling to follow the call of God, they never would have. You will find dozens of Scriptures talking about understanding the knowledge of God and gaining that knowledge because it is the aspect of God that sustains us long term, strengthens us and keeps us going. Feelings come and go, be blessed when you have them but understand God is calling for something deeper; knowledge of the truth of who He is, His call on our lives, and His great love for us (which is not based on feelings but instead on a decision he made to first love us)
"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" Colossians 1: 9,10
Feelings are great, enjoy them, develop them but they will not sustain you or cause growth, only knowledge of the truth and living out His love (which is a choice not an emotion) will bring true relationship with success in the Kingdom. Feelings if not couched by the knowledge of God can become an enemy, a deception, and idol. They can become something that stands against our coming into the very presence of God. We have to believe God at His Word not based on how we feel.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled" 2 Corinthians 10:4-6
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