Faith of feelings, this has been a question burning in my heart for a week or two. I’ve been questioning which on I live my life by, do I live my life by faith in God or by my feelings. Which one do I turn to when I’m facing a situation I can’t deal with and which on helps me when I’m making choices that will affect my life. I’ve also been wondering if its ok to trust you feelings as some feelings are good but are they always right.

What’s brought this about is that I’m eight thousand miles from my family and some days my feelings are all over the place. I’ve never been one to worry about things I can’t change but I have found that I do worry about my family, this is a feeling that I’m not inclined to listen to anyway as scripture tell us that worrying can not and one day to our lives anyway. But, it has made me question if I truly put all my faith in God to watch over my life and that of the people I care about. It also says in scripture we walk but faith and not by sight which is one I keep quoting to myself of late as I believe that this season is a season which will help me in the years to come and every action I make will impact the future.

Feelings are all well and good when they are happy feelings, like joy, peace, happiness and contentment. There are some emotions that in the right season can bring healing to you like when you lose a family member its ok to cry because there is a season for everything including our emotions. I just believe that we place to much of our experience on emotions, how we feel and thats not always a good thing. I know that there is an evil at work that want to keep me from having full faith in God and His plan for my life and the quickest way for him to derail me or people in general is to confuse us with feelings. I know I have a purpose for God and He has a plan for my life and sometimes when I think about the future I get scared and wonder if I can actually do this, this fear is not coming from God because we were never given a spirit of fear but a spirit of love, peace and a sound mind.

This is why I have come to realise that I can’t live by my feelings, my feelings are controlled by my flesh and like my flesh they are sinful. My flesh lies to me all the time and try’s to stop me pursuing God to the next level by saying that I am not good enough, God doesn’t love me and that my past is to horrible to be used by God. Which I know are all lies but when I am feeling low I have a extra tough time quietening that voice, also good emotions can also cause us to stumble. When I am happy and content with my life its so easy to put the cares of this world first because things are really good, I feel at peace and I can keep my eyes away from the horizon because things are good. This is exactly the time I need to seek God more and get to enjoy His presence because I love him not because I need Him, this is the time where He strengthens me and gives me rest for the next season.

I do believe that we tend to trust our feelings because they are loud and they won’t go away, plus it’s what we are told to do in the world around us. The church has become a place where the experience is more important than the truth being preached, that we want to mix up an atmosphere where we feel God. If we truly believe in God and believe that He never leaves or forsakes us then He is with us all the while and we don’t need to whip up the atmosphere or promote the feelings of God. We need to promote the Gospel that changes us completely where we crave God more than feelings and we have faith in His written word because His word never returns empty but always accomplishes His will.

To truly live out faith in God is something He asks for, its hard because we have to surrender everything to Him and that’s uncomfortable and it hurts our flesh and especially our feelings. We have to seek God and His will for our life because that is when we are in a safe place, our feelings are going to be hurt because we have to deal with the past, our pride and learn to trust. Having trust and faith in God isn’t easy if you have been hurt, if your heart has been broken and trust someone, even God with it is hard. It’s a battle between the head and heart or Spirit and flesh, your Spirit is telling you trust God, trust Me, and your flesh is saying no look what happened last time your trust someone we got hurt.

I believe that emotions do play a big part of our life but they can’t be the deciding factor as they can lie, I believe that faith in God is the most import thing you can have. It is a choice and sometime that choice will hurt but I believe its better to be in the will of God than to be outside of it following my mixed up emotions. I believe that God is working on us all and really wants us to surrender it all to Him so we can be free from pain, this will not be an easy choice but one that I hope you make as it will change your life. If you surrender to God then everything will change because He will be the author of your story not yourself or your emotions and I think He is the best author around. I am making a commitment to surrender everything to God and to trust Him completely, its not a choice that I have made lightly but I cant wait to see where this will lead me. I pray Gods will for your life and that you can follow His plan for your life. God bless.