One feeling that is important…

God keeps blessing our move with things unplanned, goodness unexpected. Every day brings a new surprise. I keep thinking that faith in God and His goodness opens like a flower to release the fragrance of His love.

Today’s devotional speaks again about what God expects of me and how that is based on the  assured knowledge of my reconciliation with God. I know that God wants me to serve Him as an heir, not as a servant, yet I am His, like a slave belongs to his owner, not working for wages as the reading suggests, but as one released from bondage and staying on as a servant to my new Master. I am more than that; I am also His child and His heir. Being a Christian is multifaceted with greater definition than one comparison… just as God Himself cannot be described by one metaphor.

The devotional writer seems to think that all readers have doubts about their faith and the eventual outcome of that faith. While the reading says “the assurance of faith is the only normal condition of a child of God” and it “comes simply by believing God” rather than relying on feelings, my assurance of faith is a solid matter after fifty years of reading His Word. From what God says, I know this:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)

And I have known it from day one. As for feelings, the song says, ‘the joy of the Lord is my strength” and that joy is so distinct and different from human ‘happiness’ because it does not depend on circumstances. For that reason, joy has become the only feeling that I do rely on. In other words, if His joy is missing, then I’m not filled with His Spirit for joy is the Spirit’s fruit. When joy is missing, I  have some praying to do, including confession of all sin including doubt. Joy is one feeling that assures me that my life is on His path and I’m not doing my own thing.

This is not about the feelings warned about in the reading. The author points out that Scripture never says, “He who feels has …” and states that feelings are no guide whatsoever in our assurance of faith, adding that in all matters regarding facts it is folly to depend on feelings. We must rely on faith, on whether something is true or not.

That statement “assurance of faith” cannot be answered by feelings anyway, because faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith does not consist of a convincing feeling because it is its own assurance… a ‘knowing’ that comes from believing what God says, of realizing and agreeing that His word is true, and nothing but facts. If I doubt that, then I have sin to confess — and my feelings of joy are missing.

I cannot disregard joy. It is the only ‘state of my feelings’ that gives me a clue about what is going on in my spiritual life. God gave me Himself and His wisdom. My goal is to know Him and His will. Joy tells me that I am in the right path. Other emotions may come and go. Some of them are okay, like righteous anger, spiritual sorrow, etc., and others need to be confessed as fleshy and of no consequence at all except to indicate I’m walking in the flesh. Mere human feelings have no power to ruin my assurance, only to reveal that I’ve wandered off God’s path.

PRAY: Lord, You have brought me to a far different attitude toward feelings than ‘don’t trust them’ as I can now see how just one ‘feeling’ can inform how my walk with You is going. Joy, or the lack of joy, tells me much about what I need to do. It also gives me strength for the tasks ahead — and today that task involves a whole bunch of boxes.

Trusting in what I cannot see… yet!

The hurricane in south USA brought anxiety to my heart. Not only feeling angst for the many people who lost everything, and for those who lost family members, but also one of our adult children lives close to the places that were destroyed. She didn’t call right away, and although I was praying for her and others in that dire situation, I had no affirmation that she was okay, only trusting God that it was so.

Eventually we communicated. Other things were happening in her life but that unreal storm missed her and her family by a couple hours. She knows people who lost everything, and like me, is devastated by this never-before horrendous event.

Today’s devotional reading is about wanting to know what is going on with evidence — in contrast to trusting God when we do not know what is going on. I have a friend that often says that she needs an affirmation to supplement her faith, and finds it hard to trust God when she does not see something happening in regard to her prayers. I’ve questioned that sort of ‘faith’ yet it happens to me too.

The devotional describes this as human thinking. We tend to require some evidence before believing something God says will happen. Even a good feeling about it helps, but something visual is better, or something like a phone call from a family member who could be in danger. I tend to want a strong feeling that something will be okay, a feeling that seems strong and is supposedly reliable. This translates to wanting an affirmation so I can see before I believe that God is answering my prayers. However, this is not the way of faith.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is described much like something my mother wrote in the back of her Bible: “God said it, I believe it. That settles it.”

I often cannot see what God is doing, but if He makes a promise or any statement about something, my faith cannot be in seeing it happen, but in the reality that God said it would happen. Consider this well-known verse:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Do I mope about waiting until I die to see if I have eternal life before I can believe it? Obviously if I did that, then my faith was not in what the Word of God says, but in the evidence before my eyes. That would not only be foolish, it would be too late then to believe, and is not a walk of faith in this life either.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
… for we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

The facts are whatever God says. He tells me to believe in Christ and I will live eternally. I cannot base my faith on any affirmation, for the affirmation comes with a caveat — faith comes first, not after it. This applies to now, everyday life, not just after I die.

The sad part is that no matter how many times God affirms that He will take care of something, looking for proof or evidence that He will do it is a mere demonstration that I am not taking Him at His Word, not believing Him at all. Such “faith” is not faith but unbelief, and not only that, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)

PRAY: Jesus, I know that You love me because You say so. Even though the evidence is Calvary, this is not about my feelings or even about what I can see. There are days when I don’t feel loved and it seems nothing is happening to prove it. But Your Word is enough. Today I am tired, and for that problem, You give me this promise:

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:29–31)

And You ask me to move ahead in faith that You will do it rather than sitting here waiting for it to happen before I believe You. I’m aware that You want me to move into this day, faint, weary, even exhausted, but trusting You to give me what I need before I see it happen. Again, a timely truth and another test of faith…