Work your way into a Feeling
We like to feel good, empowered,
confident, and successful, but how do we go about doing so? Is our “good”
feelings grounded in Christ or in selfishness?
We
often work our way into feelings. For example, when we pursue the Lord and seek
His presence, He may seem to hide His face for a while, but just as He did for
David, He eventually pulls back the veil and allows us to feel the warmth of
His love. But we do not often just have a “good” feeling “by chance.” The
feelings which come at us without any effort usually are discouragement, doubt,
fear, hate, pride, and the like (tools and attacks of the Enemy)—these feelings
are the type that destroy us and keep us from doing anything if we embrace
them; however, the Peace of God which comes through Jesus Christ is received as
we seek the Lord Jesus. We should study the Lord’s Word and repeat His words of
peace to ourselves until our work has become the feeling; and the sense or the
perception of His peace surrounding us.
“Good” Feelings aren’t bad, but they
are not the determiner of our success as a Christian.
In times of persecution, we must work our way
into feelings. After hard days at work and spiritual battle, we must set aside
time for the Lord, time to simply tell Him about our frustrations, meditate on
His Word, listen (to recorded or live) sermons, pray with a Christian brother,
or just cry out in brokenness.
I have
found myself, more and more, over the last few years just letting out my
problems to the Lord, pursuing Him when life gets tough—in short, casting all
my cares upon Him. Now, I’m not perfect and often struggle for a while trying
to brave things out in my own strength before I turn to Christ for my strength.
But when I do turn to Him, when I simply pause and work on spending time with
the Lord; peace, rest, and contentment eventually follow even if the situation
has not become easier.
Remember that you do work yourself into many
feelings, and you can “work your way” into the presence of God to experience
joy, peace, and contentment as you seek Him as David did. Study David’s Psalms today and notice how He pressed into the Presence
of the Lord in the Hard times and often came out feeling completely different.
