Faith vs. Feelings

‘You can feel 1,000 ways in 30 days about the same thing.’
-Joyce Meyer

So true.

Are you giving your feelings more power than they should have? Are you basing the choices you make on feelings? Do you feel overwhelmed or trapped by your feelings?

If you are, I have some news for you. You’re not alone. Been there, done that.

Problem is, living our lives according to our feelings is a risky and often potentially harmful course to set. Feelings are so fickle. The quote above illustrates that. They are, as the language reads in many event schedules, ‘subject to change’ and chances are they will prove to be misleading in the process.

Yet, we give so much credit to our feelings. It’s so easy to let feelings lead the way. But, let me suggest something else. Base the decisions you make for your life on the truths contained in this book, and…

…let faith guide you through the maze that is life here on Earth.

You will still experience difficulties. Things will still go wrong. Stuff will still happen that won’t make sense. You may still get hurt. You won’t get everything you want. Life won’t magically become perfect.

But, what will happen is you’ll find a sense of peace you’ve never known before toward the circumstances of your life. Those hard times may still come, but you’ll have the strength to face them and do so in a way you never thought possible.

You’ll still have your feelings and emotions, but you won’t be basing your life on what they tell you to do. You’ll be living by faith, not feelings.

If you never have before, I encourage you to open up this wonderful book sometime. If it’s been a while, let me encourage you to get back into it. There is so much truth in there.

Have a great day.

1 Peter 1
⁵You have faith in God, whose power will protect you until the last day. Then he will save you, just as he has always planned to do. ⁶On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many hard trials for a while. ⁷Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns. ⁸You have never seen Jesus, and you don’t see him now. But still you love him and have faith in him, and no words can tell how glad and happy ⁹you are to be saved. That’s why you have faith.

Faith, Water, and Bear Grylls

This is an interesting article about ‘Man vs. Wild’ host Bear Grylls: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/tv/features/22088-the-wild-faith-of-bear-grylls

From the article…

For Grylls, there was something about that simplicity—that purity of faith as a child that he longed to return to. “Christianity is not about religion,” Grylls says. “It’s about faith, about being held, about being forgiven. It’s about finding joy and finding home. We all want that, but nobody wants religion. Why do people turn away from faith? They’re not, they’re turning away from religion most of the time. I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t want to be forgiven or held or find peace or joy in their life. We try loads of other stuff—we think booze or foxy women or whatever will fill it—but it doesn’t fill the hole.”

He makes some great points, particularly the last sentence. It’s amazing how much we as humans turn to virtually everything except God to find completeness in this world. It’s less amazing that whenever try to ‘fill the hole’ as he puts it with those things, we’re constantly disappointed or left looking for more.

There’s a solution to this problem and a way to end this cycle, though. Read here and then take a look at the highlighted parts below.

John 4
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. 14 But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give will become in that person a flowing fountain that gives eternal life.”

I don’t know about you, but those are some very reassuring words to me. Find your completeness in Christ. Nothing else will ever do it, no matter how long or how far you look and no matter what you try to substitute it with.

Have a good day.

Where I Belong

 

Sometimes it feels like I’m watching from the outside 
Sometimes it feels like I’m breathing but am I alive 
I won’t keep searching for answers that aren’t here to find

All I know is I’m not home yet 
This is not where I belong 
Take this world and give me Jesus 
This is not where I belong

So when the walls come falling down on me 
And when I’m lost in the current of a raging sea 
I have this blessed assurance holding me.

All I know is I’m not home yet 
This is not where I belong 
Take this world and give me Jesus 
This is not where I belong

When the earth shakes I wanna be found in You 
When the lights fade I wanna be found in You

All I know is I’m not home yet 
This is not where I belong 
Take this world and give me Jesus 
This is not where I belong

 

Even Greater Things

Do you ever think, “I can’t,” or “There’s no way I could,” or similar thoughts?

If you never do, well let me just say that’s amazing. If you do though, you can be certain that just about everyone else out there has those thoughts sometimes, too.

So when you have those thoughts, what ends up happening?

Does something inside you seem to try to downplay your abilities, your potential, or convince you that you don’t deserve true joy and happiness in your life?

The bad guy is always trying to make us feel like things are out of our reach. Society will often chime right in and agree, saying, “Ha! Not a chance!”

The good news is, we don’t have to resign ourselves to those negative thoughts and those lowered expectations for our lives.

John 14
¹¹Have faith in me when I say that the Father is one with me and that I am one with the Father. Or else have faith in me simply because of the things I do. ¹²I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father.

Last I checked, Jesus did some pretty unbelievable things during the course of his life on Earth. And yet he’s telling us that not only are we able to do the same things he did, but that we WILL do them…and furthermore, that we not only can but WILL do even GREATER things? Wow.

I don’t know about you but that’s pretty inspiring to me. Talk about a motivational speech! 🙂

Hopefully these words encourage you as much as they encouraged me when I read them.

Tell the negative voices in your life – internal and external – that you have a great future ahead and that nothing is going to stop you from achieving and exceeding your goals and dreams, and being your best in the process. Then, have faith that it will happen. It will.

Have a great day.

A Simple Message

1 Peter 5
⁷God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him. 

I love this. It requires no interpretation, no in-depth analysis, no wondering about the meaning.

It’s simple: God loves you and you don’t need to worry about anything because of that.

It’s a great reminder when stress starts to build up, when things don’t add up, when stuff isn’t making the sense you’d like it to make.

It’s so simple, but it’s so powerful.

It’s also a command, not a request. So let’s do it! Let’s give our worries to God. Let’s trust Him more.

He cares about us and He knows what He’s doing. Gotta believe that. Believe that wherever you are right now, it’s exactly where you’re supposed to be. That doesn’t mean it’s where you’re meant to stay but this step in your life, whatever it might be, is supposed to be happening and it’s part of the big plan He has for you.

Have a great day.