Faith Over Feelings
Faith Over Feelings
For we walk by faith, not by sight
2 Corinthians 5:7
The above verse is a popular verse in the Christian community. It is also (or at least should be) a daily goal of ours to walk by faith and not by sight. However, many of us, including myself, do not always practice this.
Walking by faith and not by sight is obviously not as easy as it sounds. Life can be hard, especially when the storm is raging. However, even then, it is possible to walk by faith and not by sight. In fact, Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, walked on top of the raging water as the storm intensified. This is because nothing is impossible with God (Matthew 19:26). Even a mustard seed of faith can move a mountain (Matthew 17:20).
In this blog post I want to talk about how our feelings can hinder us from having faith in the Lord. Although we cannot physically see our feelings, many times we have more faith in them than we do in the Lord. Sometimes, we even idolize our feelings. Especially in today’s generation, there seems to be an obsession and idolization with anxiety and depression. I believe satan likes to mask this by making it seem like we are just becoming more aware of our feelings and breaking the stigmas of mental health by talking about it more. However, we are giving a lot of praise and worship to these feelings of sadness, sorrow, and anxiousness more than the Lord. The bible says we are to only praise and worship the Lord (Exodus 20:3).
I recently received a revelation that we can indeed idolize our feelings. I always thought idolization was reserved for things like marriage, people, music, tv shows, books, makeup, beauty, or coveting a certain lifestyle. However, I realized how the devil was deceiving me into focusing so much on my feelings that I completely started to ignore the promises of God and my faith dwindled.
But praise be to God! I went to a retreat last month that reignited my fire and reminded me how much power the Lord has given me! To speak life and feed my faith. The bible says that God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).
This is why it is important to draw close to God, whether through a retreat or simply sitting down and reading your bible. It feeds our faith instead of our fleshly feelings. Here are some spiritual and practical tools that will help you to walk by faith and not by sight -
Read your bible!!!
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17
I literally cannot say this enough. My pastor always says repetition is what makes things stick and it is true. So if you are an avid reader of my blogs you know I say this a lot, but read your bible!!! There are so many christians that do not read their bible! But then complain about the mental attacks that are coming their way, having a woe is me attitude. I’m not saying that the spiritual attacks will stop once you read your bible more often. However, you will be equipped to fight them off! Although they won’t ever completely stop, you will even find that they will subside because when we resist the devil, he flees! (James 4:7). It is so important to read our word because it literally feeds our spiritual man, while also destroying carnal and fleshly feelings that lead to sin. The bible says “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). Our feelings are no match for God’s word! Our feelings lie but His word is truth.
If you do not have a bible I recommend going to your local bookstore to find one. It is better to browse in person and see what bible best fits your wants and needs. You can choose a specific version, a study bible, a small bible if you are on the go often, etc.
Fast, Fast and then Fast some more!
Fasting is another spiritual tool that helps us to die to our flesh. Fasting is intense and powerful! My flesh hates fasting because it loves coffee, juice, sugar and carbs. However, my spirit loves fasting! My spirit is refueled, recharged and renewed after fasting and my flesh knows who is boss. Guys, we are not called to live carnal lives, but lives led by the Spirit (Romans 8:5-6). When we are constantly feeding our flesh we are only going to be deceived and led by our feelings. This is unfortunate because this leads us to sin and have fruitless lives. However, when we fast, we read more, we pray more and we are feeding our spirit and equipping ourselves to fight spiritually and not be consumed with our emotions. Fasting really puts things into perspective for us.
I recommend starting small if you have never fasted. Maybe sacrifice one or two meals or just fast for half of the day. If you are used to fasting, don’t stop! And remain sensitive to the spirit so you fast when He leads you to. If you do a Daniel fast every year keep going! If you fast one day a week do that as well! Fasting will increase your faith.
Surround yourself with godly community
I remember when my heart was hardened, I would still hang out with ungodly people. I thought that because I was christian I could hang out with the wicked and not be affected. I also thought I was strong enough to influence them. But again, I was being deceived by feelings! I was not strong enough to influence them. In fact, they were influencing me! It was not until I began to hang out with people who loved the Lord and actually lived out His word that my mindset began to change and consequently so did my actions.
Guys, do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good character (1 Corinthians 15:33). Psalm 1:1 says “blessed is the man that sitteth not in the counsel of the ungodly.” Until you are strong enough to be a witness and minister to people of the world, separate yourself. Do not be led by feelings of loneliness or fear of being left out. There are many, many people on the same journey of sanctification as you. Remove yourself from the wicked and you will see that space filled with godly friends!
I hope this blog post has helped you in more ways than one. In no way am I saying that you should ignore your feelings and be delusional. What I am saying is not to make your feelings your god. They are just feelings and we are not called to be victims or led by our feelings. We are called to be led by the Spirit of the Lord.