Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Is Your Faith More than Just a Feeling?


But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.  They said to you, "in the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." It is those who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.  But you beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
Jude 1:17-21

Is Your Faith More than Just a Feeling?

I sometimes wonder why aspects of our faith has seasons.  Why is it that in some seasons you can feel the hand of God so firmly on your life, you can hear his voice speaking boldly, and you feel surrounded by His peace and presence; and then in other seasons it feels as if God has lifted His hand from us, and gone silent?

I went through an amazing season of feeling God so strongly in my life and then this past week it felt as if He disappeared.  I cried out to God, pleaded for a response and yet it felt that struggle after struggle occurred and God was no where to be found.  He went silent and I kept crying, kept seeking Him, kept pleading for His presence....and then He spoke.

I felt a gentle nudging to go for a run tonight (my runs are usually when God speaks to me most), I begrudgingly put on my shoes, grabbed my prayer mix, and started running....He spoke to me, words so sweet, so strong, "I am here--I will never leave you or forsake you, I am not gone."

I just wanted to share this because often we feel that God lifts his hand from us because of something we did wrong or because of a sin we have in our lives and while these are both reasons for why we can feel an absence from God's presence, it is not the only reason.  Sometimes God simply wants to know if our Faith is more than just a feeling.

Faith has to be in the midst of the chaos and the adversity.  When we face our greatest fears, our biggest disappointments, and our hardest falls---when our emotions tell us to give up or give in---is our faith greater than our emotions?  Faith has to be the driving force that says, "I keep going, I keep running the race."

Has God placed a desire deep into your heart?  A passion that overwhelms your soul?
You become so excited, confident, and overwhelmed to live those desires and passions out but it seems that obstacle after obstacle occurs, or that someone has torn you down or discouraged you from what you know to be true. You begin to question if what you felt and believed was truly from God.

God sometimes goes quiet in our lives because He wants to know if we still hear His voice the strongest even when the voices of those around scream loudly inside our heads.  He is teaching us, preparing us, working in us, so that we are not so easy to give up on what He has spoken into us.  He is building the foundation of our faith to be unshakable.

Is your Faith more than an emotion?
Do you still believe the promises God whispers in your ear even when the world is screaming lies of defeat to you?

Faith has to be more than an emotion
Faith does not fade
Faith perseveres even when all feels lost.