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.

Letting Go...

Have you ever held on to something so tightly?
You enter into your worship with God holding on to that emotion somehow thinking that you will get God's attention and favor if you worship Him while holding on to it.   Almost as if you are tricking God by saying, "Here I am Lord--Oh, and while I'm here---Do you see this?  It's important to me--Please Lord answer my prayer."  God asks us to lay it down and our white knuckles show that we haven't let go in a very long time.  God says very lovingly, "I want you to lay it down at my feet--its safe there--now stand tall and hold out your hands and worship."  Our song is timid at first as we try to sing and look down at God's feet.  God stops us, lifts our head, looks into our eyes with love and says, "it's okay my child--keep singing."  Each verse get a little louder and stronger as our eyes close and our hands lift and God's presence consumes us.  We feel overwhelmed, full, content, complete; we open our eyes to see God standing in front of us saying, "I love your worship but I desire your heart, I desire your empty hands because it is only then that I can fill them with my love and blessings for you."

When we take the focus off our problems, our emotions, our needs and lay them at God's feet, it is then and only then that God can fill us and renew us.  God needs empty hands so that there is room for His blessings.

True worship leaves us so full that when we turn to leave, we also leave what we had held so tightly to at God's feet.

There is no more room because God has filled us.

When He Whispers

I was walking the other morning and having a quiet time with God.  I was feeling defeated by a situation in my life and was asking God why He wouldn't move me from it.  I was trying to prove my point by sharing with Him that I just longed to be closer to Him, longed to be more in His presence; but His response was not what I expected.  

He responded and said, "Stephanie, am I the same God that showed up at my Son's baptism at the river?"  I said, "Yes, God."  He said, "Am I the same God that showed up at Desperation when you cried out to me and worshiped me?"  I said, "Yes God."  He said, "Am I not the same God that is with you, speaking to you, right here, right now?"  I said, "Yes God."  He said, "I am the same God yesterday, today, and tomorrow."

Why do we always feel that we have to change where we are or who we are to draw closer to God?  When all that really has to change is our heart.  God roars like a lion in situations in our life where He is unmistakable, but then other times He whispers like the wind, and only the trained ear and the right heart can hear.  God is everywhere, always speaking to us, always desiring relationship.  We don't have to create mountain top experiences to hear God's voice---He meets us in our valleys.

God may be the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; but we as a people have the opportunity and the responsibility to not be like the generations of yesterday or today. We can open our ears, change our hearts, and be a people who no matter our situation, no matter our circumstances, no matter our surroundings are hearing from God.  We can be stirred by His roar and be inspired by His whisper to change our tomorrow--to life a life knowing His voice.