Fight the Feeling
Recently I was talking with asmall group of women at my church, and one woman confessed some doubts she washaving about her salvation. It’s a stressful time in her life, and she wasstruggling to believe that she was really saved. As she shared, I began torecognize lies from the Enemy that she was believing:
“I’m messing up too much, sohow can I truly be saved.”
“I’ve lost the fervor that Ihad as a younger believer, so does that mean my conversion wasn’t real?”
“I don’t feel joyful orhopeful, so do I really have faith in Christ?”
I began to feel a holy furyrising up within me to fight for my dear sister against these lies, because Itoo once believed them. Shortly after getting married, in a time of greattransition in a new town, working a new job, with a new husband, I began toquestion my salvation because I didn’t feel saved. I was wrecked byguilt, embarrassed to confess my faith struggles before my newlywed husband. Icouldn’t even bring myself to come to God, fearing that he too would condemnme. Satan had me putting the emphasis on myself and my feelings, instead ofGod’s truth and faith in Christ.
What did my friend and I havein common? We followed our feelings instead of faith in God.
Don’t follow your heart
And why should we be surprised by that? Especially as women, we were taught early as girls through fairytales to “follow our hearts.” Whatever our hearts felt must be true. Yet God's word negates this cultural teaching in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Our hearts cannot be trusted because sin has corrupted them. Instead of feeling emotions like love, anger, happiness, and sadness in their proper place, sin has tainted the way our emotions work.
In a recent Daily Grace podcast, “Can we trust our emotions?,” they remind us, “Our emotions don’t always reveal what is true and valuable, but they do reveal what we believe to be true and valuable.”
Our emotions don’t always reveal what is true and valuable, but they do reveal what we believe to be true and valuable. Daily Grace Co
Our feelings show us what isgoing on within us. When we feel angry or sad or happy, that is an indicator ofwhat is going on in our heart at that moment, but it does not mean that what isin our heart is true or reliable.
We were created with emotions
I want to clarify that I am notchampioning a lack of emotions. A complete lack of emotions is no better thanan overabundance of emotions. God created us as his image bearers withemotions. In the Bible, we see God experience love and anger. We see Jesus cryover the death of his friend and rejoice at a wedding banquet. Emotions are a goodgift from our Creator, but as sinful humans, we take his good gifts and usethem for our own glory. So instead of aligning our emotions under his Word, weuse them to build up ourselves through bitter jealousy, self-serving happiness,and unrighteous anger.
Emotions are a good gift from our Creator, but as sinful humans, we take his good gifts and use them for our own glory.
Emotions are a good gift ofGod. He did not just make us mind and body, but mind, body, and spirit. And hecalls us to love him with all our heart, soul, and mind (Deuteronomy 6:5). Sohow do we believe or do something when we don’t feel like it.
Fight feelings with faith
David shows us over and over inthe Psalms what it looks like to remind ourselves of truth even when we don’tfeel those truths. We can choose faith over our heart’s emotions by speakingGod’s Word over the lies that we believe.
Psalm 42:11, “Why are you castdown, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shallagain praise him, my salvation and my God.”
David doesn’t ignore hisemotions; he digs deeper into them, asking himself why he is feeling thoseemotions. Then he reminds himself to hope in God not in himself, because heknows that while he may not feel like praising God now, he knows that one dayhe will again praise God.
This wasn’t a one-time battle.Over and over David had to get to the root of his emotions then choose faithover feeling. “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealtbountifully with you” (Psalm 116:7). “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget notall his benefits” (Psalm 103:2).
One way that I practice thiswhen I am overwhelmed by my emotions, is I first write down what I am feeling.I write out the lies that I am believing about myself, about God, and about mysituation. Just by writing them down physically, I feel relieved to not havethem pent up inside me. Then I draw a line down the middle of the paper, and tothe right of each twisted emotion, I write down the truth of God’s Word. Theemotions I was feeling were not necessarily bad, they just were an indicatorthat I was believing something contrary to God’s Word. I might still feeljealous or angry or sad later, so I keep the list nearby to remind myself ofthe truths of God. I fight my feelings with faith.
So as my friend finished sharing her feelings, I encouraged her to know that there was no shame in having those feelings and that it took courage just to share them. Then I spoke truth over her, reminding her that salvation is not based on our work or emotions, but on the perfect righteousness of Christ. Having struggled with a similar emotion, I shared Scripture that helped me fight those feelings when they arise (because I still struggle with the same lies today!).
You can choose to submit your emotions to the One who created them, trusting that he knows your heart and he alone can change it.
You, too, can choose not to believe your emotions but to use them as an indicator of what’s in your heart. You can choose to live your life based on faith in God’s truth and not in your momentary feelings. You can choose to submit your emotions to the One who created them, trusting that he knows your heart and he alone can change it.