DEALING WITH MY EMOJIS – Part 5

Faith in the Face of Emotions

June 14, 2020
Randy Hageman

For a lot of people there’s a strong desire to

their faith.

If we’ve based our relationship with God through Jesus Christ on feelings, we’re going to always hit a dry spot, and our temptation is going to be to go back and try to

that feeling.

If we’re honest, often we were searching for a feeling more than

in Christ.

Feelings are not the basis of our salvation –

is!

For by grace you have been saved through faith… —Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)

The heart is deceitful above all things… —Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)

God isn’t some cheap Wifi hotspot whose signal we mysteriously lose from time to time. —Sarah Hahn

We’re setting ourselves up for spiritual failure and a very unsatisfying life when we build our life on

feelings of faith.

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. —1 Peter 4:12-14 (NLT)

We don’t treasure suffering itself but Christlikeness, and if we experience suffering to do that, then we can still

upbeat because we value and love him.

Trust in [God] at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. —Psalms 62:8 (ESV)

…we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. —2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. … —Romans 12:2 (NLT)

We can’t simply change our feelings – we have to change our underlying thoughts and values, and that becomes possible as we commit our life to Christ and allow his

to live in us to transform us.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. —2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. —Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

Nowhere in Hebrews 11:1 is there anything about

.

If we’re dependent on feeling faith, we’re not going to have a very strong or resilient

.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.’ —Daniel 3:16-18 (NLT)

Faith makes a

and acts, regardless of what we’re feeling.

It’s no coincidence that discipline and disciple have the same

.

Engaging in spiritual disciplines is not about a spiritual feeling, as wonderful as that is, but about a spiritual practice and orientation that

us to be transformed by God’s Spirit.

It’s the Holy Spirit that moves us and grows us, but the Spirit can move, and if we haven’t been preparing ourselves, we’ll

it.

If we understand that faith is about belief and intentionality, and not works or feelings, then we make the decision to keep going, even when we’re

feeling it.

As St. John of the Cross described it, the dark night of the soul wasn’t simply an experience of suffering but suffering in what felt like the

of God.

The danger most of us face is that we desire feeling good more than we desire God

, and so, sometimes God acts to wean us of this need for feeling.

God’s love is not content to leave us in our weakness, and for this reason He takes us into a dark night. He weans us from all of the pleasures by giving us dry times and inward darkness.… No soul will ever grow deep in the spiritual life unless God works passively in the soul by means of the dark night. —St. John of the Cross

We have to learn to be satisfied not with the

of a relationship with Christ but with

Reveal Answer

himself.

Jesus: ‘So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.’ —Matthew 7:17 (ESV)

Spiritual “

” is a better sign of God’s presence that our feelings.

While feelings matter, and they reflect what we treasure, a lack of feeling God’s presence isn’t a sign that we have no

.

The LORD replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ —Exodus 33:14 (NIV)
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you [the LORD] are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’ —Psalms 23:4 (ESV)
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. —1 John 4:16 (NLT)
…[God] has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ —Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)
Jesus: ‘…behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ —Matthew 28:20 (ESV)

Next Week: Father’s Day