Feelings, Nothing More than Feelings

8:22 AMHeather

Help!  I've fallen and I can't get up!  For real--as I am journeying through Lies Women Believe, I am ever more aware of how I have fallen for the deceit the enemy feeds me.  As I pray for eyes to see the lies and for the faith to really BELIEVE the truth, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.  So, I find myself hitting my emergency alert button over and over--Lord, HELP!!  I WANT to see the lies for what they are and I want to to be able to dwell on the truth to combat the deceit.

I think one of the biggest challenges this last week can best be summed up by this quote from Nancy Leigh DeMoss:

"And therein lies one of our problems:  
We trust what we feel to be true rather 
than what we know to be true."

We, as women, are emotional creatures, which gets us into all kinds of trouble.  As the old song says, we pin our thoughts and therefore actions on feelings--nothing more than feelings.  The reality is that we live in a world that tells us things like trust your gut, go with your heart, do what feels right.  Ugh.  This is simply a lie from the pit of hell.  It sounds all nice and good and all.  But, we know better than anyone that our feelings change on a dime.  God knows it, too--as he warns us in this verse:
The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9

These are not startling revelations to me.  But, the epiphany is coming to me that I must pay WAY more attention to how my feelings guide my thought life--and therefore serve to rule ME.  THAT is the root of much strife in my life. For instance, I feel stressed by the crazy schedule for our family of 5.  I feel out of control, so I think that I am out of control, and then I act grumpy or irritated--seeking to gain control somewhere.  All the time ignoring the fact that God is in control.  Scripture promises that He knows the days ordained for me, and they were written in His book before one of them came to me.  Instead of going all crazy, I can meditate on this verse and ask Him to order my steps through today and remind me that He has it all under control.  

It really boils down to a choice.  Just like in marriage, we don't always FEEL crazy in love, we choose to love.  Or, with my kids, I don't always feel warm and fuzzy toward them. But, I have to choose to obey God's command to love them with gentleness.  I don't always feel I have it all under control.  I have to choose to let my mind dwell on the "WHATEVERS" of Philippians 4:8 (whatever is true, noble, right, pure, praiseworthy, excellent, admirable, lovely).  I have to choose to think on the promises of Scripture so that I remember who IS in control.  I don't always feel like putting myself aside to serve my family and be a homemaker.  But, I have to choose to do everything I do, as I do it, to please God.  Yes, I have been singing that new Steven Curtis Chapman song Do Everything as I load the dishwasher, scrub the potty, and remind my children [again] to pick up their things.

INTENTIONAL challenge:  Maybe I'm a remedial believer, and this is all "DUH" to you.  But, I have to say that I can look all nice and good on the outside--going to church, singing in worship, doing the Christian thing.  Things get real personal when God starts dealing with me on my thought life.  THAT is where the rubber meets the road.  THAT is where intimacy and growth are born--when I begin to recognize the deceitful feelings that I let rule my days.  That I would begin to see feeling for what they are--nothing more than feelings--that change on a whim.  But, the TRUTH of God's Word?  THAT is some powerful, life changing stuff that can take captive every deceitful thought and feeling.  It's as simple today as writing down a verse that stands out to me, and choosing to think on THAT when my feelings play tug of war, taking me in a bad direction.  Abba--help me to think on these things--on those WHATEVERS--that life-giving truth!  Root out those deceitful feelings and thoughts--give me eyes to see them today.

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