Part 6 (2/2)

People have come to me by the thousands saying, ”But I don't feel G.o.d loves me.”

I answer, ”Well then, your feelings are wrong.”

”Oh, but I've got to feel it.”

”Why do you have to feel it?”

”It's not real if I don't feel it.”

That's stupid! And it's this same att.i.tude that is destroying a lot of marriages today. It would be wonderful if every spouse treated their mate exactly the way they were supposed to, but you're married to a fallen human being. They don't always say or do things just right. You need to grow up and give your spouse a little bit of slack sometimes. It doesn't matter that they don't always treat you perfectly, do what's right-not what you feel like.

You may not feel like they love you, but you know that they do. Perhaps your spouse doesn't tell you enough that they love you. Some people are just what I call ”hard keepers.”

You can nearly starve some horses and they'll still look full. These are ”easy keepers.” Other horses you can feed and feed and feed until they die of colic because they've eaten so much, yet they still look poor. These are called ”hard keepers.” We've become hard keepers today because we have elevated feelings to a place where we must ”feel” to believe. That's immature and childish. There is a place for emotions, but not the prominent place it occupies with most people.

We have gone beyond feelings into lasciviousness-to where we have to feel everything.

Rule Your Emotions Some people may know what the truth is, but it doesn't matter. They are ruled by whatever they feel. That's very carnal. It's demonic. It's a perversion of the way that G.o.d made us to be.

A while back I listened to a tape of someone ministering. Most of what this minister said was really good; however in one of her examples, she was talking about a friend's daughter who had a certain problem. She was counseling the girl and trying to deal with her when the daughter said, ”But my parents didn't treat me right. They didn't honor me. They didn't do this and they didn't do that.” This lady on the tape said, ”I knew the parents. These were good parents. They weren't perfect. They didn't do everything right. But what the daughter was saying about them wasn't true. Although they weren't perfect, these parents loved and honored that daughter.”

Then this minister said, ”I knew this girl was wrong, but I didn't correct her because it didn't matter whether she was right or wrong. To her it was real.” When this minister said that, I immediately popped the tape out and threw it away. This is false teaching and I hate that. I hate it with a pa.s.sion.

Some people may say, ”But that's right. To the individual, those feelings are real.” Such teaching is deceptive. It's the truth that's going to set you free. (John8:32.) The proper thing to do would have been to stop this girl in the middle of that and say, ”Your perception is wrong, and until you start wising up and realizing that not everybody is going to stroke you and treat you perfectly the rest of your life, and until you quit blaming other people for the offense that you've taken, and until you start shouldering your own responsibility, you're never going to grow and mature.”

You may feel some things so pa.s.sionately that it doesn't matter to you whether it's truth or not. It's true to you. I'm telling you, it's only the truth-the real truth, not the ”truth” that you feel-that's going to set you free. If this is an issue you struggle with, I recommend my teaching ent.i.tled, Harnessing Your Emotions. G.o.d intends for you to rule your emotions, not for your emotions to rule you.

”I Just Don't Feel It”

When people come up to me saying, ”Would you please pray for me? I just don't feel the love of G.o.d.” I'll begin to speak to them 1 John 4:9, saying, ”Don't you know that G.o.d loves you? Jesus came and died for you.”

”Oh, I know that Jesus died for me. And I know that G.o.d loves me. But I just don't feel it.”

When I hear that, the spirit of slap just comes all over me. You know that G.o.d loves you, but you don't feel it. You don't have a goose b.u.mp. You don't have a feeling overwhelming you at the moment. And so, because you don't feel loved, forget the truth. Forget reality. Forget the Word. You just don't feel it.

To pray that we would ”have a feeling” is lasciviousness. It's inordinate, perverse, and demonic! You don't have to always feel something.

No Excuse In this was manifested the love of G.o.d toward us, because that G.o.d sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 1 John 4:9 For G.o.d so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 If you comprehend these scriptures, you have zero excuse for ever being depressed, discouraged, defeated, or feeling lonely. You might think you have reasons, but you have no excuse. You have the knowledge it takes to set you free from the rule of emotion if you would just meditate on the truth saying, ”Father, You love me.”

But G.o.d commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 This love that G.o.d gave us through Jesus didn't come in response to your goodness, or because you've merited it by praying, fasting, and studying the Word. It wasn't because you humbled yourself and started being a good person. Think about what this verse says: G.o.d commended His love toward us-even died for us-while we were yet sinners!

A Religious Hypocrite You may have been a ”good” sinner or a ”bad” one, but we've all sinned and come short of His glory. (Rom. 3:23.) Compared to other people, you might look good, but compared to Jesus, we are all an offense against G.o.d. We have all fallen short of where G.o.d wanted us to be. The Lord doesn't look down on anyone and say, ”Oh, they're so close. They are so good that I've got to help them and give them a little bit of a boost.” No, from G.o.d's perspective-perfection-we've all fallen short of what He wants us to be. None of us was worth G.o.d sending His Son to die in our place. No one deserves the love of G.o.d.

Before you can really understand how much G.o.d loves you, you have to quit loving yourself so much. You must quit thinking that you are such a feather in G.o.d's cap that He just couldn't live without you. You must come to the end of yourself, quit trusting in yourself, and recognize where you are.

Although I had already been born again at age eight, the experience that turned my life around came when I was eighteen years old. I had become a religious Pharisee. I was living such a holy life that I was holier than the pastor of our church! I was leading more people to the Lord per week than he was. I've never in all of my life spoken a word of profanity. I'm almost sixty years old now. I've never taken a drink of liquor, smoked a cigarette, or even tasted coffee.

I was living a holy life, but I had fallen into this deception of trusting in my own goodness. As long as I thought that G.o.d owed something to me, I would never have a great revelation of how much He loved me. But on March 23, 1968, when I was eighteen years old, G.o.d just pulled back a curtain from before my eyes. It was a supernatural revelation. He s.h.i.+ned His light on me and I saw myself for who I really was. Although I had been born again, I was a religious hypocrite.

The Beginning of G.o.d You may have lied, stolen, committed s.e.xual immorality, and done all kinds of other things that I never did, but I doubt very seriously that you have ever seen yourself as more of a sinner than I have. I saw myself from G.o.d's perspective. I saw how vile I was-my hypocrisy, my religiosity-and I came to the end of myself. I turned myself inside out confessing my sin for over an hour. I fully expected the Lord to kill me. I had been told that G.o.d was the One who killed my dad when I was twelve years old. I thought that G.o.d judged us. When I saw how bad I was, I thought it was the first time G.o.d had seen it too, and I fully expected Him to kill me on the spot. Honestly, I'm not exaggerating. I never expected to live through the night. So I just confessed everything-not only my actions, but my thoughts, emotions, and att.i.tudes too. I turned myself inside out, hoping that before G.o.d killed me, I would repent enough that He would at least take me into heaven.

To my surprise, when I humbled myself and quit putting any faith or confidence in myself, the love of G.o.d flowed into my life in a way that just revolutionized me. For four and a half months, Is was caught up in the presence of G.o.d. The Lord just loved me. Yet I never would have understood the depth of G.o.d's love if I were thinking there was something I did to deserve it.

If you are still maintaining your own righteousness, then you'll never truly understand G.o.d's love. You have to come to the end of yourself. That's why G.o.d gave the Old Testament Law, to expose how unG.o.dly we were-to bring us to the end of ourselves. The law condemns. It's harsh. Its purpose was to bring you to the end of yourself because only when you come to the end of yourself do you find the beginning of G.o.d.

Chapter 17, Unconditional.

G.o.d, by grace, commended His love towards us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't see something in you that was just so wonderful He had to have you. .

But G.o.d, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. Ephesians 2:4 The Lord was motivated to love us not because we are lovely, but because He is love. This is what the balance of grace and faith has taught me. G.o.d's love for me is not tied to any worth or value of my own.

Self-Esteem vs. Christ-Esteem You may think that this teaching is depressing or discouraging. You may wonder what I'm trying to do to your sense of self-worth. Your self is what made it necessary for Jesus to come to this earth and die. Your self may be better than my self, but it still has caused a lot of heartache and pain in both your life and the lives of others too.

As a believer in Jesus, I am not into self-esteem-I'm into Christ-esteem. I esteem what Jesus has done. I am thrilled with who I am in Christ, what G.o.d has done in me, but there is a part of me that is corrupt. There's a part that I deny and reject as I walk in the Spirit. (Gal. 5:16.) There's a part of me that's still not born again. My spirit is born again, but I still have flesh so there's a part of me that I don't esteem.

There are times when you feel absolutely rotten. There are times when you act like the devil. When you act stupid, you ought to feel stupid. G.o.d gave us emotions just as He gave us feeling in our hands. If you weren't paying attention and leaned up against a hot stove, you could do irreparable damage to yourself. But G.o.d gave you the ability to feel pain. None of us like to feel pain, but if you put your hand on a hot stove, the pain you feel in your hand will remind you to withdraw it before you seriously injure yourself.

G.o.d gave you the ability to feel depressed and discouraged, but not so you could live there.

All About G.o.d The Bible says in Isaiah 26:3, the Lord will...

... keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

If you're depressed, you aren't keeping your mind stayed on G.o.d. You're looking at circ.u.mstances. You've let your attention move off of Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith. (Heb. 12:2.) The reason you're sinking into depression is because you quit looking at Jesus. You started looking at the wind and the waves around you, which caused you to fear. (Matt. 14:30.) There's a purpose for your feelings.

When discouragement comes against me, I don't ignore it. I recognize that it's there because I haven't been meditating on G.o.d. I haven't been focused on the Lord the way that I should. Once I get back to focusing on the Lord, my feelings realign to the Word.

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