{"id":4952,"date":"2019-04-13T07:40:11","date_gmt":"2019-04-13T12:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/?p=4952"},"modified":"2019-04-13T07:44:23","modified_gmt":"2019-04-13T12:44:23","slug":"when-faith-and-feelings-do-not-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wordpress\/when-faith-and-feelings-do-not-match\/","title":{"rendered":"When FAITH and FEELINGS DO NOT Match"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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“But Lord, I do not feel<\/em><\/strong> like this situation is going to work out?” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“How am I supposed to do the right thing Lord if I don\u2019t feel<\/em><\/strong> excited about doing it?” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If it is your will Lord, shouldn\u2019t I feel<\/em><\/strong> like it is?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What if my feelings <\/em><\/strong>and faith<\/em><\/strong> do not match?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever pondered some of these questions to the Lord? If we\u2019re honest, I think at some point in our lives (and that point may be right now) we all have toiled with these questions. Life is filled with ups and downs and filled with some “high happy emotions”<\/strong> and then some really “low sad emotions.”<\/strong> Sometimes life can feel like you\u2019re on a raft of emotion where you are floating through the ocean, just riding the waves\u2026 going UUUUP and down\u2026UUUUP and down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is patiently showing and teaching me this: The will of God is not always going to \u201cFEEL\u201d <\/strong>like the will of God. Almost ALL <\/strong>of the time it\u2019s not going to. Yes, God cares about our feelings, but He cares MORE about our holiness and His will being accomplished through our lives.<\/strong> When we read through scripture, we see many individuals who were tested to move beyond their temporary feelings and into the realm of obedient faith to what God commanded. Don\u2019t believe me? Let\u2019s go down memory lane:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.\u201d-Hebrews 11:1<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Remember Abraham<\/strong>, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

when it came to sacrificing his one and only son Isaac? Do you think Abraham initially \u201cfelt\u201d excited and happy to carry out this task? I\u2019m almost certain he did not! However, he still obeyed in faith IN SPITE of his emotions! He faithfully trusted that God would take care of him and his son and God did. (Gen 22:1-19)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember Moses<\/strong>, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

when God came to him in the desert and told him he was the chosen person to lead his people out of Egypt? Do you think Moses initially felt happy to complete this task? Absolutely not! He was very afraid, fearful, and unsure. But IN SPITE of his feelings he went to Egypt to do what God said. He faithfully trusted God would guide him and God did. (Exodus 3:1-17)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember Jesus<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

in the Garden of Gethsemane? It was nearing time for him to be taken, beaten, and brutally crucified for the whole sins of the world. Do you think Jesus in his human flesh was jumping with excitement to do this? Absolutely not! The bible says he had great anxiety and sorrow. SO great, that his “sweat became like drops of blood.”-Luke 22:44 But IN SPITE of his emotions, he humbled himself and obediently carried out the will of the Father. (Matthew 26:36-46)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Application:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can we learn from all of this? It is not sinful to \u201cfeel our emotions,\u201d however, it is sinful for us to allow our emotions to prevent us from carrying out the will of God (James 4:17). We have to desire God\u2019s will above our feelings. For Christians, we have to be willing to choose faith and obedience to God even if it \u201cfeels\u201d hopeless, confusing, frustrating, sad, lonely, and hard! A mature faith has the ability to discipline the emotion and one\u2019s own will for the ultimate will of the Heavenly Father!<\/strong> Is this an easy task? OF COURSE NOT! It is one of the most difficult task of any natural human, but through trusting God, it is possible! I once heard a quote that said, \u201cFeelings are wonderful servants but terrible masters.\u201d That is so true! Yes, God created us with the ability to feel, but He didn\u2019t create us for our emotions to be the masters of heart. That is what He is for. He is the ULTIMATE<\/strong> and TRUE <\/strong>Master. He should sit on the throne of our hearts, not our emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of you thinking that you\u2019re on the raft of life just floating through the ups and downs of your emotions, consider yourself a sailor on a sailboat who is an activate participant in your eternal soul journey. You have to use insight, wisdom, strength, and endurance to make it to your destination. When the contrary winds of emotions try to carry you opposite the direction of God\u2019s will, use your tiller (God\u2019s Word) to turn you in your heavenward direction. Trust that your faith in God will be your mainsail to carry you to your eternal destination. You will meet some resistance on your journey. You will have to endure some unexpected weather, but remember, your Master is in control of the water, weather and the waves. He will use the very things Satan tries to use to drown you, to PROPEL YOU<\/strong>! HE is faithful to His promises. So, what should you do when your feelings and faith do not match? Choose FAITH <\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be encouraged!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashley Moneet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fearless.Faithful.Following<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just being candor for a moment\u2026 I would consider myself a very emotional person. I\u2019ve always been this way even as a little child. I feel emotions SO deeply. Happiness, sadness, empathy, whatever emotion it is, I\u2019m ALL in. I\u2019m thankful for God\u2019s intricate design of creating me with a sensitive heart to be able to feel, express my feelings, and connect with others, but therein lies one of my greatest challenges. My emotions are the very thing I\u2019ve had to learn to rear and discipline. That my friends is one of the hardest task of my life! I write this blog currently in one of my splew of \u201cemotional battles\u201d wondering, \u201cOk Lord, what\u2019s going on in my life right now? Things are not making sense and my feelings say one thing, but my faith says another. What am I supposed to do?\u201d Read more to find out the answer to this question. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[35,39,43,44,7],"tags":[224,107,223,70,156,226,78],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4952"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4952"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5003,"href":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4952\/revisions\/5003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f3ashley.com\/2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}