(By Lois Robinson)

I strongly dislike generalized statements like, “All women love to shop” or “All guys love sports”, “everyone” wants this or “everyone” wants that. A recent one I’ve heard is “All teenage boys cuss when they are together with other teenage boys. That’s what teenagers do!” Or these little gems, “That’s a man thing because they’re stupid” or “That’s a woman thing because they’re so hormonal”. Just love when people boil down the complexities of individuals to such a small definition in order to understand how “everyone” functions. Wrong conclusions being made every time is usually the case!

Therefore, I will intentionally avoid a generalized statement here and simply say, “If you are anything like me, I have frequent times of “feeling’ some kinda way!” Sometimes its feeling frustrated out of the blue, sometimes it’s feeling hungry for the Chinese Buffet, sometimes it’s feeling angry over violations or other times its just feeling UGH! At times my feelings are all over the place, hard to really understand what is going on. Sometimes the anger is an appropriate response to external circumstances that are wrong and my internal response towards the violation or sin is anger. While other times my anger is strictly my own sinful heart not getting its own way. As my Pastor Nate has taught, anger is a barometer of our heart that says something needs to be dealt with. That’s a blog for a whole different day!! Remember, feelings are a gift from God but we must learn how to recognize them, process them appropriately and not avoid them. God has given them to us for a reason. Feelings, oh they can be so powerful. I am very thankful God gave the human heart, mind and body, the ability to feel. How dangerous would it be if we couldn’t feel. When we feel extreme heat, the normal bodily response is danger and we step away. When we feel sub zero temperatures, we normally respond by putting on more clothing to prevent frost bite. Hopefully I have made the point regarding the importance of our body feeling sensations and responding appropriately. Otherwise it could be very detrimental to us. For some who have lost the ability to feel, due to some diseases or traumatic accidents, they have to be very cautious and take proper measures to ensure they won’t be subject to danger. God created the human body with an awesome alert system to protect us from danger.

This brings to the next point. The beautiful gift of emotions that God has given us. They are designed to work in our favor, to be a part of our celebrations, our healing process, our warning signals from danger, our own brokeness and need for a Savior. We are so broken in this area friends and unfortunately many of us base our reality on “how we feel” and then label it as God’s leading or lack thereof because they can’t feel Go. I have sat with young girls who “feel” like they love the new boyfriend as of 3 weeks and has sex to show him. Only to end up feeling shame and guilt. Others have felt like fitting in with the peer group and made some bad decisions that get them arrested. Others compromise their values very quickly and perform sexual acts to get needs met. In the church, people operate in their feelings to the extreme of disengaging in worship because they don’t feel like it, don’t like the worship song or don’t actively engage in the celebration time because they aren’t feeling anything.

NEWS FLASH

WORSHIP ISN’T ABOUT YOU!!!

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE GOD WHO DESERVES YOUR PRAISE

AND CAN SAVE YOU FROM YOUR SELF-FOCUSED ORIENTATION.

This is a little diddy I had as a piano lesson back in the day as a child. I thought I was all that being able to play it......OVER AND OVER!! Check out the crazy lyrics!

Feelings

Feelings ,Nothing more than feelings, Trying to forget my feelings of love

Teardrops, Rolling down on, my face, Trying to forget my, feelings of love

Feelings, For all my life I'll feel it, I’ll wish I've never met you, girl, You'll never come again

Feelings, Wo-o-o feelings, Wo-o-o feelings, Again in my heart,

Feelings, Feelings like I've lost you, and feelings like I've never have you, Again in my heart.

Feelings, For all my life I'll feel it, I wish I've never met you, girl, You'll never come again

Feelings, Feelings like I've lost you , And feelings like I've never have you

copyright (http://elyrics.net)

He is the God who created the entire universe in 6 days and rested on the 7th.

He is the God who parted the Red Sea and killed the Egyptians who were chasing His children the Israelites.

He is the God who parted the Jordan River in order for His children to walk into the Promised Land.

He is the God who sacrificed His only Son and raised Him from the dead in 3 days in order to Save us.

He is the God who HEALS. He is the God who PROVIDES. He is the God who REDEEMS. He is the God who COMFORTS. He is the God who is JUST. He is the God who CARES. He is the God who FORGIVES. He is God, He is my God, He is my Savior, He is my Abba.

In spite of your feelings, .....I ask you friend....a question that Jesus asked His disciples...

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loose din heaven.” (Matthew 16:13-19)

Feelings are a gift but must come under the authority of Jesus Christ. Through His Spirit, we can understand what we are feeling, why we are feeling that way and how to process appropriately so the feelings we experience lead us into a closer relationship to Him and Christ-likeness.

Blessings Friends-