The NIV 365 Day Devotional

Faith or Feeling

6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:6–9

I’ve heard that I’m not supposed to base my faith on my feelings. That’s true, isn’t it?

Read.

The Bible is filled with commands that encourage God’s people to feel a certain way:

• “Be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:6–9).
• “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you” (Isaiah 43:1).
• “Rejoice and be glad” (Matthew 5:12).

According to Scripture, emotions are a key part of our relationship with God.

Think.

Some people point out that our emotions are continually shifting; they’re unstable; therefore, they shouldn’t be important in our relationship with God. But we can’t remove feelings from any of our relationships.

And although we’d like to think that our minds are more reliable than our feelings, that isn’t entirely true. We change our minds frequently. We make mistakes. We’re wrong about a lot of things. We argue about how to interpret facts. Our brains aren’t quite as dependable as we think they are.

Live.

When people say that we shouldn’t base our faith on feelings, they mean that truth is truth, regardless of how anyone feels about it. If you’re feeling really down or far from God, that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love you or isn’t close to you. Your feelings don’t change the reality that God is near.

But neither is it wrong to connect with God on an emotional level. That’s essential, in fact, for following Jesus. And God is in the business of helping you bring your feelings under the control of his Spirit. Tell God how you feel, ask him how he feels, notice in Scripture how he feels in various situations and ask him to help you see life through his eyes. Over time, as your feelings sync with his, you’ll know God is hearing your heart and giving you his.

Write a prayer asking God to help you validate the feelings you feel by making the connection that they may be lining up with what’s true. (For example, if you get angry at sickness, your anger is echoing his. He hates sickness too.)

Taken from Read. Think. Live.