Have you ever said to yourself, "I just don't feel like it." What is "it"? "It" is whatever you've grown weary of doing or being--being overworked or being unemployed; waiting too long or being pushed forward too quickly; not enough to do or far too much to do; being lonely or needing time alone; trying and failing or failing to try....The list goes on.
Let's face it. Some days you just wish things were different, yet no matter what you do, nothing seems to change. At least, that's the way things appear.
As Christians, whenever we feel stuck in gear, remember that we have the ability to shift into a high gear that's higher than any man-made gear. The worse we feel in our hearts and minds, the more we need to feed our spirit with God's Word, for it is truly "sharper than any two-edged sword...dividing asunder of soul and spirit...." (Hebrews 4:12)
When our soul is heavy, we need to remember that we are body, soul AND spirit. Our spirit is always willing, even when our flesh is weak. God's Word is able to slice and dice through all of the heaviness in our souls and get down to the spirit where our power never ceases to be.
Have you ever thought that even on the cloudiest of days the sun is still shining? You may not be able to see it because of the clouds, but shining in all of its brilliance behind layer after layer of clouds is the sun. The sun NEVER ceases to shine, we just temporarily lose our ability to see it. A classic song promises that "The sun will come out, tomorrow...." No, the sun is already out today and every day.
So it is with the spirit of a man. We are created in the image of God and have His Spirit perpetually dwelling inside us. 1 Corinthians 2:10 tells us that, "...the Spirit searches...the deep things of God." The problem is that the "natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God...." (1 Corinthians 2:14). That means, sometimes, we are just not going to "feel" like it. Sometimes we can't see the sun, but we have to hold on to the truth that we know it is there.
Sometimes, we are not going to feel like reading God's Word. We are not going to feel like praying. We are not going to feel like exercising our faith. We are not going to feel like waiting on the Lord. But, recognizing that "it is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing...." (John 6:63) we have to ignore our feelings and yield to the Spirit.
When you don't feel like praying, pray anyway. When you don't feel like reading the Bible, do it anyway--go online and open one of those inspirational e-mails, read a devotional. Do the opposite of what you feel.
You've heard the phrase, "don't fight the feeling." Well, do fight the feeling and start the feeding --on God's truth. Start an emergency infusion or even transfusion, if necessary. Before you know it, God's Word will start doing something inside of you that will make you feel like Popeye when he eats his spinach! That's what happened to me this morning after listening to Fred Hammond's song, "They That Wait." The tune is so infectious and uplifting that even though I was not in a good mood and didn't "feel" like perking up, the sound of Fred's melodious voice, the power behind the scripture he was singing, and John P. Kee's soulful vocal additions had me singing, swaying and smiling! My mood was no match for that awe-inspiring onslaught!
Try it. Get God's Word into your system by any means necessary. And, you know what? No matter how you're feeling, "I've got a feelin' everything's gonna be alright!"
BNcouraged!
Rev. Karen
No comments:
Post a Comment