Friday, January 23, 2004
If you're like me, I'm sure you've had times when you feel discouraged and alone. Times when you just can't feel the presence of God like you did at that prayer meeting or mission trip you went on? You sincerely want to love and follow God with all your heart, but it just doesn't seem to be working? Check this out. This is awesome. I think it strikes right at the root of the problem that so many people (myself included) often face.
"Many who are sincerely seeking for holiness of heart and purity of life seem perplexed and discouraged. They are constantly looking to themselves, and lamenting their lack of faith; and because they have no faith, they feel that they cannot claim the blessing of God. These persons mistake feeling for faith. They look above the simplicity of true faith, and thus bring great darkness upon their souls. They should turn the mind from self, to dwell upon the mercy and goodness of God and to recount His promises, and then simply believe that he will fulfill his word. We are not to trust in our faith, but in the promises of God...When we repent of our past transgressions of His law, and resolve to render obedience in the future, we should believe that God for Christ's sake accepts us, and forgives our sins.
Darkness and discouragement will sometimes come upon the soul and threaten to overwhelm us, but we should not cast away our confidence. We must keep the eye fixed on Jesus, feeling or no feeling...At times a deep sense of unworthiness will send a thrill of terror trough the soul, but this is no evidence that God has changed toward us, or we toward God. No effort should be made to rein the mind up to a certain intensity of emotion. We may not feel today the peace and joy which we felt yesterday; but we should by faith grasp the hand of Christ, and trust Him as fully in the darkness as in the light...An unyielding trust, a firm reliance upon Christ, will bring peace and assurance to the soul. "
It's so easy for me to treat my emotions like the gospel, and base my whole religious experience on them. It's not that I consciously try to do that, but it just seems to happen. Is it just me, or is this exactly what is happening in many of our worship services these days? We are attempting to achieve a certain intensity of emotion, so we can feel God's presence. There's nothing wrong with feeling God's presence, don't get me wrong. Emotion is an awesome gift that God has given us. I'm just seeing a trend, even in myself sometimes, of making intense emotion the basis of our walk with God. It seems to me that we are adopting a style of worship where we focus so hard on creating a certain atmosphere that we almost begin to worship the worship as it were. Know what I'm saying? It's almost like we depend on worship services to stimulate our Christian experience. We seem to think that worship is a process whereby we can gain an experience with God, when really, worship should be the product of that experience. It is not our worship that inspires God's presence so much as it is God's presence that inspires worship. Our emotions shouldn't be allowed to dictate our walk with God: they're far too fickle to be the foundation. It would be better to try using the rock-solid Word of God for a change. You think? ¶ 11:14 PM
"Many who are sincerely seeking for holiness of heart and purity of life seem perplexed and discouraged. They are constantly looking to themselves, and lamenting their lack of faith; and because they have no faith, they feel that they cannot claim the blessing of God. These persons mistake feeling for faith. They look above the simplicity of true faith, and thus bring great darkness upon their souls. They should turn the mind from self, to dwell upon the mercy and goodness of God and to recount His promises, and then simply believe that he will fulfill his word. We are not to trust in our faith, but in the promises of God...When we repent of our past transgressions of His law, and resolve to render obedience in the future, we should believe that God for Christ's sake accepts us, and forgives our sins.
Darkness and discouragement will sometimes come upon the soul and threaten to overwhelm us, but we should not cast away our confidence. We must keep the eye fixed on Jesus, feeling or no feeling...At times a deep sense of unworthiness will send a thrill of terror trough the soul, but this is no evidence that God has changed toward us, or we toward God. No effort should be made to rein the mind up to a certain intensity of emotion. We may not feel today the peace and joy which we felt yesterday; but we should by faith grasp the hand of Christ, and trust Him as fully in the darkness as in the light...An unyielding trust, a firm reliance upon Christ, will bring peace and assurance to the soul. "
It's so easy for me to treat my emotions like the gospel, and base my whole religious experience on them. It's not that I consciously try to do that, but it just seems to happen. Is it just me, or is this exactly what is happening in many of our worship services these days? We are attempting to achieve a certain intensity of emotion, so we can feel God's presence. There's nothing wrong with feeling God's presence, don't get me wrong. Emotion is an awesome gift that God has given us. I'm just seeing a trend, even in myself sometimes, of making intense emotion the basis of our walk with God. It seems to me that we are adopting a style of worship where we focus so hard on creating a certain atmosphere that we almost begin to worship the worship as it were. Know what I'm saying? It's almost like we depend on worship services to stimulate our Christian experience. We seem to think that worship is a process whereby we can gain an experience with God, when really, worship should be the product of that experience. It is not our worship that inspires God's presence so much as it is God's presence that inspires worship. Our emotions shouldn't be allowed to dictate our walk with God: they're far too fickle to be the foundation. It would be better to try using the rock-solid Word of God for a change. You think? ¶ 11:14 PM
