Have we based our relationship with God on feeling? Do we understand that we should not seek only the feeling?
Today, I would like us to talk a little about this topic so much talked about in the Christian world. Have we sought the Lord’s presence just to feel Him?
Shall we talk about?
A rational search
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
Jeremiah 17: 9
I don’t know if you have been through this situation, but for a good part of my spiritual walk, I carried a heavy burden on my heart because I was deceiving myself.
I thought that I would only be having a total surrender to the Lord and would only be living a sincere relationship with Him, if I felt His presence in all services and at all times. It hurt me for a long time and even demotivated me.
I went to conferences, services, had my moments with God, but I didn’t feel His presence. Many times I was stressed with the Lord, I was angry and sad, because I did not understand why all this was happening. It didn’t make sense to me. I was looking, I was trying, but nothing happened.
I don’t know if you have been feeling this way, but I would like to tell you something that helped me a lot to get out of this situation.
Our life with God goes beyond feeling
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
Romans 12: 1
The last sentence of this passage is extremely important. Paul shows us that the giving of our lives, our sacrifice is not about a feeling, but about something that comes from rationality. That is, something that comes from our full awareness of God’s goodness to us.
I want to make it clear that there is no problem with wanting to feel the Lord’s presence. However, what I want to say here is that this should never be the main reason why we seek the Lord. Our motivation, in seeking Him, must be purely and simply by understanding that He is perfect, eternal, unchanging, that we are absolutely nothing without Him, that we have nothing if we do not have Him.
We cannot seek God for what we can receive from Him, such as experiences in His presence or blessings. But we need to seek Him for who He is.
We must not seek Him for what we can receive
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Jeremiah 29:13-14
In this passage, God asks the Israelites who had been exiled to seek His presence with all their hearts. And that if they did, they would find Him. And He would restore them and bring them back to their land. Therefore, God, in His goodness, releases blessings upon us when we seek Him with all our hearts.
But we need to understand that the greatest blessing we have already received. The Father has already blessed us by giving His Son’s life on the cross to die for us and has given us the opportunity to live spiritually when we were dead in sin. It is with this understanding and rationality that we must seek Him, regardless of whether we receive or feel anything.
We need to understand God is not a genius of the lamp, which we rub when we want to fulfill some wish. God is sovereign, sublime and powerful. God has the power to give and take life.
A question:
We cannot seek to feel, be blessed, or anything like that, but we must seek for the simple fact that He deserves all of our devotion.
Grace and peace.
