31 Mar Dealing with Feeling (Let your feelings in the car, just don’t let them in the driver’s seat) PART 2
I truly believe we are in that time and one of the things that is getting so many off the Word of God is simply following one’s feelings instead of the Bible. People are identifying not by biology or genetics, but by how they feel!
Please don’t mistake me, God has feelings (see Hebrews 4:15) and gave you feelings, but He never intended for you to live by them! If you don’t believe that, simply and solely live by your feelings for one solid month. I will gladly then visit you in jail! Let feelings in your car, just don’t let them in the driver’s seat.
Last week we began to discuss “14 Dynamics of Dealing with Feeling”:
- Don’t hide behind a mask, but don’t live behind your feelings (II Tim. 1:5, II Cor. 6:6).
As we begin this teaching, I truly desire to start you out with some good Biblical balance. In telling you not to live by your feelings, I don’t want to get you into a spiritual ditch and have you hide behind a spiritual mask either.
So let’s continue with…
“Six Remove the Mask Mandates”:
- We don’t like to show our withered hand (Luke 6:8-10).
These verses say, “But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing: is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? To save life, or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all, he said to the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other.”
In this story, Jesus literally and physically healed this man’s hand. However if you will allow me, I would like to borrow a spiritual analogy from these powerful verses. This man was in church and Jesus had to request this man stretch forth his withered hand. In church we don’t like to stretch forth what is withered and dysfunctional. We like everyone to see our “good hand”. Therefore we live behind this spiritual mask that makes everybody think we are perfect little church people who have it all together!
You see, in church we have a tendency to show only our “good hand”. Please remember this truth: God cannot heal what you don’t reveal! Only when you reveal it, will He then heal it! You need trustworthy people who you can reveal the withered part of your life to.
2. We all need counsel and accountability (Prov. 11:24, James 5:16).
James 5:16 says, “Confess your faults one to another; and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
Please allow me to share with you “Three Counsel Concepts”:
1.) Counselors provide angles and prevent blind spots.
All of us need counsel and accountability. They really do prevent blind spots in our lives. Just the other day I was driving to Alabama with my wife. I began to change lanes and almost ran into a car. I checked my side mirror but the car was in a ‘blind spot’. At the last moment I had to swerve and get out of the way. If I had only asked my wife, she would have seen it!
2.) You can always find counsel to tell you what you WANT to hear.
There will always be people on a lower “rung” of the “morality ladder”, welcoming you to “come down here where doing that is normal”! They will welcome you with open arms because more numbers will further justify their sin. Misery truly loves company.
Remember this: A foolish person will always seek what they want to hear. A wise person will always seek what they need to hear.
3.) You can always shape counsel by what you share with your counselors.
Here at Joy church we do quite a bit of marital counseling. Whenever we do, we try really hard to get both the husband and wife to come and talk to one of our staff pastors. If not, you talk to the wife alone and her husband is Hitler’s cousin. If you talk to the husband alone, his wife is Cruella Deville!
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 18:17, “He that is first in his own cause seems just; but his neighbor comes and searches him.” What mamma told you is true…there are almost always two sides to every story!
If you want affirmation, simply tell your counselor your side. If you want answers, tell your counselor both sides!
What I am trying to balance in your life is that it’s ok to tell people how you are feeling, but be strong enough to allow them to give you the answer…the Word of the living God!
Next month we will continue!