“To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12)
I have talked with a number of people this year who are struggling to have faith in God because they can’t see or “feel” him. I can relate to them because for decades I didn’t “feel it” nor stayed in faith myself. All I felt for a long time was spite and resentment of “religion” because I became convinced in my own mind that it was all foolishness and I doubted all things mystical or related to faith because of all the “hypocrites” and imperfect people I knew who professed believing they were “saved”. Beyond that, there were all the religions and denominations that claimed “new revelations” based on visions or dreams of certain leaders, many of whom I despised. Instead of confronting those imperfections or believing the Bible’s teaching on what to do about all of that, I just turned aside and went my own way. For a long time it “felt” really good to be independent and smug in what I thought or wanted in my life.
I am thankful today that God miraculously called me back to Himself through a couple years of experiences and conversations that in time changed my mind, my spirit, and finally my “feelings” about true Christianity. Somehow I always had the idea (that I believe came from scripture) that true Christianity required submission and obedience to the call of God as revealed in the Bible. I was very judgemental of people who I perceived claimed all the “good stuff” regarding God’s grace and forgiveness but were unwilling to submit themselves or their lifestyles to the God they claimed to believe in. While I am still concerned at how many professing Christians bear little or no fruit based on what they profess in faith, I am now clear enough spiritually to see it is not, nor never was, my role to judge or repudiate anybody because of their sin, because we ALL are sinners. None of us is perfect, and core to Jesus’ teaching was “judge not that you be not judged”. This realization has taken a huge load off my mind and heart regarding the human behavior of Christians. We all should be “working out our faith in fear and trembling” (Phillippians 2:12) before God, not before men or based on what THEY think. Man cannot justify “himself” nor forgive himself. Forgiveness only comes from the redemption that came at the price of Jesus’ blood and trusting in His ways and words. In addition, no other person outside of Christ can justify or absolve us from sin. No minister, priest, or Pope has been given that authority in God’s kingdom. It is reserved for Christ alone.
I was recently reacquainted with an illustration I had heard decades ago regarding spiritual “feelings”, and I want to reiterate it here. Our spiritual journey can be compared to a train ride and three “F”s; facts, faith, and feelings.
The engine is made up of facts that are absolutes, even facts we can’t prove or see. We are affected by gravity every moment of our existence, yet we can’t see it and most of us can’t explain it “scientifically”. The wind is the same way…we feel it at various levels on a daily basis, yet we don’t really know where it comes from nor where it ends. Yet we know it exists and we are affected by it. That is how spirit works, “like a mighty rushing wind” (Acts 2:2). We sense the unique spirit or personality of each person, yet we can’t physically hold or fully understand the “essence” of a person on our own.
Once we know the facts, we put our faith behind them (or don’t). Faith is the “coal” or fuel that pushes facts forward towards a purpose. We harness the wind to generate energy or move boats and other objects forward. We trust gravity enough to know that if we go where there is none, we had better have a spacesuit or something protecting us from the ill effects of not having any oxygen or pressure of gravity. Not everyone enjoys or appreciates the fact of the train being in motion. Many people fear progress and change that they don’t understand or desire. They won’t board a “moving train” because people feel safer standing in place, yet this gets them nowhere.
Tony Evans wrote an article on feelings and facts saying, “Feelings are important. God created them, and He expects us to experience them. He doesn’t expect us to be emotionless machines. But feelings have no intellect. They are real and powerful, but they do not think. All we can do with our feelings is react. Feelings will react to a lie just as they react to the truth. Feelings even react to things that are not real. That’s why feelings must always be the caboose of the (faith) train, never the engine.”
It takes a while for people to understand the facts upon which to base solid faith. That’s why the Bible describes faith as a “walk” or walking by faith. If we saw or knew everything that God does, we could not handle it. Imagine knowing what will happen to you every day of your life. You would be too worried or excited to sleep knowing or fearing what will happen tomorrow. The Bible tells us He knows everything about us and what will happen from birth to death. Even when bad things happen, it has a purpose in God’s greater plan for all time.
That’s why this life is about following and trusting the FACT of Jesus Christ by faith. We believe Him even when we can’t see or know where He is leading us. Sometimes we get glimpses of where He is leading us. We reach heights of wonder where we sometimes see the big picture and we know our faith will get us there. Other days we are dark and depressed in our human emotions and have no sight of anything beyond our own sad deeds and misery. This is when TRUE faith kicks in. When we have to blindly trust in or rely on the name of Jesus, that is when we truly see the value of the FACT/FAITH combination. Eventually, he shows us the heights in comparison to the depths of our bad experiences. Our reward for that faith is simply eventually seeing everything for what it is without demanding emotion to take us there. As Tony Evans wrote, “feelings have no intellect”, and I would additionally suggest that intellect should not be run by our feelings!
But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name— (John 1:12 AMPV)
‘Believing in” means “adhere to/rely on”. There are millions who say they “believe in God”, but most of those have no clue in what “receiving Jesus” truly means. Even Satan, the evil one, believes in God. Of course, because he was an angel and closer to God than we can imagine being. Yet, Satan has been cast out and is an enemy of God even though you could say “he believes in God”. He will never be saved from his destination. Such has been predicted for the majority of humans who say they believe in God, but have not put their faith in/on Him.
So today, the FACT is Jesus came, died on a cross taking on our deserved punishment, and resurrected to overcome death so that we would believe and have eternal life because of the power of His resurrection. FACT-they never found His body. FACT-hundreds or thousands were eyewitnesses to Him after His crucifixion and saw his ascension to the heavens. FACT-the Bible is a powerful, miraculous combination of 66 books written over 5000+ years that powerfully reveals God’s actions and plan from the beginning of time in a cohesive, provable fashion. FACTS-Israel has been reestablished in Zion as the Old and New Testament prophets predicted for the end times. We can now all watch the fulfillment of those prophecies in modern-day Israel in real-time. When we tie our faith to those facts, we are changed by them since we now have hope and a certain amount of knowledge for the future. This knowledge then leads to feelings of hope, love, joy, and peace.
If you have not yet FELT the joy of salvation or peace with God, I would suggest you hang around with people who ARE feeling that. It is much more rewarding to hang around with loving, hopeful, happy, and peaceful people than people who are so dark they will never see the light. Even professing “believers” become bitter, disobedient, and doubtful about whom they supposedly believe in and are hard to be around. I’m never suggesting we follow “people”…but the Bible does command us to have fellowship with those who truly love and demonstrate the love of Christ in their lives. We are to move forward TOGETHER on the “locomotive of faith”. If you seek such, you will find it…and I also believe you will eventually share in those feelings of joy, love, peace, and hope that come from putting faith in the facts.
Faith without putting in the work of knowing the facts is “dead”. Empty, unknowledgeable faith will disappear with the first challenge or “feeling” of doubt. Faith connected to the facts will never be defeated because the Bible teaches “His Word will not return to Him void” (Isaiah 55:11)…meaning many things, but basically that is where the power of faith lies. Not in feelings…not in signs and wonders or miracles. Look at all the miraculous signs and wonders God did for the Jews in the Old Testament and promised them the Messiah. Yet, they were almost always weak, feeling-go-lucky people who went astray worshipping man-made gods at their first experience of being disappointed that God does not honor their beck and call. So, signs and wonders do not secure faith or truth until they are connected with the FACTS of God’s Word and who He is. Who He is? The Great “I Am”. He is the only being, spiritual or otherwise, that has always existed. Eternity is in His hands…all the way backward and all the way forward.
God’s faithfulness is a FACT. Whatever He has promised, He has done it. His plan is His plan and we don’t have to understand or FEEL it for His plan to be true. He has promised us freedom, no matter what is going on in the physical world around us. True freedom is being free from the penalty of sin, and He has promised to help us gain control over sin. I don’t always “feel” saved, joyous, loving, or peaceful. I have the temptation to sin almost daily. I don’t always want to forgive myself or others. By faith though, even when I give in to sin, I can know that I am saved and that God’s Spirit is on its way to help me obey and restore being full of His spirit…which is when and where I think the feeling comes in.
The longer we submit to God and keep our eyes on Jesus, the less time we will spend suffering from our lonely struggles with sin and doubt. A new Christian doesn’t usually know much about the facts of faith. That is why the Christian life is a process of acting on facts with our faith as we discover those truths. We are always going forward solely based on facts and faith alone, but as we get going “faster and faster on that spiritual train”, that is when we feel the thrill of moving forward and living the life He has always wanted to give us. We just need to start at the receiving end (receiving and believing in His grace)…which is just the beginning of the train ride of faith we are promised. From there I think we will find the emotion and feeling from that “faith in facts”. As the above photo says, those who jump on a moving train cannot be the conductors, but they must trust the conductor…whom they cannot see.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9)
The peace of God I experience is not totally a feeling. In fact, I might say it is almost an absence of feelings…at least the negative ones. When we are at peace with God, we finally are able to know what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise…because we are thinking about these things. Our mind is renewed/reprogrammed and that is what true conversion to faith is all about.
So, continue practicing these things…whether you feel like it or not. Eventually, your faith will be rewarded with the positive emotion that comes from His presence in your life. It is not always easy, but it is true nonetheless. Strap yourself in for the train ride of faith. It is going to be an amazing journey to His new kingdom that will never ever end.
Toot, toot…all aboard!