Hello Friends,

We are a people of feelings. There’s so much of what we do as humans that we attribute to the way we feel. When we feel happy, we laugh. When we feel sad, we cry. When we feel excitement, we scream. Feelings are awesome expressions of who we are. It’s so easy to discard someone as inhumane when they never express the way they feel. This establishes the fact that feelings are linked to emotions. We feel drawn to someone, and so we can’t get enough of them. Being able to feel things is beautiful. However, the way we feel cannot be the basis of our existence. You cannot make important decisions only on the way you feel. If we did that, there would be no need to have self-discipline. Because I’ve got to tell you, there are times when all I want to do is eat all day, but if I need to lose as much weight as possible, then I need to watch what I eat.

Our need to act based on our feelings often times affect our relationship with God. I know this because it’s happened to me several times. I don’t feel the “Presence of God,” so it feels weird to pray or even worship. See, fellowship with God demands our intentionality. I used to limit God’s Presence to only the times during worship when the tears are pouring out of my eyes. The problem with that kind of view about God’s Presence is that you miss out on God’s presence when those elements are not there. Irrespective of how you feel, God is with you. The Holy Spirit dwells in you, that’s why you are His temple. If you can only feel God when some things are put in place, then you need to allow yourself grow beyond those things. Build a relationship that doesn’t depend on those elements, but focuses on your relationship.

You see, the devil is intimidated when God’s people fellowship with Him. And he knows that we trust our feelings a lot. So, he makes sure that we don’t feel like praying or serving. At moments like that, defy those feelings and actually go to God. Do not let anything take away your relationship with God. It’s really at those times when you feel His presence the least that you should go ahead and acknowledge God’s presence. What the devil cannot defeat, he distracts. When he knows he cannot get you to Himself, he distracts you from growing.

I cannot emphasize this enough. Stop allowing your feelings to dictate your personal time with God. Even when you don’t “feel” God there, go ahead and worship, study the Bible, pray. The fact that you don’t feel it does not mean God’s not there. I saw something interesting in Exodus 34. Moses had gone up to fellowship with God for 40 days. By the time he got back down, the people couldn’t look him in the face because he was glowing. That was someone who felt the presence of God, yet he didn’t realize what had happened to his face. Your face glows, and the devil cannot stand to look at your face when you’ve spent time with God. There is always an after-glow as a result of fellowship. Push past those occasional feelings of God’s absence and pursue an intimate relationship with Him. You are stronger than you give yourself credit for.

With exceeding love,

Mz_Ola.