I've always considered myself as one who was rather faithful to God. I prayed, I went to church, I read my Bible, I've taught Sunday school classes, gave some money to the church, and even told a few lost sinners of their need to be saved. For all of this I was quite proud. But then one day it hit, I found out I had it all wrong. I found out that I had created a little system where I was performing quite nicely. I had made church into a game, and I was racking up lots of points. I was giving myself points for the various spiritual activities I was engaged in, and points for the worldly activities I abstained from. Then one day my whole systems came crashing to the ground. God presented me with an opportunity to help a person in need. My system did not accommodate God giving me things to do. I was always the one who determined what I would do, not God. My system primarily only accommodated what I felt like doing. It had never occurred to me to consider what God felt like doing.
I have since learned as a Christian to not use my feelings in any capacity when trying to determine God's will for a certain situation. In fact, many times my feelings get over ruled by an impression God may give me. I was once contemplating performing a certain car repair that would have taken me a significant amount to time to complete. My flesh did not want to do the job, so I prayed for three days for God to take care of it. Being the "spiritual" person that I was, I even brought the need before the church. Three days later, the car was still broken, and I was still praying for the Almighty God to answer my prayer. My flesh still did not want to perform the task, then a new thought came to my mind.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. [Rom 8:28]
Called according to His purpose! I thought to myself, God called me for a reason, He has purposes that He wants to accomplish through me. I was not called to simply pray, read my Bible, and wait for Jesus to take me to heaven. If Jesus had no plans for me to help or influence others, He would have taken me to be with him already. So I established in my mind that God has things for me to accomplish while I'm still living.
I next thought of all the automotive tools God so graciously provided me with. I thought of all the automotive experience God had given me, and all the cars I had worked on before. I thought of how important transportation is in our society, and what might happen to my friend if I said no. I then concluded, I've have no choice, I must take on this job. There was a faint voice saying to me, it is rather expensive to say no to God. It seemed as if God had said to me, "OK Car Boy, I have given you three days to whine and complain, I gave you the tools, the time, and the money- now get busy!" And that is what I did.
Looking back on this event, I made a major mistake in my praying. Did you catch the mistake I made? After I heard of the need, I prayed "God, you take care of it". But that is not the way I should have prayed.
Prayer is designed more to adjust you to God than adjust God to you. [Experiencing God, Henry T. Blackaby, pg 109,Broadman & Holman Publishers]
I should have prayed, "God, their is a need you showed me, not my will, by thine be done". I was too busy considering what I wanted, I did not take any time out to determine what God wanted. I immersed myself in my feelings and completely neglected the feelings of the person I had the opportunity to help. If fact, I even forgot that except by the grace of God, I could have been the other person. I could have been the one at the mercy of someone else. I could have been the one in great need praying to God for a drop of mercy. But for the grace of God, I could be in great need begging Jesus just for a crumb of His mercy. I had thought I was the master, I thought I was in control, but the reality was that I am a servant and God is the one in control. That was the error in my thinking.
I was trying to determine God's will through my feelings. This "determining God's will through feelings" doctrine has become very popular, and it has infected many. It is popular today because it leaves man in control. You can pretend to be very spiritual, and do not have to give up anything you don't want to. In this mode, God suggests things for you to do, and you tell God if you like His suggestions. The suggestions we don't like, we return to him and say "that is not a bad idea God, I'll pray for someone to take care of it". When we talk to God like this, we better be sure we are not saying "I do not feel like doing it." If you don't feel like doing something, than plainly state it. Expose before God your true motive. Make sure you are not blaming God for your laziness. It is easy to be afflicted by the "determining God's will through feelings" doctrine. It is interesting to me that this was not the pattern that Jesus followed, yet we think it good enough for us to follow. If Jesus did follow this pattern, there would not exist any hope for mankind today.
There is a song I've heard that rightly expresses what would have happened if Jesus based his decisions on feelings and did not complete His Father's plan.
Had it not been for a place called Mt. Calvary.Had it not been for the old rugged cross.
And had it not been for a man called Jesus, than my soul would forever be lost.
As Jesus was contemplating the great need of humanity, and the great price He was going to have pay, he prayed
Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. [Luke 22:42]
I'm glad Jesus never prayed "Father, I see this great need before me, I beg you to take care of it. Father, raise up someone to die in the place of these poor sinners."
When God presents a need to us, we should it like Jesus did. Clarify with God the plan you believe you were handed, and then get busy. Multitudes of people are suffering today as a result of someone following their feelings instead of God. When one follows their feeling to make decisions, they are really trusting themselves for making the correct decisions. If you are not trusting God for the decisions you are making, you are trusting yourself, and trusting in yourself is sin. Lets look at a few examples.
Achan trusted his feelings, and it cost him and his entire family their very life. He committed what we would classify as a minor sin. He simply took something God told him not to take. He did not kill, or speak evil about anyone. Yet this one seemly minor sin, cost Achan his life, the killing of his livestock, and the stoning of the rest of his family [Josh 7:24-26]. We have another example in David. He committed what I would consider an even smaller sin. Yet the consequences were significantly greater.
David was warned against counting his troops. God did not want David to feel his battle victories were dependent on the size of his army. David was not convinced God meant business. He trusting his feelings, and had his troops counted. His life was spared, but 70,000 people were killed because of David's misplaced trust. [1 Chr 21:1-3, 1 Chr 21:14] How would you like that on your record? One "little" act of disobedience causing 70,000 people to die. It kind of gets us to change our minds about the difference between a small amount of disobedience and a large amount. If 70,000 people die because of a small act of disobedience, I think it best we settle for no disobedience in our lives. Did God over react?
When we consider being disobedient, we think in the back of our mind how much it might cost. But that is flawed thinking. It is impossible to determines the price of the disobedience. In fact, the cost is always higher than we can imagine.
When God presents a need before us, it should be considered a most holy thing. We must rid any thought of considering the cost of disobedience. In David's case, the consequences appeared to not affect him directly, but others were greatly affected. I have no doubt that if David knew the consequences of counting his mighty men, he never would have done it. Which is why when a need is presented to us, the will of God must be sought, and not the will of man. We do not have sufficient resources to pay for our disobedience. Disobedience is like placing a bet, not knowing whether you have enough money to cover the loss. Anybody who bets, or gambles is a fool. Anybody who bets, or gambles not knowing their maximum loss, is an even bigger fool. Disobedience to God works the same way. You are placing a bet, and you do not know what your maximum loss might be. I don't know about you, but if I know I'm guaranteed to loose, and I don't have a clue as to how great the loss might be, that is a game I don't want to have any part of. Yet that is the exact game people play with God.
People somehow get the idea they can haphazardly choose when they will be obedient, or disobedient. And when they choose to be disobedient, they somehow think they can tell God when they have paid enough, or suffered long enough. Don't be fooled by such a scheme of the devil. If you owned all the resources in the world, that would not be a sufficient payment for disobedience. Earthly means not sufficient to pay for sin.
Disobedience is sin, and humans have no ability to pay the debt created by even the smallest act. In the case of David, one could easily make the case God went easy on him. Is the death of 70,000 people sufficient to repay one sin. NO! Not even 70,000 times 70,000 would be a sufficient amount. We must drill this fact into our minds. As long as we are content thinking our small acts of disobedience are no big deal, we will never understand the holiness of God. God sovereignly determines the price tag for disobedient acts. Disobedience is never on sale, full price is always paid. Based on the high cost of disobedience, we must convince ourselves to never go shopping for it, nor even consider browsing, for you might just find something you think you can afford. Don't be deluded my friend, there is nothing in that store of disobedience you can afford. Every item extends beyond your means to repay.
Remember that dilemma I had about fixing a car. What if that person was Jesus who was in need? Would that have changed my attitude? You bet it would have. You see I had a need once that was not within my ability to pay. Nor did any services exist where I could go even if I had the money. My need was salvation, I needed forgiveness from my sins. It was only Jesus who could meet that need, and for that I owe an eternal debt of gratitude. So if Jesus asks me to do something, my answer will always yes. How could I ever maintain a clear conscience knowing how I was once helped by him, and yet take into account my feelings when Jesus asks me to do something. I'm glad Jesus did not take his feelings into account when he met my need. His attitude should be ours as well. We should ask ourselves how might my mercy towards this person bring Glory to God. It is never acceptable to ask do I feel like doing this. Our flesh is wicked and corrupt, it cannot be trusted to ever guide us into righteousness. Look where your feelings got you before you were saved and ask yourself if want more of that. Trusting in your flesh will always lead you to disobedience.
Whether Jesus is asking you to do something for Him, or something for someone else, their is no difference. The Bible makes it abundantly clear the two situations are exactly the same.
He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again. [Prov 19:17]Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. [Mat 25:40]
When someone has compassion on a person in need, the Bible states they are lending to God. God is saying, loan whatever you want to the poor, I guarantee you you will get your goods back plus interest. For in reality, you are making out a loan to the Almighty Heavenly Banker. When I consider God's ability to repay, and His generosity, having compassion on the poor is the wisest thing one can do. Thus instead of considering the inconvenience helping someone might cause us, we should consider it an opportunity to express our gratitude to God for all the blessings he has bestowed upon us.
Whenever we get an idea in our minds to do something good for someone, we must keep in mind that idea is from God. The flesh will never dream up nice things to do for someone else. And if it did, it would only be for selfish motives. The flesh does not dream up things to do for the glory of God. The flesh dreams up ways to satisfy itself. The spirit dreams up ways to honor and bring glory to God.
Thus any desires from the flesh need to be ignored. If one does trust their flesh for decisions, they will be tossed to a fro, and carried about with every wind of emotion. [Eph 4:14] But when one's life is solidly built on the Rock of Christ Jesus, emotions will come and go, and not be able to carry the child of God away. Emotions may beat upon the Rock and cause quite a stir in the process, but emotions cannot break down the Rock, nor lead astray anyone anchored to it. Trusting the flesh leads to disobedience, while trusting the spirit leads to obedience. To which will you trust? Let your answer be evident not by your lips, but by your life.