"Who's Will? Who's Power?"

I understand my faith should be grounded in the FACT of God’s presence and not the “feeling” of His presence; but should I totally ignore my feelings? Something about that just seems unreasonable. After all, I AM HUMAN. I HAVE FEELINGS; I CAN BE EMOTIONAL!

The Bible has comforting news for us. Emotions are said to be neither good nor bad, but the behaviors that arise from them can be either positive or negative. For instance, anger is an emotion – not necessarily a pleasant emotion at that. But the Bible does not define anger as sinful. In Ephesians 4:26 we read:

“BE ANGRY, and yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil and opportunity.”

Throughout the book of Psalms King David expresses a myriad of emotions, joy, sorrow, anger, loneliness, frustration, and fear. But God refers to David as a man after His own heart. God expresses His love as David records in Psalm 36:5-7:

“Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O Lord, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

Feelings are a natural part of being human. While we take refuge in the FACT of God’s presence and will, we do not totally ignore feelings that may signal we are missing the mark.

1 My will and My own power: Symptoms: alienation, loneliness, butting head into wall after wall, breaking of self, fatalism.

My will under God's power: Symptoms: frustration, superstition, anxiety— God won't be manipulated this way, even though many try–including a high percentage of Christians!

God's will but under my power: Symptoms: burnout, putting God or others on my timeframes, overplaying my role, messiah-complex, being judgmental toward others.

God's will under God's power: Symptoms: peace, sense of safety, perspective, poise, energy when I need it; BALANCE!

“Letting Go, Letting God.” “God’s Will Under God’s Power”. “A Pause, not Applause”. “Coming in Second and Winning”. “Being IN THE WAY without being in the way”. “A Proper Positioning”.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:2

The Author and Finisher of even our faith! Who better to trust? Who better to serve? Who’s will, Who’s power?

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you. We have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work. Growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” – Colossians 1:9-14

Think of it; ALREADY QUALIFIED! All that is left is obedience and the peace that comes from enjoying your one-of-its-kind, customized and wonderful will of God! Until Sunday, God's richest blessings upon you!

1(excerpt from Xenos Christian fellowship http://www.xenos.org/aboutxenos/faq/godswill.htm)