FEELINGS VS. TRUTH

      I've realized in my journey of leadership that one of the simplest, innocent, and most disruptive things we can do is base our decisions on our feelings rather than God's Truth. A common phrase that is used often is..."I really FEEL like God wants me to do this". There is really nothing wrong with this statement in and of itself because God is a very personal God who gives us the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our steps, often filling us with either conviction or peace helping us stay on the right track. 

     However... we sometimes forget that God has never and will never, act outside or apart from His Word or His Character. Never. So whenever we "feel" God is pulling us a certain way, we need to make sure that it lines up with His Word and His character. There is really nothing new that His Word doesn't cover. Sure we have different gifts and talents and ministries that aren't specifically mentioned in the Bible like WOMEN'S MINISTRY, or VBS, or CHURCH HEADQUARTERS... but all of these things can be backed by scripture as long as they follow the guidlines that God has set for ministry. It's when we start adding our own ideas and agendas that they begin to stray outside of God's plan.  

      

      The point is... if it's not backed up with Scripture and within God's character...then it's probably not God. And even though we may have the best intentions, we can get dangerously off track because it's really all supposed to be Completely about Him and what HE wants.  We have to remember that God warns us in His Word about us not trusting our own hearts because our hearts are naturally bent towards sin, He tells us to rely on TRUTH to guide our steps. Our Feelings are really based out of our comfort zones. It is very easy to say well i don't believe God wants me to do that because i feel uneasy about it. But is it because the Spirit is giving you warning or is it because it makes you very uncomfortable and a little afraid because it's new and you're comfortable with the way things are?  

       This is an area that the enemy has an easy time intervening and messing us up because we are unaware of his schemes. We think we are doing what God wants based on how we FEEL but infact we may be missing the opportunity that God is giving us to do something amazing and for His glory because we falsely assume that He would never make us uncomfortable in ministry.  Sounds funny once we say it out in the open but is this not the truth of what we deal with on occasion?  If we would stop and run the situation through Scripture and see whether or not God would ask us to do something like that, we may find an overwhelming assurance that even though this might be difficult, it is EXACTLY a reflection of the kinds of things that God has asked those who love Him to do before.  So it boils down to the fact that we can either: Go with what we FEEL or go with what we KNOW.