Spirit over Feelings
Well now, friend, I see you strollin’ up here like a breeze that decided to take the scenic route. So, come on up on this ol’ front porch. Maybe you just heard that lil’ ol’ squirrel right over by the rolled up hose fussin’ at that lil’ woodpecker for knockin’ too loud over and over on the same tree. Ok now, pull up a chair and settle in for a spell. Let’s sit and be watchin’ that lil’ mallard duck pver there tiptoein’ through a cattail patch with the coolness of an ol’ barnyard goat that must be thinkin’ it could win a dance contest. Life can make us feel a whole lot like that ol’ mallard duck. We try to look real graceful, but the minute our feelin’s get stirred up, we wobble around like a silly lil’ ol’ rooster tryin’ to figure out how to ice skate. That’s plum why Romans 8:8-9 settles over us like a cool glass of sweet lemonade on a hot Texas afternoon sayin’, “So, then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” And also, Galatians 5:25 tells us, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Friend, that there verse is like findin’ an extra fresh-baked, warm chocolate chip cookie that had been accidently left behind on the counter by your grandma.
Many Christians git to judgin’ life only by what they can see, hear, or feel. But feelin’s can be as unreliable as a lil’ ol’ raccoon that promises it won’t be gittin’ into your trash again. We’ve got to be livin’ by a different set of rules. We’ve gotta be walkin’ by the Spirit, not by the flesh. Second Corinthians 5:17 tells us that if any person is in Christ, they are a new creature. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. God had to tell us this because our minds can’t begin to comprehend it without His help. It’s sho’-nuff’ revelation knowledge, not emotional guesswork.
Christianity just ain’t built on feelin’s. It’s plum built on the Word. The Word says that old habits are gone. Old frustrations are gone. Old struggles are gone. Whether you feel close to God or far from Him don’t change the truth. The Bible says He lives in you, and you live in Him. How much closer can you get to someone Who lives right inside you?
You ain’t no child of the flesh anymore. You’re a child of the Spirit. So, walk like it. Think like it. Live like it.
Father, thank You that my life is anchored in Your Word and not in my feelings. Teach me to walk in the Spirit, trust Your truth, and live out the new life You have given me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Alright, friend, before you head on to whatever the Lord’s got planned next for you today, you gotta be lettin’ this here truth settle into your spirit the way a quiet meadow settles when the last cricket decides it is time to hush its singin’. God’s Spirit will guide you with the steady calm of an ol’ tortoise that plum knows exactly where it’s goin’ even if nobody else can see the path. His truth will meet you in places as surprisin’ as a lil’ ol’ chipmunk peekin’ out from a hollow log just to see who is wanderin’ by. And His presence will rise up in your life with the boldness of a storm cloud that decides it’s time to give the ground below it a really good drink of fresh rainwater. Now, git on out there and be steppin’ on ahead with assurance in the Lord. You’re not livin’ by your feelin’s anymore. You’re walkin’ in the Spirit, friend, and God is already shapin’ your tomorrow with the same careful wisdom a beekeeper uses when guidin’ a hive toward producin’ its sweetest honey ever.
With joy,
Gwen
