Feelings

Emotions ran high as his tears flowed freely down his cheeks. Everyone stared at him for the answer and no one believed him when he gave them one. “Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. John 11:20-28,32-44. No one believed that Jesus could raise Lazarus, a dead man who was in the grave for four days, after all they had seen and watched Him do. The emotions of the family and of the countrymen ran high. The family was respectful yet disappointed…” If you had been here…” Many of us have lost loved ones and have been through hard times and seen other through the same hard times…and we think, God if you would’ve cared…this wouldn’t have happened. We shake our fist at the sky. We scream, we pout, we feel so much we cannot even put it into words at times.  
     
God gave us emotions, imagine what it’d be like if we didn’t have them. We’d be disassociated robots with no passion. Yet God gave mankind the ability to have a full spectrum of emotions and that day, as on many days, emotions were running high when Jesus was around. These women who once served and sat with Jesus now were questioning and disappointed, who once sat at His feet and listened to His marvelous teachings now looked at him coldly and through gritted teeth and tears, “if you would’ve been here.”  The others around them who were skeptical in the meantime laughed and taunted…” Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?” Then this happened, “Jesus wept” John 11:35; the shortest most impactful verse in the Bible. Jesus wept, because of the unbelief of everyone around Him. Then in the next moment, Jesus cried loudly, “Lazarus came forth”, by His word, the dead regained his soul and was made whole again. This miracle was wonderful, ceasing a lot of doubt and causing a lot of anger and hate because of the power He had. But do you know that Jesus can do that to us who are walking around like zombies? We are running on our emotions laced with fear, doubt, dread, and the past when Jesus wants us to come forth and be set free and made whole. Sure, we’ll still have these emotions, but with Jesus as our Lord, we don’t have to be a slave to our emotions.
    
Our emotions run a gambit daily, man or woman, child or elderly, our emotions can be everywhere and can change just because! In a day we could wake up on top of the world, in the matter a few hours we could be in sorrow. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, that there are times for our proper emotions, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” There are times that we are supposed to be joyful, sorrowful, working, resting, listening, talking, love, hate, at war, and at peace. There are times to have that and that’s OKAY. There’s nothing wrong with them and even if we have trouble and cry at a strange moment or laugh in a crisis, it can also be okay, our emotions are not gauged by God and He doesn’t say, “You shouldn’t have laughed here, or you shouldn’t have cried there.” It’s a personal thing and if we feel it’s something God is working on us with, then by all means, HEED God’s voice, but don’t let someone else tell you how you should feel!
    
Some people struggle with peace daily because of so many different reasons. Even Christians struggle, like Mary and Martha, “If you would have been here,” we say to God Almighty An honest prayer is found in Psalms 42:2-5, “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” This prayer hits home sometimes, we may feel like God is a million miles away. We remember the good times and the happy times we had in church or with family and look at it now and it’s not the same. We see things in a different view because our hues are muddied and gray from our emotions and our baggage we carry that no one can see.

Sometimes we feel so far away from God because of our emotions, we go through a spiritual drought of sorts for many reasons, it could be mad or doubt at God for the loss of something or someone, it could be an un-confessed sin to God, a prideful heart, or to test our faithfulness. There are many reasons why we feel so far away yet there are ways to get back to God. David prayed in Psalms after his open devastating sins caused him pain, both physically, spiritually, and mentally, he prays in Psalms 51:10-12, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” We need to lay down our pride, lay our sins at the cross and get right if that is what is needed. Easier said than done, but needed nonetheless. The Bible gives us explicit clear instructions on how we can get closer to God. They say life doesn’t come with an instruction book, well, what did God give us His Word for? It plainly tells us, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:3-9.”
    
Still searching for peace, still troubled in your heart? Even the best Christian has their moments of trouble. The devil knows how to play us and get us going to where all we see is our emotions and we can’t see past them for the stillness and calmness that God so freely gives us by His Spirit. The disciples were too when Jesus stated His purpose on Earth was done and they were saddened. Jesus says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:15-21, 26-27. Jesus gives us a promise, peace, His peace, not as the world gives. The world can give us anything but peace or a temporary peace that doesn’t last but only through God can we have true peace.  Don’t let your feelings get the best of you and take you farther away from God, instead place them in prayer and faith in God Almighty. We may not have the answers, but we know God has a bigger purpose. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. Isaiah 55:8.” A pioneer in Christianity remarks on our faith and feelings, “You should not believe your conscience and your feelings more than the word which the Lord who receives sinners preaches to you.” … “Peace if possible...truth at all costs.” -Martin Luther.  Remember who you serve, if it’s yourself you will be a slave to your emotions and others opinions, if you are serve God you will be free from their opinions and your emotions will matter but be held in the hands of God Almighty who can give you freedom no matter what you are facing. Like Joseph in prison, Noah in the ark, Stephen being stoned, Jesus on the cross and so many more, all faced trials but it was their faith in God that gave them the peace of mind to settle in the hearts the joy that was coming. This beautiful psalm reminds us, “I will extol (praise) thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. Psalms 30.” Let your feelings go, and let God have His way in your heart His love to show and watch your peace bloom and grow!

I’ve learned- that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
I’ve learned- that no matter how much I care, some people just don’t care back.
I’ve learned- that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
I’ve learned- that it’s not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.
I’ve learned- that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you’d better know something.
I’ve learned- that you shouldn’t compare yourself to the best others can do.
I’ve learned- that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.
I’ve learned- that it’s taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.
I’ve learned- that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
I’ve learned- that you can keep going long after you can’t.
I’ve learned- that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
I’ve learned- that either you control your attitude or it controls you.
I’ve learned- that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.
I’ve learned- that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.
I’ve learned- that money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I’ve learned- that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.
I’ve learned- that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re down will be the ones to help you get back up.
I’ve learned- that sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.
I’ve learned- that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.
I’ve learned- that just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.
I’ve learned- that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.
I’ve learned- that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish. Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they believed it.
I’ve learned- that your family won’t always be there for you. It may seem funny, but people you aren’t related to can take care of you and love you and teach you to trust people again. Families aren’t biological.
I’ve learned- that no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
I’ve learned- that it isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you are to learn to forgive yourself.
I’ve learned- that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn’t stop for your grief.
I’ve learned- that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.
I’ve learned- that just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.
I’ve learned- that we don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.
I’ve learned- that you shouldn’t be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
I’ve learned- that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
I’ve learned- that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will hurt in the process.
I’ve learned- that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don’t even know you.
I’ve learned- that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.
I’ve learned- that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.
I’ve learned- that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.
I’ve learned- that it’s hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people’s feelings and standing up for what you believe.