Steady

Before we dig in, let me begin by saying this- this blog does not come from a place of having conquered what I am about to discuss. Instead, it is written from the trenches. I am in the middle of the war zone standing on the battlefield currently having to fight against this struggle within my soul. The Lord is working on me, so I want to be sure you hear these words from that perspective.

Emotions are real. We face them daily. As I mentioned in my most previous blog, mine have been seemingly swinging from one end of the spectrum to the other with all of the impending changes happening in my life. If I allow them to, they will greatly affect my walk with the Lord.  If I rely only on how I am “feeling” at any given moment, I will begin to focus more on those fleeting affections instead of on the steady promises of our Lord. 

I’ve seen my emotions affect my quiet time in tremendous ways recently. I allow how I feel to dictate when and how much time I give to sitting with my Savior, instead of allowing the promises of God to override my human-nature tendencies, that are always changing. 

Here’s my challenge to you: stop allowing your emotions to determine your walk with the Lord and start meditating and walking in the promises of God so that they permeate and completely transform even the deepest emotions that arise inside of you.

The Lord made us to be emotional beings with souls that ache, yearn, love, and so on. Our emotions are a beautiful thing, but they are not our god. We must not allow them to separate us in our quiet time with the Lord, or determine for us how we walk with Him.

Here is what we do know:

• The Lord is good. (Psalm 34:8)
• The Lord is near. (Psalm 34:18)
• The Lord is sovereign. (Colossians 1:17)
• The Lord is victorious. (Psalm 46:10)

We have a sure hope in something so much steadier than what the world, and our circumstances, tells us to believe and feel for each day. We must stand strong in the promises of God and walk in them, even when our emotions are telling us that we don’t “feel” like it. He is our source of life, and our source of truth. We will easily give way and begin to believe the lies of the enemy, fed by the sinfulness of the world, and walk in them, if we do not guard ourselves against it. That means that even if we are not in the mood, we have every reason to be coming regularly before the Lord and digging into scripture. It is what helps us make sense of our emotions and guides us through the ups and downs of life. Learn what He says about who you are, His plans for you, His complete control over all happenings of our world, and how He will soon come back victoriously. Walk in full confidence of those truths.

From you sister struggling alongside you and fighting to know God more and make him known more, but who falls so desperately short so often- we must rely on something bigger than ourselves, and He is the answer. Fight for time with Him. Fight for knowing truth and walking in truth. Fight for eyes to see Him more clearly and and for understanding to know Him more deeply.

Love, Em