'According to my judgment the most important point to be attended to is this: above all things see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord. Other things may press upon you, the Lord's work may even have urgent claims upon your attention, but I deliberately repeat, it is of supreme and paramount importance that you should seek above all things to have your souls truly happy in God Himself!' - George Mueller
Doesn't it sound selfish to make yourself happy in God? Surely that's just using God to make you happy? Below is the reasoning that forces me to believe (like George Mueller) this it is essential to make myself happy in God:
1) The chief purpose of the Christian Life is to glorify God. (1 Cor 10v31)
2) When sinners are born-again they receive a new heart. ( Ezekiel 36v26)
3) The heart's function is to produce desires. (Psalm 37v4b)
4) The new heart (given by God) produces spiritual desires or desires rooted in the Holy Spirit.
5) To be happy is to fulfill desires and cravings. The greatest measure of happiness happens all desires are fulfilled.
6) To be happy in God is to fulfill Spiritual desires from the new heart.
7) Holy-Spirit desires are given so that the fulfilment of them glorifies God. (God does all things for His own glory).
8) By implication of 6) and 7) we must make ourselves happy in God (fulfilling Spiritual desires) because this glorifies Him.
Three Misconceptions about Happiness:
1) I can't be 'happy in God' all the time because sorrow is a good emotion that God wants me to experience (2 Cor 7v10).
This misconception assumes that humans exert one emotion at a time. The truth is we can be happy and sorrowful simultaneously. 2 Cor 6v10: 'sorrowful yet always rejoicing'. A happiness in God can happen when we are filled with sadness.
2) Happiness is given by God sometimes and other times not. It is not to be pursued. It's to be accepted if God chooses to let me enjoy it.
If this is true why did Paul command the Philippians several times to 'Rejoice in the Lord' (Phil 4v4). Not rejoicing is a sin. Getting joy in God is commanded therefore it is our obligation and duty.
3) Pursuing your own Happiness is living by feelings and not faith.
Faith and feelings are not independent of each other. The right faith tends to produce the right feelings (Rom 15v13).
'God is glorified not only by His glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in.' -Jonathon Edwards
Showing posts with label Feelings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Feelings. Show all posts
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Feelings and Faith
After recent chats with people at Church I've come to these conclusions:
If my feelings or emotions are not desiring God then my faith is misplaced. Rephrased: If I'm not experiencing joy and peace from believing (Rom 12v13) then I'm not truly walking by faith (2 Cor 5v7). My faith at that time is the faith of a mustard seed and so it is faith that justifies (Rom 5v1) therefore this faith cannot be taken away (Rom 8v30), but the faith has been not been applied to the relevant promises of God resulting in false and evil emotions. Therefore I am not correctly dealing with my faith.
Eg Psalm 42v5: 'Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?'
Problem: Bad feelings. Psalmist doesn't feel God. He's being introspective by questioning and analysing his experiences. What he feels contradicts what he knows.
His solution: 'Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him'. The solution is a faith issue. He needs to hope in God. His mind dictates the solution for his heart to believe in. The mind understands but cannot trust. Hence Psalm 14v1 makes the fool out to be someone who declares in his heart 'there is no God'. When the mind trusts what it understands the heart responds.
Therefore feelings are more or less always linked to the application of faith. Where faith is wrongly applied feelings are wrong. When faith is harnessed securely to Gods promises joy floods the soul.
Example: Christan's worry. That's a sinful emotion (Phil 4v6). Worry is the not-believing that God controls all things for our good and His glory (Rom 8v28, Eph 1v11b). Therefore to overcome worry we need to believe the promises found in the texts above. We need to preach to our souls like the Psalmist did: 'Why are you worried O my soul? Don't you know that God controls all things? Hope in that!'.
I also believe that there are seasons with the soul. These are times when God doesn't work by the above rules. Sometimes we seek for intimacy with God and we don't feel it (Songs 3v1). John Owen claims that one of the reasons God does this is to make us seek Him with more energy and zeal.
On a similar topic I've recently read Jonathon Edward's 'Religious Affections' recently. It is amazing! I recommend it to everyone. He starts with the premise: 'True religion mainly consists in holy affections'. He argues that every action we do is based upon an emotion. If this is true then whenever spiritual duty is not delight we are sinning. This concept is majorly convicting.
In the words of John Newton:
If my feelings or emotions are not desiring God then my faith is misplaced. Rephrased: If I'm not experiencing joy and peace from believing (Rom 12v13) then I'm not truly walking by faith (2 Cor 5v7). My faith at that time is the faith of a mustard seed and so it is faith that justifies (Rom 5v1) therefore this faith cannot be taken away (Rom 8v30), but the faith has been not been applied to the relevant promises of God resulting in false and evil emotions. Therefore I am not correctly dealing with my faith.
Eg Psalm 42v5: 'Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?'
Problem: Bad feelings. Psalmist doesn't feel God. He's being introspective by questioning and analysing his experiences. What he feels contradicts what he knows.
His solution: 'Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him'. The solution is a faith issue. He needs to hope in God. His mind dictates the solution for his heart to believe in. The mind understands but cannot trust. Hence Psalm 14v1 makes the fool out to be someone who declares in his heart 'there is no God'. When the mind trusts what it understands the heart responds.
Therefore feelings are more or less always linked to the application of faith. Where faith is wrongly applied feelings are wrong. When faith is harnessed securely to Gods promises joy floods the soul.
Example: Christan's worry. That's a sinful emotion (Phil 4v6). Worry is the not-believing that God controls all things for our good and His glory (Rom 8v28, Eph 1v11b). Therefore to overcome worry we need to believe the promises found in the texts above. We need to preach to our souls like the Psalmist did: 'Why are you worried O my soul? Don't you know that God controls all things? Hope in that!'.
I also believe that there are seasons with the soul. These are times when God doesn't work by the above rules. Sometimes we seek for intimacy with God and we don't feel it (Songs 3v1). John Owen claims that one of the reasons God does this is to make us seek Him with more energy and zeal.
On a similar topic I've recently read Jonathon Edward's 'Religious Affections' recently. It is amazing! I recommend it to everyone. He starts with the premise: 'True religion mainly consists in holy affections'. He argues that every action we do is based upon an emotion. If this is true then whenever spiritual duty is not delight we are sinning. This concept is majorly convicting.
In the words of John Newton:
Our pleasure and our duty
Though opposite before
Since we have seen his beauty
Are joined apart no more
To see the law by Christ fulfilled
And hear His pardoning voice
Transforms a slave into a child
And duty into choice
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