The BIG Picture (Q&A)

Emotions are part of our humanity. God created us with the capacity to feel joy, sorrow, fear, compassion, and even disappointment. These are not sinful in themselves, for they belong to the soul—the realm of mind, will, and emotions. Yet Scripture warns us that the motions of sins, which are by the law, work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death (Romans 7:5). This shows that emotions, though natural, can be stirred by the flesh and lead to sinful outcomes when not governed by the Spirit. Faith, however, is of another order. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). It is not emotion, nor is it feeling—it is trust in what God has spoken. Faith rests on the certainty of His Word, while emotions fluctuate with circumstance. Without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6), which means that God is not pleased with our emotions in themselves, but with our trust in His truth. Yet emotions, when submitted to the Spirit, can reflect His own hea...

Faith is not emotions or feelings. Faith is knowledge of the truth. In other words, if the Bible says, "God is near you" (Eph.2:13) , then faith believes that, irrespective of emotions and feelings. If your emotions rule you, then your life will be like a roller coaster, constantly tossed between the highs and the lows. Emotions cannot provide you any stability in your relationship with God. However, if you stand on faith, then no matter what your emotional state, you have a firm grounding, and God will be near, because truth says so, not because you think you feel Him. How do you learn to have faith? Well, remember that your whole being, your flesh (or human reasoning), defaults to emotions and feelings. Your default response to everything is feelings since you are conditioned on these since you were born. But faith comes by the Word. You grow in faith by learning the Word, studying the Word, gaining knowledge in the Word. As the Word starts to fill your thoughts, you will s...