FEELINGS.

So often you hear people say that they feel a certain way. I feel tired, I feel good or I feel bad. There are happy people, lucky people, and unlucky people, all because of feelings. Often it appears that people accept feeling to be reality. If I feel it, then it must be real. But what about that time when you are going to your car and feel someone is following. Then you look back only to find that no one is there. What about the feeling of going into a dark room and before the lights are turned on, you can sense a presence? How many of us as children just knew that a monster was under our bed or in our closet? My grandson, age two, is finding animals in my house and at his home. He tells us that there is a "BIG OLD LION", as he points to another room. We take him serious because he feels that there is a BIG OLD LION in there. We realize that there is no lion and we assure him that he is safe. We take him into the room with us, as we tell any lion to be gone, in Jesus name. We always ask him if they are gone, sometimes those animals are stubborn and have to be told again to leave. But in time they always go. In reality we all know that there are no animals in our homes. But children develop an imagination at this age. We must be careful not to discourage that development. Yet at the same time we must gently guide him to the reality that there is nothing to fear from "BIG OLD LIONS" in Arkansas. Now if my grandson were say twenty-two and telling us this, we would all be praying and asking for prayer on his behalf.

Sometimes church people will let their feeling take them into imaginations, which are not founded in the reality of the Word of God. The book of Deuteronomy has a record of a blessing for obedience and of cursing for disobedience. In chapter twenty-nine and verse nineteen, we read that a disobedient person will hear the Word, "he will bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst". The sad thing is this person truly thinks that he is blessed. How can this thing happen? By giving into his imagination to lead him from correction, while persuading himself that he is "Blessed". Many a minister has attempted to talk with someone who is not keeping the reality of the Word only to be told, God is blessing me! I'm doing better than ever before, yet the minister knows that if the person doesn't change direction and become obedient, that a curse is waiting. This is a very BIG LION in today's church world. People often want someone to tell them what THEY want to hear and what THEY feel is right. No matter what the Word of God says, a true man of God with Bible answers, still they won't obey. Instead they hunt through countless ministers and churches until they find someone to agree with them who will preach their way. Those ministers are found in Jeremiah 23:17; "They say still unto those who despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, no evil shall come upon you". If you look hard enough you can live any kind of life and find someone who will preach that it is all right. Now let me say the way of truth is always spoken evil of by those who will not walk the path. Let a person ask a minister or saint's advice about their life and be told the truth, but that was not what they were looking for. That same person will go off and talk about the very person that tried to help them. Some so called Christians will have a devil in every Bible preaching minister and God fearing saint, while praising every weak liver preacher and moss back hypocrite. These people are on the road to Romans 1:21 "Because, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened". It is one thing to know about God. It is quite a different story to Know God. If the knowledge of God has come to anyone, they must accept that knowledge, follow in the light of the Word and obey. If a person rejects the knowledge that was revealed to him or rejects the Word which was preached, then their own imagination will step in to give them a new revelation of doing things their way. They will feel that THEY are right and that THEY have the truth. Yet in reality they are moving further away from God and more into self.

I would like to share an experience that I had personally because of this problem There was a young girl who was afflicted from birth with multiple health problems. Yet her mother could just imagine her as a Missionary. This sister came to share her vision, about her daughter's ministry, with my wife and me. I pointed out that the Lord was able to do all things. That is could be possible for her to be healed. On the other hand, the young girl loved her church and was used in it as much as possible. That to take her mind from where she was to an imaginary mission field would do noone any good. But this was not what the mother wanted to hear. She left our home that day disappointed that I had not supported her feelings. The reality was unless God did a miracle the young girl could not go and if she did she would not have survived. The mother when home, preached to her daughter if YOU will only believe God will heal you and we will go to the mission field where God will surely use you in a great way. The girl began to lose interest in her church work. She then started to remove herself from the things she had been involved with at her church including her group of friends. Years came and went, the girl along with her mother, believed that someday they would be on the mission field together. But at last the young girl now a mid-aged woman lost her battle with her health problems, she went to be with the Lord. Mother soon followed, both could have been a blessing in their church. Unfortunately for them, neither one saw the mission field. AS LONG AS THE DEVIL CAN MAKE YOU SEE THAT YOU COULD DO A GREAT WORK SOMEWHERE ELSE, YOU WILL NEVER DO MUCH WHERE YOU ARE.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his second epistle chapter ten and verse five-six, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exallteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having a readiness to "punish" all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." For every disobedience, there is a punishment. If we think that we are the exception to the rule, we are wrong. There are no exceptions. When the Word of God tells me one thing and my heart tells me another, I need to Cast down my heart's imaginations. If I feel that I need to do something, before I move I need to check the Word. People think that because they feel something that it must be God. But I have felt a lot of things that was not God, haven't you? As I close, let me say this one thing. What good is it to have a pastor, if you never go to him? Also what good is the pastor if you won't take his advice? Don't ask your pastor to pray over something that you have already made up your mind, because you want his approval. You should go to him and ask prayer when you feel a tug in any direction. If you are not sure, go to him. The Holy Ghost placed him there for the benefit of the saints. Now last but not least, if you ask him to pray for whatever you have decided to do, then don't blame him if things don't work, when he was not in on the planning part of the project.

REMEMBER IMAGINATIONS WILL LEAD ACCORDING TO FEELINGS, WHILE THE HOLY GHOST WILL LEAD ACCORDING TO THE "WORD".