If you’re anything like me, you don’t tend to wake up with a smile on your face and praise on your lips. Even as a morning person, I struggle to rid myself of the feeling of deadness, disdain for my roommates, and aversion toward my Bible. It’d be fair to say that it takes me a good amount of time to remember that I’m a Christian with a spirit in which dwells the Triune God. Thankfully, the Lord is merciful to help me touch Him and be revived morning by morning.

The problem is, I then have to go to class. Unfortunately, I was dealt a schedule that includes 8am classes every day, and by the time 11am rolls around, my morning revival has been overshadowed with a midday crisis. Why is it that we struggle to maintain the fire in our spirit? I believe the biggest reason is that we live by our feelings.

We wake up in the morning and consider how we feel. We get out of class and are completely numb to the Lord and His people. We are on the bus going home and are just trying to make it to our room so that we can lie down and take a nap. It seems as though our whole day is governed by the feelings we experience in the moment. Thankfully, the Lord has provided a way to escape.

Forever Facts

Within the Bible, there are countless statements or claims of fact. Here are just a few:

The spirit is life because of righteousness. (Rom 8:10)

Know…the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. (Eph 1:18-19)

I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. (Gal 2:20)

Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it. (1 Thes 5:24)

These facts are not something that are dependent on our feelings or change according to our present state of being. They are all true solely because God says so. As the famous children’s song goes, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” But how does this help us with our present condition?

Facts Mixed with Faith

There are a few key verses that should be considered:

For this reason I say to you, all things that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them. (Mark 11:24)

For indeed we have had the good news announced to us, even as they also; but the word heard did not profit them, not being mixed together with faith in those who heard. (Heb 4:2)

The facts enumerated in the Bible need to be mixed with faith. Faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1). It is what allows us to profit from the glorious facts, promises, and truths found in the Word. Our feelings spontaneously follow suit, but that is not something we should relish in.

The Balance Beam Challenge

The following illustration has been a huge help to me:

We can be compared to a man (faith) on a balance beam. Fact is on the beam in front of us and feeling is behind us. As long as we, by faith, keep our eyes ahead of us on the fact, feeling will follow. However, if we look behind us to the feeling, we are bound to lose our balance and fall off.

The truth is simple, yet profound. If we boldly claim the facts of the Word by faith, we don’t have to worry about how we feel, and the Lord will have a way to bring the facts into our experience. However, if we choose to live by our fluctuating feelings, we will be tossed to and fro throughout the day.

Example Text

The facts available for us to claim are absolutely incredible! I’d like to dive a little deeper into one that has been strengthening me these past few days:

The eyes of your heart having been enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the operation of the might of His strength, which He caused to operate in Christ in raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church. (Eph 1:18-22)

These verses are incredible. Read them slowly, several times and mix them with faith. We have a hope in our calling. There is hope that we will be glorified at the Lord’s return. Before we were hopeless, but now we have a glorious hope. We are also God’s inheritance. Can you believe that? God actually calls us His own inheritance! That means that He must form us into something so glorious that we may be worthy of such a reality. He will do this by His power that is toward us. God has a surpassingly great power that He directs our way. That power is able to raise us from the dead, bring us above all our situations, and allow us to reign in life, just as it did in Christ. Hallelujah!

May we no longer believe our temporal feelings. Let us claim the divine facts that are fully able to brings us out of our feelings and into God. Lord, help us to mix your Word with faith. Teach us to deny the feelings that so easily come and go. Fix our eyes on Jesus, that He might perfect our faith. Lord Jesus we love you!

By: Reese Walling

Reese Walling
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