This is a question that I have asked myself. So I decided to search it. It has to do with feelings versus faith in Christ. I thought that I would share it with you if you have felt like you weren’t saved and how this explains the difference between feelings and faith in Christ. It was taken from, got questions, a Bible question site.

Answer: This is an all-too-common question among Christians. Many people doubt their salvation because of feelings or the lack of them. The Bible has much to say about salvation, but nothing to say about “feeling saved.” Salvation is a process by which the sinner is delivered from “wrath,” that is, from God’s judgment against sin (Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:9). Specifically, it was Jesus’ death on the cross and subsequent resurrection that achieved our salvation (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 1:7).

Our part in the salvation process is that we are saved by faith. First, we must hear the gospel—the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection (Ephesians 1:13). Then, we must believe—fully trust the Lord Jesus (Romans 1:16) and His sacrifice alone. We have no confidence in works of the flesh to achieve salvation. This faith—which is a gift from God, not something we produce on our own (Ephesians 2:8-9)—involves repentance, a changing of mind about sin and Christ (Acts 3:19), and calling on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:9-10, 13). Salvation results in a changed life as we begin to live as the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

We live in a feeling-oriented society and, sadly, that has spilled over into the church. But feelings are unreliable. Emotions are untrustworthy. They ebb and flow like the tides of the sea that bring in all kinds of seaweed and debris and deposit them on the shore, then go back out, eroding the ground we stand on and washing it out to sea. Such is the state of those whose emotions rule their lives. The simplest circumstances—a headache, a cloudy day, a word thoughtlessly spoken by a friend—can erode our confidence and send us “out to sea” in a fit of despair. Doubt and discouragement, particularly about the Christian life, are the inevitable result of trying to interpret our feelings as though they were truth. They are not.

But the Christian who is forewarned and well armed is a person not governed by feelings but by the truth he knows. He does not rely on his feelings to prove anything to him. Relying on feelings is precisely the error most people make in life. They are so introspective that they become preoccupied with themselves, constantly analyzing their own feelings. They will continually question their relationship with God. “Do I really love God?” “Does He really love me?” “Am I good enough?” What we need to do is stop thinking about ourselves and focusing on our feelings and instead redirect our focus to God and the truth we know about Him from His Word.

When we are controlled by subjective feelings centered on ourselves rather than by objective truth centered on God, we live in a constant state of defeat. Objective truth centers on the great doctrines of the faith and their relevance to life: the sovereignty of God, the high priestly intercession of Christ, the promise of the Holy Spirit, and the hope of eternal glory. Understanding these great truths, centering our thoughts on them, and rehearsing them in our minds will enable us to reason from truth in all of life’s trials, and our faith will be strong and vital. Reasoning from what we feel about ourselves—rather than what we know about God—is the sure path to spiritual defeat. The Christian life is one of death to self and rising to “walk in the newness of life” (Romans 6:4), and that new life is characterized by thoughts about Him who saved us, not thoughts about the feelings of the dead flesh that has been crucified with Christ. When we are continually thinking about ourselves and our feelings, we are essentially obsessing about a corpse, full of rottenness and death.

God promised to save us if we come to Him in faith. He never promised that we would feel saved.

A truth to remember. A devotional by Billy Graham

He is not here, but is risen.
—Luke 24:6

Something distinguishes Christianity from all the religions of the world. Not only does it carry the truth of the redemption, by the death of our Savior for our sins on the cross, but it carries the fact that Christ rose again. Only the Christian faith claims that its Leader died and rose again and is alive at this moment. Many gravestones carry the inscription, “Here lies . . . ,” but on Christ’s tomb are emblazoned the words, “He is not here.” Christianity has no shrines to visit, no dusty remains to venerate, no tombs at which to worship. Many good men have lived, and still live, in the memory of those who knew them, but there is only one Man who conquered death-Jesus Christ-and He will live forever.

This a devotion I did this morning I want to share with you.

. . . unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
—Revelation 1:5

Blood is mentioned 460 times in the Bible. Fourteen times in the New Testament Jesus spoke of His own blood. Why? Because by the shedding of His blood, He accomplished the possibility of our salvation. He paid the penalty for our sin and redeemed us. The penalty for our sin and rebellion is death; Jesus stepped out and said, “I’ll take that death.” He voluntarily laid down His life and took the penalty we deserve. That’s what the cross is all about.

The blood of Jesus Christ not only redeems us, it justifies us. Being justified means more than being forgiven. I can say, “I forgive you,” but I can’t justify you. But God not only forgives the past, He clothes you in righteousness as though you had never committed a sin. Yet it cost the blood of His Son on the cross.

I am going to tackle a subject that has been misunderstood and taught wrong for so many years, and that subject is depression. For many years the church has taught that it is a sin. It is NOT a sin. It never has been and it never will be.

The depression I am talking about is caused by mental illness, where there is a chemical imbalance in the brain. I struggle with that. I have a mental illness that I take medication for and am also in therapy for to help me learn coping skills so I can deal with it. But it is something I will deal with for the rest of my life. That is something we cannot help and it takes medication and possibly therapy to help you deal with it, like me. And Yes, you can always go to God for it as well, and is the first place to go to for it. He is always willing to help you with that with love and grace.

It does anger me though when I hear people preach that mental illness is a sin when it isn’t. There is NO where in the bible where it says it is, unless you wish to twist the bible and take it out of context to make your point, which happens all the time on this subject. But you would be just as wrong as you claim we are for having mental illness. Now, the only thing I will say to the subject of it being sin is this. Mental illness is a result of sin in the world and can cause us to sin. But to be sin on its own is WRONG.

There are causes of it even outside of a chemical imbalance in the brain. A lot of times anxiety and depression comes from trauma as well and causes an emotional breakdown. When that happens, your emotions do not know how to handle it. So they shut down and places you in a depressive state. Then when you are triggered somehow your emotions go into overload and it becomes a flight or fight moment, which causes your anxiety. Or the thought of dealing with your trauma will cause you to fear and your emotions go into a flight or fight process to protect you. It has happened to me and still happens to me. I have had childhood trauma that caused an emotional breakdown and that has caused me anxiety and depression as well. Anxiety due to trauma is not a sin either, because you had no control over that. I didn’t.

When you tell someone that they are sinning for struggling with anxiety and depression, what you are doing is telling them that their concerns and what they are going through mean nothing. You are minimizing their struggle and shaming them. You make them feel even worse, about something they CANNOT help. It is a form of rejection. You are causing abuse. Have some freaking compassion on them for the love of God. And if you are going to say we are sinning, then you need to call, Moses, David, Elijah, and even JESUS a sinner. And if Jesus sinned, we are all screwed. And yes, they did go through anxiety and depression. But since they didn’t sin, neither do we.

Many people can go for years not ever knowing they have a mental illness, because I didn’t until my adult years. I struggled with depression as a kid, but didn’t really know what it was. I went to a church where they didn’t tackle this subject. Later in my 20’s a sermon was preached that said depression was a sin, because you were getting your eyes off God and on to your problems. It can be, but not in this case. That isn’t mental illness. And I believe that the church needs to get their theology corrected and start knowing what the hell they are talking about before they spit this garbage out of their mouths. They cause more harm than good. So they shouldn’t wonder why the world looks at us like we are judgmental lunatics.

Unless you have walked in our shoes, you will never know what we struggle with. Mental illness and trauma are two things that cause anxiety and depression and it needs to be handled with love, support, encouragement, prayer, and understanding. If you cannot do that then say nothing and keep your judgmental, legalistic, manipulative, and selfish views to yourself. We do not want or need them. You have no right to tell any of us that what we are dealing with is a sin, when it isn’t. And if you have gone through it and still carry this messed up view, that it is a sin, then you need to be educated. Whatever church is teaching you this trash, you need to leave, because you are being taught a load of crap. You keep us in bondage, but to another form of depression, spiritual depression. That is where the bible is used to shame and manipulate people into a view of themselves that is untrue and causes depression and anxiety. I have gone through that too. It is also called spiritual abuse. That is wrong and sinful too. We struggle and need help, not condemnation. And what you are offering is not help. And no I will not apologize for saying it. I mean it! Anxiety and depression are caused by trauma and mental illness, and need professional help, NOT a doctrine that comes from the pit of hell. God understands what we go through, now the church should learn the same thing.

I use strong language because I want to be very blunt in what I say and that I mean it. I hate the judgment that the church lays on people for things they cannot help. We are people who are tortured enough with our issues, we do not need anymore.

Have a great day

What is it that you would like to do for God? Is it to help people by sharing the gospel with them? If so, then how? I struggle to know what to do for him. I know that he wants me to share the gospel, but I am not sure how to do it. How does God want to do it? I want to share the gospel, but I don’t always know how to do it. How does God want me to? I don’t know. I do know that I don’t feel it is right to just go up to someone and get in their privacy and shove the bible down their throat as some do. I mean, that’s fine for them if that is what they feel they should do, but I believe that it is offensive in a way that will offend them off from God’s word and his message of hope and trust in Jesus.

What I can remember, anytime I have shared the gospel God has opened up the doors for them to share. There have been times when he made a way for me to share the gospel and it worked out well. They may not have come to Christ at that time, but they did listen and talk to me about it. But I do remember in high school, my senior year, I had the chance to talk to a classmate of mine a couple times. He listened, but didn’t get saved at that moment. One day, the Monday after Easter, he came up to me in class and said that he gave his heart to Christ at a church he was at the day before on Easter Sunday. I about leaped out of my chair I was so happy. But it was God opening up the opportunity to share. Things work better when God is in it.

Anytime the disciples or the Apostles shared the Gospel, God opened up the moment to do so and where. They were sent to where they were led and they shared. I believe that it works better and more productive when you allow God to open those opportunity up to share and talk to someone about it. No, they may never get saved, or they may not get saved until later, somewhere else, and you may never know they did until years later or until you get to heaven. But your testimony and your obedience to God was used by God to do so. But the question still remains, how should you present the gospel? Well, I’m not sure. I think the question should be, How does want to use you to present the gospel?

I think that God can in many ways. 1. He can use your life and how you live it. They say that how we live our life in Christ may be the only bible they will ever read. As Matthew 5:16 states.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

That right there is the most powerful way to spread the gospel of Christ. It is a way to open up the word to the most stubborn people and those who have never heard the gospel. They see the word lived out and wonder what’s up. So that may open things up and get them to talk about it. Again, that is God opening up the opportunity for you.

2. Another way is God allowing someone to over hear your conversation with another person. That is one way people have come to know the salvation of God. You may never know how much that will work, and you may never even know that you were witnessing to them, because you had no idea that that they over heard you conversation with another.

3. Then there is just loving them. Showing them you care. Not expecting anything from them, but just living them as Christ did.

How ever you do it, I think that God should be in the middle of it. My personal belief is, you have greater impact on someone when God is leading. Like I said, when those from the bible declared the word to people, it was God leading them. Should you do nothing if you don’t know what to do? No, you shouldn’t do nothing. What you should do is live out the gospel I your life. Grow and mature and strengthen in your relationship with God until he chooses to use you. Maybe just doing that will allow another person see how God working in your life and come to know him. But again, it will be God leading.

Maybe God will allow someone to see your godliness and us that to reach people. But like I said above, I think it is is detrimental to the your witness when you just go up to someone and shove it down their throat. I cannot see God saying that is right. If you can strike up a conversation that will allow the gospel to be shared without beating them up with it, or pressuring them with it, then great, more power to you. But that would be God leading it to be shared.

I will warn you about something though. Do not let anyone guilt you and make you think you don’t care about people or you are ashamed of Christ if you don’t share the gospel their way. I heard a message like that onetime. God uses each of us differently and in many ways. Pray and ask God to use you how he sees fit. But continue to grow and mature, and when the opportunity comes up, let people know about Christ. Tell them what God has done in your life? How has he worked in your life and what he has done for you. You may never know how effective that will will work when you share what God did for you personally. Personal testimonies are great ways to share the gospel.

However you share it ask God to open those opportunities up for you and give you the words to say. And do not worry about what others may think if you don’t share it their way or how they think you should share it. Let God use you how he sees fit. It is your relationship with God, they are not in charge of it.

Have a nice day

This came from a Billy Graham devotional I wanted to share with you.

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.
—Titus 1:2

Life is a glorious opportunity, if it is used to condition us for eternity. If we fail in this, though we succeed in everything else, our life will have been a failure. There is no escape for the man who squanders his opportunity to prepare to meet God. Our lives are also immortal. God made man different from the other creatures. He made him in His own image, a living soul. When this body dies and our earthly existence is terminated, the soul lives on forever. One thousand years from this day, you will be more alive than you are at this moment. The Bible teaches that life does not end at the cemetery. There is a future life with God for those who put their trust in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Note

May you find trust in Christ. May you come to know, if you don’t know already, that Christ is calling all men and women to himself. I hope you know that God loves you and wishes for you to know him through his son, Jesus. May you come to know him while he may be found, your eternal destiny depends on it.

I am going to make this count. I am going to give you some hard truth.

If the church doesn’t get its head one head straight and stop trying to rewrite the bible and shove man made doctrine down people’s throats, then we will NEVER be a force in the kingdom of God as fully as God wants us to be.

The church is lacking in true knowledge of the word of God. We don’t know the bible as much as we claim to. So what do we do? Instead of actually learning it, we rewrite the bible in our own version and make it sound as we wish. We use the word to enslave our own brothers and sisters, making them follow our own way, and judging people who don’t agree with us. We sound like liberal news and liberal politicians. We try to sound like we know what we are talking about. The sad thing is, we think we are fooling people, but the world knows we don’t have a clue. We aren’t fooling anyone. And what makes it even sadder is, the world knows the word better than we do. How do I know this? Satan knows the word better than we do and he’s educating them though they don’t even know it. He’s driving the world to hate us, and we’re letting him do it.

So what is it going to take for us to finally get a clue and get our hearts and heads right with God? The church is sick, but we’re still going around like we’re healthy. I have known this for years, I’ve been watching it happen for years. We must get our hearts right with God and our heads on right.

The other thing is, we need to get rid of denominations. They have been hurting the church for centuries. We don’t need Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, or any other denomination. We just need to be the body of Christ, living under ONE banner, ONE baptism, one Lord, Jesus Christ. Denominations divide the body, not unite it. And until we get that truth into our thick stubborn skulls we will NEVER get well.

Until we do at least these two things, we will continue to get sicker. It will not get better until we admit we are sick, finally tell God he wins, drop the denominations, surrender to God, live under ONE banner, that of Jesus Christ, surrender our pride to the Lord, and ask God to heal us, we will finally be the church, not just play church. But to be honest, I highly doubt that we will ever unload our selfishness, arrogant, and stubborn pride long enough to do so. But there’s always hope.

Have a nice day

Genesis 2:18

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

When God made Adam he had it in mind that at the proper time he was going to make him a help meet, a wife. And so Eve was created. He put Adam asleep, and from his rib, created Eve, Adam’s wife. He had this in mind from the beginning. He knew man was going to be lonely. He also knew that man was going to need that loneliness filled with a helper and supporter. He was going to need someone to support and help him, NOT lead him, but help him and follow him. That was also going to be one of man’s purposes in life, to lead and take care of his wife.

But was Adam lonely on his own, or did God make him lonely? God allowed him to be lonely. He did this, because, as I said above, he wanted Adam to have a helper. Why didn’t he create them together if that was the case? That I have no idea. That is something we can ask God when we get to heaven. But the point is, he was intending to make Adam a wife from the beginning, and thus allowed Adam to become lonely, being one reason he created Eve.

I believe that God placed a hole in each of us men so that we would crave that companionship, to a woman. In doing so, we would peruse that companionship. So, why do men crave that companionship from a woman? I believe for 3 reasons, out of many.

1. To tend to the earth. He knew that Adam was going to need a companion to help him tend to God’s creation. Genesis 1:28,

Rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

2. It was also so we could populate the earth. For as Genesis 1:28 also says,

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it.

3. believe that he made us sexual beings and we would need that companionship so we could, not only populate the earth, and take care of the earth, but also release that sexual frustration we would build up. And trust me, the majority of men don’t lose their sex drive until they are way up there in age, if they do at all. So God made us lonely by placing a hole within us that only a woman was able to fill, in marriage. He knew what he was doing when he created us. He had a purpose for everything he did. Creating men to be lonely so that a woman could fill that hole was part of that purpose. And it was for that reason that women were made for man, as 1 Corinthians 11:9 says,

Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

It was God’s perfect wisdom that he did this. God knew that men were always going to need women. It was in God’s great care that he allowed man to be lonely and need the opposite sex to fill that loneliness. We are people who need each other. God made us this way. And when it comes to men, we need this so very much. We need female companionship. If it wasn’t true God would not have said, it is not good for man to alone.

When I started this blog, I wanted to make this blog so it can be a tool used by God to help and direct people to understand him and hopefully be used by him to draw people to him. I also put my heart into it so you can know my thoughts and know my heart. I want to be used of God. And the one thing I want to do first and foremost is let people know that there is a way to heaven, and that way is Jesus. Though I don’t always know how the best way to do that is I still want to let people know that Jesus loves them and wants to be their savior and lead them to heaven.

I may not know who reads these posts or who are saved, but maybe one person who reads these will be blessed by what I write. Maybe there is one who needs to know that Jesus loves them and they can finally come to him by faith. So for someone who doesn’t know the Lord Jesus Christ I want to make sure that there is no doubt they can know they can enter heaven when they leave this world one day. So I am going to lead whoever needs to know the plan of salvation into this prayer at the end, and hopefully they will understand that they can know the way to Christ.

If you read this and you don’t know him as savior, I hope and pray that your heart is touched by this and you come to the knowledge and acceptance of Jesus Christ. But for you, I want to ask you one simple question. Do you know that if your life ended today you would be able to enter heaven? If you believe this, how do you know? How do you know you will enter the kingdom of God in heaven?

Romans 10:9-10 says, ⁹If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is LORD,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Believe that Jesus is the only son of God, and that he rose from the dead. Then ask him into your heart and life to be your savior and take him as your Lord.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full, John 10:10.

Because Satan hates God, and you, he came to make sure that you don’t know God. But Jesus came that you would know him and live a life for him in full abundance. He came that you would know him as savior, for the world is lost and people are on their way to hell without taking him as savior. He died for you. He gave his life for you that you may live. He waits for you to receive him.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

If you take Jesus as your savior you will be saved. If you call on the only name that saves, Jesus, you will be his for eternity.

John 14:6 says, “He is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. NO ONE come to the father but by him.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.”

There is no other way but Christ. He is your only hope for eternal life in heaven. It is only by Christ and what he did on the cross for you that we have eternal life, and if you place your trust him, you will be saved. You can enter the glory of heaven. Will you? Will you put your trust in him for your salvation? He’s waiting to hear from you and hear the words, “I believe and receive you.”

Now you don’t have to say these words word for word in the prayer below, unless you wish to. The point is, you believe that what you are praying to God is from your heart, believing with all your might, and meaning it with all your heart. For it isn’t the words, but believing with your heart that you are saved.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name.

If you have done that, then I welcome you into the family of God.

God bless you

Philippians 2:12-13 NASB

¹² So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.

What does it mean to work out your own salvation? What is Paul talking about here? I believe that Paul is saying that your salvation is just that, yours. Your relationship with God cannot be dictated or led by someone else. It is yours to work out with God. Yes, there are people who can help you grow and be a support in your journey, but they cannot live it for you or try to run your journey like they are your authority. Only God is your authority. Only God, above everyone else, can help you grow and mature in your relationship with him. After all, it is God who is planning your life for his good purposes and your benefit. So only he can decide how you live your life and how your travel your journey.

I know that the church can help. But I also believe that the church can be a distraction and a detriment to the Christian trying to figure this all out and grow. We can hurt more than we can help, which we are finding in the church now. Why though? The problem we have is, we lay all of these rules and regulations down on each other believing it is our duty or something, then call it helping or mentoring, when all it is is a hinderance to our growth. But the bible is clear that we are to follow God rather than man’s rule, Acts 5:29. But the church is guilty of putting burdens, or our own interpretation of the bible on each other and calling it scripture when it isn’t. Matthew 23:4 says this.

They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

We can not expect Christians to live under such heavy rules when they are not even biblical, especially when they rules we lay down are so heavy and hard to carry around and live. We are then moving back into law, when Christ saved us from the law. Then we are extra guilty, because we refuse to lighten these burdens we have laid down. This is what the Pharisees were doing to the people back when Jesus walked the earth. They were laying all of these man made laws on the people and never helping the people grow with God. It was maddening and wrong then and it still is now.

I grew up this way, though some people didn’t know they were doing it. They thought that what they were teaching was biblical. But what they really were teaching was man’s doctrine that later hurt me more than it helped. Now I cannot say that all of what they taught was wrong, but a lot of it was. Some knew they were doing wrong, but some didn’t. It carried from one to another over the years, where one person, then another person was doing it. But I wanted to be the good Christian and grow and be what God God wanted me to be that I followed it and never sought to find out if what they were teaching me was right or not. I just went with it. That was until I figured it out and just decided to only listen to those I knew were truly biblical (and there weren’t many) and basically relearn the bible. And believe me, it isn’t easy to relearn when you fight with all the wrong you were taught. They were running my salvation for me and not really leading me to understand GOD. It was man made denominational teaching, NOT bible. We do it to each other and it must stop.

Let me sum this up like this. The bible says to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We need to work it out with God, and let him be our authority. Be careful with those who come along saying they have all the answers and you need to follow them. I did that and got burned. Make sure that it is between you and the Lord. But also don’t forget that God will send people into our lives that he intends to use in our lives, I had those as well, and the ones who were really from God were very godly and helpful to me. But make sure that what they say is biblical and lines up with GOD’S word. TEST EVERYTHING, 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22.

But test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.

And if they come and say to follow them, like they have the answers and are your authority, let them go. Have nothing to do with them. It is YOUR salvation and you need to work it out with God and let him guide you, no one else. Do we need to encourage? Yes. But we cannot shove our version of the bible down each other’s throats and expect good to come out of it. It just will not work out for anyone in the end. Then what we will have is a domino effect. We teach people bad doctrine, then they teach others bad doctrine, and then we have a sick church, like we do now, and the gospel is tainted, like it is now. Bad teaching creates more bad teaching. Preach the word, as Paul told timothy, and let God be our guide and authority. That way we can truly have a healthy church.

Have a good day