The message was brought by Rev. Eddie Foster on May 28, 2023.
Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is interested in how we feel. In John 14 he said Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. At the grave of Lazarus, Mary and Martha wept. Upon seeing his friend’s grave, Jesus also wept. He cared. In First Peter 5:7 we’re told Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. All our care. Why? Because He cares. He is able to carry the load. I find the more I trust in God, the less I worry. We struggle due to our own sin and foolishness. Letting God carry our cares is an active thing we do. Don’t submit to the circumstances. Give it to God.
Satan is a master at making us feel bad. Look how he afflicted Job, even through his so-called friends. This is a good time to remind you that when you’re sick, it’s not always due to sin in your life. Job had done the hardest thing any parent could do. He saw all his children die at one time. Imagine how hard this was. Then his wife told him to curse God and die. He told her she spoke like a foolish woman. He’d lost it all, but he didn’t lose his integrity. He remembered God is good.
If you go by feelings you’re listening to Satan and not God. We didn’t get rid of our old nature when we got saved. We did put on a “new man” but we continue to battle the old one. Paul struggled himself with this. He said that when he would do good, evil was present. When we live by the Spirit, the flesh will be controlled. If we feed the new nature it will flourish, but if we feed the flesh we’ll be in trouble. We feed on the Word of God to grow in the Spirit.
We must understand that the Christian life isn’t based on feelings. I used to pray with people to get saved and I’d ask them if they felt God had saved them. I realized I shouldn’t be saying that because we don’t go by feelings. Some days, if I go by feelings, I’d have to say I don’t feel saved. The devil beats me to death. When feelings say we’re not saved, remind Satan you’re not what we used to be. Get the devil off your back by getting into the Book. Satan works on the mind trying to get to the heart. Your mind is a workshop. What you put in is what you’ll think about. Be careful what you put into your mind.
Learn to walk by faith. Remember the Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God. It’s been preserved through the ages for us. It teaches salvation by grace; this is something we don’t deserve. It’s by faith in God, not by human works. There will be no tilting the scales in our favor at the judgment to get into heaven. Man’s thinking is not in line with God’s. Salvation is not by our works; it’s by HIS grace. Through and by what Jesus did on the cross. What is not of faith is sin. Believe the scripture. God counts that as our righteousness. We become right with God through his Son, Jesus Christ. Believing God changes the course of life. He’ll get us through to the other side. Keep the faith.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 