We walk by faith not feelings.
I’ve found myself trusting my feelings more times than I’d like to admit. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you’re in the same boat.
It’s easy to trust your feelings especially when you’re used to hearing things like “follow your heart”.
But what happens when your feelings no longer line up with what God has instructed you to do? We are called to walk by faith, not by feelings so we need to put them in their proper place.
This post will be all about how to walk by faith not feelings.
Are you ready? Let’s geaux!
Does God Care About My Feelings
This is a valid question. When life feels overwhelming, it’s easy to wonder if God truly cares about your emotions.
It almost can appear that God is selfish and He enjoys taking the “my way or the highway” approach. But isn’t that the opposite of love? Didn’t He say that love doesn’t insist on its own way (1 Corinthians 13:5 NLT)?
These are real concerns and it’s more than okay to have them. But we also have to acknowledge that although our feelings are valid, they show us an incomplete picture.
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God Designed You With Emotions
Psalm 8:5 AMP-Yet you’ve made him a little lower than God and crowned him with glory and honor.
God is the one who gave you your feelings. He designed you in His image after His likeness to reflect His nature. He tells you to cast your cares unto Him because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7 NLT).
You were created a little lower than Him and given the authority over this Earthly realm. He even reassures you that you are more valuable to Him than a flock of sparrows (Luke 12:6-7 NLT).
All of these verses reveal that God doesn’t ignore your emotions instead He acknowledges them and invites you work through them with Him.
Your emotions are a part of who you are, but they were never meant to govern you. God designed you to live as a spirit, with a soul, inside of a physical body.
But because of the fall of man, things still need to be restored to the proper order.
This is why God doesn’t cater to every feeling you have.
He understands that feelings are fleeting and based on what you experience in your environment.
Feelings Are Indicators, Not Dictators
1 John 5:3 NLT-Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.
Imagine going on a dream vacation and staying in an Airbnb. The Airbnb will have certain rules, not because the host doesn’t care about your comfort, but because he wants to maintain peace and order for everyone.
If the host allowed each guest do as he pleased, then the space would be chaotic just like our lives when we allow our emotions to lead.
In the same way, God sets boundaries and parameters for our growth and wellbeing, not just momentary comforts.
God never dismisses our feelings. He acknowledges and encourages us to work through them so that we can fulfill our life’s purpose.
9 Practical Strategies To Trust God Over Emotions
Now that you know that God isn’t disregarding your feelings, let’s talk about how to walk by faith instead of our feelings.
Here are nine strategies that will help you along your journey:
1. Choose To See God As Love Above All Else
1 John 4:8 NIV-Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
The fall of man didn’t only disrupt the state of our being, but it also distorted our view of God. Above anything else, God is your loving Father.
Have you ever wondered why the Pharisee and Sadducees called Jesus blasphemous? It was because He had the proper concept of God and Himself.
Jesus knew that God was His Father and that He was one with God. He came to show us whose we are and who we are by being the Perfect Example.
Tip To See God As Love: Whenever you’re thoughts and feelings try to tell you about God, remind yourself that God is Love and that He loves you. His love for you isn’t based on your circumstances or environment.
2. Believe In The Power Of Your Position
Genesis 1:26 ESV-Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
God intentionally created you to be just like Him in every sense. Since He is God…you are a god. Because he is Lord…you’re a lord. Since he is King…you are a king/queen.
He set it up this way and His desire is for you to live in this truth. Remember one of the reasons Jesus came to Earth was for Him to demonstrate who you were created to be.
Tip To Believe In The Power Of Your Position: Take the word of God personally. Don’t just read the Bible. Take it in as if you are receiving the words directly from God.
3. Obey God With All Your Heart
John 14:15 NIV-If you love me, keep my commands.
Obeying God is expressing your love to Him. It’s telling Him that you agree with what He has spoken and it’s the perfect response to what He’s already done.
When you obey the word of God, you’re walking by faith, instead of feelings.
Tip To Obey God With All Your Heart: Check out this post!
4. Have A Vision
Proverbs 29:18 KJV-Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
There is a misconception that faith is needed for “big” things. But faith isn’t actually supposed to be used for the things you can see.
Faith is for your vision; the things that you see with your eyes closed. It’s for the things you dream about and desire.
Vision rarely looks like your present circumstances and that’s on purpose. You will need to partner with God and use your faith to make your vision come into fruition.
Tip To Forming A Vision: Is there something God placed on your heart or something that you always dreamed of doing? Write your dreams down and plan to take action.
(Check out this book to help you)
5. Become Honest About How You Feel
1 Peter 5:6 ESV-Cast your care unto Him for He cares for you.
Your actions are a direct reflection of how you feel. Have you ever seen a toddler throw a tantrum in the middle of the store?
This is exactly what you look like to God when you choose your feelings over your faith. Instead of throwing another tantrum, take five minutes to sit with God and be honest about how you feel.
Talking about your emotions to God can help you build that trust in Him and regulate your emotional state. Don’t allow yourself to ignore or deny your feelings; instead pour them out to God.
Through your honesty, you give God access to your soul. Only then is He able to come in and give you what you need.
Tip To Become Honest About How You Feel: Begin to talk or journal to God about anything on your heart.
6. Create a Strategy To Go Against Your Feelings
If you don’t play defense, the offensive line will make the touchdown. What can you do to go against your feelings? What are your triggers?
The night before writing this blog, I wrote down one thing on my strategy list that I’m going to try. To get you started, I’ll share it with you:
- Get a piece of paper or go to your notes in your phone.
- Write down the feeling you are feeling and the action that you want to take to soothe/numb this feeling.
- Begin to list out the pros and cons of taking this action.
An example of this is if you have a vision of losing belly fat. You’ve written out your plan to workout three times a week and cut out processed sugars.
It’s one of of your gym days and your mind is telling you that you’ll never lose your belly fat. Now you’re thinking about giving up and going get a piece of German chocolate cake.
But before you give up completely, take five minutes to sit with God and tell Him how you feel. After talking to God, write out the pros and cons of giving up and eating that cake.
Tip To Go Against Your Feelings: Remind yourself of your resolve.
7. Wash Yourself In The Word
Romans 10:17 ESV-Faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
The Good News about Christ is that He brought the government of Heaven back to Earth.
He repaired your relationship with God, gave you eternal life, put His Holy Spirit back inside of you, set you free from sin, has given you the chance to live through your Heavenly citizenship while you are here on Earth, and more!
Tip To Wash Yourself In The Word: Listen to the the Word of God through songs, sermons, podcasts, the bible app, and wherever else the Word is. Do this consistently throughout your week to warm up your faith muscles.
8. Exercise Your Faith Muscles
Luke 17:6 ESV-And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
Hearing and reading the Word is like warming up before your workout. To exercise your faith muscles, you have to do what God tells you to do.
You have to walk in obedience to God.
Tip To Exercise Your Faith Muscles: Follow God’s instructions one step at a time.
9. Live Through What You Learned
John 1:1 NIV-In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The word of God is a person. You were designed to live through Him. When you look at the word, it’s like you are looking directly into Jesus’ eyes.
You get to see the world through His view and understand His heart. As you live through what you’re learning, you will continuously walk by faith and your feelings will be in the proper place.
Tip To Live Through What You Learned: Stay close to God.
I pray that these strategies help you along your journey.
This post was all about how to walk by faith not feelings.
If You Enjoyed This Post, You’ll Love These:
Unlocking Faith: How To Trust God’s Promises In Your Life
How To Deal With Emotions In A Healthy Way
Rewrite Your Story: 5 Ways To Take Control Of Your Narrative
Before You Go…Let’s Recap
A quick recap of the strategies to trust God over emotions:
- Choose to see God as love above all else
- Believe in the power of your position
- Obey God with all your heart
- Have a vision
- Become honest about how you feel
- Create a strategy to go against your feelings
- Wash yourself in the Word
- Exercise your faith muscles
- Live through what you learned
Your emotions don’t stand a chance against your God-given character. God is calling forth the real you to be one with Him and this is your moment. Allow your emotions to be what they are; indicators. You are so much more than what you have felt, feel currently, and will feel. Let your feelings bring you closer to God and not away from Him.
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Always remember that you’re destined to win because He got up!
-Devyn Janae
