Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. 1 Timothy 4:16

Not Feeling God?

Did you ever feel like God was a million miles away? Did you ever feel like you just weren't connecting with Him when you were praying or crying out to Him?

I think we have all have that feeling at one time or another. Sometimes when we first give our life to the Lord, we have an emotional high and it is so exciting. Our life is full of excitement as our life changes, as we get to know Jesus Christ and His ways. But after a time, some of those feelings begin to taper off and we just don't seem to be as close to God as we once were.

Has that happened to you? Have you lost those awesome feelings that you had for the Lord at one time? Maybe God seemed SO close but now it seems like He just doesn't hear your prayers.

Well, first of all, you need to realize that once you gave your life to the Lord, it was a "Done Deal!" God is NOT going to change His mind! That is the greatest truth we have in this world, that God DOES NOT CHANGE! He is our constant, He is the thing we can ALWAYS count on! I am so thankful for that. God is never wishy-washy. His word will always be the same. What was right and what was wrong 2,000 years ago will be right and wrong today. This world changes, it's cultures change, it's values change, it's morals change but God will NEVER change!

Second, my wife said something one day that was astounding. She was talking to a lady and the lady said, "I just don't feel God in my life anymore." My wife said, "Just what is God supposed to feel like?" God never says He will give us a "feeling". Sometimes we do get some incredible feelings and thank God for them but if you let your life be ruled by feelings, you will NEVER do anything for God and you will never have any stability in your life! The Bible says we should walk by FAITH and not by our feelings (2 Cor. 5:7).

About three years after I had been baptized with the Holy Spirit, all of the incredible feelings I had felt and the newness of being filled with God's Holy Spirit was wearing off and it wasn't as exciting as it had once been. I was at church one Sunday and our pastor, not much older than I was, walked by me and said, "Jay, sometimes after a person has had an intense experience with the Lord, a period of time later, those feelings start to wane and God has to wean them from the feelings so they can learn to walk in faith and not by the feelings."  And God was doing that with me. Why? Because it pleases God when we walk by faith! (Romans 4:3)

Third, realize if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, God IS with you. He will never leave or forsake you! He will answer your prayers. If you are not certain of that, then you need to get into the Bible and find scriptures that promise you that so you can build your faith and so that you will KNOW God will answer your prayers. If you lack faith, you can only get it two ways, 1.) by reading the Word of God. Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing the Word of God and 2.) by living God's Word and seeing God actually moving in your life.

Now that we have that straight, if you don't feel the presence of God, put yourself in God's presence. Do that by praising and worshiping Him! The Bible shows us that God inhabits the praises of His people. Turn on some worship music and begin to sing and worship Him. It won't be long until the cares of this world fall far away from your mind and you will enter into His throne room. Many believers don't know it but God Himself actually loves us so much that He sings songs over us. I can just see it in Heaven, when we are walking in victory and we are living lives that are pleasing to our Heavenly Father, He is rejoicing and singing songs over us. Look at what the prophet said, "The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

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