Led By His Word
“Carefully guard your thoughts.’ Proverbs 4:23
When it comes to everyday living, it is either you walk according to the unchanging principles of God’s Word or by your constantly changing feelings!
When you live by God’s Word, you have stability, but when you live by your feelings, it’s like riding a roller coaster; one day you’re up, the next you’re down.
God wants to bring you into emotional maturity, but you have to cooperate with Him, and this calls for a daily act of your will; choosing to do things His way rather than your own. And once it becomes a habit, you discover that life is more enjoyable.
And just as you do not let everyone who knocks on your door come in and make themselves at home, so you do not have to allow every emotion that surfaces dictate the direction of your day or decide your responses?
‘Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life.’ Proverbs 4:23. Your thinking produces your feelings, not vice versa! That’s why Paul writes, ‘Capture every thought and make it… obey Christ.’ 2 Corinthians 10:5.
In other words, if a thought doesn’t line up with God’s Word, don’t give it a voice. Don’t entertain it or make it feel welcome.
‘We walk by faith, not by sight.’ 2 Corinthians 5:7.
This may come as a surprise but you won’t always feel God’s presence. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to two disciples on the Emmaus road, yet they didn’t recognise Him because they were occupied with their feelings! To lift them out of their negative emotions, Jesus had to ‘expound to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.’ Luke 24:27. Bottom line: be led only by God’s Word.