TSW ~ Eric W. King "The Shepherds Way": Faith and Not Feeling

John 15:16-19 "You Did Not Choose Me, But I Chose You"

Faith and Not Feeling

By Eric William King

I have to admit that whenever I share the Gospel I hope that the person that I am sharing it with truly feels the love of God or what I call “the tug” but ultimately true conversion and salvation is God’s complete work minus our feelings. Salvation is a complete and supernatural work of God minus us.

This is so difficult for us in our fallen human pride to accept let alone try to comprehend. When one truly begins to know that they are saved he or she cannot help but say a thankful prayer in response. So I have offered what I have witnessed as prayers in others who have come to this accurate knowledge of the Truth in order to help explain but I myself must realize that feelings have nothing to do with true conversion.

There is no real process on our part. We are lead through the Holy Spirit completely through the process. Look at how St Martin Luther explains this;

“If you are not ready to believe that the Word is worth more than all you see or feel, then reason has blinded faith. So the resurrection of the dead is something that must be believed. I do not feel the resurrection of Christ but the Word affirms it. I feel sin [guilt] but the Word says that it is forgiven to those who believe. I see Christians die like other men, but the Word tells me that they shall rise again. So we must not be guided by our own feelings but by the Word.”

Look how St Martin Luther explains the fact that Faith and Feeling are NOT synonyms:

“We must not judge by what we feel or by what we see before us. The Word must be followed, and we must firmly hold that these truths are to be believed, not experienced; for to believe is not to experience. Not indeed that what we believe is never to be experienced but that faith is to proceed experience. And the Word must be believed even when we feel and experience what differs entirely from the Word. Therefore when in calamities our hearts think that God is angry with us, does not care for us but hates us, faith is nevertheless convinced that God harbors neither wrath or hatred nor vindictiveness against us nor imputes our guilt [God no longer holds us guilty because of Christ. We are forgiven]…To this conclusion I have come, not by way of my feelings or my present circumstances but through the Word, which says that the mercy of the Lord is over me and all who believe, that His Wrath is over all who do not believe.”

“Therefore I shall overcome my thoughts by the Word and shall write this promise in my heart, that after I have come to faith in Jesus Christ and do not doubt that my sins are forgiven me through His blood, I shall not be put to shame though all my senses and my experience speak a different language. Within myself I feel the wrath of God; the devil vents on me his hatred and the world its extreme fury. But the Holy Spirit tells no lies. He bids me hope; for “with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.”

And to all of this I say…Amen.

Eric William King (April 22^nd 2020)