Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." —John 8:31-32

I desire freedom. That is why I am taking the Freedom in Christ class at The River. Unfortunately, I have not been faithful to attend each session. After reading through some of the material today, I am convinced that Satan has been attacking me so I wouldn’t attend. If I truly grasp the truths that are being taught here, I will be one powerful Christian!

My freedom has been hindered by many lies that I have decided to believe. The first lie I have believed is if I feel something it must be true. Over the years, I have received excellent teaching on this subject. However, it never really sunk in until I was reading an excerpt from Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ book entitled Lies Women Believe. She says on page 195, “The Truth is that, due to our fallen condition, our feelings often have very little to do with reality. In many instances, feelings are simply not a reliable gauge of what is actually true. When we allow them to be tied to our circumstances—which are constantly changing—rather than to the unchangeable realities of God and His truth, our emotions are prone to fluctuate wildly.” I have heard this taught from the pulpit by Pastor Mac Hammond, Pastor Tim Burt, and Joyce Meyer just to name a few. I don’t know if I wasn’t ready to accept the truth before, but I feel like my heart has been opened to this truth and that I have some weapons to combat this lie.

To continue to walk in freedom over the lie “if I feel something it must be true,” I must realize my emotions are not necessarily trustworthy and reject any feelings that are not consistent with the truth of God’s Word. Nancy Demoss states on page 195, “The Truth is, God is good, whether I feel like He is good or not. The Truth is, God loves me, whether I feel loved or not. The Truth is, through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ on my behalf, I am forgiven, whether I feel forgiven or not. The Truth is, God will never leave me or forsake me; He is with me all the time, even when I feel alone and forsaken.”

The second lie I have chosen to believe is that I can’t control my emotions. DeMoss says on page 197, “The Enemy uses this lie to make us believe we have no choice but to be controlled by our emotions. While it may be true to some degree that we can’t help the way we feel, the Truth is that we don’t have to let our feelings run our lives.” I know that in my life when I haven’t felt like doing something, I would allow my emotions to control me, and I wouldn’t do it. The truth is that most people the majority of the time do not feel like doing things. However, just like I tell David, sometimes you have to do things even though you don’t want to. I guess I need to listen to what I tell him, huh?

The final revelation that I received from DeMoss is definitely going to be life changing. It has caused a paradigm shift that will affect how I view everything in life. For this, I am truly grateful and thankful to God. She says on page 203, “He (God) does not offer an easy or trouble-free process of growth. But he has promised to meet all our needs and to give us grace to respond to the challenges and difficulties associated with every stage of life.”

Copyright © by Stephanie Gulland Share