1 CORINTHIANS 15:58 – Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

THEME OF THE DAY. WHEN WE DON’T FEEL LIKE IT. Have we ever woken up early on a Sunday morning, knowing it is church day, and simply just didn’t feel like getting up, ready, and out the door to church? Or perhaps we had a long day and it is prayer meeting night. We sense the tug in our hearts we should go and encourage others by our attendance, but we lacked the desire or perceived energy to go? How about this one? We know serving in a ministry in our churches is expected of the Lord, but we don’t feel like making a commitment knowing it will require time and take us away from something else? Right now, every honest Christian is nodding in agreement. I confess I have been there. In our church, we have two Sunday services, and they are great opportunities for fellowship around the Word and worship. I love them, and the evening service is special. It is like a close-knit weekly family reunion that never fails to encourage my heart, but there are some Sunday afternoons that after a long week to include a full Saturday and Sunday morning, I wish we had a blizzard canceling the evening service! I just don’t feel like going. Friends, all those situations and many more regularly come into our lives bringing us to a point of making decisions of a spiritual nature. The decisions really boil down to one of two things – obedience by faith or disobedience by feelings, emotions, moods, even fatigue. And what course of action we decide tells us three things; the level of our spiritual maturity, the understanding of the Christian’s warfare in life, and how close we are to the Lord Jesus. Let’s look at each one.

First, what we choose to do when feelings, emotions, moods, and fatigue tempt us to neglect obeying known commands and desires of the Lord reveals how mature we really are in Him. And if we give into these temptations of the flesh, we are not mature. Jesus made it clear the flesh is weak and may only be defeated by diligent prayer and watchfulness – Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Mark 14:38). And here is something to remember. When we choose disobedience, like missing church because we don’t feel like it, the flesh is so crafty, we will convince, justify, the sin we have allowed to happen. This is dangerous because it becomes easier next time to justify disobedience and soon a cold heart emerges.

The second thing revealed by our decision when feelings, emotions, moods and fatigue tempt us to disobey known commands of God is our understanding of spiritual warfare. If we deny all those fleshly attacks and obey, we are fighting true spiritual warfare. We understand our greatest enemy is ourselves and by fighting this enemy, by obeying despite feelings, emotions, moods, and fatigue, we are winning spiritual battles on a consistent basis. We are crucifying the flesh to the glory of God.

Finally, what is manifested about us by the decision we make when feelings, emotions, moods and fatigue tempt us to disobey known commands of God is our how close we really are to the Lord Jesus. To deny the flesh means embracing suffering, or we might say “taking up our cross.” And this is exactly what Jesus said marks His disciples – a life of self-denying suffering (Luke 9:23). And the hardest battle we will fight daily is just this . . . a willingness to suffer to make sure the flesh doesn’t give us a pass when it comes to obeying God.

We will have many days of “I just don’t feel like obeying God” in the course of living out the Christian life. Be decisive and dependent on the Lord to never allow the flesh through our feelings, emotions, moods and fatigue determine our obedience. If we do, we will grow in Him, and find that joy inexpressible and full of glory He promised His flesh-denying, obedient children.

PRAYER: “Father, forgive me when I allow my feelings to dictate my obedience.”

QUOTE: “If we only obey God when we feel like it, we should not expect spiritual growth. We grow by faith not feelings.”