Question: how do you know God hears your
prayers?
Generally, answers given, range in different
levels of basically the same answer: feelings, emotion, experience.
To me, this is seems like dangerous ground,
but all so typical of the modern church.
Rather than teach what the Bible says, folks
are taught to base their walk with Christ on how they feel, or what they've experienced - that this is the basis to determine
what is truth (instead of the focus being the written Word).
While feelings and emotion cannot be discounted
- since they are God-given - it's crucial to remember that we are a corrupt people, prone to corrupt feelings. Our emotions
dont "work" the way they originally did, when God built them into Adam's dna structure.
When we get angry, it's not a pure, holy,
righteous anger, it's a self-centered, vengeful, mean-spirited anger.
When we are jealous - it's not from a holy
perspective - it's from a self-based one.
In fact, if you examined all human emotions,
and why we feel, the way we feel, most of the time, you'd find that it's a self-based reason - a selfish emotion.
How many times a day, do we all "feel" a
certain way about something, only to find out later, we were wrong about it? Or how many times did we react to something,
based solely in feeling, only to find out later, we jumped the gun and let our emotions take over, and ended up having to
apologize?
If we were honest, we'd all have to admit
we've all done this - and we'd all have to admit, that when we base what we consider truth, on feeling, we're walking on shaky
ground.
How often have we all gone thru painful,
gut-wrenching trials, in this life, and "felt" like the Lord was either not listening, or not there? I think maybe most
of us, have been (or are currently) in a situation like this. It would be very easy to just wing it, and go on feeling,
and declare the Lord has walked away and let us fend for ourselves in these trials, since that's the way it can often "feel".
The fact of the matter is - His people -
are never alone - no matter what we "feel". The fact of the matter is, His people, when they pray, are indeed heard
by Him. His people are not only heard, they are answered - according to His perfect will. How do I know this?
Because of an experience, or based on feeling? NO. I know this because my Bible is crystal clear on this issue.
My Bible tells me that He is not only with His people for all time, but that He hears the cries of a humble heart, seeking
His mercy and guidance.
My Bible, is the basis for my truth... not
my feelings.
©
Carla Rolfe 2001
