Hosanna Restoration Church

Recently I was contemplating how the word of God makes people feel and what we should do to produce the right feelings, when the thought came to me that what was necessary was not to have people feel good or bad, but rather to see that people feel God. This reminded of a time when I was in Russia and the administrator of an auditorium came up to me after a program to speak with me. He told me that he had been told for forty years that there was no God and that the only reason he watched the program was because it was job to oversee the auditorium. Then he told me that he now knew there was in fact a God because he had felt Him. At the time I was blessed that he shared that with me and I have often shared that with others since. Still, I never put it in the perspective that I have since I gained this new understanding.

You see some people think there is something wrong if the preaching does not make people feel bad about themselves. I hear people complaining about a feel good gospel. They want people to really feel how bad their sins are. The question then would how bad should we feel about our sins. I had so many sins that I wonder if I should ever stop feeling bad about them! Then again, if I could feel bad enough to make it right, would I need the forgiveness of God and His goodness?

On the other hand, there are those who don’t want people to feel bad at all. They don’t want to hear about sin or judgment or salvation. God is so good He would never want us to feel bad. Well this would not line up with his word either. We are required to repent and to turn from sin. Hey, sometimes it is not fun to turn from sin. The Bible even says that there is pleasure in sin for a season.

So the final analysis is that sometimes we will feel bad and sometimes we will feel good, but those feelings are only good if they come from the presence of God. If I as a pastor, or any Christian, focus on creating feelings then they will be man made and will not last. If I preach a fiery word that creates guilt, people may feel bad for a time, but they will get over it. If we share a word that just makes people warm and fuzzy about God; that too will cease. But if the living word exposes people to the presence of God, those are the things that last.

God’s presence will produce Godly repentance and that may not feel good right away. The sweet thing is that the same presence will bring feelings of peace and assurance of forgiveness. Some may say that we should not go on feelings, but I say that if I don’t feel God, I must not be near Him. Granted there are times when we do not feel a lot, but I don’t think God moves; we just need to move closer and closer until we feel Him.