Why did God give me this feeling?
She wrote:
I have feelings for a guy friend. Feelings that I’ve asked God to take away from me several times, but for whatever reason, He has not. Why did God give me feelings I didn’t ask for? And what does He want me to do?
Short answer: I don’t think He did give you feelings for this guy.
I’m not sure where we got this notion that it’s God’s fault if we feel something we don’t want to feel. James 1:13–15 says:
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Yes, God gave us the capacity to feel, because He made us in His image, and He feels deeply. But I don’t believe He feeds specific feelings into our hearts, like we’d feed a gum ball machine with quarters.
Our feelings ultimately stem from what we’re thinking and believing. Rather than asking God to take away your feelings, examine them the way you’d carefully examine your reflection in the mirror before leaving for school:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:2, emphasis added).
God doesn’t give us our feelings; but we are wise to give our feelings to God. We see the psalmist doing this over and over in the book of Psalms. He pours out his feelings to God, and then he holds his feelings up to the truth of who God is and compares the two.
So the next time you want to blame God for your feelings, first ask yourself:
- When did I start to feel this way? What led me to feel this way?
- What am I thinking and believing that is contributing to this feeling?
- How do my feelings line up with God’s truth? What does God’s Word have to say about what I’m feeling?
Then bring your feelings to God, taking them to His Word and placing them before Him in prayer.
Now it’s your turn. I’d love to hear from you. Do you believe that God is responsible for your feelings? Why or why not?
Why Did God Give Me This Feeling? was originally posted on LiesYoungWomenBelieve.com.
Paula (Hendricks) Marsteller is a compassionate, bold Christian communicator offering you gospel hope, thought-provoking questions, and practical help along the way.
Hmm.. this doesn’t seem to help me haha (I’m 23 and the guy is 25).
About 8 weeks ago, I received a prayer burden (a spiritual assignment to pray for a specific person, people, or situation). This one is for a specific guy that I know of but do not know (and there are no mutual people between us or anything so I don’t have any way to really contact him anyway). It began as a crush (that I tried to reject/ignore multiple times) which I believe was to get my attention (I don’t EVER like boys like this and, if I do say so myself, I am quite skilled at guarding my heart though the strength of Christ). However, as time goes on, and I am steadily compelled to pray for him each and every day (which I obey. I have been lead to pray for his salvation and deliverance, and that is REGARDLESS of ANYTHING I am feeling for him), and my romantic feelings for him have not only remained, but have remained steady and strong. I can’t just believe that I feel this way about him just so that I can pray for him, because I know that God can put someone in my heart without me feeling romantic feelings for them. I have pretty much prayed everyday about that too, asking God to diminish the feelings I have for him if it is a delusion of my own fleshly desires, or a distraction/deception from a demonic or unclean spirit. I refuse to be distracted by feelings. My feelings for him DO NOT include any lust or superficiality (he isn’t my physical type AT ALL, I don’t want anything material or physical from him, and he’s generally NO ONE I would choose on my on volition). He’s someone I usually just ignore and have apathy for. I asked, if my having feelings for him is God telling me to be more sensitive and less indifferent about people, then to please allow me to see it, reveal it to me so my flesh is not deceived by my feelings… but so far that has not been revealed to me. My mother (and 3 other spiritually mature women in my life) have just been giving me positive feedback about it and I have been told “it is finished”, “it is done”, and “God will do what you asked, it will come to fruition” from them, during prayer. Like I said, I don’t want to feel this way if he isn’t the guy God is preparing for me (and me for), but I also don’t want to just feel this way about him and for it to just fade away after the prayer burden is lifted.
So, when did I start feeling this way? When God put him in my heart and on my mind to give me the prayer burden. What am I thinking to contribute to it? I do think of being with him, but only if we are equally yoked and it’s an anointed relationship between us. As for finding out what God has to say about it, I can’t really find much on feelings when dealing with a prayer burden. I learned that you feel the love for the person that God has for them, which I DO, but I don’t think that includes romantic love. In the Word, there are verses about interceding for others, but I still can’t find things specifically about what I’m feeling. I’ve been trying my best to just focus on God and the burden he has given me to lift up to Him and pray about, but when something involves my whole heart like nothing ever has before, I can’t ignore what I feel.
About 3 weeks ago, I asked God to put my heart AND MY FEELINGS in His hands and I know that He is holding it closely, because following that, in a moment when anxiety and sadness would have captured my heart (and would have hindered me from praying for the guy), God stepped in, comforted me, and renewed my strength to carry on (and has every day since). I’ve received other signs and messages from various places, but this comment is long enough, so I won’t explain those lol SO, I dunno. Perhaps this is just one of those things I can’t get clarity on until it either comes to pass or doesn’t.