Don’t confuse your Christian minded convictions to always be the perfect will of God;
your gut feeling is not the Holy Spirit.
“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” -Romans 8:6-11[KJV]
“And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.” – John 10:4 [KJV]
If you have been saved by Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells within you (Ephesians 1:13-14). The Holy spirit, our helper is simply present with us to do just that; help us. John 14:26 tells us that “he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” That still small voice, that thundering conviction that makes your stomach turn, the littlest nudges, and the hard shoves; you can be sure to recognize when he’s speaking to you if you just make point to listen.
The Holy Spirit helps us have the mind of Christ and walk in a way that is pleasing to Him (Galatians 5:16). However there is an issue that I would consider to be quite prevalent in the church of today. In the year of 2017 as modern day life has become more and more innovated and busy we are surrounded by movement and many voices. We have to daily make a choice to still ourselves enough to stay in sync with the Holy Spirit. The issue that I see a lot today is due to the lack of this. The bible says to be prayerful in everything (Philippians 4:6) but too often we are prayer-less in everything which ought not be so.
There’s a trend of action in the church today. When decisions are made or actions are taken it’s often based upon one having a “good feeling” about it. There are Christians pondering choices in their life and ultimately making decisions that contradict the word of God because of this dangerous trend. This trend or better said, this lie says that if I feel no guilt/bad feelings about a decision or I have a ‘good’ or ‘peaceful’ feeling about a decision then it’s not sinful, lines up with the word of God, and is sync with God’s perfect will; this is false!
First understand, this article is not directed towards the sinner. The sinner is prone to make decisions that ‘feel good’ or ‘feel right’ because they are a slave to their sinful flesh. However, the Christians belong to Christ; walking in the spirit, crucifying the flesh daily. I sense in my spirit that there’s an age of Christians that mistake their ‘good feelings’ to be an ‘okay’ from God, a nudge in the right direction from the Holy Spirit, this again is false.
Your gut feeling is not synonymous for the Holy Spirit’s voice. The definition of conscientious is being governed by conscious ; controlled by or done according to one’s inner sense of what is right. Sadly much of the church has become very conscientious.
It’s good to have good feelings about things, feel right about a situation or decision. However, I urge you that no matter how at peace you feel or how sure you feel about a situation, to always seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance. He is our helper, he desires to help and guide us. Jeremiah 33:3 says “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not”. Even in the extent of our closeness to God and our love and desire to please him we are still flesh. Our God is all knowing, all powerful, and all seeing. We must remember that it is Christ’s blood, grace, and mercy alone that enables us to live free of the chains of sin and the consequences of this poisonous flesh.
“Your gut feeling is not synonymous for the Holy Spirit’s voice.”
Feelings give us good insight to where we stand with the situations around us, God gave us our feelers. However we must not rely on any of our feelings, good or bad. Feelings go hand in hand with our emotions and they my friend, are incredibly unstable. So seek after God’s provision and endure and thrive through His loving correction, I promise you knowing for certain in your spirit that you are lined up with God’s perfect will and reflect His living truth- that feels better than any “good feeling” you will ever have.
“Seek after God’s provision and endure and thrive through His loving correction”
Search out His word and pray, pray, pray and ask questions; He’ll show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.