Feelings Debate

Guest (Male): Welcome to Johnny Erikson Tada Sharing Hope. Today Johnny and I are thinking that every day we do things because well, we feel like doing them.
Joni Eareckson Tada: And that's a fact. Most people do things because they feel like doing them. You get up in the morning because you feel like you need to stretch or or you're hungry for breakfast or you feel like you really want to get to work. Maybe you work in the garden because you feel it's satisfying and fulfilling or you dig in your garden because you feel like carving time out for yourself. You head for the refrigerator because you feel like having a snack or you feel like having a snack for a job well done or for you the refrigerator is an escape. We are more driven by our feelings than we would like to think. But when you are depressed you don't feel or whatever you do feel isn't very motivating. It's not motivating you to do anything worthwhile. When you are depressed more than likely you feel like disappearing or crying or running away. It's hard to get motivated. It's hard to set goals or have purpose. And friend, I know what it's like. I'm paralyzed. I don't have use of my hands or legs. Someone has to feed me and do my toileting routines and give me a bath and I I could just go on. So I'm with you when I say I feel like crying or disappearing or running away from it all. There are days when I say I do battle against depression. I've had enough experience in that battle to know that depression is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad enemy. Depression is a fearsome opponent that tries to convince me that there is no purpose to life, no plan. Depression is an enemy that insists that nothing is worth doing, that you may as well go back to bed because God and his promises just aren't to be believed or maybe they're not worth believing. Listen, I I cannot let that kind of depression hold sway and so when I wake up in the morning to face another day of paralysis in which I don't feel like doing anything, I do not listen to my depression. True, I do not have a smile and so I move into the day borrowing God's smile. When depression is a constant battle you got to learn another way to live. You can't live by your feelings. You have to learn to believe and act on what God says rather than what we feel what God says. It's what it means to live by faith and it's hard. But you and I have all the resources of heaven, all the riches of Christ. We've got all the power we need to rise up and out of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad feelings. To paraphrase Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 faith is being certain of what we do not feel. When there is a debate between what my feelings say and what scripture says my faith, albeit at times weak, my faith will say uh-uh no, scripture wins. Any other result and I am essentially telling God he can't be trusted.
Guest (Male): Oh friend, are you struggling with a difficult season? Remember that the best of Christians struggle with depression. And if you are we want you to grab hold of these principles in an excellent booklet Johnny wrote called Navigating Depression. It's rich, it's deep, and it's yours for the asking at johnnyradio.org. Let's beat that terrible, horrible, no good, very bad enemy called depression. Let's follow scripture and show God we know he can be trusted. Today ask for your free booklet on depression at johnnyradio.org. And while you're there we here at Johnny and Friends, well, we'd love to pray for you in your troubles. So share your prayer needs with us today at johnnyradio.org. And as always, thanks for listening.