Don't Listen to Feelings.

THREE YEARS SEEKING JESUS.

by Dwight L. Moody

 One night, when preaching in Philadelphia, right down by the side of the pulpit there was a young lady, whose eyes were riveted on me as if she were drinking in every word. It is precious to preach to people like that; they generally get good, even if the sermon be poor. I got interested in her, and after I had done talking, I went and spoke to her.

“Are you a Christian?” “No, I wish I was; I have been seeking Jesus for three years.” I said, “There must be some mistake.” She looked strangely at me, and said, “Don’t you believe me?” “Well, no doubt you thought you were seeking Jesus; but it don’t take an anxious sinner three years to meet an anxious Saviour.” “What am I to do, then?” “The matter is, you are trying to do something; you must just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Oh, I am sick and tired of the word, ‘Believe, believe, believe!’ I don’t know what it is.” “Well,” I said, “we’ll change the word; take ‘trust.’” “If I say, I’ll trust Him, will He save me?” “No, I don’t say that; you may say a thousand things, but if you do trust Him.” “Well,” she said, “I do trust Him; but,” she added in the same breath, “I don’t feel any better.” “Ah, I’ve got it now! You’ve been looking for feelings for three years, instead of for Jesus. Faith is up above, not down here.

People are always looking for feelings. You are getting up a new translation of the Bible here, and if the men who are translating it would only put in feelings instead of faith, what a rush there would be for that Bible. But if you look from Genesis to Revelation, you cannot find feelings attached to salvation. We must rise above feelings. So I said to this lady, “You cannot control your feelings; if you could, what a time you’d have! I know I would never have the toothache or the headache.

So I said to the lady, “Have no more to do with feelings; but, like Job, say, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.’” She looked at me a few minutes, and then, putting her hand to take mine, she said, “Mr. Moody, I trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save my soul to-night.”

Then she went to the elders and said the same words. As she passed out she met one of the church officers, and, shaking his hand, said again, “I trust the Lord Jesus to save my soul.” Next night she was right before me again. I shall never forget her beaming face; the light of eternity was shining in her eyes! She went into the inquiry-room. I wondered what she was going there for; but when I got there, I found her with her arms round a lady friend, saying, “It’s only to trust Him. I have found it so.” From that night she was one of the best workers in the inquiry-room, and whenever I met a difficult case, I got her to speak to the person, and she was sure to help them.

Getting to the Point of, "Thy will be done."

My younger daughter, Christine, has had a turbulent relationship with God. She left our church at 14, the age I told my daughters it was up to them if they wanted to go or not. Both of them chose "not". I don't believe in forcing religion on anyone, even my own children.

After having her third child, who has OCD, she started praying for and with her child. God did not heal her little girl so Christine became very angry at him. I remember one Thanksgiving, when we usually went around the table to say what we were thankful for, Christine said, "We aren't doing that this year." She felt she had nothing to be thankful for with her daughter in such mental pain and herself depressed and sleep-deprived.

When my grandson, her nephew, died she couldn't accept what God had allowed. She was even more angry. But her daughter has gotten better as she aged, not cured, but much better and I think she can now understand why God took our precious boy.

Anyway, she had a huge breakthrough this last week. She told my sister and I that she had finally given up on her own will about life and said, "Your will be done," to God. She said it was a real struggle, but she did it. She had been begging God to sell her house and find her a new job and nothing was happening. After she told him she would accept his will for her no matter what, we got an offer on the house and two people phoned her for job interviews. She decided against the jobs, but it showed her that God will work for her. We will know if the house sale is final on Friday, but it looks like she will be okay if it doesn't.

I am so happy for her. Leaving everything up to God is something all Christians must learn and as my mom said, "It isn't always easy." She says she regrets the two times she told God she wanted her own way and demanded the answer she wanted. There were sad consequences both times.

I just want to praise and thank God for working on my daughter's heart all these years. I've prayed for my family since they were all born and I see His Spirit working on everyone. Thank you God!