🌱 GROWING IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
🌟 Lesson 8: Having Faith
📘 8.3 Faith Is Not a Feeling
True faith remains, even when feelings fluctuate
📖 1. Introduction – When Feelings Determine Faith
Many people think:
👉 “If I feel God, I have faith.”
And:
👉 “If I feel nothing, my faith is weak.”
But feelings constantly change.
Sometimes we feel:
- close to God
- full of joy
- inwardly secure
And on other days:
- empty
- tired
- doubting
- spiritually dry
However, the Bible shows:
Faith is not based first on feelings, but on trust in God’s character and His promises.
📜 2. The Biblical Foundation – Faith Like a Mustard Seed
Jesus said in Matthew 17:20:
👉 Even faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains.
The mustard seed is tiny.
And yet it possesses life and the power to grow.
Through this, Jesus shows:
It is not about how large our faith appears, but what it is directed toward.
Ephesians 2:8 also makes clear:
👉 Faith is part of God’s grace.
No one can say:
“I was not given faith.”
God draws every person to Himself through the Holy Spirit and invites them to trust.
🌍 3. Connection to Today
Today, feelings are often made the most important standard.
People say:
- “I no longer feel God.”
- “My faith is gone.”
- “I feel no joy in prayer.”
But spiritual life does not work like an emotional mood curve.
Even mature Christians experience:
- dark phases
- inner struggles
- spiritual dryness
The decisive question therefore is not:
👉 “What do I feel?”
But:
👉 “Whom do I trust?”
💡 4. Central Message of the Lesson
👉 Faith is not a changeable emotion, but a conscious decision to trust God — even when feelings fluctuate or answers are missing.
✝️ 5. Theological Focus
At the center of this lesson is the distinction between faith and feeling.
The Bible does not describe faith as emotional excitement, but as trust in God’s reality and promises.
Many people confuse spiritual feelings with spiritual security. But feelings are unstable. They are influenced by:
- tiredness
- stress
- fear
- physical strain
- disappointments
- life circumstances
Therefore, a person can love God and still feel distant from Him at times.
The lesson makes clear:
👉 God’s presence does not depend on our emotions.
Another important theological thought is:
Faith is a response to God’s initiative.
Jeremiah 31:3 describes God’s love as the first step:
He draws people to Himself.
The person responds to this with trust.
Ephesians 2:8 therefore explains:
👉 Salvation happens by grace through faith.
A person does not save themselves through strong feelings or perfect spiritual experiences.
Ellen White also emphasizes:
Feeling is not faith.
Joy and spiritual comfort are gifts from God, but they do not form the foundation of faith.
The foundation remains God’s character.
This becomes especially important in times of spiritual darkness.
Then it is revealed whether a person follows God only as long as everything feels pleasant — or even when much remains unclear.
- Corinthians 5:7 describes this path:
👉 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
This means:
The Christian does not live only by visible evidence or emotional certainty, but trusts God’s Word.
👉 Theologically decisive:
Faith holds on to God’s faithfulness — even when feelings say something else.
📖 6. The Struggle Between Feeling and Trust
Many biblical people knew times of inner darkness.
David wrote psalms full of fear and despair.
Elijah fell into deep exhaustion after the victory on Carmel.
The father in Mark 9 struggled with doubt and trust at the same time.
Even Jesus experienced deep inner struggle in Gethsemane.
This shows:
👉 Spiritual feelings are not always stable.
Nevertheless, these people did not stay away from God.
This is precisely where genuine faith is revealed:
not in the absence of emotions or problems,
but in holding on to God in the midst of them.
Therefore, the lesson challenges us to:
- place God’s Word above changing feelings
- persevere in prayer
- keep going even in spiritual dryness
- actively practice trust
For faith often grows precisely in times
when feelings do not carry us.
The mustard seed grows slowly.
And genuine faith often grows in the same way:
unnoticed, but alive.
🔧 7. Application in Daily Life
This lesson becomes practical through concrete steps:
- read God’s promises aloud
- pray regularly, even without strong feelings
- remember God’s past guidance
- honestly acknowledge feelings, but do not make them the standard
- give God’s Word space daily
- consciously practice trust
❓ 8. Reflection Question
How much does my spiritual life depend on my current feelings?
🌟 9. Final Thought
Feelings come and go.
God’s faithfulness remains.
Because:
👉 Genuine faith does not cling to changing emotions, but to the unchanging character of God.
