"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1)
If God wills to pour out His Spirit upon us, why do not more Christians and more churches receive an experience of power like that of the early Church? That some have so received is joyfully admitted, but why is the number so few? When the provision is so broad and the promise so sure, what doth hinder us?
One obstacle to the reception of power is a widespread fear of our emotions wherever they touch the religious life.
This anti-emotionalism is an unwarranted inference, not a scriptural doctrine, and is in violent opposition to psychology and common sense. Where in the Bible are feeling and faith said to be at odds?
The fact is that faith engenders feeling. We can have feeling without faith, it is true, but we can never have faith without feeling. Faith as a cold, unemotional light is wholly unknown in the Scriptures. The faith of those Bible heroes listed in the Book of Hebrews invariably aroused emotion and led to positive action in the direction of their faith.
If we love Him, He can make us supremely happy.
~A. W. Tozer~
No comments:
Post a Comment