When I was younger, I believed that the Lord would bless only the things I do willingly. If I did not feel like doing something, then I should not do it, because after all, the Lord knows my heart. He knew I did not want, nor did I feel like doing, whatever it was that I should be doing. Should I obey if I don’t feel like it? Are my feelings required in obedience? There is a beautiful story in the Bible about a man called Jonah. It is the 32nd book of the Old Testament and there are only three chapters. The Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn the citizens of impending judgment. But Jonah didn’t want to. As far as he was concerned, the people deserved God’s punishment. Read the story. It is really a beautiful story of a man’s disobedience and God’s amazing grace. When feelings and obedience align, there is this instant gratification. “Yes! We can do this, Lord!” But when there is that tug of war between my feelings and obedience? Which one wins? Which will get the victory? Truthfully, obedience will triumph, when my life is in accordance with the Word of God. What do we do with obedience to the Word of God when we don’t feel like it? 
You asked me to love, but indifferent is how I feel (I John 4:11)
You asked me to forgive, but bitter is how I feel (Colossians 3:13)
You said, ‘have faith’, but anxious is how I feel (James 1:6)
You said to be content, but jealous is how I feel (Hebrews 13:5)
You said to be kind, but violent is how I feel (Ephesians 4:32)
You said to be cheerful, but angry is how I feel (Psalm 68:3)
You said to be patient, but frustrated is how I feel (Ephesians 4:2)
You said to be gentle, but spiteful is how I feel (Philippians 4:5)
Should I then acknowledge my feelings and go with it? Or should I apply self control and intentionally choose to obey the Word of God? Should I surrender to my feelings and give it control? Should I do what I feel and then plead for grace? Should I submit to God’s authority and rather, beg for strength? Should I wait for my feelings to catch up with obedience? What shall I choose to do today? Should I obey in spite of how I feel? What will you choose today? Here is a similar blog post written about this topic.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who have taken the time to follow the blog. I am humbled by your comments and likes on the posts. May the Lord be honored on this adventure.
Have a blessed day and remember: God’s love is unfailing, unwavering and unconditional.
What will you choose today? Feelings or obedience?
Becoming HIS Tapestry 
48 responses to “CHOICES, CHOICES, CHOICES”
[…] I’ve linked a few blog posts which touches on the subject of change and choices here and here and here. Check them out. Today, what shall it […]
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I think if we obey, than our feelings will eventually catch up to our obedience :).
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That’s exactly right. The others way around isn’t going to work
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Thanks for sharing with us at Love to Learn. Pinned.
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May the Lord receive the praise. Thanks for commenting and thank you
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Our feelings will definitely lead us down the wrong path, won’t they? Obedience often seems like the more difficult choice, but we can count on God’s help when we choose His way!
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Amen to that! Obedience is harder, because it goes against what we do naturally. But our God is faithful
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I love this great job! All of us make choices day to day hour to hour and it’s up to us what choices we make! But God never fails us and choosing his way is always the best way!
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That is absolutely right. He will always do what is best for us. He is trustworthy
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A wonderful reminder!
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Praise the Lord, Thanks
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Wish I could say I always choose obedience (ahahhahaa!)….well, every choice is a new chance to obey rather than following our own feelings and desires. How hard it can be to die to the flesh, and how wonderful that we get chance after chance after chance after chance to choose the right path:) God Bless!
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I wish I could I always chose obedience too, but I don’t. How I love that our God’ patience is never in short supply. His grace just keeps on giving
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Our feelings are not trustworthy, are they? The world tells us to follow our hearts, but it’s not about that at all. It’s about following God’s directive even when we don’t feel like it! Love this post and love your site. What a gift to find you here as my neighbor from the Purposeful Faith link-up! I’d also like to invite you to join me each Thursday for my #MomentsofHope Link-Up. Your words here are exactly the kind of hope I love to see shared with as many people as possible!
Blessings and smiles,
Lori
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All the praise belongs to our Lord! Thank you for this opportunity. I will be there 🙂 That’s the hard part “when we don’t feel like it”. That’s why the Lord gave commands, because left up to us, we will never feel like it. It becomes easier when we submit to the Lord’s authority.
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There’s no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. Great post.. Thanks and God bless you.
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That’s truly the only way is it not? Praise the Lord for His unfailing, faithful love. Thanks for commenting
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Amen! Obeying His revealed will – the Word of God – prepares us to see and hear then follow His more specific will for our lives! Following when it is hard, when it’s not what we want…dying to self – a moment in time and a lifelong process! Love this blog!
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Thank you for commenting. Its always that battle between what I want to do over what the Lord has commanded me to do. Praise the Lord for His faithful love and grace. I am always in need of it 🙂
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It’s always easier to choose to do what you feel like, but I always feel better when I do what I know I should do. If we only did what we felt like, we’d be indulging ourselves, and Jesus didn’t set an example of indulgence. He didn’t WANT to die on the cross, but he did it because he knew it was the right thing to do :).
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Amen beautifully said. Jesus did not want to die, but He did! Where would we be if He hadn’t?
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Love the story of Jonah. We all can relate. Its silly how we think sometimes we may know what’s best for ourselves than our Creator. Great post 🤗
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Yet we do it all the time. 😃 I know I do Thank the Lord for His unfailing love and His amazing grace
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Love those red shoes! Obedience trumps sacrifice…every.single.day! Neighbors at God-Sized Dreams!
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Amen! Disobedience is attached to consequences that sometimes affect even those around us. Thanks for commenting
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I find that surrender to God and obedience to God helps the feelings to go back toward the way they should be. There is peace in surrender to God and joy in thanksgiving to God.
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You are so right! Sometimes we negotiate our obedience to the Word of God. We try to justify disobedience. Praise the Lord for new beginnings
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I remember one day when I was much younger reading the first verse of, Psalm 95 or 96 about singing to the LORD. Ninety-five reads more like an invitation, but 96 reads more like a command. The thought struck me that it didn’t say, “O come let us sing when you feel like it,” or “Sing to the LORD a new song when you feel like it.” It was a very convicting thought.
Sometimes we forget. Thanks for this reminder.
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Amen 🙏🏽 the Word of God is not a Book of suggestions, is it? I do like that 😊
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I know that God blesses us even in our disobedience because He is a big God. There are times that we must realize that God allows us to be tested, never tempted James tells us that. I know sometimes our choices are difficult but we need to turn to Him and wait on the Lord.
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Praise the Lord. He is a great God and we do need to wait on the Lord. He is also a gracious God, swift to forgive when we disobey. But as His children, we should desire to obey
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Indeed the Christian life is not an easy one, that’s why we have so many who are unwilling to submit and moreover surrender to God…obedience is a must if we want to one day hear ‘well done my good and faithful servant!’
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Amen! that is the only way we can hear these words. But it is possible, Praise the Lord 🙂
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I struggle between the two. Thanks for the reminder!
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That struggle is real! 🙂 We are so prone to reacting instinctively, usually emotions are involved. It is necessary to step back and obey in spite of how I feel 🙂
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Amen, this is a great post. I think everyone can relate to having these thoughts that you battle with toward the end of the post, and it really gets you thinking.
I am going to save some of these verses, they’re a great reminder of what things to focus on in life.
Have a blessed week!
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Amen! Praise the Lord, He forgives freely and gives new beginnings. We can began again 🙂 Thanks for commenting
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This is a wonderful post. It’s something everyone struggles with at some point.
Jesus told his disciples to pray so they wouldn’t fall into temptation, and He himself left us with such a powerful example of what to when our feelings are different than God’s will. Jesus asked God if there was any other way (because he didn’t want to have to suffer the cross), but then he submitted… “Not my will, but your will be done.”
What SHOULD I do when my feelings don’t line up with God’s will? I should ask God to change my heart (because HE absolutely will do it), OBEY, and find something in the situation for which to give thanks. I find that when I give thanks in that place, my heart catches up with amazing speed.
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ahh yes! a change of heart allows our feelings to be redirected. Pleasing the Lord takes precedence over the immediate, instinctive feelings. Thanks for commenting, my friend
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Easy to say, hard to do. What has been helping me lately is imagining how much worse I would feel if I don’t obey. I’m always going to struggle with feelings, but maybe choosing which feelings to focus on will help me make better choices. Thanks for your blog!
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Praise the Lord! by nature, we are impulsive people, we will naturally choose our feelings. As you rightly said, it is HARD to obey, when it goes against our feelings
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This is exactly what i am,faced with today…I’m turn between my feeling and obedience to God…i don’t want to regret not doing what my feeling is telling me to do but ….this post just captured my present feeling and i think i should ask for strength and pray harder because i know my feelings will go against the word of God…thanks for this friend💖💖💖
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Amen, my friend. There’s is no right way to do wrong 🙂
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✌✌
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Nice blog on obedience.
Disobedience always have negative consequences.
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praise the Lord. Thanks honey 🙂
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There are many choices we will face in our life time, but choices which go against your faith are tests. That’s when we need to decide what is more important to us… X
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amen! that’s most certainly right. We are prone to be impulsive, which is why we need to slow down to think before we act
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