January 25, 2022

This weekly devotional’s core content is taken out of a portion of Daniel Botkin’s latest “Gates of Eden” publication of Jan-Feb 2022, titled “Stop Trusting Your Feelings”; I thought you might find it quite relevant to our need to stand and focus on God’s Word, and its importance for understanding and overcoming the fanatical mood of our times.

Now, more so than heretofore [for us] we need to stay focused upon Yeshua [Jesus] the living Word… only He knows “the way,” through the wilderness of sin and human failure that is on full display in every direction we look. One of the specific techniques of Satan is to orchestrate illusions and distractions. I don’t think we have ever lived in a time of greater demonic machinations than now.

Botkin points out that “feelings” can deceive us… here is the short portion from his article:

“On the top of a high brick wall is a narrow ledge. On that ledge are three fellows named Fact, Faith, and Feelings. They are lined up one behind the other in that order, ready to walk along the narrow ledge. Mr. Fact leads the way. He knows where he is going. Mr. Faith has to keep his eyes on Mr. Fact and follow him. As long as Mr. Faith does this, he will not fall. Mr. Feelings keeps his eyes on Mr. Faith and follows him.

“As long as all three fellows continue to look straight ahead, they manage to move forward and stay on the narrow ledge. But soon Mr. Faith gets concerned about Mr. Feelings. He wants to make sure Mr. Feelings is coming along behind him. So he takes his eyes off Mr. Fact, turns around to focus on Mr. Feelings, and Mr. Faith falls off the narrow ledge.

“Feelings can also easily mislead people in areas of doctrine and behavior. Many people have difficulty believing certain Biblical doctrines and Biblical prohibitions because the doctrine or the prohibition does not agree with their own personal feelings.

“People who are misled by their feelings fail to see that they themselves are the source of their dissatisfaction. They need to quit trusting their feelings and be led by Mr. Fact. (My note: Fact is truth contained in the written Scripture).

“This does not mean that our faith consists of nothing more than cold, sterile, lifeless logic. The faith that was once delivered unto the saints is a faith saturated with raw emotion and deep feelings. Feelings are important, but they are not the object of our faith. The object of our faith is the truth written in the Holy Scriptures, which truth was embodied in the One who said, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” (John 14:6).

“If we keep our spiritual eyes firmly fixed on Him, the feelings will follow. We will experience joy unspeakable and full of glory, as it s written, “In Thy presence is fullness of joy, at Thy right hand there are pleasures evermore.” (Ps 16:11).

I think Daniel Botkin has given us very wise insight that is essential to our “spiritual balance,” and that will keep us from “falling off the ledge…” and we all know who is pushing us… you think?

Shalom... John