The discussion further explores the grace of perseverance bestowed upon believers, emphasizing how faith helps us endure worldly tribulations. Listeners will also learn about the comforting role of the Holy Spirit, who aids us in interpreting our emotions as opportunities for spiritual growth. Tune in to discover how to transform emotional turmoil into a deeper connection with your faith.
00:00:00 Understanding the Role of Emotions in Faith
00:16:00 How to Listen to More Episodes and Support
SPEAKER 01 :
So we are at that portion of Scripture where Paul says, Not only that, but we also, we also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we have been saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees? Now this is an interesting passage because, I don’t know how it is with you, but when you get into dark moods, depression or sorrow or grief or overwhelmed by frustration or whatever, Do you sometimes feel that those emotions are quite contrary to being a Christian and you ought to be much better than that? And you get gloomy because you feel you’re not in a good state of mind, and since you’re not in a good state of mind, you can’t be really a man or woman of faith. There are Christians throughout the world, and I think maybe particularly in this Western world, because of our tendency to want to get rid of all pain by drugs, medication, and all the rest of it, who feel that it is somehow wrong to feel down or sorrowful or grieving or anxious or longing. But the real issue is how you interpret what you’re feeling rather than what the feeling is itself. Let me repeat that. The real issue is how you as a Christian interpret what you’re feeling rather than the feeling itself. Let’s suppose you feel depressed, and you say to yourself, I shouldn’t feel depressed. I should be joyful all the time. I should be praising God and thanking Him. And I shouldn’t feel this, and so I need to repent, or I need to get out of it in some way. And the more you feel you should get out of this state, well, the more and worse it gets. Isn’t that an irony of it? So what is this then? Well, Christians, without a knowledge of the Word and without getting close to God by the understanding of Scripture, often misinterpret what’s going on. When we feel down, we need to understand that the Holy Spirit is at work in us. It’s not simply the fact that the Holy Spirit’s working in us when we feel joyful and happy and victorious and jubilant. Those are not the only experiences that we know in the Holy Spirit. To feel down can often be that longing that Paul here speaks about, the longing for the world to come. You see, we have been saved, as Paul says in the next verse, in hope. That is, a certain expectation of what is to come. But the actual coming of that event, the second coming of Christ, isn’t here yet, is it? No, it’s not. What we have been given are what the Bible calls the first fruits, the first drops, as it were, of what is yet to be. We’ve had an inkling of it. We’ve been given faith to see it far off. We know that Jesus is returning and that all sorrow and tears and crying and pain shall be removed when he introduces us to his kingdom. We know that’s going to happen, but we only know it by faith right now. Yet there is a humanity that exists within us, that is, there is a humanity in which we live, that has inklings of that event to come, because our humanity was made in the image of God, and it knows there’s something dreadfully wrong. that somehow we’re not in the right place, that our humanity, our humanity knows this, that our humanity is broken down, is not functioning properly. When your body is ill, how does your body know that it’s ill? Because it knows that it should be healthy. The norm is health. Illness is not the norm. And the norm is eternal life and freedom from pain and sorrow and tears. And we are not in the norm. And our body knows that, and our body communicates that with our spirit. And that is what we need to understand. That when we are down, we should interpret it by faith and say, Father, I feel depressed. I almost feel as though I shouldn’t feel depressed, but I’m thanking you that this depression or this anxiety or this longing for something is a longing for the kingdom. Remember what the previous verse says, for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. The whole creation is with you in this longing. The whole creation is with you in this depression, in this loneliness, in this isolation, in this sense that there’s something missing. Yes, the whole creation. The whole creation, though, does not know how to interpret it. But we who have the message of the gospel and the Spirit, we know how to interpret that. And so that’s how we respond to God. When you have these dark emotions, you needn’t ask yourself, am I saved? Should this be happening to a saved man or woman? Is this because I’m not saved? No, because Paul says in the very next verse, for we were saved in this hope. What hope is he talking about? Not only that, he says in the previous verse, but we also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. for we were saved in this hope. So you say, so you see, we’re saved, and we have this hope of the redemption of our body, but it hasn’t happened yet, and so our body still groans and moans. What for? For that coming of the new creation. If people knew how to interpret their emotions in this way, how much depression and sorrow and misery would be lifted simply by that alone? apart from the change of your circumstances, apart from your getting a better job, apart from your being more healthy, apart from your having better relationships, if faith could know how to interpret these emotions as longings for the kingdom, what a comfort that would be. And that you can know. You can start giving praise to God and thanks for your future hope and for the knowledge that your emotions that seem sour and dark sometimes in this world are but longings for what is to come. How about it? Change your interpretation of what’s going on inside you. It’s not the whole answer, but it will make a huge difference to your life. So we see that he says in verse 25, but if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. You see, that’s what our praise and our thanks for these dark emotions, knowing that they are longings for eternity, that’s what this praising does. It gives us perseverance. Perseverance is stickability, the ability to stay with it, to not give up. You know, when some Christians are converted, they have joy for the first day or week or month or two or three or four. But then the world crowds around them, troubles, anxieties, all kinds of stresses, and they lose their confidence. And they lose their confidence because they don’t expect that these things should be happening. But we who know Scripture, who know the gospel, understand of course they happen. And God doesn’t prevent them from happening because he’s revealing his grace in all these longings. And as we receive these longings as a revelation of God’s grace rather than a bare, naked, painful experience in our hearts, We increase our perseverance. One of the great gifts that God gives Christians is the ability to persevere. How long have you been a Christian? Some of us can say decades and decades. What kept us going? Was it our perseverance? No, it wasn’t. It was the grace of God operating through our troubles, keeping us in faith so that we learned how to persevere. That’s wonderful. So likewise, Paul says in verse 28, the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. Now this is what we’ve been talking about, you see. When you learn to praise, when you learn to give thanks to God, when you learn to know that your emotions that seem dark and sour and unpleasant are longings for the kingdom, that is the Spirit helping you in your weakness. Your knowledge isn’t from your own brain. Your knowledge about these things is not from your own brain. It’s from the Holy Spirit guiding you and helping you. Remember that the name that Jesus gave to the Spirit was Parakletos, the Comforter. One, it literally means one who walks by the side of you and falls down with you. That is incredible, isn’t it? That’s the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Godhead, coming to the world, agreeing with the Father and the Son that he will come into the world and comfort all human beings. How in the world God can be so everywhere is a mystery to us, isn’t it? But what a wonderful thing that he’s here to comfort us. to interpret our emotions for us, to help us to know that these enemy states within us, once the gift of faith is given, are no longer enemy states, but instruments by which we know God and get closer to Him. That’s how it works, you see. So look at this verse again. Well, let me read from verse 23 onwards. We’ve just covered these verses, but let’s get the whole picture. Well, let’s do verse 22. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. not only that, but we also who have the first truths of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise, the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. See how this is? The Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. So you and I have to be willing by faith, it’s a faith act, to cooperate with the Spirit, to understand that all the emotions in us that seemed previously, that seemed to be part of our sinful nature, are now instruments of grace within us by which God draws us to himself. That’s how we cooperate with him. Agree with him and say, Lord, I don’t like what I feel right now, But I agree with you, it works to help me to draw myself to you in faith. Thank you for listening today. Colin Cook here and How It Happens, this broadcast that you can hear any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in How It Happens with Colin Cook when you get there. It’s listener-supported radio, now in its 27th year, so if you would like to help with a donation, you’re most welcome to do so. You can send it to FaithQuest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160, or you can make your donation online at faithquestradio.com. Thanks so much. I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
The discussion further explores the grace of perseverance bestowed upon believers, emphasizing how faith helps us endure worldly tribulations. Listeners will also learn about the comforting role of the Holy Spirit, who aids us in interpreting our emotions as opportunities for spiritual growth. Tune in to discover how to transform emotional turmoil into a deeper connection with your faith.
