Listening to God’s word, rather than trusting our feelings

If you think there may be some room for improvement surrounding your spiritual maturity, then you must choose obedience to God over your feelings.

A good Biblical definition of what it means to listen to God’s word, would be, “To hear and to pay attention to … and even more importantly, to respond to what we hear!” The concept of obedience may not be culturally popular these days, but it’s never become outdated from a Biblical frame-of-reference.

Here’s how Jesus puts it in Luke 9:23-24, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

We’ve all been born with a sinful human nature. Jesus is telling us we need to set aside our selfish interests, and daily choose to follow Him. Fortunately, He’s provided us with a very detailed “Owners manual” in which we can all refer to. He’s also provided us with a supernatural personal guide to ensure we’re understanding His word accurately through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The only condition to experience this transformed life that Jesus mentioned, is we actually have to follow what He’s laid out for us to do! He’s never going to force us to love Him and to follow His dictates … but I can guarantee, if you choose to take up your cross daily and follow Him, you’ll never regret it!