Possessed by Feelings

"Unless we learn to let go of our feelings, we don’t have our feelings, our feelings have us. (Is that the deepest meaning of “being possessed”?)" 
-- Richard Rohr

This quote is great counsel for the art of dying daily...the process of sanctification--being filled with the fruit of the Spirit--recognizing and accepting the gift of God to us.  We do all sorts of things to dress up our feelings to justify our position on things.  People may use ideas that sound good and even Scripture to pamper feelings.  Any time we are catering to feelings, we are invested in outcome.

Often when our feelings surface, we move into the realm of "our rights."  We want to justify our position and how wrong it is that we are not be treated fairly or the way we think we deserve to be treated.  This is so human, and even taught and promoted in the world.  Jesus never talked about "rights" or "fairness."  He actually said that in this world we would have trouble, be persecuted and misunderstood.   

I had an experience that taught me a great deal about this dynamic.  Someone jumped all over me attacking me for things that had nothing to do with me.  When it was all over, I asked the Lord about it.  I have always looked for a "knight in shining armor" to rescue me.  This being attacked had become a repeating pattern in my life.  I wanted a defender.  He acknowledged that I was waiting for human intervention.  He said that in order that I be defended, the person who wounded me would have to have someone judging them as wrong.  He asked me if I wanted to take part in judging this person.  Quickly, I said that I did not want that on me or anyone else.  

He said that I needed to turn it over to Him and let Him heal the abused, wounded child that had always waited for someone to defend and rescue me.  In prayer, the Lord healed that wounded child.  It felt wonderful.  I no longer needed any defender except the Lord.  The interesting thing about this was that when I no longer was working from the place of "feeling" abused and accused, those situations no longer were a part of my experience.  Job says: that which you fear comes upon you.  I saw this work out in my life.  And I saw it stop in my life.
  

The entire experience left me with a different understanding about rights and fairness.  I do not want to be a part of anyone's judgment.  That is not my place.  When I start to feel in some way that my rights have been violated, I look at the Savior in the Garden.  He said, "Thy will be done, not mine."  It looked like it was the end of everything at the cross.  He said: It is finished.  Life, as we knew it, was finished.  From then on, we could walk from the perspective of redemption.  The Accuser (all of them) is defeated.  If you are experiencing the Accuser in human form, remember that we wrestle not against flesh and blood.  Even the Lord Jesus said: The Lord rebuke you Satan.  And He said to a woman who was bound: Woman thou art loosed.  Praise God, these words are our words.  This victory is ours.