FEELING "INSPIRED" TO DO GOD'S WILL!--By Maria
Maria #151 DO 2747 2/91
1. We all have certain responsibilities and duties that the Lord expects us to fulfill whether we feel like it or not! Even prayer--our communion with the Lord--is a duty. It's something the Lord expects us to do and that we know we're supposed to do! So whether you feel like praying or not, it's your duty, your responsibility.
2. Memory work is another one of our duties, it's one of our responsibilities. Witnessing is another very important duty of ours, a definite responsibility. A lot of things are our duty and responsibility, which means we just need to do them because the Lord expects us to, whether we feel like it or not! We don't always feel inspired, enthusiastic and like jumping up and down for joy to go out witnessing or to memorize or to read the Word, or even to pray! So we need to get the idea out of our system that we have to feel like doing something in order to do it!--That the only time we should do something is when we really feel "inspired" about doing it!
3. Sure, we're going to feel like it once in a while, but if that's what we're going to go by, our feelings, the Enemy is going to make us not feel like it most of the time! We can't go by our feelings! Of course, it's nice to be thrilled about doing any of these things that are our duty to do, that's wonderful. And if our teachers can help our kids to get thrilled and inspired about doing something, about learning new things, that's wonderful! That's the ideal, that's great!
4. But we cannot sit around waiting until we feel inspired, or think that we've got to feel good about doing whatever it is we're supposed to do, or we're probably going to end up never doing anything! The Devil will see to it that we don't have any of those nice feelings, because he can often steal our good feelings away. We just can't go by our feelings or live by our feelings, or we're going to be sunk!
Motivation in Memorization!
5. We would like people to be inspired, but you don't have to feel inspired or feel anything about what you know the Lord wants you to do.--You just need to do it! Remember how Dad said that his parents used to make him stand in the corner and memorize verses as a penalty when he misbehaved or came late to dinner? I'm sure he didn't feel very thrilled or very inspired about memorizing scriptures under those conditions, but look at the good it did him!
6. Feeling enthusiastic and delighted about memorizing verses is fine, but it's not a good enough motivation because it's not going to last or be consistent. Feeling inspired about doing something is a motivation that comes and goes--mostly goes! But the motivation that we need to hang on to are the facts, not the feelings; the fact that God's Word tells us to hide the Word in our heart, the fact that we know it helps us in our spiritual walk with the Lord, the fact that we know it helps us to help others, the fact that some day we're not going to have the Word, and what we hide in our hearts is what's going to keep us. All those facts are the motivation that we need to be reminded of over and over! If anything is going to truly and consistently motivate us, that will.--Not our fluctuating feelings!
Criterion for Teachers!
7. It's a danger signal if people think that they need to feel good about doing things before they'll do them! I certainly believe that teachers need to try to motivate and try to help their kids feel inspired about learning, try to help them feel happy, delighted and thrilled about it. And they might be able to do that to a certain extent, but there comes a time when the kids just have to knuckle under and go about the hard work of studying and memorizing and learning--whether they feel inspired about it or not!
8. Besides, what if the teacher just isn't that inspiring? We don't have that many teachers who are so great that they can always provide the "rah rah" and be the cheerleaders and beat the drums and get their kids all excited and jumping up and down for joy every minute of the day about everything they need to do! There may be a few that can, but we can't make that our criterion for teachers because we don't have that many who are that way. So that's no excuse, to say, "I can't learn this because my teacher's not very inspiring!"
A Balance in Teaching!
9. There's a balance, and as I say, we want to try to get teachers who are inspired, we want to try to teach and encourage them to be inspiring and to inspire their kids. But if they just don't have it, if they can at least pass on the Word and instill the Word in their hearts, that's the main requirement and objective.
10. In System school, whether you have an inspiring teacher or not, you don't say, "I'm sorry Mr. So-and-so, I'm not going to attend your class any more because you're not inspiring enough. I'm going to go next door to the other teacher who's more inspiring!" You can't do that in school, you take your teachers whether they're inspiring or not. And you're expected to learn the course or class, whether you have an inspiring teacher or not.
11. Of course, it's more fun if you have an inspiring teacher, an enthusiastic teacher. You can probably learn a little bit easier, especially System kids who don't have any other motivation. But that doesn't give you an excuse for not learning what Mr. Sourpuss and Miss Dull-and-Boring are trying to teach you! You can't go to the principal and say, "I flunked that class because the teacher's not inspiring enough!" Who ever accepted an excuse like that? It just doesn't hold water.
12. In System school you have your textbook, you have the facts, you have the printed word, and your motivation is supposed to be the fact that if you don't learn this class, pass this test, pass this grade, you're not going to graduate and go on to the next grade. So you have a pretty good motivation for learning, whether your teacher is "inspired" or not.
13. As I say, we want to have a good balance and we do want inspiration when we can have it. But that's no excuse for anyone, that they can't learn because they don't have enough inspiration.
Learning and Obeying by Faith!
14. There are a lot of times when you go to the Word and you read it, but it's hard to really get into it. You may not feel like you're getting anything out of it, but that's no excuse for not reading the Word and not hiding it in your heart!--Because some day when you really need it, it's going to come back to you if you faithfully feed on it now.
15. Maybe you don't need it so much right now. We don't have to tell our kids, "You need this right now!" Maybe they don't really need to memorize all of that for right now, but they're going to need it some time, so they have to get it right now while the getting is good! A lot of it is probably for future use.
16. So whether you feel inspired about it or not, if you know that something is God's will, just obey Him and do it by faith, as unto the Lord, and He will bless you for it! "For without faith, it is impossible to please Him!" (Heb.11:6).
17. If the great men of God in the Bible had only obeyed the Lord if and when they felt "inspired," they would have never accomplished anything for Him! Moses certainly didn't feel like socking it to Pharaoh and leading all those Jews out of Egypt! Nor did the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc., feel like doing all of the difficult and dangerous things that the Lord commanded they do.--In fact, most of them argued with the Lord that He had the wrong guy and that He should get someone else to do the job!
18. And we know that Jesus didn't "feel inspired" about dying on the cross for the sins of the world, and even pleaded with His Father that "If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me!" But the bottom line was, "Nevertheless, not My will, but Thy will be done!" (Mat.26:39).
19. And look at the many times and situations in which the Lord tried and tested Dad's faith and obedience.--That's what the entire Letter "Shtick" is all about! (See ML #703.) There were many times when he didn't feel particularly "inspired" about shticking with the difficult and wearying assignments that the Lord gave him.--Such as being his mother's bag-boy, chauffeur and servant for 20 years, or being Fred Jordan's underpaid and overworked road-man for 14 years, leaving home and family to travel alone throughout the U.S. in order to book Fred's Gospel TV show across the nation.
20. Nor did Dad feel inspired to wake up every morning to face driving a schoolbus full of rowdy System kids to and from a school where he had to teach them as well!--A class that was so unruly that all of the previous teachers had walked out on them and quit! But Dad stuck to it day after day, month after month, until the Lord gave him a new assignment, two years later! At one point during his bus-driving/school-teaching time he wasn't even sure if he could keep it up for another day, and the Lord told him to "endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ!" (2Tim.2:3). So he did!--Whether he felt like it or not!
21. And that's how it should be with all of us: When we know the Lord wants us to do something, whether we particularly feel like it or not, we should just go ahead and do it, knowing that that's what we're here for. We're His servants, His love slaves whom He's bought and paid for, and He can do with us as He pleases! Amen? PTL!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family