Feelings, nothing more than feelings ....

One of the reasons why people go though a spiritual depression is due to how they handle their feelings. Martyn Lloyd-Jones devotes and entire chapter of his book Spiritual Depression to this issue.

Our feelings are a part of us. It is not the feelings that are the problem; it is when we allow them to over rule the Holy Spirit that they become a problem. But how can we combat the tendency to allow our feelings to control us? It can happen so subtly that we don't even realize it is happening. Some of us have a temperament that means we will have more difficulty with this.

Lloyd-Jones gives a practical suggestion for how to deal with this. He suggests that we believe rather than stir up feelings. He suggests this:

If you want to be truly happy and blessed, if you would like to know the true joy as a Christian, here is the prescription - 'Blessed (truly happy) are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness' - not after happiness. Do not go on seeking thrills; seek righteousness. Turn to yourself, turn to your feelings and say: 'I have no time to worry about feelings, I am interested in something else. I want to be happy but still more I want to be righteous, I want to be holy. I want to be like my Lord, I want to live in this world as He lived. I want to walk through it as He walked through it.'

Lloyd-Jones uses the principle of talking to ourselves repeatedly throughout the book. Talking to myself about such things implies that I know the truth; I know what to do. Usually, it is a matter of simply not doing it.