Thread by @RelevantQuest

“Turn their gaze away from Him & toward themselves. Keep them watching their own minds & trying to produce *feelings* there by the action of their own wills...” —(The demon Screwtape on how to misdirect a person’s prayers) C.S. Lewis

“When they meant to ask Him for charity, let them instead start trying to manufacture charitable feelings for themselves. When they meant to pray for courage, let them really be trying to feel brave...” #Lewis #Screwtape

“When they say they are praying for forgiveness, let them be trying to feel forgiven. Teach them to estimate the value of each prayer by their success in producing the desired feeling...” #Lewis #Screwtape

“Never let them suspect how much success or failure of that kind depends on whether they are well or ill, fresh or tired, at the moment.” #Screwtape

Are you waiting to obey until you feel? Where in the Word are we instructed to keep the commandments “when the feeling strikes”?

Have you ever stayed in the pew on fast & testimony Sunday bc the Spirit didn’t punch you in the feels, so you decided you were off the hook that day? God commanded us to share our testimonies. It tends to be an easier task w/o the gut punch. Why not obey w/o being compelled?

Have you ever stood from your knees & thought you received no answer bc your emotions didn’t flare up in the moment? Have you ever hesitated to do what’s clear in scripture bc *today* your heart wasn’t all that touched?

Emotions are nice. But they’re a by-product of faith & obedience, not a litmus for the quality of a spiritual prompting. Before all else, God instructs that we obey bc he told us to, bc we trust him. That’s the faith part. Emotions are the patently-unreliable extra, not the rule.

The rule is, keep the commandments. The Holy Ghost *will* tell us in our hearts & minds what we need when we need it. But he knows what we already know. We’re responsible to do what we know to do, w/o immediate emotional gratification, w/o a regular dopamine infusion.

The next time an opportunity arises to do what’s obvious, try doing it. Don’t wait for the Spirit to ask you specifically. If the Lord’s task needs doing, give it no thought at all, just stand up and move your body. And then do it again next time.

Watch how quickly the conscious habit of uncompelled obedience to the obvious improves your reception of spiritual promptings. Watch how alert you become to God’s voice when he sees you intend to serve w/o being carried, when you decide not to withhold belief until he stirs you.

Blessed is he that believes who has not seen. Blessed is he that is humble when he was not compelled to be. Blessed are you when you do your duty out of pure gratitude for what you’ve already seen & received, even if you never feel again.

But fear not—the joyful doing of eternal duties w/o compulsion inevitably, in the Lord’s own time, produces a depth of feeling unmatched by any earthly emotion. The pure love of Christ will fill you, from time to time AND as a thread of gold woven through your every moment.

This is the gift of standing & doing—a firm foundation under your feet & a life overflowing with charitable feeling. But having his heart in you is the culminating product. *Your* immediately-inspired emotions are not required for obedience.