We tend to think that when God manifests Himself in our lives, we should feel something. However, God is not a feeling.
The first time I walked down the aisle to be saved, I was greatly deceived. Just as I had finished praying and went back to my seat, the devil started talking to me. Now, I didn't know it was the devil then.
But he said, "You aren't saved. You didn't act like those people. You didn't feel what they felt." And then he put a dirty thought in my mind. And he said, "If you were saved, you wouldn't have that dirty thought in your mind."
So I thought, I didn't feel anything. I must not be saved. So I went out of that church thinking I must not be saved because I didn't feel anything. But I don't give up easy. So the very next Sunday, that man gave an altar call, guess who walked down that aisle?
"I don't know, Lord, why you rejected me last time, but You're going to take me this Sunday." The very same thing happened again. The next Sunday that man gave an altar call again. Guess who went down that aisle? I was determined. But the same thing happened.
Now, the Lord will help you. The next day, I was out at a park. On the park bench was a little booklet, How to Know You are Saved. I read it. It described salvation as a train. There was the engine car. That was the fact of what God said. If God said it, that's it.
Then there was a middle car. That was your faith believing the fact of what God said. Then it had at the end the caboose, which was the feeling. I got it. Oh, I see, I have to take God at his word. He said that if I would believe in my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, then I would be saved. I would be a new creation, and my name would be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Thank you Lord, I'm saved. And the devil said, no you aren't saved. You don't feel anything. I said, "I don't care what I feel. I believe what He said. The feeling will come some other time, but I believe what He said!"
Study references: John 3:16; Romans 10:8-10, 13
Keith Butler has been an ordained minister since 1974. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds diplomas from Canada Christian College and Rhema Bible Training Center.
He serves in ministry with the support of his lovely wife, Pastor Deborah L. Butler, and their children: Pastor Andre Butler (granddaughters Alexis, Angela, and April), Pastor MiChelle Ferguson and husband Pastor Lee (grandson Lucas), and Minister Kristina Jenkins and husband Pastor Joel (grandsons Andrew and Austin, and granddaughter Alyssa).
