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Your Feelings Are a Con Man

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV)

Yesterday we talked about your thoughts. How they're unreliable. How the enemy broadcasts through your own mind.

Today we go one layer deeper.

Your feelings.

If your thoughts are a broken compass, your feelings are the con man selling you the map.

And he's good at his job.

Think about the last time you made a decision based on how you felt. Not what you knew. Not what Scripture said. Just what felt right in the moment.

How did that turn out?

If you're honest, most of the time it cost you something. A relationship. Your peace. Your integrity. Your money. Your time. Something.

But we keep going back. Why?

Because the con is convincing.

Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above ALL things. Not some things. Not most things. Above all things. That means your heart is a better liar than anyone you've ever met. It will look you in the face, tell you something feels right, and walk you straight into a wall.

The Hebrew word for "deceitful" here is aqob. It comes from the same root as the name Jacob, which means "supplanter" or "one who deceives by grabbing the heel." Your heart doesn't just lie to you. It trips you. It grabs your heel right when you think you're walking forward.

And here's what makes it so dangerous. The enemy doesn't only use bad feelings to mislead you.

He uses good ones too.

That's the con.

Think about it. A con man doesn't walk up to you looking shady. He walks up looking trustworthy. He gives you something real first. Something that feels good. Something that works. And you think, "This is legit." So you keep following.

Then the trap closes.

The enemy does the same thing with your emotions. He'll let you follow a good feeling. Maybe it's the rush of a new relationship. Maybe it's the high of being praised. Maybe it's the comfort of avoiding a hard conversation. It feels right. It feels like peace. It even feels like God sometimes.

But it's bait.

One good feeling gets your trust. Then the next five take you somewhere you never intended to go.

That's how addiction works. The first hit feels like relief. The next hundred feel like a cage.

That's how toxic relationships work. The first month feels like destiny. The next year feels like a hostage situation.

That's how people-pleasing works. The first approval feels like validation. Then you can't stop performing because you're terrified of silence.

The enemy doesn't need you to follow bad feelings. He just needs you to trust the system.

One good feeling is enough to keep you coming back for the ones that destroy you.

I lived this. I’ve trusted my feelings that those people I did drugs with were family cause they gave me a sense of camaraderie.  Those were real feelings. Genuine emotions. And they led me straight to a life in distress and hopelessness.

My feelings weren't wrong in the sense that I didn't feel them. I absolutely did. They were wrong in the sense that they pointed me in the opposite direction of where God wanted me.

That's the part nobody explains.

Your feelings are real. But real doesn't mean reliable.

You can genuinely feel something and still be genuinely wrong.

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
Proverbs 14:12 (KJV)

Seemeth right. It felt right. It looked right. It made sense to the heart. And it still led to death.

So what do we do? Shut down? Stop feeling? Become robots?

No. God gave you emotions. He created them. Jesus wept. Jesus got angry. Jesus felt compassion. Feelings are part of being human.

But feelings were never designed to lead. They were designed to signal.

Feelings are a signal, not a sentence.

Different S's.

They tell you something is happening. They don't get to tell you what to do about it.

A smoke alarm tells you there might be fire. But you don't let the smoke alarm decide whether to stay in the house. You investigate. You check the source. You respond with information, not panic.

Your feelings work the same way. They alert you. But the Word of God is what you respond with.

You feel anxious? That's a signal. Take it to Scripture.

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."
Philippians 4:6 (KJV)

You feel hopeless? That's a signal. Take it to Scripture. Not to your playlist. Not to your ex. Not to the bottle. To the Word.

Step 1: Stop letting your feelings have the final word. When an emotion rises up, pause before you respond. Ask yourself, "Is this feeling pointing me toward God or away from Him?" If it's pulling you away, it's not from Him, no matter how real it feels.

Step 2: Don't say, "I can't help how I feel." Say, "I feel this, but my feelings don't define my reality. God's Word does." You're not denying the emotion. You're denying it the steering wheel.

Step 3: Identify the con. Next time something feels really good really fast, slow down. The enemy's best work doesn't feel like temptation. It feels like opportunity. Ask God to show you what's underneath before you commit.

PRAYER:

Father God, I've let my feelings drive my life for too long. I followed what felt right and it cost me more than I want to admit.

I'm not asking You to take my emotions away. I'm asking You to put them in their place.

You created my heart but You also warned me about it. So today I stop giving my feelings the final word. Your Word gets that seat.

When my heart tries to lead me somewhere Your Word doesn't confirm, give me the discernment to pause, the humility to check, and the faith to follow You instead of what I feel.
in Jesus name Amen.