Chapter 5: What You Feel May Not Be Real!

Mahaney begins chapter 5 with this quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?

He goes on to write, "...Before you can make real progress against [legalism and condemnation], you need to understand the importance of what happens inside your head. The cross centered life starts with biblical thinking. Are you going to build your life on what you feel or on what is real?" (47).

I must say, quite honestly, that if people grasped this one essential reality, my pastoral counseling load would decrease by 75%. That's not to say that I don't love shepherding and counseling God's people. I do! It is only to say that the vast majority of believers live their lives entirely on the basis of what they feel rather than what is real. Very often, the frustrations and spiritual roadblocks that seem most impassible to us can be pushed aside merely by recognizing that what we feel isn't real, and by speaking biblical truth into our own lives consistently, steadily, and uncompromisingly.

What truth do you need to "preach" into your life right now? What are you believing that isn't real?