The God I Was Trying to Feel
In HIs IMage. For His Purpose. That's why life matters.
Discovering the God who calls us not to chase an experience, but to surrender to a relationship.
Across many faiths and beliefs, I see a common hunger in humanity—a longing to know, experience, and connect with God, a higher power, or the Creator. In churches around the world, people raise their hands in worship, yearning to feel the presence of the One they profess to love. Many seek this connection through sacraments, worship services, rituals, meditation, or even through the beauty and grandeur of the places they have built to honor God.
Week after week, many continue to cry out to feel God. At times, they may experience a powerful emotional moment and believe they have encountered Him, yet the feeling can quickly fade, leaving them longing once again for another experience.
The desire to feel God is not inherently wrong; in fact, it reveals something profound about the human heart. We were created for communion with our Creator. However, the way we seek Him can sometimes reveal that we have misunderstood the relationship God desires to have with us. God does not merely invite us into occasional emotional experiences or religious moments; He invites us into a personal relationship that transforms us and enables us to know His presence in a deeper, more enduring way.
After many years of trying to feel God’s presence, I came to a greater understanding of how God desires to relate to His creation.
First, I realized that God does not desire a merely external relationship with us, based solely on rituals, sacrifices, or outward actions, but an internal relationship through His Spirit dwelling within us. True spiritual growth comes through nourishing our inner life with God’s truth, denying ourselves, surrendering our desires, and abiding in Him through His Spirit.
“Feelings may lead us to moments with God,
but trust and surrender lead us into a life with God.”
Second, I learned that feelings do not lead us into intimacy with God; intimacy with God often gives birth to deeper feelings. As we fix our eyes on His beauty, His holiness, and His love, we are transformed by His presence.
Third, I learned we must begin to trust God's Word regardless of what we feel, regardless of what we are going through, and regardless of our circumstances. We must listen to His voice above every other voice—including our own thoughts when they speak lies contrary to His truth. It is when we stand firmly on His truth, even when our emotions are silent, that we begin to discover that God has been with us all along.
Then something remarkable happens. The presence we were desperately trying to force ourselves to feel becomes something we begin to recognize. We become aware of His presence within us, around us, and guiding our every step. He was never absent; rather, our dependence on feelings without surrender and trust had clouded our ability to perceive Him.
God calls us to complete surrender. When we come to Him merely seeking an emotional experience, we may be chasing what our flesh desires—a feeling to satisfy ourselves. But when we deny ourselves, trust Him, and seek Him for who He is rather than for what we can feel, we discover a relationship far deeper than emotion: a life transformed by His Spirit.
When we trust in Him and surrender ourselves to Him, He reveals His presence to us, and our emotions become a beautiful response to knowing Him rather than a desperate search to find Him.
