Feelings

[Y]our business and mine is not to stir up our feelings, it is to believe. We are never told anywhere in Scripture that we are saved by our feelings; we are saved by believing. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.' Never once are feelings put in the primary position. Now this is something we can do. I cannot make myself happy, but I can remind myself of my belief. I can exhort myself to believe, I can address my soul as the Psalmist did in Psalm 42: 'Why are thou cast down O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou'... believe thou, trust thou. That is the way. And then our feelings will look after themselves. Do not worry about them. Talk to yourself, and though the devil will suggest that because you do not feel, you are not a Christian, say: 'No, I do not feel anything, but whether I feel or not, I believe the Scriptures. I believe God's word is true and I will stay my soul upon it, I will believe in it come what may.'


So if you and I find ourselves afflicted by this condition, there is only one thing to do, it is go to Him. If you seek the Lord Jesus Christ and find Him, there is no need to worry about your happiness and your joy. He is our joy and our happiness, even as He is our peace. He is life, He is everything. So avoid the incitements and the temptations of Satan to give feelings this great prominence at the centre. Put at the centre the only One who has a right to be there, the Lord of Glory, Who so loved you that He went to the Cross, and bore the punishment and the shame of your sins and died for you. Seek Him, seek His face, and all other things shall be added unto you.

From Feelings - Chapter 8 , Spiritual Depression by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Eerdmans, pages 116-118. (emphasis mine)