A Life of Feeling 469
progress no more during the bright than during the dull period. Our
life is equally corrupt in either condition.
Third. God aims to help His children overcome their environment.
A Christian should not allow his surroundings to change his life. He
whose path is altered by the influence of environment is not deeply
experienced in the Lord. We have learned already that what can be
affected by environment is emotion. It is when our emotion is
influenced by environment that our lives undergo change. How
imperative therefore for us to conquer emotion if we wish to
overcome environment. To conquer his surroundings the Christian
must prevail over all his various sensations. If he cannot surmount
his ever vacillating feeling how can he overcome his environment? It
is our feeling which is alive to any shift in environment and which
varies accordingly. If we do not override our sensation our lives shall
oscillate with our changing sensation. Thus do we need to overcome
feeling before we can overcome environment.
This explains why the Lord leads one through different feelings in
order that he may learn how to quell these feelings and thereby
triumph over his surroundings. If he can subdue his strong and
contrasting sensations he surely will be able to cope with the
changing atmosphere. Thus will he achieve a steadfast and
established walk, no longer drifting with the tide. God desires His
child to remain the same with or without high feeling. He wants His
child to commune with Him and serve Him faithfully whether he is
happy or is sad. God’s child must not reshape his life according to
how he feels. If he is serving the Lord faithfully and making
intercession for others, then he should do so in gladness or in sorrow.
He should not serve only when he feels refreshed and cease serving
when he is parched. If we cannot subdue our many varied sensations
then we can in no wise conquer our diverse surroundings. He who
fails to surmount his environment is one who has failed to subjugate
his feeling.