So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32
Deuteronomy 18:9-22
The Kingdom of God is not like the world. We live supernaturally and though many in the world think they live supernaturally, they live unnaturally. We look to God as the giver of all good things, be it provision, wisdom, discernment, or gifts. But the people of the world look to themselves, and the devil is happy to answer them in unnatural ways to keep them from seeking God and the joy of knowing Him.
Even Christians can be pulled into the aberrant ways of the world seeking the supernatural way we should be living our lives and falling instead for what the world thinks is beyond the natural. Moses warned the Israelites not to practice any of the perverted practices of the nations they would dispossess. Verses 9-14 read,
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.”
The call of connecting to the “other side” is strong. People know there is more to life than life but they don’t know where to look. They look to death for the answers they seek. They want to know what the future holds and think the dead can help or that they need to “find themselves” to get the answers.
The devil will never give them the Truth; he is the father of lies. John 8:43-45 says it this way,
Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
If they would only look to God. Jesus holds the answers they seek. We are the vehicles Holy Spirit uses to tell them and show them. They can’t believe the truth and be free unless they hear the truth and see God’s immense power displayed through His inexhaustible love. As followers of Christ we look to God, we live in this world as Citizens of Heaven who see the invisible and eternal. Our power comes not from ourselves or the prince of the power of the air but from God who indwells us with His Holy Spirit, from the Grace of the Father who looks at us through the blood of Jesus Christ. He gives us each gifts and by these gifts and by the fruit of the Spirit’s transformative power that we lead others to live in Him above the natural world around us, walking in the supernatural way of Mighty God.
Moses told the Israelites they would not need to look to the unnatural for direction because God would speak to them through another prophet like him. They could not handle the power of God speaking directly to them, they needed an intermediary. Verses 15-19 read,
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
Today, believers can each speak directly to God and hear directly from Him. While we all have the ability to prophesy, some have the gift of prophecy. Whether it is your gift or not, you are called to speak God’s word to the nations. You are called to use whatever gifts you have to demonstrate the truth to the masses, build up the church, and minister to whosoever. But it is a great responsibility and it must be done, not by exalting ourselves as mouthpieces for God but exalting God as His servants.
When you show mercy, it is God’s mercy you reveal, not your own. When you heal, it is God’s healing you express, not yours. When you prophesy, it best be God’s word you speak and not your own. God commanded we obey His word and speaking your own word in God’s name will lead to death for the hearer and the speaker. Verses 20-22 read,
“But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”
The Lord gives us discernment. We know His word and voice if we follow Him. Israel did not have the Holy Spirit in them, but we do. They had to go by the external, we hear and discern Him by His Spirit. Jesus described Holy Spirit like this in John 16:12-15,
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
We can recognize the truth because, He is in us. If you have trouble discerning God’s voice ask yourself, “Did the word glorify God or man?” “Did it come to pass?” “Is it true, does it agree with Scripture?” If you prophesy, do not speak out of your own hubris, heart, or head. Speak the truth, demonstrate love, and free the captives.
Do not seek the answers in the world, the devil will be happy to feed you lies; look to the Lord your God and He will give you the truth, peace, and every answer you seek. He wants you to find the truth. Proverbs 25:2 reads,
It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
The Kingdom of God is not like the world. We live supernaturally and though many in the world think they live supernaturally, they live unnaturally. We look to God as the giver of all good things, be it provision, wisdom, discernment, or gifts. But the people of the world look to themselves, and the devil is happy to answer them in unnatural ways to keep them from seeking God and the joy of knowing Him.
Even Christians can be pulled into the aberrant ways of the world seeking the supernatural way we should be living our lives and falling instead for what the world thinks is beyond the natural. Moses warned the Israelites not to practice any of the perverted practices of the nations they would dispossess. Verses 9-14 read,
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.”
The call of connecting to the “other side” is strong. People know there is more to life than life but they don’t know where to look. They look to death for the answers they seek. They want to know what the future holds and think the dead can help or that they need to “find themselves” to get the answers.
The devil will never give them the Truth; he is the father of lies. John 8:43-45 says it this way,
Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
If they would only look to God. Jesus holds the answers they seek. We are the vehicles Holy Spirit uses to tell them and show them. They can’t believe the truth and be free unless they hear the truth and see God’s immense power displayed through His inexhaustible love. As followers of Christ we look to God, we live in this world as Citizens of Heaven who see the invisible and eternal. Our power comes not from ourselves or the prince of the power of the air but from God who indwells us with His Holy Spirit, from the Grace of the Father who looks at us through the blood of Jesus Christ. He gives us each gifts and by these gifts and by the fruit of the Spirit’s transformative power that we lead others to live in Him above the natural world around us, walking in the supernatural way of Mighty God.
Moses told the Israelites they would not need to look to the unnatural for direction because God would speak to them through another prophet like him. They could not handle the power of God speaking directly to them, they needed an intermediary. Verses 15-19 read,
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
Today, believers can each speak directly to God and hear directly from Him. While we all have the ability to prophesy, some have the gift of prophecy. Whether it is your gift or not, you are called to speak God’s word to the nations. You are called to use whatever gifts you have to demonstrate the truth to the masses, build up the church, and minister to whosoever. But it is a great responsibility and it must be done, not by exalting ourselves as mouthpieces for God but exalting God as His servants.
When you show mercy, it is God’s mercy you reveal, not your own. When you heal, it is God’s healing you express, not yours. When you prophesy, it best be God’s word you speak and not your own. God commanded we obey His word and speaking your own word in God’s name will lead to death for the hearer and the speaker. Verses 20-22 read,
“But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”
The Lord gives us discernment. We know His word and voice if we follow Him. Israel did not have the Holy Spirit in them, but we do. They had to go by the external, we hear and discern Him by His Spirit. Jesus described Holy Spirit like this in John 16:12-15,
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
We can recognize the truth because, He is in us. If you have trouble discerning God’s voice ask yourself, “Did the word glorify God or man?” “Did it come to pass?” “Is it true, does it agree with Scripture?” If you prophesy, do not speak out of your own hubris, heart, or head. Speak the truth, demonstrate love, and free the captives.
Do not seek the answers in the world, the devil will be happy to feed you lies; look to the Lord your God and He will give you the truth, peace, and every answer you seek. He wants you to find the truth. Proverbs 25:2 reads,
It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
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