“And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 (NKJV) We are living in a day and time when there are many who purportedly declare they are speaking on behalf of God. There are self-proclaimed apostles, prophets, bishops, and the like who speak into the lives of those who desperately seek a word from the Lord. In times like these when various winds of doctrine are constantly blowing across the landscape of our relationship with God and the church we must be able to properly discern between truth and error, the message, and the messenger. This is very difficult to do at times because there is a fine line between truth and error. Believers must “know” the truth when we hear it. To “know” in this context is “the recognition of truth by personal experience.” Oftentimes we seek truth but we apply it based on someone else’s experience rather than our own. In order to properly discern truth, we must filter what we are shown or what we are being told within a biblical frame of reference. This will lead us to ask questions and make the following considerations: 1) Does the prophecy or the words being proclaimed agree with scripture? “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy mean of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” II Peter 1:20-21 (NKJV) We must beware of those who speak words that cannot be confirmed in scripture. It may sound good, new, creative, and awesome, but if God hasn’t already said it in His word we may be opening a door that will lead us into error or untruth. Rest assured God is not saying anything today that He has not already said. 2) Does the prophecy or the word being proclaimed glorify Christ? Believers are not to be so gullible that we indiscriminately accept the pronouncements from those who claim to speak with divine authority or inspiration. A spirit is behind every prophet, but we must be careful because it just could be a false spirit. Before we receive what is being said we must discern the credibility of the spirit behind what is being spoken over us. “Beloved do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” I John 4:1 (NKJV) 3) Are the prophecies or the stated pronouncements being fulfilled? “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” Deuteronomy 18:22 (NKJV) This is the Old Testament test for discerning the authenticity of words that are spoken in the name of the Lord which also has a contemporary application. It’s as simple as this. If someone speaks to you on behalf of God and declares that you will receive something by a particular date or time, if God is involved it should and will come to pass. If it doesn’t then guess who is in serious error and void of truth? To be continued on Monday........
Posted on: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 09:41:47 +0000
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