Devotionals Archives

May 16, 2024May 16, 2024

Prepare To Do It Alone

²⁸ Jehu eliminated Baal worship from Israel, ²⁹ but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit — worshiping the gold calves that were in Bethel and Dan. ³⁰ Nevertheless, the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in my heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.” ³¹ Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. ³² In those days the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael defeated the Israelites throughout their territory ³³ from the Jordan eastward: the whole land of Gilead — the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites — from Aroer which is by the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan. ~ 2 Kings 10:28-33^CSB

Jehu was told to remove the house of Ahab from Israel because of their wickedness, which he successfully did, and he was expected to follow the instructions of God with all his heart, but he failed to do so. Because of Jehu’s obedience, four generations of his sons would be on the throne, but because of his lack of dedication to the LORD, Israel began to decrease in number. Jehu, when directly told exactly what to do, followed instruction, but when it came to him seeking and trying to follow God for himself, he fell short.

God isn’t always going to hold your hand and tell you exactly what to do. He’s going to show you the first few times and then He expects you to be paying attention, learning, and preparing to do it on your own through Him. Here’s what I mean. God expects us to be able to listen to the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit after He has led us into green pastures and showed us righteousness. God expects us to grow, not continue as a small baby. God wants us to mature in Him so that we might have discernment, wisdom, and understanding so that one day, we might be able to lead others to Him the way someone led us to Him.

Where Jehu dropped the ball and led the people of Israel astray and decreased their numbers, we are to hold on tightly to the ball (the Word of God) and spread the Gospel, tear down strongholds, grow in the Spirit, and harvest many souls for the Kingdom of God. When we drop the ball in this area, our physical lives may not be harmed in any way. Jehu’s descended were kings, but his people decreased in number. Our physical lives may not be harmed, but our spiritual lives and those around us begin to decrease when we refuse to learn right from wrong and fail test after test. When we refuse to remove the strongholds in our lives and our family’s lives.

We’re in a spiritual war and if we’re not careful, we’ll fall asleep without even realizing it because we have no spiritual discernment. Our physical lives are going good, we’re prospering, our children are prospering, so we think God is with us, when actuality we turned away from God long ago and didn’t even know His Holy Spirit left us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare To Do It Alone.

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Value Others

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ~ Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Sounds like a very tall order. You know what they say, “If I don’t look out for me, who will?” And that is a fair enough question, considering today’s societal climate. Everybody’s busily attending to their own affairs and not concerned with anyone else. Most people cannot empathize with others in things that they themselves have not experienced. If it hasn’t happened to them, there is no sympathy, no leeway.

Last night, heavy storms with high winds spawning tornadoes starting on one side of the state passed through our area, heading to the other side of the side of the state. A little boy was found walking on the road by himself, separated from his parents. The comments were such as: Why is no one looking for this child? Take care of your children. And other mean comments such as these. The people making the comments more than likely did not experience any hardships during these devastating storms. Neither do they know what happened to separate the child from his parents, or if his parents are distraught with looking for him, or even if they can look. They do not know because the authorities did not know at the time.

But that is not the way it should be. Paul said that we should basically put ourselves in someone else’s shoes and not make rash judgments like that. He said, humble yourself and value others above yourselves. We are to look out for other people’s interests. Not that we neglect our own interests to our own hurt in favor of others. But for instance, if you go to a place of business and the attendant there gives you more change back than you should have, that is not a blessing from the LORD. It is more like a test from the LORD. I’ve heard people say, “They should be more careful.” Which is true; you need to pay attention. But on the same token, we do make mistakes, and we need to be more forgiving with each other and extend more grace.

Or they will say, “If God didn’t want me to have it, He wouldn’t have given it to me.” God does not take something from someone to their hurt to give to you. You had better check yourself because the measure you judge with will be measured back against you. Think about it this way. If it was you, would you want that person to give you back the extra money they just received? Of course, you would. Some businesses might require them to pay the money back as a policy to limit employee theft. You never know.

So, the next time you are faced with the temptation to judge someone else harshly or to withhold a blessing, consider that person as you would like to be considered yourself. Learn to value others. Make a conscious decision to speak well of others and put them first, not to your own hurt, obviously, put to your own profit in eternity. Father, help me to value others, even in this selfish world of ‘me first.’ LORD, help me to understand that it is for my own eternal profit that I do such things. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Remind God of His Promises

⁷And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” ⁹And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

¹¹But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. ¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” ¹⁴And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. ~ Exodus 32:7-14

When God saw that His own people had corrupted themselves with the golden calf Aaron, the high priest, had made for them, He distanced Himself from them. He said, “Moses, these are your people, so you go down to them, for it did not take long for them to return to worshiping idols and false gods.” Then He gives Moses a proposal that he couldn’t refuse. He told him that He would make him, Moses, into a great nation, and he would be the father of a great and mighty nation. But Moses was an intercessor. Instead of accepting the good opportunity, he interceded for the people of Israel. He gently reminded God that Israel was His people, and it was Him who had brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. Now, please understand, God does not need us to remind Him so that He can remember, but rather, we remind Him to show that we know His promise, that we believe His promise, and lastly, so that we may verbalize what we want.

I read a blog that a well-intentioned lady wrote, discouraging her readers from reminding God of His promises. She claimed that the passages of Scripture that are expressly reminding God of His promises really aren’t. They may sound like it, but it really is God who is doing the reminding? Although it is the person who is talking or praying. Now, this sounds good and pious, but as the old saying goes, “If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck,” end of story. Why do we try to be so religious? The Scriptures plainly teach that we are to make known what we desire in prayer; how can we do that if we are afraid to remind God of His promises to us? It is called prayer.

If when Jesus was on earth people had to verbalize what they wanted, when it was obvious. Jesus called the blind man in (Luke 18:40-43), and when he came, Jesus asked, what do you want me to do for you? His reply wasn’t, “Isn’t it obvious, Jesus.” No, he said, “I want to see.” We must let our request be made known to our God (Philippians 4:6). Psalm 119:49 says, “Remember Your word to Your servant, in which You have made me hope.” “Remember Your word…” Is not plain enough?

What about Elijah in 1 Kings 18:41-45? God had promised to send rain on the land because there was no rain for three and a half years. Yet Elijah prayed seven times after receiving the promise before the rain came. What is the conclusion then? Well, maybe we don’t receive our promises because we are under the false impression that we are not to remind God of His promises; therefore, we don’t pray about our promises, so God figures we are not interested since we never mention them, nor talk about them.

Listen, we have great and mighty promises from our good, good Father, and He wants us to come to Him, seek His face, and call upon His great name. I suggest we do as God said in Isaiah 43:26a, “Put Me in remembrance…” So, go ahead and remind God of His great and wonderful promises; He wants you to.

Heavenly Father, I remind you right now that You have promised me _____________. I know you have not forgotten, but I come in humbleness and in reverence to ask You to remember Your great promise to me and my family, and when You remember, please fulfill Your promise to me; in Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Always Return To God

¹ In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. ²And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ³Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. ⁴But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. ⁵Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it. ⁶In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

²⁴And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. ²⁵And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” ²⁷Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” ²⁸So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord. ~ 2 Kings 17:1-6, 24-41

The people of Samaria were completely removed from their land and were replaced with foreigners from all over the conquered world. These people didn’t know the LORD, so they continued worshipping their own gods. So, the LORD brought down judgment on them.

When the king of Assyria, Sennacherib, saw the judgment of God, he acknowledged that it was because the people he placed in Samaria didn’t know how to serve the LORD. So, what did he do? He had an Israelite priest, who was taken out of the land, sent to Bethel to teach them the way they should worship the LORD. They did what the priest taught them, but they mixed it with their own gods and idols; nevertheless, God relented. He showed them grace even though they didn’t follow only Him but mixed righteousness with unrighteousness. He showed them grace in a graceless time.

If God showed grace to foreigners dwelling in His land who didn’t even fully follow Him, how much more grace will He show to those who are striving to follow Him today? Yes, God expects perfection from us, but when we strive for perfection and miss that mark, He has mercy on us and gives us grace. Don’t allow your past to keep you from your future. We all make mistakes. We all give in to temptation. We all have low moments, but we have to get back up. Even if we fall, we can’t remain on the ground. We have to keep going. God shows mercy and gives grace to anyone who truly seeks Him with all that they have. Don’t ever be ashamed to come to God. He’s waiting with His arms open wide.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Always Return To God.

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Fight Like Rizpah

⁸The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; ⁹and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest. ~ 2 Samuel 21:7-9

Rizpah’s two sons were put to death in the first days of the barley harvest. The barley harvest was in the spring. The time of the celebration of Passover. So, in one of the most joyous times of the year, Rizpah is handed down a heavy burden, one that no mother should bear and, even worse, bear alone. So, while everyone else is preparing for harvest – a time of festivities, preparing for Passover, preparing to celebrate, Rizpah is preparing for mourning.

The Gibeonites hanged the seven of them on the mountain before the LORD, and the seven died there. Understand that my burden is not your burden. My joy is not your joy. And so, it was with Rizpah; she only had two sons, while Merab had five sons hanged. But it was Rizpah alone who got sackcloth and spread it for herself on a stone on the mountainside.

So, Rizpah spreads sackcloth on a rock for herself, indicating that she is there for the long haul, she is absolute in her conviction, she is solid as the rock she sits on, and she stays there on that mountain side from the beginning of the barley harvest until the rains fell on her.

The Barley harvest, as I said, is in the spring, they were to bring the tithe of the harvest the first day of the week after Passover. So, Rizpah stays from the middle of April all the through until the rains came in September or October. Some five or six months.

Day and night she is there. She wakes up in the middle of the night and rolls out of bed pleading for her children. She calls them by name before the throne of God.

LORD, save my child. LORD, bring my daughter home. My son is experimenting; save him, LORD. My child is strung out on drugs, my son is on meth, and my daughter is strung out on crack. LORD, please have mercy on my child.

Night and day, Rizpah is on the Rock, on her knees
Night and day, Rizpah is worshipping and seeking God on behalf of her children
Night and day for 5 or 6 months
No time is too long for Rizpah
Rizpah is a mother with a burden

Who would have that kind of tenacity? Only the burden of a mother would cause someone to sit on a sackcloth spread out on a rock for five or six months, fighting off wild beasts, fighting off the birds of the air.

Rizpah didn’t see her two sons have a proper burial for months, but because of her dedication, refusing to allow her sons’ bodies to be defiled in death, King David heard of her tenacity and had compassion on her. He had all the men’s bodies who were hanged to have a proper burial because of Rizpah. No, it didn’t happen overnight. It took day after day. Night after night. Week after week. month after month. Until she saw her prayers answered. So, be encouraged. Don’t give up hope. Fight for your children. Plead with God day after day, night after night, until you see that breakthrough. Tear down spiritual strongholds and fight off spiritual attacks from the enemy through prayer, worship, and fasting. Don’t give up until you see your prayers answered.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fight Like Rizpah.

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Praise The LORD Everybody

¹ Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens! ²Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness! ³Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp! ⁴Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with strings and pipe! ⁵Praise Him with sounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals! ⁶Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! ~ Psalms 150:1-6

In his 1977 book, Prayer Is Invading the Impossible, Pastor Jack Hayford referred to praise as, and I quote: “an instrument of violence.” Yes, he actually called praise an instrument of violence. But then he goes on to explain his train of thought. He wrote:

Praise upsets the climate, which furthers the growth of so much of life’s suffering, confusion, turmoil, and strife. Praise destroys the atmosphere in which sickness, defeat, discouragement, and futility flourish. Praise beats out hell’s brush fires. Praise breathes heaven’s life into the vacuum death produces on Earth. The consequent tornado of holy power will cast down the obstacles that sin, self, sickness, and Satan have erected.

Pastor Jack Hayford

When we think of it that way, praise is indeed an instrument of violence. No wonder the Psalmist ended this praise psalm with “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!”

When you are feeling defeated, praise.
When you are feeling discouraged, praise.
When you are feeling sick, praise.
When all hell breaks loose and comes against you, praise.

Praise is a weapon, or as Pastor Hayford put it, praise is an instrument of violence. We, as Christians, need to get violent in the spiritual and begin to tear down strongholds. We must stop being so passive, so dignified, and so quiet. Remember, only the violent take it by force. You want it, come and get it, but you must come prepared to be violent, so bring your instrument of violence, bring your praise. There is a Jamaican praise and worship song that goes something like this:

I com’ ya to take it by force, by force
I com’ ya to take it by force

We need to come prepared to it by force. That is what the Church needs: spiritual warriors who come prepared to do battle in the spiritual, who come prepared to make war on demonic forces, to cast out the spirit of infirmity, drive out the spirit of depression, and chase out the spirit of suicide. We need more of these warriors and even more so as we see the day approaching.

Dear Heavenly Father, we take the authority that Your Son Jesus gave His Church to trample on demons and to tread on serpents and scorpions. We take up the authority given to us over all the power of the enemy. And in that authority, I command the spirit of depression to leave in the Name of Jesus. Spirit of Suicide, I command you, in the name of Jesus, to leave now! I speak shalom peace over each person who reads this prayer and accepts this prayer right now. I speak health and life over the sick and command sickness to leave your body now, in the name of Jesus, for by His stripes, you are healed. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen, and amen.

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Listen And Obey

³⁰As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ ³¹And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. ³²And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. ~ Ezekiel 33:30-32

Imagine this: suppose this ‘son of man’ is the Church, and ‘your people’ are its members, ‘the walls’ are the church buildings, and ‘the doors’ are communication devices, such as cellphones, computers, and social media. Then, this would be a direct rebuke to a lukewarm church, such as we have today. The brethren invite each other to church on Sundays, saying, “Come to church this Sunday; Pastor is starting a really interesting sermon series. Come on out and listen; it’ll be fun.” Or, “We have a visiting evangelist who is just on fire. Come on out and hear his message; it’ll blow you away.”

But God says, “They come. They sit. They even take part in the praise and worship. They even chip in when the offering plate is passed around. They amen the good points and even jump to their feet and clap their hands enthusiastically in response to the exciting points the fiery preacher makes. They hear the preacher say that they must make a change in their lives. That they must seek holiness and pursue righteousness, but they will not do it.” They believe that part was for their neighbor. They needed to hear that, but not them. They, themselves, are doing good, real good. No change is needed here.

God says that the reason there is no change is that they are full of lustful thoughts that are expressed in lustful talk because, after all, ‘God wants me happy.’ He is ever interested in my happiness. He loves me too much to correct me. I can love whomever I want to love. I can be with whomever I wish to be with because God is for me. He came that I might have happiness and happiness more abundantly.

The pastor says, “Love the LORD your God, with all of your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” But they hear lustful songs with beautiful voices and well-playing instruments singing, “Do what thou wilt, there are no consequences. Do what thou wilt, with all of your strength, for I AM for you.” And they heap upon themselves all sorts of perverseness and all sorts of debauchery and say to themselves, “God loves me too much for anything bad to happen to me. Because a good and loving God will never send anyone to a fiery eternity in a lake of fire.”

But verse 33 says, “When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” When what comes? Sudden destruction. Sudden judgment. An eternity in the Lake of Fire. When these things come, and come they will, then they will know. The problem, however, is when it does come, it will be too late, way too late. God said today is the day of repentance; tomorrow is promised to no man.

Dear friends, there are consequences for your actions, and the consequences will come. Make no mistake: the warning has been sounded; you need to listen and obey the voice of your God and seek His holiness.

Heavenly Father, please help me to hear and recognize Your voice, and to seek Your face, and to call upon Your name, that in the great and dreadful day of the LORD, You will find me doing what is pleasing to You, in Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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No Sacrifice Left

²⁶For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. ~ Hebrews 10:26-27

Once you have accepted Jesus as your own personal Savior and have had your sins forgiven, you are now expected to live a life free of sin. You no longer indulge in the blatant sins you used to commit. But the popular saying these days is, “No one is perfect. We all make mistakes,” and that is true. There is no one that is perfect, and we all do make mistakes. But that does not hinder us or stop us from chasing down perfection and pursuing holiness in order to try to achieve it. And the mistakes that we make are not the same ones that we’ve been making everyday for the last two years.

I believe that when someone starts talking about no one is perfect and we all make mistakes, the question that needs to be asked is, what kind of mistakes are you referring to? Because adultery, or fornication, or pornography is not a mistake, it is blatant sin, and if any of those are current in your life, you need to repent and change your ways. Living like that is not chasing perfection. That is a fearful expectation of judgment.

The next thing is, if you continue living in a way that is contrary to what Jesus has determined is the right way, then that would suggest that you have more self-love than you have love for Jesus. You would never deliberately hurt your parents, your spouse, or anyone you truly love. It is the same with Jesus; you can’t use the excuse that Jesus understands…That is an excuse for you to continue feeding the lust of the flesh, and when you willfully feed the lust of your flesh, you hurt Jesus and grieve His Holy Spirit. And we are not to do that. We are to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30). We no longer do the things that we know will hurt Him or cause Him pain. We love our LORD, therefore, we must protect our relationship with Him by keeping in Him and He in us. We can only do that through obedience.

The bottom line is, if you are saved but you continue to deliberately sin, there is No Sacrifice Left for you. You cannot trample the blood of Jesus and expect no consequences. So, if you have walked away from the LORD, or if you have been doing things that are wrong in Jesus’ sight, stop making excuses and repent and begin to live a righteous life in the strength of the LORD and pursue holiness.

Heavenly Father, help me to live for You. Help me to be obedient to Your commands and to Your Word. Help me to guard and protect my relationship with You that I might be pleasing to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Put It Into Practice

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. ~ Philippians 4:8-9

Look at Paul’s instructions to the Philippians. He said, What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things. There are four sources.

What you have learned
What you have received
What you have heard
And lastly, what you have seen in me

Far too often Christians will sit through a good sermon where God is speaking directly to them, and they will turn to their neighbor and say, “This one’s for you.” No it’s not, that one was for you. Or they will participate in a really good conference with all kinds of tips and helps and are energized at the conference but as soon as they leave, two days later, they’ve forgotten everything that they were so excited about. What we, as Christians, need to do, is to put into practice what we’ve learned, and what we’ve received, and what we’ve heard and what we’ve seen. Now, I’m not saying that we ought to blindly do all of those things, we must first match all of that up with Scripture.

Because Paul doesn’t leave it to our own interpretation, he says, if it is honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, having any excellence, and is praise worthy, think about these things, or in other words, put these things into practice. He gives us a guide to follow so that we will not be easily led astray with useless things. We must make a conscious effort to find these things, or notice these things and then put them into practice.

What I am saying is we need to put more of what we have learned, received, heard, and seen in Godly Saints, pastors, and teachers into practice. It is no use having all of the best tools but never using them, or only using them for a very short period of time and then go back to the old way. So, let us determine to put what we’ve learned, received, heard, and seen into practice if it lines up with Scripture.

Heavenly Father, help us to put into practice all that we’ve been taught, read in Scripture, and seen in other saints of God. Help us not to become stagnant, but moving forward in growth and maturity in the things of God. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Let The Spirit Lead

²³ So after he had eaten food and after he had drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. ²⁴ When he left, a lion attacked him along the way and killed him. His corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it; the lion was standing beside the corpse too. ~ 1 Kings 13:23-24^CSB

There was a prophet in the time of King Jeroboam of Israel. This prophet directly heard from the Word of the LORD to go speak against the high places Jeroboam had built. Of course Jeroboam didn’t take too kindly to being called out the way he was, so he reached out his hand to call for the prophet to be seized. But as Jeroboam did this, his hand withered, and he couldn’t pull his hand back to him. So, he pleaded with the prophet to pray for him, and he did so his hand was restored.

After he did this, Jeroboam pleaded for the man to remain with him, but he refused because the Word of the LORD told him not to remain there and drink or eat in that place. Now, as he was leaving out of Bethel, an old prophet heard of him and sent his sons to get him. He came and told the old prophet that he couldn’t stay with him because he had a command from the Word of the LORD to follow. The old prophet told him that he was also a prophet, and an angel came to him and said that the prophet needed to stay with him and eat and drink.

Now, while they were eating and drinking at the table, the Word of the LORD came not the prophet but the old prophet who had deceived him. The prophet was told he wouldn’t make it home because of his disobedience to the LORD. He then saddled his donkey and left. He was killed by a lion before he got out of the city.

I want you to really think about that for a second. The Scriptures say the old prophet deceived him, but it wasn’t the old prophet that died. It wasn’t the old prophet who was punished with never hearing from the Word of the LORD again. It was the prophet who was deceived and disobeyed. That may sound harsh, but think about it. The LORD Himself came to him, gave him orders, and showed him signs and wonders, yet he still listened to the voice of man instead of God. His faith was in man, not God.

God has called each and every one of us to do something. He’s given us sign after sign, answered prayer after answered prayer, but then sometimes someone else comes along who is older or has been a Christian longer and begins to weigh in on your call. They begin to cast doubt in your mind. They’ll point out that they’re older and, therefore, wiser or that they’ve heard from God as well. This is the enemy using a willing victim. Someone who already has preconceived notions about your call, so the enemy will use them to try to get you off your path. Does that mean that they aren’t of God and they’re now evil? No. The old prophet is never called a false prophet. His deception of this young prophet didn’t take away from his overall call. Was he wrong? Yes. But the young prophet who heard directly from God was still even more wrong because he should’ve followed God instead of Man.

Don’t allow someone to dissuade you from your call just because they’ve been a Christian longer than you have or because they’re older. Let the Spirit guide you. Take instruction and guidance from those who are in step with the Spirit. Not everyone you meet will be in tune with the Spirit, but they may have an opinion. Know the Shepherd’s voice by spending time with Him. By worship and prayer. Reading your Bible and meditating on His Word. Asking for a sign and paying attention so you’ll see it when it’s there.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let The Spirit Lead.

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