BE SPIRITUALLY DISCERNING – Pastor Chris
Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41).
God said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” (Hosea 4:6). And Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Many are walking in darkness without knowing, because they don’t know the truth; they don’t know the Scriptures. They’re honestly seeking truth; they want to know God, but then they go to the wrong place for knowledge.
Just because you heard some people say, “Shout hallelujah and clap for Jesus,” doesn’t mean it’s a church of Jesus Christ. You’ve got to be spiritually discerning. In Acts 16, while walking through the marketplace, Paul and Silas encountered a girl possessed with an evil spirit. The Bible says, “The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation” (Acts 16:17).
Wasn’t she stating a fact? She was! But the 18th verse says, “…Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.” What she was saying sounded nice, but she was being influenced by a spirit of divination. Paul discerned this, for as she spoke, he (Paul) was grieved in his spirit.
When the Spirit of God speaks, a child of God isn’t grieved in his spirit; rather, you’re edified. When you hear a voice or a message, you have to know by what spirit such a message is coming to you. Many Christians have listened to the voice of Satan and mistaken it for God’s voice, because they were undiscerning.
We’re in the last days, and Jesus told us these things would happen; so He says, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation….” And in Matthew 10:16, He said, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Then in Ephesians 5:15 AMP He tells us not to be ignorant, but to always discern the will of God: Therefore see that you walk carefully [living life with honor, purpose, and courage; shunning those who tolerate and enable evil], not as the unwise, but as wise [sensible, intelligent, discerning people.
PRAYER:
Righteous Father, I thank you for conditioning my spirit, and granting me the ability to discern and walk in your perfect will always; your Word is the true light that gives me direction and guidance. And now, Lord, I pray for as many as are being swayed in the wrong direction, that they’d hear your voice today and follow the truth of the Gospel, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY:
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Isaiah 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This [is] the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
Psalm 32:8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
DAILY SCRIPTURE READING:
1-Year Bible Reading Plan:
Acts 21:37-22:1-21 & Job 32-35
2-Year Bible Reading Plan:
Luke 8:26-39 & Joshua 9
