12 November, 2010

Who You With? 1John 4:1-6


“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

Who are you listening to? Every spirit is not from God – even in church. John is telling us to watch out for what we listen to and believe. You will find out how renewed you mind is based upon what you believe coming from the pulpit. You’ll discover your depth in God based upon what lies the devil can still whisper in your ear. John gives us a simple test: “Who’s Jesus?” You feel oppressed by something? Ask it Who Jesus is. That is going to sound very strange at first, but it is the test we are given in Scripture. Imagine asking a financial consultant Who Jesus is? That may be very uncomfortable (actually, it is); yet that is the test. Test the spirit of anything you hear against the Word of God.
 
You will find out just how worldly you are based upon what you listen to and believe. John places an emphasis on teaching (false prophets in verse 1), but this applies to any arena of life. The world listens to the teachings and advice of the worldly. “World” is not a word that is interchangeable with planet. In our culture we have gotten too flippant with our word usage. We use the word “love” for almost everything we find any form of enjoyment out of.  It is not the same thing as loving someone, and we need to be extremely careful about how we use our words. In this case,” world” is a system or a mindset that is contrary to the Word of God. This can apply to any area of life. If you are given a bad report from the doctor, you have two options on who to believe: believe the doctor that you are sick and nothing can save you, or believe that “by His stripes you were healed.” In this current economic climate, you either believe the financial “experts” who scream recession, or you believe “my God shall supply all my needs; God delights in the prosperity of His people; He will give you the desires of your heart; the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.” The list goes on. Who are you listening to? How renewed is your mind? 

Any spirit of this world and its systems is beneath you. Anyone or anything that tells you to live below your covenant right as a child of God is not from God (now we are focusing in on the pulpit). Calamity, sickness, disease, destruction, poverty, death… These are not God’s tools meant to humble His people. We are greater than these, because He is greater than these. Jesus said that we would have tribulation. There is no denying that. But He also said that He has already overcome the tribulation of the world, and deprived it of power to harm you (John 16:33, see Amp). We are more than conquerors by Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37). And here in 1John we are told again “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” Nothing that this world can throw at us has the power to destroy us – unless we let it. We are to be eradicating, not embracing, the tribulations that come our way. Press the devil; use tribulation as “exercise equipment” (read James 1) It takes a full, growing knowledge of God, through His Word. Otherwise, when you receive a bad report, or some preacher tells you that God is using some calamity in life to humble you, or you read some Christian living book focusing on how lowly and puny your existence is in God’s eyes, you will fall right into that trap. You will be rendered almost useless for the kingdom of God, because you will be broke, broken, and perfectly content to stay that way, because “it’s God’s Will.” If we are biblically illiterate we cannot do much for God or against the devil. Get a firm grasp on God’s promises and use them to shut up any attempt to steal them.

No comments: