Dear Trekker,
A phrase has been whirling around in my head recently… “God told me.” It is a phrase I choose to never use, but some of my believing friends do. For sure, once blurted out, who can argue with God? End of discussion!
How do we know God told us? How can we be 100% sure? And if not certain, should we make such a confession? How do we test the inclination to believe God has given such specificity when so much of life is a walk of faith, when we see so much of God’s specific leading through the rear view mirror?
In my reading recently in the first book of John, a book totally given over to Jesus as Light and Love, right in the midst thereof he says, “Dearly beloved friends, don’t always believe everything you hear just because someone says it is a message from God (I John 4:1): test it first to see if it really is (italics mine).
Perhaps God doesn’t like His message of love changed or diluted. We are warned repeatedly throughout Scripture to speak truth only in love, always. Deuteronomy 13:1-5 lays out some finalizing retribution for those who lure others away from God… “put them to death!” False pronouncements are serious business throughout the Scriptures! I recently discovered this wonderful quote from The Book of Common Prayer (1662), so well-known to English Christians: “From fornication, and all other deadly sin, and from all deceits of the world, the flesh and the devil, spare us good Lord.”
No doubt “testing the spirits” might just help us do that, trekker! Our world is full of “spirits.” It has always been so. The devil is real; the world system and allurement sends us all kinds of messages daily; the flesh of our fallen nature cries out for satisfaction of physical urges, tainted egos and selfish ambitions.
What are some of the ways we might test the spirits which are alive and well in the world? It is striking to me that the Scriptures have far more to say about this than we might, at first glance, be aware. I John 4:2 gets us started: “Does it (the voice, the message, the pronouncement) really agree that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, actually became man with a human body?” Behind this question is a wealth of valid assumptions: God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself… we all are ambassadors (conveyors of the message) to one another of this message… we can have no valid macro agenda apart from this one! If this is not our message, John says we are not “of Christ,” but anti-Christ, the spirit which is alive and well in the world (v. 3).
So, testing of the spirits begins with the intent to draw us toward Christ as opposed to seeking to separate us (farther) from Christ. All of our lives must be circumscribed by our “lifting up Christ” as John repeats the Lord’s words in his gospel. Oh that we would think of our earthly lives as more than an endurance test, and afterwards, if faithful, we can spend eternity (heaven) with Him. God has far greater designs. Salvation is about life now, “thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” Naturally we should want to test the spirits to see if they nurture our life in God!
Testing – does it (the message, the tug, the inclination) encourage or discourage the God-nature within? God jealously longs for the Spirit response He has implanted within us (James 4:4-5). Ultimately it is God’s goodness that is at stake here. The Holy Spirit is always at work in our lives to make us like God Himself and move us ever in harmony and unity with Him! Any “spirit” that does not do this is counterfeit at best and absolute evil at its worst.
Now… I believe there is great congruence between “doing God’s will” and “testing the spirits.” Let me explain: St. Paul says to the Thessalonians we are to “rejoice, pray continually, and give thanks.” He says we are also to “warn those who are lazy; comfort those frightened; take tender care of those who are weak and be patient with everyone; see that no one pays back evil for evil, always try to do good to each other and to everyone else” (I Thess 5:14-18). Now, if this is God’s will, as brother Paul says it is in this passage, any spirit not encouraging such response on our part cannot be of the Lord. The Holy Spirit and other “true” spirits manifest in our lives, are always seeking, encouraging and moving us toward these ends. We are born to be encouragers!
What about spirits of fear, complaint, envy, greed, jealously, judgment, etc. They simply are not of the Lord… they come from the world, the flesh and the devil. But not of the Lord! Oh, trekker, may we hear God’s voice on this matter. Be watchful!
To not test the spirits is to be led down the proverbial primrose path! We have no one to blame but ourselves. To not test the spirits is to fail the test. To believe the spirits without testing them could lead to giving hurtful testimony to others. To listen to evil spirits should cause us all to shudder… but we must quietly be on guard 24/7.
Trekker, we must test the spirits to discern what is true and what is false. Failing to do so leads to false witness and failure to support Christ and His Kingdom of redemption, reconciliation and love. Oh, may we as His sheep hear His voice and follow, and speak of Him. May we never forget the battleground for God is in the mind and will of man (you and me, trekker) on which the power of Light and “dark” fight daily. But… “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” So… be of good cheer!
And for you single trekkers… be careful about ever telling a lady God said you are to marry her. She might say, “Funny, God told me not to!”
Smile… your friend,
Jim Meredith
