DaySpring Daily Word of Inspiration: 1 John 4:1 – Dear friends, 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.
One of the hardest things in life to do is figuring out what to do! We are bombarded by so many options, opinions and insights that making the “good” decision is often mistaken or masked behind the decision that is meant to destroy us. How do we know what is the right choice to make? How do we figure out which path we’re supposed to be on? What do we rely on as our basis of true information? Today’s meditation puts us on the right path to lessening the stress of our mind’s and helps us to see clearly the road(s) we should take.
When we’re faced with difficult decisions, the bible points us to testing the spirits. This is important in our Christian walk because everything that we do needs to line up with the principles, teachings and commands of God. As we delve into our bibles we find that instructions of God and have a basic foundation to build our lives and faith upon. The bible doesn’t give us all of the answers but as we accept Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit in us – guiding and comforting us along life’s journey. This is where we find our biggest issue. The depiction is that of a little angel on one shoulder and a little devil on the other. Since we were all born with a sinful nature – that being an absolute spirit that is in opposition to God’s word and his commandments, we struggle to hear what is right for us to do from the Holy Spirit that many of us have received. We’ve lived most of our lives by the thoughts, actions, and opinions of the sinful nature within us. How hard is it for us to finally start to hear the voice of God sounding down into our lives, telling us the right things to do? It is very hard but we have a way of making sure that we’re listening to God’s voice more than the evil spirit’s voice if we test the spirit!
Think about it, what is it that God’s word is telling you to do? One of the easiest tests that we can implore in our lives is matching the heart behind what we want to do or have been told to do up against the Word of God. So often sinful decisions sound like great ideas only because this is the way we’ve always lived! It’s what we’re used to. However, when we put these thoughts and decisions up to be compared by God’s standard, we find that not only are the decisions bad, but they have grave after effects which we hadn’t considered. Our biggest challenge in all of this is our trust and faith in God. We have to know that his ways are, will be and inevitably turn out for the good of those who call on his name (Rom. 8:28); so you can trust in the direction and decisions he is telling you to take. Only a spirit that is opposed to God’s will would have you steal or lie or cheat or hold a grudge against somebody. These things have to be identified by God’s word as areas that can’t be of his spirit for us to consider how wrong they actually are. This takes our in-depth study and meditation on his Word so we can destroy and eradicate the sinful spirit that is within us and have it replaced by God’s spirit alone.
Today we have a guide to use for the benefit of pleasing God and making sure we are being led by his spirit and only his spirit. We may all have a spirit in us that is making us uneasy in our souls – telling us all of the bad decisions that we should make, but the Holy Spirit is the one who is helping to create that uneasy feeling. He is trying to keep us on track with doing things God’s way and not our normal sinful way. The testing begins in our hearts. When we surrender to Christ our hearts we are able to hear his discerning spirit a lot more clearly. If you haven’t, you’re already making your decisions hard to make – because you don’t know if the spirit you’re listening to is of God or not! Let’s continue to stay in God’s word and learn how to test the spirit to ensure it is from God before we listen to anything it would have us to do. Remember, these spirits are in all of us so be careful on what you listen to from friends and family members too. Knowing in your heart is the foundation for being able to stop the assault from all sides. Know the truth and from that no one can take you off of the path God would have you walk; for his spirit will lead you in righteousness. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!