In the past few months, and especially the past few days, I’ve had several situations where people said, “Thus saith the Lord,” to me with a word “directly from God.” Ha! Well, that’s a little too “King James” version for me. They really didn’t say “Thus saith the Lord,” but they have told me that the Lord was speaking to them about me. Hmmm … I find this very curious because, as I quietly listened to these things, not much of anything applied to my life.
A few months ago, I met with a married couple where the man did most of the talking. At first, our conversation was light, fun, and interesting. I didn’t know these folks and I thought he was being kind. They were folks from the church I attend and because I was on the worship team at the time, I was highly visible to the congregation. On a weekly basis at church and/or in public, I would get a lot of compliments from people I don’t know. I have learned to graciously accept the kind words, but not allow myself to be moved by those words. (giving praise to God for not only the gift, but allowing me to use that gift to worship Him.) But, this situation was a bit different. I was looking to this person as a leader and I suppose I allowed his words to carry more weight than I should have. This was a learning experience for me. Just a short week later, what I realized is that he used that flattery to “draw me in,” so to speak. He then began to speak “on behalf of the Lord,” His words started off encouraging, but then, they went to the negative side. Now, the way I’m explaining this here sounds very “black and white,’ easy to see from hind sight. But, in the midst of this, it was very subtle. Right in the middle of our second meeting, the three of us, I got up and walked out. I went and spoke to a friend of mine whom I’ve know for more than twenty years to vent and to have her pray for me. It was then that I realized that this was an attempt of the enemy to bring me down. You see, the Lord is encouraging, even when we make mistakes. The enemy condemns and lies. I could see, in the spirit, a dense fog, that, after talking and praying this through with my friend, completely dissipated. His statements were not from God. He may have said, “thus saith the Lord,” but, this was not from the Lord. Afterwards, I prayed and asked God to show me what had happened. The Lord told me that it was this man’s flattery of me. He spoke kind words to me and I let them affect me. It was definitely a learning experience.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been leading a small group of women in a book study. God is teaching us His ways, opening our eyes to how He loves, cares, and feels about us and wants us to not only know this, but mimic Him and have the same cares and concerns about the lost. In the midst of this, one of the women spouted out to me: “The Lord is speaking to me that you’re a stumbling block.” with regard to me musically speaking. I was like … “What?” She repeated it and I, very kindly, said to her, “Well, that’s not what the Lord is speaking to me.”(I literally had to repeat this to her two or three times.) Again, she insisted that she had a word from the Lord. Now, her words were confusing and didn’t make any sense and she even got to a point where she, herself, said she was confused about what “the Lord” was supposedly saying through her. Well, this I know: God is not a God of confusion. This was the enemy. It clearly was not a word from God. This was not my first incident with this person in this type of situation. She has, over the past few years, for some reason, made it her “mission” to “direct my steps.” (which, by the way, I absolutely do not buy into.) A few days later while I was in the midst of worship (worshipping the Lord in music singing and playing the guitar), I received a message from her, telling me that she was quitting the book study and again, she had another word for me that had no bearing on my life or the content of what I was teaching. I shared this with a couple of close friends. They too, did not see any bearing. This person is deceived and they don’t even know it.
Now, I believe these types of situations happen to people a lot within the church. I also believe in the ministry of prophecy. None of these situations fall into the category of true prophetic words from the Lord. None of them.
This is why is so very important for us to know who we are in Christ!!
If I had bought into all that has been said to me now or previously, my life would be a mess. The first three months that I was in California a few years ago was a very intense test in this area, in which I believe I passed. We have to know who God is and know His voice to keep ourselves from the perils of the enemy.
With the exception of the intense three months in California, these situations started off very “good and positive” and then went “bad,” so to speak. Not everything good that is said is from the Lord. And, likewise, not everything bad that is said is “truth.” I cant stress enough about how important it is to keep our eyes focussed on the Lord. He is our Rock; our solid foundation that keeps us stable.
Since I began writing this blog a few weeks ago, I’ve had two other similar situations happen where people I was investing time into have turned on me in very vicious ways verbally. I considered these people not just friends, but close and good friends. When they began speaking untruths to me and trying to bring me down, I just walked away. I love these folks and pray for them, but I know that I cannot have this type of dysfunction in my life.
Not everyone who says; “Thus saith the Lord, is speaking for the Lord.”
Be very cautious as to who you allow to speak into your life. The enemy comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10 These are the words of Jesus. I don’t believe that the people in these examples purposely intended any harm. I believe that they truly believed what they were saying to me. But, here’s the important thing; I know who I am in Christ. I knew that what was being said to me was not the truth. With the man who was the leader, I did struggle to stand up for myself because of my respect for his leadership. But, as with the others, I knew that I knew that I knew that I must walk away … which we must do when something like this happens. Not everyone will be for you. Not everyone can go where God is taking you. We must cling to Him and know who we are in Him to be able to stand firm and not be swayed like a reed shaken by the wind.
“Thus saith the Lord.” Weigh the words that follow that statement very carefully so that:
1. You aren’t deceived in any way.
2. You don’t miss anything that the Lord may actually be speaking to you.
3. Pray for wisdom. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let Him ask of the Lord and He will give it to you without reproach.” He will not fail us. Trust in Him.
