God's Test.

(Deuteronomy 13:3) “You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

How we love to hear good news, especially if we are the benefactors of that tiding. People play the lotto hoping for a life changing win, they seek out personal opinion hoping for information that will tickle their ears, we are at times drawn to seeking out such information and it will often be at the expense of God’s will for our lives. Yet at times we must confront this testing! It is God who tests, look at our text it tells us that people in authority (prophets) and dreamers (people who like to fortune tell) will at times tell you things that tickle the ear and it will be sweet to hear, but it will be contrary to God’s Word, what are we to do? The answer is a clear one; we must align all with scripture and sound doctrine. Why is this so important, you may ask? After all what harm does a little bit of positive news bring? It may be harmless, unless it is God who is testing your hearts and souls. Will we treasure Him before everything else is the question? I will remind you that God has spoken clearly and that no new revelation is required; Will we be satisfied with what we have received or not! Wherever we may find ourselves in life, rich or poor, sick or healthy, married or single it does not change what we have received in Him, our glorious Saviour.

Let us mull over what God has done for us! We were at one stage in our lives enemies of the cross, we were all on our way to hell and rightly so, and all because of the sin that ruled our lives. Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God became a man and lived without sin and then died for sin, so that all who would believe on Him could go free. We do not understand the magnitude of what this means if we even dare to give an ear to personal prophecy and read too much into dreams. We have received so much; we are now children of the only true and living God. Why are we not content with what we have in Him? I do not include all in this statement as I do not know your hearts but God does, so if you are clear in this matter may the Lord continue to bless and keep you. I on the other hand am guilty at times looking for an out to the trails of life, I must confess that I may even be tempted with my mind wondering with what someone once said to me through some premonition or a dream I once had. Be careful I say it could just be God testing our hearts. If He tests me I want to please Him by bring glory to His name, silencing the critics. Enough though much damage has been done by choices in my life, there will come a time when we all have to stand up and be countered. The shaking has begun! But then again God has always tested His people to see where their allegiance lies. He weathered them back in the days of Moses as He will need to weather us today to see if we will truly trust Him. Remember their rebellion back then; (Hebrews 3:8) “do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness.” We need to be tested so that we can be strengthened by its trial; (James 1:3) “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” Let us no longer run and look to the beggarly (the crumbs of blessings) elements but let us embrace our hope and let us be reminded of that great hope; We will one day forever be like our Saviour, we will be sons of God and He will be our God for eternity, not just a couple of years that some small worldly blessing may carry, there is no comparison, and we must not lose sight of our eternal hope. It is our hope that will feed and drive us to lay down our lives for one another. Look at the words of our beloved brother Paul who endure such hardship in bringing us God’s truth through his teachings that can now be found in this beloved book, the bible. Here is just one of His great encouragements to us as believers; (Romans 8:18) “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Let us with that in mind remember why we need testing, may God give us strength to resist foolish and vain babblings as all they will do is lead to more ungodliness, even if what is said appears to be from a godly source.

I tell you why I think this point I make is important, we are warned and I believe the caution is because God loves us so much that He wants to enlighten us to the future by using His Word He tells us that in the lasts days many will come to deceive, so we know now, let us not be caught off guard. How will the deception come? We are clearly told what to be on the lookout for; (2Timothy 4:3-5) “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering...”

It is obvious then hold fast to sound doctrine, be content with where you find yourself and remember to embrace your hope. May we remember to pray fervently for one another as the prayer of a righteous man will achieve much! We must also remember that we are righteous because of what Christ achieved on Calvary and not on what we accomplish. We stand justified because of His blood that was shed for us, all who believe.

Signing off

Tyrone