Hearing God’s voice is imperative to being obedient. Taking a best-guess or interpreting Scripture at your choosing will likely cause you to walk completely outside of God’s will and path. God judges heart motives. He is aware of all methods used to avoid consulting Him. So just because you have a Bible open, it doesn’t replace your need to submit to God’s authority. You can’t fool God.
Attached are the March (2021) “Mark of Excellence Newsletter” and associated letter to the local pastors. The topic is “Hearing God”. In the last two days, we looked at the January letter with the main topic of 1) One God; and the February letter and topic of 2) False teachers. In reviewing these letters are you seeing God’s heart as He sends a message to the pastors and churches?
Digest this one carefully because the letters ahead get a little heated as we dive in to debate against the false doctrines and those who have chosen to teach falsely.
Do you think that the Lord rewards us for our obedience? I do. And I also think that He punishes us when we refuse Him. Rebellion is ugly to the Lord. But when we submit to Him we are rewarded with more intimacy of heart and sometimes tangible blessings.
Let’s talk about obedience first. Recently, the Lord asked me to once again offer a Bible Study to teach about hearing His voice. I already know that most people are too lazy to put in any real effort to show up, study, and seek God. But, my obedience is not contingent on how many people attend the study. My obedience is in walking intentionally on the path that God has for me. I can’t take it personal when there is not as much interest in the Bible study as I might hope. I’m not responsible for how other people respond to the invitation. That’s between them and God. My rewards are tied to pleasing God with my faith. So, even though my expectations may be low for how others will respond, I’m going to keep stepping forward in obedience. Every time that I’ve done this in the past, God has increased the anointing that He delivers through me. I want that.
Now let’s talk about disobedience and ignoring God. What if I instead said to God that I know that nobody is interested and why should I waste the energy? Should God be pleased with that response from me? Should He reward me for thinking that I know better than Him what the outcome should be? Seriously, I don’t need to know the outcome. I just need to know the next step forward. That’s how God does things. So, please don’t think that I’m naive about people wanting to learn to hear God. I know that most don’t want to. It’s up to God how He chooses to discipline or punish those people. I just need to keep stepping forward with a positive goal to please God.
Loving God wholeheartedly is the priority. We do that through having true heart relationship with Him, hearing His voice in prayer, and walking in obedience. In case you need to hear that again, the covenant relationship is about knowing God and walking with Him. If you can’t get that right, then why bother with trying to disciple others?
Evangelism is not the priority. Evangelism is not what saves you. Knowing the Savior and obeying Him is what is priority. Please listen, reading the Bible (which the devil knows better than you do), putting money in an offering plate, faithfully attending church, or loving your neighbor is not the criteria for having a heavenly home for all eternity. Your personal relationship with God is what matters. True discipleship is learned at the feet of Jesus. True discipleship must come from learning to hear God’s voice in prayer and obeying Him specifically.
The priority is not in how many souls you win or in loving others. I’m sorry, but it just is not. If you spend your whole life loving others well but ignore the priority relationship with God, you’re still going to hell. Discipleship is about knowing God. If you want to help others to know God, then you must begin with teaching them the importance of knowing God personally and WHOLEHEARTEDLY. It’s not a secondary priority — it is the first thing. You will spend your whole life with that priority. If God leads you to help a neighbor or to evangelize, then it becomes an act of obedience to your priority relationship. I hope I’m making this clear. Everything else should not be on your radar unless God puts it there. That’s how you choose God first every time.
This story is an example of specific obedience. One day I was driving down the road, and my spiritual vision was directed to a woman sitting at a park. I asked the Lord about the woman. He said for me to take $20 (the last $20 that I had until my next pay day several days later) and to tell her that God specifically asked me to give her the money. So, I did exactly that. I confidently (yet discreetly) approached her with the $20 in my outstretched hand and said “God asked me to give this to you.” She immediately began to cry and said that she was sitting there thinking about running into traffic (to end her life). God knew her need and entrusted me to show up exactly when and where He wanted me to. If I didn’t hear His voice, it would have been nearly impossible to be at the right place at the right time to do His work. But the story doesn’t end there. The next week, I was driving by the same area and saw a homeless man holding a sign asking for money. So, I asked the Lord, “Do you want me to help him?”. The Lord firmly and resolutely answered, “No! Do not go near him! I’m doing something in his life. I do not want you to help him.” The tone of God’s voice made it clear, that the young man was being punished by God. If I had not heard God and decided that it was my Christian duty to help the young man, I would have been working contrary to God’s will. That would not be obedience. It would be the opposite of obedience. Charity is not obedience if it works contrary to God’s plans. Too often, we can assume that we know God’s will when we haven’t bothered to have a conversation with Him. How hard is it to take the time to seek God before walking in a direction? Learning His voice is instrumental to following Him.
Attached are two pages describing the covenant relationship. I hope it helps. I want you to learn to seek God and follow Him. Please know that this post is my specific act of obedience to God. He woke me up at 2:00 am to direct me to type this message to you. He spoke every word of it and authorized me to post it. My priority was in obeying Him whether you take the time to study or not. I’m not responsible for you. I’m responsible to obey God. So just like that $20 that I gave the lady in the park, I’m handing this to you. Maybe God knows that it is exactly what you need. I’ve done my part to obey God. Will you?
(Source: The Rogue Prophet Magazine, “The Top 10 False Teachings In The Churches”, June 2021, pages 12-13)
The Rogue Prophet 