Walking Points: Reflection Questions and Next Steps
Coming Home: The Yes of Obedience
Luke 1:26-38

Pastor Bruce wrote,

“Mary and Joseph are the very first human beings confronted with the reality of Jesus’ advent into our world. Into their world. Two things stand out in each experience. First, obedience is not just keeping the rules or following a code. It is – in essence – an intentional assent to the will of God. Obedience is saying yes to God’s will for e. Secondly obedience is action. It is something that we do; it is not only an interior disposition, but it leads me to specific steps.

Note: this doesn’t mean we have all the answers. It doesn’t mean we know how it’s going to play out. May and Joseph were going on scant information that seemed impossible and likely made their heads swirl. Instead of certitude, they were left with trust. And trust makes a place for the Savior.”

Below are some “Walking Points,” which are questions for reflection and next steps for you to consider taking during this Advent season and beyond. You can use them for your personal devotional time or with others in a small group.
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1.       When the angel appeared to Mary to tell her the news that she was chosen of God to be the mother of Jesus, Luke 1:29 says, “…she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”
·         What are two or three ways you discern God’s will for your life? Why are those good ways to discern God’s will?
·         If you are meeting in a group with others, share with them an experience in your life when you discerned God’s will for your life. Was it hard or easy? How did you go about it?
·         Eventually you had to step out in trust. Was that a scary time? Why or why not? What did you learn from the experience?
 
2.       Read Luke 1:30-36. Talk about impossible! Now read verse 37.
·         How does knowing who God is enable you to better trust him during tough times.
·         What are some ways we can better know God?
·         List three attributes or characteristics of God that you cling to during tough decisions in your life. Why did you choose those three?
 
3.       Now read Luke 1:38.
·         Spend some time praying privately, or together in your group, for the Lord to fill you with his Spirit to enable you to discern and respond to God’s call in your life, as Mary did.

1 John 4:1-6 - 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. [2] This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, [3] but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

    [4] You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. [5] They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. [6] We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

But It Tastes So Good

We in the church are often a gullible people who far too easily believe someone because they give a heartfelt and moving testimony. Or, sometimes, we clamor after a person because he or she is a celebrity. Our day is not marked by a thorough vetting of content regarding what a person actually believes. This accounts for much of our cotton candy Christian culture. It doesn’t take much for it to dissolve into nothing.

We are, therefore, malnourished. This is lamentable, especially when we consider the rich legacy of Christian depth and commitment of bygone ages. We are contented to build our Christian lives and churches on the sand of easy-believism. But cotton candy and sand make for poor foundations and they will not, because they cannot, provide strength and safety for the storms of life.

Thus, John directs us to test the spirits to see whether or not they are from God – because not all are. Some of us entertain false prophets unawares.  In verse five of 1 John 4, John says these false spirits or false prophets are from the world and therefore, speak from the viewpoint of the world.

And So the Question Is…

Why then does the church often try to look just like the world? Sadly, the church can even be worldlier than the world. I’m reminded of a comment actor, Macauley Caulkin made during an interview about his movie, “Saved.” He said he went to a few Christian concerts to check out what the Christian culture was like and discovered precious little difference between the Christian concerts he attended and those of the world. Sure, there were some differences in the lyrics, but is that the sum and substance of Christian culture?

Give Us Results

The church naturally wants to reach people for Christ. I am not against numerical growth by any means, but it can be a poor standard for biblical fidelity. Sure, some churches are growing rapidly. But how are they growing? And what are they growing? What are they producing? The apostle John states that the world listens to those who speak from the viewpoint of the world. What else would we expect? When the standards of the church focus almost exclusively on what is deemed relevant at the moment, couched in worldly trappings, and communicated in sermonic easy listening, then of course the world is going to respond favorably, even approvingly. But in a climate where truth is, de facto, offensive, worship services and sermons that are centered around God’s Word will be thought of as boring and irrelevant at best and intolerant, puritanical, and mean-spirited at worst.

Let us be as discerning as we can about who likes us and who does not. We must think about who it is that thinks we’re cool and why. For if we, as individual Christians or local churches, are very well thought of by the world around us, we may want to ask why. It might be for legitimate, God-glorifying reasons. But it could it be because we think, speak, and live too much like the world?

Walking Points

·         What are two or three reasons some Christians are timid about standing up for their faith in public?
·         What are some ways local churches compromise with the world?
·         Name three ways Christians and local churches can connect with folks they’re reaching out to with integrity (i.e., without watering down the truth of the Gospel)?
·         What are some ways you can stand for truth without coming across as a “jerk for Jesus”? Discuss your thoughts with a Christian friend and pray together for revival in your local church.

Prayer

Loving Father, I thank you for who you are and for my redemption wrought through the person and work of my Lord, Jesus Christ. Please forgive me when I have been ashamed of him before others. Forgive me when I’ve been embarrassed to confess his name before a watching world. Forgive me when I have watered down his message of truth so that others would think well of me. I need the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ himself, dwelling in me and flowing through me. For I cannot and will not be faithful to you and to your Christ without the Spirit’s strength and discernment. I am too easily distracted by the false spirits this world has to offer. But your grace is more than enough to keep me close to you. And so I pray, O God, give me grace, grace, and more grace. For I am in need. In Christ I pray. Amen.

This Week’s Prayer Guide

[You can use this prayer guide in your own personal prayer time. However, I encourage you to use it with a group of Christian men. Each week you should spend time praising God for who he is, confessing your sin to him (be specific) as well as expressing gratitude to him for his gracious forgiveness. Also, don’t forget to thank God for the many ways he has poured out his goodness in your life. Then, focus on the following areas of supplication, which will change from week to week.]

Petitions – prayers for yourself

·         Give me greater knowledge, depth of insight, and understanding of God’s Word.
·         Remind me daily of who I am in Christ. Let me be defined by who God says I am, not the world around me.
·         Guide me into greater understanding and faithfulness of God’s call in my life.
·         This week’s events and interactions with others, planned and unplanned
·         Other needs

Intercession – prayers for others
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·         My family
·         My pastor(s), church staff, and missionaries
·         Those struggling with anger, anxiety, or the overwhelming desire to please people at all costs
·         Other needs

2 Corinthians 11:3-4 - But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

No, Not “That” Jesus

These words on discernment, (or the lack thereof) from the Apostle Paul are familiar. His letter to the Galatian church, for example, is almost completely devoted to this line of thought. Jesus himself had much to say on this topic as well. Therefore, we probably ought to pay attention here.

Without an intentional effort on our part to be discerning in this world, we can become easily deceived. False teachers endeavor to tempt and seduce us with “Jesus-shaped” words that, in reality, are only perversions of the genuine article.

If It Could Happen to Them

Interestingly, Paul is not addressing a lukewarm congregation or group of pagans here. He is writing to those he doesn’t want to see led astray from their “sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” This is frightening because it reminds us that if we are not on our guard, we too can be easily led astray by smooth-talkers who bring a “Jesus,” who is actually no Jesus at all. The undiscerning can be mesmerized by pleas for tolerance, relevance, peace, unity, or many other paths that would take them off the straight and narrow.

The path to destruction is wide, comfortable, and is well beaten by many who have gone before us. The road to true life is narrow and fraught with trials and temptations and few there are who walk it (Matthew 7:13-14).

But God’s grace is sufficient. And his power is made perfect in and through our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). We don’t have to fall prey to deception. We can trust God uncompromisingly, even in the fiery furnace of this world. If we keep our eyes open to the glorious vision of our Lord, listen for his voice calling to us in and through his Word, we would see he has already walked the narrow path before us, and if it was wide enough for him, it will be wide enough for us.

Walking Points

·         What are some practical ways you can discern the true Jesus from the imposters?
·         In your experience, how is the Bible’s view of Jesus distorted by those who water it down?
·         If you were sharing Christ with a friend, what three or four essentials would you share with them about the Person and Work of Christ? Why?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, in the face of the distractions and deceptions of this world, please help me keep my focus on you. There are many idols in this world competing for my devotion. Without your Spirit, I will bow to them. May that never be! Please renew my mind and never take your Holy Spirit from me. I pray that the daily living of my life will bring glory to you and exalt my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Rule and reign in my life and let me continually abide in your truth. Help me represent you well in this world, that others might come to know you and begin their own pilgrimage down the narrow road to life. In Christ I pray. Amen.

This Week’s Prayer Guide

[You can use this prayer guide in your own personal prayer time. However, I encourage you to use it with a group of Christian men. Each week you should spend time praising God for who he is, confessing your sin to him (be specific) as well as expressing gratitude to him for his gracious forgiveness. Also, don’t forget to thank God for the many ways he has poured out his goodness in your life. Then, focus on the following areas of supplication, which will change from week to week.]

Petitions – prayers for yourself

·         Help me to grow in wisdom and become who you created and redeemed me to be.
·         Renew my mind and enable me to cultivate a godly perspective and attitude regarding the various spheres and circumstances of my life.
·         Today’s events and interactions with others, planned and unplanned
·         Other needs

Intercession – prayers for others
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·         My family, immediate and extended
·         Those struggling with sin, illness, or relational difficulties
·         Other needs

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 - Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

Satan’s Advertising Campaign

One of the most successful advertising campaigns perpetrated by Satan in our day is the idea that Christians are forbidden to judge anything or anyone for any reason. Even unbelievers know the Bible verse that teaches, so they think, that Christians are not to judge others in any circumstance. In this twisting of our Lord’s words, Satan has led many down an awfully slippery slope.

But is that what Christ, Paul, and the rest of the Bible teach? No. What Christ and his chosen spokesmen spoke against was having a censorious or judgmental spirit or attitude. They taught us to resist the temptation of signing up to serve as God’s official fruit-inspectors. These are the folks who believe it is their spiritual gift to criticize everyone else.

Instead, the exhortation of Jesus (Matthew 7:1-5), was for his followers to remove the giant telephone-pole-sized sin in their own lives first. Unfortunately, that’s where unbelievers, and many Christians, stop with Christ’s words. But Jesus had not yet finished his thought.

The Rest of the Story

Jesus actually taught we are to remove the beam or plank from our own eye first, and then (or, so that) we would be able to see clearly enough to remove the speck from our neighbor’s eye. Jesus wasn’t calling for the abolition of judgment, but for a godly attitude while exercising helpful discernment. We know this because less than ten verses later, our Lord said we must watch out for false teachers. Why? Because they are false teachers. Something isn’t right about what they teach or how they live. 

How do you “watch out” for false teachers? By judging the fruit they produce – their works – not their hearts. And yet, according to our Lord, their fruit does tell us something about what’s going on inside of them. He says a good tree produces good fruit while a bad tree produces bad fruit. In both cases, being precedes doing. We aren’t privy to all that goes on inside a person’s heart, so our Lord tells us to judge their fruit, whether it be good or bad.

By What Standard?

How can we make such a judgment? How can we know the difference between good and bad? By using the only sure measuring stick we have, God’s Word. 

The Apostle Paul said we are called to test everything. A word like “everything” pretty much says it all. Every idea, suggestion, worldview, moral teaching, news story, political platform, attitude, television program, and on and on and on, is to be tested. But how do you test these things?

With Holy Scripture. God’s Word is sufficient to teach, reprove, correct, and train us for all of life (2 Timothy 3:16-17), whether by explicit teaching, command, law, or rule – or by implicit principles and implications.
After you have tested something by God’s Word, you then must judge or discern whether that thing is good or evil. If it’s good you cling to it. If it’s evil you avoid or shun it. But you have to make a judgment. How else can you pursue holiness instead of sin? How else can you choose the hard and narrow road that leads to life rather than the wide and comfortable road that leads to destruction? You must exercise your faculties of discernment.

The Heart is the Heart of the Matter

Have Christians ever been guilty of having judgmental attitudes? Absolutely. And they should repent for it. But unbelievers have also been guilty of having judgmental attitudes. The difference is that followers of Christ have an objective and binding standard that tells them it’s wrong to have such an attitude. Every time an unbeliever tells a Christian not to be judgmental, they have to borrow from the Christian worldview to say so.

The key point is this: Christians are commanded by Christ to judge good from evil, sin from righteousness, without being judgmental. We are to practice such discernment so we may lovingly correct and/or restore another person. That is why we must first deal with the sin in our own lives. It humbles us, reminds us of what Christ has done on our behalf, and enables us to better see how to help others. It’s a razor’s edge to walk, but we must not give up walking along that edge simply because it’s hard to do. Instead, we must pray for the power and guidance of God’s Spirit, his gifts of discernment, and for his Word to dwell in us richly so we may walk that edge faithfully, consistently, and lovingly.

Walking Points

• What do you think most people mean when they say you shouldn’t judge others?
• Why do people dislike being judged?
• Have you ever been accused of being judgmental?
• Have you ever judged another person (sinfully)? Have you ever been judged in such a way? How did it make you feel?
• How does the counsel of Jesus, in Matthew 7:1-5, help us turn from having a judgmental attitude?
• How does his teaching in those verses enable us to truly be a help to another person?

 
Prayer

Great and awesome God, you are the Judge of heaven and earth. You alone are righteous enough to judge without an unrighteous attitude. You alone are wise enough to see all the angles of every situation. And you alone know a person’s heart through and through. Please help me faithfully discern good fruit from bad. Yet, let me do so with the goal of helping another person who may be struggling with temptation and sin, and not so I may point my finger at them (or talk about them behind their back) with a “holier-than-thou” attitude. Remind me of the giant log of sin in my own eye first. Help me remove it. By doing so I will better be able to approach others with greater humility and I’ll be able to see their situation more clearly. In Christ I pray. Amen.

This Week’s Prayer Guide

[You can use this prayer guide in your own personal prayer time. However, I encourage you to use it with a group of Christian men. Each week you should spend time praising God for who he is, confessing your sin to him (be specific) as well as expressing gratitude to him for his gracious forgiveness. Also, don’t forget to thank God for the many ways he has poured out his goodness in your life. Then, focus on the following areas of supplication, which will change from week to week.]
 
Petitions – prayers for yourself

·         Lord, help me to faithfully participate in the life of my congregation and for the sake of my community…
Ø  By my prayers
Ø  By my presence
Ø  By my gifts
Ø  By my service
Ø  By my witness
·         Today’s events and interactions with others, planned and unplanned
·         Other needs

Intercession – prayers for others

·         My family
·         For those who serve in government, at the national, state, and local levels
·         For those who serve in law-enforcement
·         For those who serve in fire and rescue
·         For those who serve in our nation’s military
·         Other needs

Luke 14:26-27 – “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters–yes, even his own life–he cannot be my disciple. [27] And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:33 – In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

You Better Think About It First

It wasn’t the approach most wanted to take back then nor is it so today. Jesus wasn’t very seeker-friendly, at least here. His message wasn’t a bait-and-switch tactic to get folks in the door. Instead, it was truth in advertising. The issue? That following Jesus requires everything, including one’s very life, so you better count the cost before signing on the dotted line.

In Matthew 7:13-14, after three challenging chapters, our Lord taught his disciples, and would-be disciples, that the gate by which they must enter, if they would follow him, is a narrow one only a few find. Furthermore, that gate opens onto a hard road. Nothing Pollyanna about this discipleship program. This way was not for those who were looking for something easy and non-committal.

However, there is a road to accommodate those who have such desires. It’s the only other option available and many find and travel it. But its destination is the City of Destruction. The narrow gate, however, which leads to the hard road is the only way that leads to life.

Standards of the Way

Disciples of this way must live a radically countercultural lifestyle. They are poor in spirit, mourn over sin (their own and the world’s), are meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, show mercy, are pure in heart, make peace and willingly accept persecution as the price for such convictions.

They are the salt of the earth and light of the world. They obey the commands of the Lord of the Narrow Way. In fact, their righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

Not only must they refrain from actually murdering anyone, but they must not be unrighteously angry with others. These followers of the King must not commit adultery and, moreover, must not even look at another person lustfully, which would be to commit adultery in their hearts. Faithfulness in marriage is expected and required. Truth-telling in all situations is the norm of this Kingdom. Humble submission characterizes those who would enter this gate and walk this road.

Love for both one’s neighbor and one’s enemy is a sign that one follows this way.

Followers of the Hard and Narrow Way give to those in need, do not pray to impress people, and fast in secret. They invest in eternity by storing up treasures in heaven and not on earth. Their trust in God enables them to avoid worrying about their circumstances in this life. Instead, they seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness that attends it, and they count on God to provide what is needed for living in this world.

Spiritual self-examination is another mark of these followers. And while they are called to discern between good and bad fruit, right and wrong, that which pleases God and that which doesn’t, they first investigate their own souls and remove that which hinders their pursuit of Christlikeness. Then and only then may they humbly approach a brother or sister to serve them in fighting sin in their life.

There are false prophets on the prowl who, like ferocious wolves in disguise, would lead many down the broad and easy road to the City of Destruction. The fruit they bear is bad which is in marked contrast to the fruit the Lord of the Way requires.

Carrying Our Cross Along the Way

So that leads us back to our text. The gate is narrow and the way is hard, but it leads to life. Furthermore, the cost is great and must be considered before entering through the gate and upon the road. Hatred of the world – even of one’s own family (in comparison to one’s love, allegiance, and submission to Christ) is absolutely required. We must pick up our cross and follow Christ wherever he may go. Becoming a disciple, and living as one, can be fulfilled along no other path. Everything must be given up to be Christ’s disciple. Complete surrender to his lordship is expected. This is normal Christianity, not super spirituality.

It’s not an accident that Jesus closes this thought with these words: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Supernatural ears are a must to truly heed what our Lord is saying. Joyfully obedient self-denial is the norm of the Kingdom of the Hard Road and Narrow Way. There is no room for one’s desire for autonomous freedom (which is really slavery in disguise). The extra baggage, sinful and unbridled love for self and the world, must be discarded at the beginning of the journey, for it will not fit through the narrow gate.

Jesus Is the Gate. Jesus Is the Way.

If all of this seems impossible to you, then you’ve understood perfectly. Left to ourselves, in our fallen, sinful natures with the corrupt mindset and behavior that goes along with it, we cannot enter through such a gate, nor will we even want to. But the good news is that Jesus is the gate through which we enter and the way upon which we walk. To begin that journey we must first kneel before Jesus as our Lord, trust in him alone as our Savior, turn our backs to the wide and easy road we once traveled, and walk along his path in complete dependence upon his Spirit and grace. Then and only then will we be able to experience the abundant and eternal life he promised those who follow him.

Walking Points

·         Read through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). What’s your initial reaction to learning about the norms and expectations of the Kingdom found in Jesus’ words?
·         In your own strength, do you think you could realistically expect to fulfill that standard?
·         What “standards” have you heard from others regarding how we should live in this world?
·         What is Christianity’s answer to our sinful condition, to our inability to meet the standard required by God?
·         If you have never sought God’s forgiveness and placed your trust in the work of Christ alone, then humbly pray to the Lord and ask him to help you do just that. Talk to a trusted Christian friend and ask him or her to help you, if necessary.

Prayer

God of the narrow way and hard path, I give you praise and thanks that your Son has traveled that same road already. I look at the standards of your Kingdom that he lived and taught and I am undone. Like Isaiah before your throne, I disintegrate into nothing at the thought of trying to live that life in my own strength. But I instantly rejoice when I am reminded that the righteousness your righteousness requires was faithfully obtained by my precious Savior. Instead of turning a blind eye to my sin and lowering your standard, Christ walked the hard and narrow way in my place. His path directed him to a Cross. Mine leads to death as well – death to myself, my agenda, and the sin to which I cling so tightly. Thank you, Father, for your grace and mercy that saved a wretch like me. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

This Week’s Prayer Guide

[You can use this prayer guide in your own personal prayer time. However, I encourage you to use it with a group of Christian men. Each week you should spend time praising God for who he is, confessing your sin to him (be specific) as well as expressing gratitude to him for his gracious forgiveness. Also, don’t forget to thank God for the many ways he has poured out his goodness in your life. Then, focus on the following areas of supplication, which will change from week to week.]

Petitions – prayers for yourself

·         Lord, help me to faithfully participate in the life of my congregation and for the sake of my community…
Ø  By my prayers
Ø  By my presence
Ø  By my gifts
Ø  By my service
Ø  By my witness
·         Today’s events and interactions with others, planned and unplanned
·         Other needs

Intercession – prayers for others
​
·         My family
·         For those who serve in government, at the national, state, and local levels
·         For those who serve in law-enforcement
·         For those who serve in fire and rescue
·         For those who serve in our nation’s military
·         Other needs

Exodus 7:8-13 – The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, [9] “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.” [10] So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. [11] Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: [12] Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. [13] Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Exodus 7:20-22 – Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. [21] The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt. [22] But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

Acts 16:16-18 – Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. [17] This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” [18] She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

Parlor Tricks

I have never quite understood how the magicians of Egypt could perform the same miracles as Moses and Aaron, at least a few of them. Well, we know that they weren’t exactly the same miracles, but they fooled enough of the people enough of the time to be considered the same.

Let me back up.

The Scene

Moses and Aaron stood before Pharaoh and his court. Just after Aaron threw his staff to the ground, it became a snake. That would have impressed me. But it didn’t seem to impress Pharaoh. What did he do? He summoned his wise men, sorcerers, and magicians to do the same thing. And they did, sort of. Aaron’s snake ate all of their snakes. God’s little way of reminding folks who’s sovereign and who’s not.

Then there was the scene at the Nile River. It was there Moses and Aaron turned the Nile’s water into blood. That would get my attention. Not Pharaoh. He rounded up his FX artists again and, just like before, had them do the same thing as Moses and Aaron.

In the New Testament Too

This isn’t confined to just the Old Testament. In the New Testament we learn of a slave girl, “who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.” And like so many of the demons who recognized who Jesus really was, this slave girl’s “spirit” understood that Paul and company were “servants of the Most High God,” and were telling the people “the way to be saved.”

In one sense it was good that she (or rather, the spirit in her) recognized who Paul and his companions were. But at the end of the day, it was still a demonic spirit and, by definition, up to no good. That’s why Paul cast out the spirit from the girl in the name of Jesus Christ.

Our Need to Discern

Not all that glitters is gold. Not all miracles are of God. Not all spirituality is Christian spirituality. Not all visions are from God. We make a grave error indeed when we assume, undiscerningly, that any and every sign and wonder is automatically from God. Too much in God’s Word tells us otherwise.

That’s why humility is key here. We must have a teachable spirit. We need to obey God and his Word. Scripture alone must be our final, ultimate, and sufficient authority, not our experience and feelings. The Apostle John wrote in 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.

That is wise counsel. And it’s the only sure way we’ll stand firm to the end.

Walking Points

• Have you ever experienced someone claiming to have a “word from God” that did not seem to be Scriptural? What was it? How did you respond?
• What are the dangers in accepting such a claim without discernment?
• How can you “test the spirits to see whether they are from God?”
• Do you have a strong enough foundation in your knowledge of Scripture to spot false spirits? If not, begin meeting with a couple of men regularly to study and pray over God’s Word together, seeking encouragement, correction, and training from the Lord.

Prayer

Gracious God of truth. I do not desire to be led astray by every “shiny” word others share with me. I want to be gracious toward them, yet always discerning. Lead me with your Spirit into the Word you first inspired when it was written and which you continue to inspire as I read it. Give me the wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and discernment you promise throughout your Word. And please let that renewal of my mind lead to the transformation of my life. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

This Week’s Prayer Guide

[You can use this prayer guide in your own personal prayer time. However, I encourage you to use it with a group of Christian men. Each week you should spend time praising God for who he is, confessing your sin to him (be specific) as well as expressing gratitude to him for his gracious forgiveness. Also, don’t forget to thank God for the many ways he has poured out his goodness in your life. Then, focus on the following areas of supplication, which will change from week to week.]

Petitions – prayers for yourself

• Give me greater love for those who are hard to love.
• Help me to be compassionate and kind to those in need, even when it’s inconvenient.
• Pour out upon me your courage and boldness to love those who do not know you and to share with them your Gospel, in word and deed.
• Today’s events and interactions with others, planned and unplanned
• Other needs

Intercession – prayers for others
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• My family
• My family and friends who do not have a saving relationship with Christ
• For those in my other spheres of influence who do not know Christ
• For evangelists around our city, country, and world who risk much in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those who are lost
• Other needs