"The Lord himself told us"

II Kings 18:25  “What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the LORD’s direction?  The LORD himself told us, “Go and destroy it!”

Not all who claim to speak for the Lord does.  Hear me again, “Not all who claim to speak for the Lord does!”  There are many, many voices who claim to be speaking for the Lord.  Listen closely to what they are saying and you will soon discover that many are proclaiming different messages.  There are many different spins on the truth and some messages are not the truth at all.  So many claim to be proclaiming truth; yet their messages conflict with each other.  There is a constant battle amongst professing believers as to who is really speaking the truth.  The problem is that everyone cannot be right.  Sincere people sincerely proclaiming what they believe to be truth do not make it true. 

Who can we trust to be telling us the truth?  How do we know that what we hear is truly what God said?  In order to be able to discern that which is true from that which is false we must do a couple of things.  First of all, we must make sure that we are staying properly connected to the Lord.  In order to know it is God speaking to us, we must stay close to Him.  We must be diligently seeking Him with sincere and humble hearts.  We must have a longing in our hearts to know God above everything else.

We must diligently be students of God’s Word.  Don’t let others determine what God says to you.  Carefully examine the Scriptures yourself with an open heart to God and let Him speak to you from it.  Don’t believe something someone says without meditating on the Word yourself and discerning whether or not it is reasonable to believe that what you hear is true.  If you are not thinking yourself over the Scriptures you will be easily led astray.  Take seriously your need to know what the Word of God says.  We must want to know the truth before we can know the truth.

Bathe what you believe to be true in prayer.  The Lord will not lead you astray.  He will cement His Word into your heart.  There is only one absolute correct understanding of God’s Word and we will never discover it without being constantly in prayer, seeking God, and listening to Him speak.  Inconsistencies in messages come from man, not God.  Different messages come from man’s flawed relationship with God.

Be careful what you believe to be true coming from the lips of man.  Spend much time in the presence of the Lord and He will guide you into all that which is true.