Knowing The Answer

Proverbs 16:1-3 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. (2) All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits. (3) Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. (KJV)

Are you absolutely positively sure the answer you are giving today, right now, is from the Lord? Have you committed yourself unto the Lord, and are you established upon the foundation of God this day, Jesus Christ being in control of everything in your walk including your tongue? The Lord has an answer for every man and He expects His people to be ready to give it anytime, and anywhere the opportunity presents itself. The question is are you prepared; have you done what is necessary today to give His response, an answer that has eternal consequences? Although mankind judges things according to the outward appearance, thus thinking He is clean, the Lord looks to the inward motives of the heart and that is what He wishes to address. Are you one of His vessels today, fit and ready for the Master’s use so that He can speak and work through you to address the spiritual needs of others, or are you like many others that have scripted answers that are more appealing to the outward man than the inward one? Someday we will all have to stand before God Himself and answer for our own lives the things we did and the things we spoke; so if the answer you give today is of our Father then you will have no need to be ashamed today, as well as the day of judgment. It’s much easier to give the Lord’s answer to mankind when it is something you have put into practice and know firsthand for yourself how it works. However, if you are just reading from someone else’s script of how they perceive the Lord, and how they think people should be witnessing to others, then you are just giving a second hand account of someone else’s experience and not your own, thus the term novice.

Proverbs 19:20-21 Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. (21) There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand. (KJV)

Here is a reminder; how about giving a simple straight forward answer to anyone that would ask of you a reason of the hope within you and how they too can partake of this heavenly gift? Mankind keeps coming up with a bunch of gimmicks on how to win people to the Lord, when the Lord Himself said that the truth and only the truth would set them free. First and foremost you need to hear the Lord’s counsel for yourself, knowing who He is and how to be an example of the believers, not just words but conduct also. Only the counsel of the Lord will stand, and only those that receive His word will be able to stand as well; while the rest may have had good intentions in the beginning of their walk they will eventually fall away, returning to the realm they were once delivered from.

I will tell you one that really stands out to me when I think of the many devices of man, is some of this so called Christian rock music, people that stoop to the lower fallen nature of mankind thinking that will win souls over. Having watched some of these so called artists, and listening to some of this nonsense on the radio, the only thing different between them and the world is that they just change a few words and then think it has the Lord’s approval. Somehow I just can’t see my Lord on a stage jumping around with a guitar in hand acting like some out of control lunatic. For those that do attempt to portray my Lord and Savior that way obviously don’t have a clue who He truly is and how He desires His kingdom to be represented here on earth. You go stand before my God someday with this song and dance and see how far you get; then try explaining to a spiritual being how something that began in the Spirit was being so misrepresented by a bunch of lame brains in the flesh. We are the ones that should be transformed and different from the world and its way of thinking; imitators of Christ and not conforming to this world and its fallen realm.

Galatians 1:6-7 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: (7) Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. (KJV)

These false doctrines of man, these winds of doctrines that blow around us; Paul marveled at how quickly God’s people had given in and were being deceived into some perversion of the gospel. The Bible says we should fight the good fight of faith; but how much of a fight do we put up, are we like the lion on the Wizard of Oz who made a lot of noise until someone tapped him in the snout and he gave up crying? These gospels that man claims will win the people to the Lord have nothing to do with the Lord; they are nothing more than a cheap hoax that appeals to the flesh and not the Spirit. No matter what form it manifests in, it is up to you to exercise your spiritual senses so that you can rightly discern what is of God and what isn’t. I marvel at how spiritually illiterate many people who claim to be of God really are; when the time they need to be teachers they are truly the ones that need to be taught all over from the beginning, having missed the simple first principles of God and how His kingdom truly operates. While many may read and search through the scriptures to find the answer they miss the spiritual implications and meaning of them because they still only see a man named Jesus, but never come to an understanding of who Christ within Him is and how to be led by His spirit. If any man has not the spirit of Christ and an understanding of how to operate by faith in His message, then He is not of God and will not be able to give the answer God intended for that man to give, which can only be given by those that truly know the doctrine of Christ.

Proverbs 18:12-13 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility. (13) He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him. (KJV)

That answer you gave to someone, was it really from the Lord, or was it something you gave to impress them? Have you taken the time to hear the message of Christ firsthand for yourself so that you know and are not just guessing that what you are speaking came from the Father through Him? If you don’t know or are not sure, then it would do you good not to say anything rather than mislead someone to another gospel that is not of our Lord. I don’t care personally what others think or say about me or my walk as long as I seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness concerning how to answer a man; then I know God is answering my prayers when I speak to Him, as well as seeking my own personal requests.

Psalms 145:18-21 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. (19) He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. (20) The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy. (21) My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever. (KJV)

Do you wish to be near and dear to our Lord? Then it can only be accomplished in truth, being open and honest with Him, not trying to hide things, but letting Him show you how to be an overcomer in these things so that you can speak boldly with confidence on His behalf when asked. If you call on Him in truth then you can expect an honest response in truth; however, if you try to lie then don’t expect His response. Your mouth will truly speak the praises of the Lord when you truly make Him the Lord in your life and allow Him to have His way in and through you; sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that even those that are outside the kingdom of God won’t have anything they can pin on you.

John 4:23-24 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (24) God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (KJV)

You know people, worshipping God is not standing in some building with your hands in the air looking up to the ceiling like you’re in some kind of trance, or hallucinating like your having a flashback to Woodstock; rather true worship, reverence for God and His word, is done in a lifestyle that is in Spirit and according to His truth. Truly worshipping God is presenting yourself to Him as a living sacrifice, alive spiritually and dead to your own desires of the flesh; ready, willing, and able to give His answer to any that would be seeking. How fit and prepared are you to walk in the Spirit and know that you are speaking words of life, giving the only answer our Father approves of today?

God bless and have a prosperous day in Christ Jesus our Lord.