Testable

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear. It emphasizes the importance of faith and trust in God's word. It warns against false prophets and encourages testing everything through the word. Singing praises to the Lord is also highlighted as a way to spread His name and prepare our hearts for worship. The message is that God's love for us is unconditional and casts out fear. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Jeremiah 29.8 For the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says, Don't let your prophets who were amongst you and your diviners deceive you. Don't listen to your dreams, which you cause to be dreamt. The Lord was enforcing the rules that he had laid down. He told the people of Israel before they came into the promised land that they were to wrest the land every seventh year. Leviticus 25.2-7 and Exodus 23.10-11 They hadn't been doing that. So the Lord kicked them out until the number of Sabbaths for the land had been reached. He warned them about that, too. Leviticus 26.33-35 They owed the land 70 years of rest, and the Lord was going to make sure that it was getting it. But the people didn't want to hear that. There were leaders and prophets saying that it would only be a few years of exile, and they'd be back home. The Lord did not send those prophets. He did not inspire their dreams. They were speaking rebellion against the Lord. Jeremiah 29.32 The Lord told Jeremiah to write a letter to warn the people to settle down in the land of their exile and not to listen to the false words of the prophets and diviners or even their own dreams about it. They were not sent by the Lord. Now, the role of the prophet is that of eyes. They see what the rest of us do not see. They see things happening now, and they see things happening a long way off. The Old Testament prophets were able to see thousands of years into the future, to see the birth of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, events in the church, events happening now in our lifetime, and events still in our future. This spiritual revelation of future events is a tool that the Lord uses to bring us comfort. It is also an avenue of warning and a vehicle of correction. Prophets are to speak only what the Lord shows them. They see what the Lord reveals to them and then speak it out, declaring God's plans for the earth. It was so serious that if they spoke out falsely, speaking that which did not come to pass, they were stoned to death. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, Let's go after other gods, which you have not known, and let's serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams. For Yahweh your God is testing you to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after Yahweh your God, fear Him, keep His commandments, and obey His voice. You shall serve Him and cling to Him. That prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which Yahweh your God commanded you to walk in, so you shall remove the evil from among you. Deuteronomy 13, 1-5 When the Lord speaks a word, it is either a prophetic warning or it's a prophetic promise. What determines which it is are the people who hear it. The Lord was going to destroy Nineveh. Jonah 1, 1-2 Wipe them out for their wickedness. Now Nineveh was a big city. It took three days to walk across it. Jonah got there and cried out, In forty days it will be wiped out. So which was it going to be? A warning or a promise? The news reached the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water, but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows whether God will not turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish. God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn't do it. Jonah 3, 6-10 They listened to the word of the Lord, repented, and heeded what was now a prophetic warning. Had they not, it would have been a prophetic promise, and they would have been wiped out. Now this is one reason why it's so important to have prophets speaking the truth. If they didn't, they could get people to do all kinds of things in the name of the Lord. While the Lord does not condone any kind of falsehood, Leviticus 19, 11, Proverbs 12, 22, and Colossians 3, 9, he especially does not take kindly to those who lie in his name. This goes beyond words of warning or correction. Those are the things that make the headlines, as it were, because they are the sweeping things, the things of judgment. They can be dramatic, they can be unpleasant to hear, and they have a tendency to catch one's attention. But the office of the prophet also includes teaching. Any word of the Lord spoken to the people falls under this, because they are declaring the Word a function of the prophet. James warns about that in James 3, 1. It is a real danger in the church. Anyone is capable of giving color commentary, of taking a verse here and there, combining them to tell a story that the Word doesn't really tell. Worse, we can pass on teaching that we have heard without checking it out. Someone says something, we get fired up, and we pass it on to those we teach. This is how false doctrine spreads. This is how a religious spirit can disseminate teaching throughout the body of Christ until we all accept it and rob ourselves of things that we can walk in. Paul warned about that. But the Spirit says expressly that in later times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron. 1 Timothy 4, 1-2. He goes on in verse 7 to tell us to refuse profane and old wives' fables, those legends and tales that build themselves up over time, to focus on godliness and the Word, testing everything through the Word and prayer. Remember, God gave us free will. He expects us to exercise it and check things out. Look at the book of Enoch. Every so often, it does its rounds, and people talk about it, and people get excited about it. But it isn't in the canon of Scripture. It wasn't in the canon when Jesus was around. It isn't in the canon now. And there are things in that book that have nothing to do with the Word. It doesn't match up at all. The Word stands against some of it. We need to check out everything. There can be good things, but they're not Word of the Lord things. And it isn't just about teaching and doctrine. It's also about trust. But refuse profane and old wives' fables. Exercise yourself toward godliness, for bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value in all things, having the promise of the life, which is now, and of that which is to come. This saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end, we both labor and suffer reproach, because we have set our trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things. 1 Timothy 4, 7-11 We set our trust on the Lord. How many times does the Word tell us to trust in Him? About 200 times in various ways. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the name of the Lord. Fear, reverence the Lord, which has elements of trust wrapped up in it. You made me trust you. In God I trust, etc. It goes on. How can we have trust in the Lord if we cannot be sure that what He says will be will, in fact, be? Relying on the fact that what the Lord says will come to pass is kind of a prerequisite of faith. Without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing to Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Hebrews 11, 6 Abram was counted righteous because of belief in the words of Yahweh in Genesis 15, 6. Yet looking to the promise of God, he didn't waver through unbelief but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God and being fully assured that what he had promised he was also able to perform. Romans 4, 20-21 Trusting that the Lord can do what He says, that He doesn't lie, and that He isn't going to lead us astray is a foundational principle of the Word. Jesus relied on that trust when He taught us, If it weren't so, I would have told you. John 14, 2 Anyone can call themselves anything. I could stand on the street corner and call myself a prophet. Anyone can speak the words, Thus says the Lord, and then talk. Now, it wouldn't make me a prophet any more than it would make any random person. Peter warned us about them, but false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. 2 Peter 2, 1 So what can we do to protect ourselves from false prophets, especially since we are warned several times that they will be creeping out of the woodwork as things advance? For example, Matthew 24, 11 As with anything, follow the Word. Jesus Himself gives us the playbook for prophets. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree produces good fruit, but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit. A good tree can't produce evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn't grow good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7, 15-20 We need to look at the fruit of the prophets who we listen to. Does what they say come to pass? Does it pass the Word test? Are they speaking in accordance with the moral structure of the Lord as laid down by the Word? John tells us to test everything we hear. He tells us not to fear, because Jesus is greater than anything the enemy can come up with, including false teaching. Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit who confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit who doesn't confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the Spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 1 John 4, 1-4 Paul encourages us to stay plugged into Jesus when we encounter any teaching. As therefore you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving. Be careful that you don't let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily, and in Him you were made full, who is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2, 6-10 John agreed with that in 2 John 8-11. Watch yourselves, that we don't lose the things which have been accomplished, but that we receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and doesn't remain in the teaching of Christ doesn't have God. He who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and doesn't bring this teaching, don't receive him into your house, and don't welcome him, for he who welcomes him participates in his evil deeds. Now don't worry about all the testing either. God is not going to get offended. Yahweh inspired the Scripture through the Holy Spirit. He would not have told us to do something He did not want us to do. He encourages us to test things because He is truth and righteousness, and knows that His Word will pass every test that we can throw at it. This is not testing the patience of the Lord. This isn't claiming a promise and then demanding the Lord do it. You're throwing yourself off the temple so that the angels can hold you up. This isn't saying, if it's you, call me out of the boat, like Peter did. This is making sure that the things that are supposed to be from the Lord are from the Lord in order to obey the Lord. He encourages that. Jesus Himself praised the church in Ephesus, saying, I know your works and your toil and perseverance, and that you can't tolerate evil men and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false. You have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake and have not grown weary. Revelation 2, 2-3. He wouldn't have praised the behavior if He didn't want us to participate in it. But, of course, that also doesn't mean painting everyone with a negative brush. Because you hear a teaching and don't agree with it, it doesn't mean they're a false prophet, because you might not be right. So, how do you do that? What's the most effective way to test by the Word? Well, it's to have the Word within you, to read it with the intent to have the will of the Lord revealed, to read it with the intent to submit to what we find there, to read it with the intent to get to know the Lord better, to have more and more and more of the Lord revealed to us. When we are dwelling in the Word, thinking on it throughout our day, meditating on it, and seeking the Lord for revelation of what we've read, and praying it out, it gets into our hearts and grows there. Remember that the enemy has a dedicated, vested interest in robbing you of the Word. Mark 4, 15-19. When we have the Word in us, growing in the rich soil of the righteous spirit of Jesus, which we were gifted, Romans 8-11, we will know if something we hear doesn't jive with the Word within us. We can go to the Word and study it out for ourselves. We can look at the lives of the prophets and see how they live, how they comport themselves. What fruit is growing in their fig tree? Is it good or is it rotten? Jeremiah 24-2. Jesus taught us, I am the vine, and My Father is the farmer. Every branch in Me that doesn't bear fruit, He takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You were already pruned clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For apart from Me, you can do nothing. John 15, 1-5. Just as other people can see the fruit in our own lives, we can see the fruit in the lives of others. Test everything. Don't be afraid to check out the Word on anything you have heard. If it is true, the Word will reflect that. The Lord taught that the Word of two or three witnesses can be trusted, Deuteronomy 19.15 and 2 Corinthians 13.1. It's true of the Word as well. You cannot build a doctrine on a single, stand-alone verse. If there is a principle in the Word that is true, it will echo throughout the Bible. You will see it again and again. The Lord does not build houses of cards, but carefully constructed buildings on firm foundations. We should be doing the same. We will not fear the words of the prophet when we can trust that they are the words of the Lord. Warnings aren't fun, but when obeyed, they correct our behavior. Knowing what is coming has comfort because it shows us God isn't being taken by surprise. Why fear when He knows what is going on and we can trust that He will guide us through? Don't despise prophets. Set your eyes on the Lord. Seek His truth and test everything so that you will know that you know that you know that the Lord has indeed spoken. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Matthew 26, 30. Jesus was a singer. We don't know if He was any good, but we can take it as fact that He was enthusiastic. Jesus always did things with a whole heart. Whenever I think of this verse, my youngest son comes to mind. He sings with a whole heart. He doesn't seem to be bothered by a tune or timing His words with the words of the other people singing or the tempo of the song, but enthusiasm, heart, ooh, He has those. I know without a doubt that when He sings, the Father smiles, that Jesus stops what He's doing to take a listen, that angels visit just so that they can see it. We're told to sing to make a joyful noise. We're not told to be talented or in tune or acceptable. It's joyful, noisy. It's part of how we spread the name of the Lord to the world. Hebrews 2, 11-12 and Romans 15-9. It isn't just mental, but spiritual. 1 Corinthians 14-15 which is why it doesn't matter if we are good. Something happens in the realms of the Spirit when we joyfully and truthfully sing praise to the Lord our God. The Psalms are full of the injunction to sing to the Lord. Sing a new song. Sing praises to His name. Make a joyful noise. Sing of His strength. Sing of His steadfast love. Sing to all the earth. In Revelation, when the curtain is pulled back so that we can see some of what is happening and will happen in the heavenlies, we see singing. It is how we are to enter the gates of heaven, how we are to approach the throne. There is something about singing that speaking cannot do. There is something about praise that gets our hearts and minds ready to truly worship the Lord in communion with Him. The songs are not always worship as much as they are the prep work for the feast of worship that follows. Zephaniah 3-17 tells us that Yahweh your God is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in His love. He will rejoice over you with singing. If it is good enough for the Lord, then let it be good enough for us. Sing with joy, with thanksgiving, with volume. Let the world hear it and know my God is worth singing about. As we close, remember that you have worth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the black. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love and no end to the things about you that He loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent His only-born Son into the world, that we might live through Him. And this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because He first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.