We have our first reader request post today, and I’m humbled and honored that anyone has taken the time to read my words at all, let alone process them to the point that they want to hear more about something. It was even more fitting since it overlapped nicely with our recent experience moving from NC to TX. So I hope that this provides value to someone struggling today.
So I was asked, in a nutshell, how can you tell if God is directing you to do something, versus the demons trying to scare you away from something. How do you know you are following God’s will? Now I’ve touched on this a little bit, but it seemed a great opportunity to write out some examples and really spell out the instruction manual. Disclaimer of course that this is merely how I read an interpret the bible and I’m sharing it with you all. This is neither a direct revelation from the Lord, nor concrete life advice.
So the, BIG QUESTION, in life comes up. You have a new job opportunity (or hate your old one), a new cute girl says hi, you have the chance to move 1000 miles to start a bettter life, you have SOMETHING. Naturally, major life changes create a wide variety of emotions inside of you. If you felt nothing you would be a robot, and stoicism is anti-Christian. So it’s ok to FEEL things. However, in the course of your feelings tornado, you begin to question whether you are following God’s will by making this choice, or whether you are listening to the whispers in the dark that promise you endless eldritch riches or perhaps never ending torment, depending on where you weakness lies.
In my mind, there are really 4 ways to examine one of these decisions. Is God leading you towards or away from it? Is Azazel leading you towards or away from it? When you get right down to it, those should be the only 4 ways to slice it. While some might say the fifth option is that it’s all in your head an no one is guiding you, I don’t believe that. We were created by God to be in constant fellowship with him, and it’s only our sin that drove us apart. There is always SOMETHING wanting a certain outcome on a decision.
So first rule of decision making, ARE YOU AFRAID? If you feel fear of any form, it is demonic. The lord tells us “2 Timothy 1:7 - For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”. Thus the Lord will not make you afraid of something. Ever. He did not make us to be timid little creatures hiding in the shadows from fear. We are, every human being on earth, the literal temple to the Holy Spirit of Yaweh. There is a dwelling place inside each of us that contains the Holy Spirit of Glory of the Lord. Do you really think that the Lord want’s his temple hiding in the shadows from the minions of Azazel? That’s not very Godly now is it? So if you feel fear, it’s NOT from God.
Now, the Lord has given us a tool to use in life, called Discernment “Hebrews 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” We as human beings are gifted the power by God himself to discern good from evil. Now, a lot of pagans and heretics teach that “innocent children” know good from evil and that we should listen to them. This is demonic inversion, and should be ignored. God tells us discernment is like a muscle that requires training, and SPECIFICALLY calls out its relation to solid food. As in, NOT for children. Plus, we’ve all met that small child that lies without compunction or breaks things for fun. That’s because they haven’t been trained yet. So, before you begin trying to discern God’s will, spend lots of time identifying good and evil, and pray constantly for our Father to bless you with discernment.
Ok, we laid out the two grounds rules, let’s look at a scenario. Is God leading you towards something? In my personal experience, when God want’s you to do something, he tells you. He can do this audibly, he can do this with visions, or he can do this with signs. He led us to our new home under the sign of Jonah, and at no point was I unsure. So let’s look at some bible verses. Exodus 6:6 Therefore, tell the Israelis, ‘I am the Lord. I’ll bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I’ll deliver you from their bondage. I’ll redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. This is perhaps the greatest promise in the Bible besides the delivery of the Messiah, where God promises the Israelites they will be free. He’s leading them towards Israel from Egpyt, and tells them he’s going to do it. Another example from my favorite prophet Jonah, in Jonah 3:2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." God wants Jonah to go to Ninevah, so God just tells him to go. In my experience, as backed by scripture, God is not actually that subtle. That whole “signs and portents” thing that pastors like to do is really just them making excuses for Sin. When God want’s something, he asks you to do it.
Second scenario, will God scare you away from something? I will admit, I’m not the most in depth bible scholar on Earth. I am but a student eager to learn from my Father. However, I wracked my brain for times when God would need to scare people away, and I came up with the destruction of Sodom, and with the great Flood, as perfect cataclysmic events that would justify being warned off. Genesis 19 is literally an entire chapter about 2 angels coming to Sodom to save Lot and his family from the destruction of the city. At no point does the Lord make Lot afraid, in fact, Lot is SO comfortable he keeps screwing around until the Angels basically drag his family out of the city. Yes, humanity has never changed, and is capable of dilly dallying even in the face of divine command.
Second example is the great Flood of Genesis. It is probably the most cataclysmic event in the bible outside of the visions of Revelation, but those are not yet passed. God destroyed the sum total of human wickedness, except for the one righteous man, Noah and his family. Even though God revealed to Noah the coming cataclysm, he didn’t strike Noah with fear, he commanded Noah to BUILD something. Noah was led towards, not away, from what he must do. God also specifically gave him building instructions, so God is not simply content with metaphors IF you ask him.
If anyone else has examples of God leading away from something, reach out in an email or on Twitter, I’d love to discuss.
Now, third scenario, are the forces of Azazel leading you towards something? Well, the forces of Azazel are ALWAYS trying to lead you towards something. It’s just not anything good. The absolute best example of this is Matthew 4, where the Devil himself tries to tempt Christ. He tries many times, and ends with offering Christ all the kingdoms of the earth if only Christ would worship him. Matthew 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
If you’ve never read Matthew 4, read it. I believe it provides all of the keys needed to understand the war with the Devil’s temptations. First, you need your spirit of discernment to notice that it is evil. Second, you need to be aware of what is being offered. The Devil is never going to appeal to goodness and glory to tempt you. He doesn’t offer visions of a white picket fence, a beautiful wife, and great children serving in the house of the Lord. No. The Devil is going to tempt you with fast cars, piles of coke, and scoring with a different chick every night, because those things are SINFUL and bad for you. We all know what’s bad for us, we just justify the sin because it’s tempting. Third, the weapon against the temptation of the Devil is prayer, humility, and constant prayer with God’s Word. Christ used the scriptures to rebuke the Devil, and you can too.
Last scenario, the Devil scaring you away from something. You would think this one was the easiest one to write. Shouldn’t the bible be littered with examples of the Devil making you afraid of something and leading you away from God’s light? Well, it sort of is, but it’s not the Big Events like the flood or the Messiah. I had to pray on this for a few minutes and figure it out. Then it hit me, in fact I posted about it on Twitter last night. The Devil’s biggest use of fear is convincing you that your Sin is somehow so special God can’t forgive you.
Even amongst Christians there is a great spirit of fear in church’s that somehow you will break some obscure rule and be banished to Hell for all eternity. Like God is some kind of ravenous lion just marching around the outside of the light from your tiny little campfire waiting to devour you for all time. Which character in the bible is described as a roaring lion? I’ll give you a hint, it’s NOT God.
That’s the greatest lie, and the one used to wreck the most havoc in the devout believers. The entire history of Man is us doing nothing but disobey and dishonor our Father’s word. Despite a literal ENTIRE HISTORY of mankind being nothing but rebellion and dishonor, our Father STILL promised to save us from Death and give us ever lasting eternal life. We know this because he told us, and His word is GOOD and incorruptible. Despite everything we have done, He still died naked and alone on a cross for you. Willingly, gladly, eagerly and with a spirit of lovingkindness for all mankind.
The man that wrote most of the new testament was originally a persecutor of Christ. He sentenced some of the first Christians to die. Yet he found forgiveness in the Lord and became St. Paul. I’ve sinned. You’ve sinned. We’ve all sinned against our Father, but I can assure you that your porn addiction is nothing compared to the sins of St Paul, and he was forgiven and made anew simply by ASKING for it.
So we covered a lot of ground today. I sat down to type and the words just came pouring out, which makes me happy. So let’s recap very quickly.
Fear is never from God.
Use discernment, scripture and pray as weapons
God isn’t subtle
You aren’t special, God loves you too, you aren’t the first sinner in human history he can’t forgive.
I believe if you pray, learn the scriptures, pray some more, and ask for guidance, you will find that God is far more communicative with you than most Protestant pastors would have you believe. God wants to walk with you daily. There is no decision so small he doesn’t want to hear about it. You don’t have to carry this burden on your own. He is a loving Father, and what Father doesn’t want to be asked about his advice?
My final, final thought is a prayer that has served me since I first humbly sought the Lord when I was 16. “My Lord, I am your loyal son, but I am an oblivious fool. Make your path for me so obvious that even I can’t miss it, and I will pledge to follow it without question”. That prayer got me a wife, that prayer got me a house. That prayer has made me wise, because that prayer is sincere.
God bless you all brothers and sisters. Reach out with questions or comments, and as always, subscribe.