Prove All Things

Prove All Things

Not only are we to test or try the spirits in men, but we are to

do the same with any supernatural manifestations that we might

experience. Today, when the world is being exposed to so many

false things we need to be careful not to expose our spirits to false

dreams, visions, revelations, prophecies, voices, etc. The Word of

God definitely teaches that God can manifest Himself in any, or

all, of the above things; yet we are not to accept everything that

comes in the name of Jesus. We need to test or prove these also.

One of Satan’s greatest devices is to counterfeit the real things of

God and come to us disguised as the working of the Holy Spirit.

How do we test these things? Let us look to God’s Word, as

there is always wisdom there to show us what is truth. James

3:13-18 says:

Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among

you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with

meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife

in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This

wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual,

devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion

and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is

first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated,

full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without

hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of

them that make peace.

From this Scripture we can know that anything that causes

confusion, strife, or envy is of the devil.

Many times a dream will bring confusion, and by this we can

know that it is not of God. If a prophecy is given to us and it

causes fear or strife within us, we can know it is not of God.

Some would say maybe it is a dream with a warning. God’s warnings

will always leave a way out for us; never will He leave us in

hopelessness or despair. Satan has stepped up his work at this last

hour and is sending many false spirits to cause many false spiritual

manifestations to occur. This can especially happen to anyone who

has ever been involved with the occult. If we receive devilish wisdom,

we will find it will create not only strife, fear and confusion,

but also every evil work. The evil lies which Satan tells people

that lead them to destroy their lives and marriages are spawned in

the pit of hell. He tells people lies such as the following: God has

another mate for them that is more spiritual than the one they

have; their mate is standing in the way of God blessing them, so

they should leave; or, God has a soul mate for them, and now that

they are following God they should have the mate God has chosen

for them, etc. All of these are lies and can be exposed as we

look at this Scripture.

God’s wisdom is first pure, then peaceable. We are to be

peacemakers, not involving ourselves in the war of divorce. We

are to have pure hearts toward our mates and family, even if those

mates or loved ones are not walking in the light we have, or even

if they refuse to walk in it. We are to overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:21 states, Be not overcome of evil, but overcome

evil with good. Our prayers, our love and our obedience to Christ

will bring the victory in the lives of those that are the closest to us,

as we follow in God’s ways. Any revelation that does not encompass

God’s love is not of Him.

Is the voice we heard gentle? Or is it urgent and demanding?

God is generally not in a big hurry. One of His virtues is patience.

Usually, a demanding voice is not the Lord. Our Lord is gentle

and kind.

Is our vision easy to be entreated? Or is it hard to believe? If

it is difficult for us to receive, or beyond our imagination, we

should examine it as to whether it came from the Lord or not.

God’s words are easy to be entreated.

Is our prophecy or vision full of mercy? Or is it instead harsh,

threatening the wrath of God upon us or someone else? God is a

God of love and He does not send tragedy, curses, sickness or

fear upon His own children. If we have a dream or vision with

such as this happening, it is not from our Lord. It is the devil trying

to torment us and fill us with fear. If we are living for the Lord,

the devil has no right to put his curse on us. If we are living for the

devil, then we need to repent and get our lives right with God.

Then we will not have to fear what Satan would try to do to us,

for we have been given the power to overcome him (Luke 10:19).

Sometimes people do have a dream of Satan’s plan to destroy

someone. If this should happen, we can pray and offset any of the

enemy’s plans. Some people may have a “feeling” that something

bad will happen, and then it does. They call it a hunch or a premonition.

When another premonition occurs they live in fear because

of their initial experience; in their mind they believe it will happen

again. Due to their belief it usually does come to pass. As Christians,

our belief and trust should be in God, not our "feelings.”

Bad dreams and feelings can be averted through the power

of the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we do not have premonitions,

but we receive a burden in the spirit for someone or something.

This prayer burden is given to us to offset the plans of the enemy.

As we stop and pray, we can overcome whatever he has planned.

We can stay one step ahead of the enemy with the Lord on our

side. It is truly wonderful to walk with Christ and be aware of the

devices of Satan and defeat him first -- before he comes against

us. (Psalm 21:8: Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies:

thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.)

We discussed the fruit of the Holy Spirit as being evident in

our lives when we are walking with the Lord. James 3:17 also

mentions fruits. Does our dream, revelation or vision produce

good fruit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,

faith, meekness, and temperance)?

James continues and tells us that wisdom from above is without

partiality and without hypocrisy. Many people get in trouble

with false revelation because they think they are the only ones

that are receiving a vision. They believe they are “special” unto

God, or that God has a “special work” for them that no one else

could do. God is not a partial God; He will use anyone who obeys

and follows Him. God always extends His hand to “whosoever

will.” Revelation 22:17 says, ...And whosoever will, let him

take the water of life freely. Deceiving spirits can work on a

man’s or woman’s pride and/or ego by telling them they are God’s

anointed and special servants, and that they are the only ones able

to perform certain tasks. If they would stop and examine the hypocrisy

of their walk with God, they would know that they are

not hearing God’s voice.

God’s pattern is to call us “to be” before He calls us “to do.”

So many “babes” in Christ are eager to zealously go forth in a

full-time ministry to save the world, yet they are not prepared for

this task. Romans 10:2 says, For I bear them record that they

have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. We must

have the knowledge of God’s Word, which takes some preparation

time, before we can go forth as an effective tool of the Lord.

The real ministry flows from what Christ is doing “in us,” not

from what we are trying “to do” for Christ. It is always a greater

service that we render through our “being” than through our “doing.”

It is a greater honor to be called to “be” something than to

“do” something. Faith and preparation should precede “works.”

A true ministry will be an overflow of our fellowship and relationship

with Jesus Christ. It will just spill over on to others.

James ends chapter 3 by saying that the fruit of righteousness

is sown in peace of them that make peace. The Amplified

Version of James 3:18 really makes it clear how to know if

a revelation is from the Lord or the enemy. We can know by looking

at the fruit. And the harvest of righteousness (of conformity

to God’s will in thought and deed) is (the fruit of the

seed) sown in peace by those who work for and make peace -

- in themselves and in others, (that is,) that peace which means

concord (agreement, harmony) between individuals, with

undisturbedness, in a peaceful mind free from fears and agitating

passions and moral conflicts. From this we can examine

the voices we are hearing to be sure they are the Lord’s, and not

those of the enemy, as the Lord’s dealings will always produce

good fruit. We can then know if we are receiving true or false

wisdom. Confusion always occurs when we are fighting a battle

to determine truth versus error. We must go to God to determine

truth. We must find out if our confusion is resulting from God

trying to show us error or Satan trying to rob us of truth. If our

hearts are right and we sincerely desire to know the truth, God

will reveal it to us. We must not set a time limit on God as to when

we shall receive the truth. Some truths come quickly, others we

must seek for diligently with our whole heart. Matthew 7:7 in

the Amplified Version says, Keep on asking and it will be given

you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking

(reverently) and the door will be opened to you.

Some people have thought that if they have asked God to

take their vision or revelation out of their hearts and it still remains

there, that it must be God. This is not necessarily so, as

they must have perfect faith, a cleansed heart, and the willingness

to suffer loss of their vision. We cannot say one prayer and expect

to have instant truth in all areas of our life. We grow in truth as we

walk with the Lord. The more we study His Word and the more

we fellowship with Him, the more truth we possess. If, or when

we come to the place where we are filled with His truth and faith,

then those things we ask will be granted; but this place in Christ is

the place of the overcomer. If we were in that place, all that we

would speak would come to pass, and we would walk in the same

authority that Christ walked in while He was on this earth. We

would not have to tell people we were overcomers, as it would be

evident, just as it was in Jesus’ life. John 15:7 shows us that it is

possible to come to that place as it says, If ye abide in me, and

my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall

be done unto you. Most of us are striving to reach that place. So

until we do, we must keep taking things to God to check and see

if they are from Him.

We must give all our desires, dreams and visions to the Lord

to be perfected and given back to us, as He sees fit. We usually

experience the death of a vision or dream before it can be resurrected.

We see this in the life of Joseph. He received a true vision,

but He did not understand it nor know the time of its occurrence.

God’s thoughts, techniques, and timing are different from man’s

(Isaiah 55:8-9). We must realize when we are still young in the

Lord, there is much cleansing of the carnal mind that must take

place before our thoughts and our hearts are trustworthy.

(Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, The heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search

the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to

his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.)