“Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.” 1 John 4:1 NIV
A familiar falsehood goes, “It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe in something.” That is sheer nonsense! You can believe that you can fly and leap from the edge of the highest building in the world, flapping your arms for all you’re worth. But believing such falsehood has no effect on keeping you in the air. There are those who argue that it doesn’t matter what you believe. There is also the belief that God is merely a projection of one’s imagination, rather than that He exists and that He is the creator of all that is. The Bible assumes rather that God exists and He spoke the heavens and earth into existence. Furthermore, the Bible teaches the actual existence of Satan and other fallen angels known as demons. John’s teaching here assumes that behind all truth in the spiritual realm is the Spirit of truth. Behind all false teaching is “the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6), led by Satan, but including his demonic forces. From the day that Satan deceived Eve in the garden, until the last days when the final antichrist will deceive the world, evil spirits have promoted false teaching to lead people away from the living and true God. When John says, “many false prophets have gone out into the world”, we should realize that these were not sinister, evil-looking characters. They used Christian lingo, professing to believe in Jesus. John tells us, “Do not believe every spirit.” Thus, we need spiritual discernment.
PRAYER THOUGHT
Lord Jesus, by Your Holy Spirit, may we be discerning of all we hear.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Lord Jesus, thank You for the Holy Spirit, dwelling within us, enabling us to test the spirits to see whether they are from You. Thank You for giving us spiritual discernment because Satan and his forces are alive and well, promoting error at every opportunity. AMEN
I.B.R.A. Readings
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
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