Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."¹

Certainly God still leads, directs and communicates with us today. However, unless the message/direction received is from God's Word, the Bible, or in complete harmony with it, we can be certain it is not from God.

If we use "God-talk" as a means of getting our own way, such as in the following: "God told me it is to be such-and-such way," or "God told me you are to be my wife/husband," etc., etc., you can be fairly certain it is God-talk, and not talk from God. And when we quote Bible verses out of context to justify the point we are making, this is nothing more than Bible-babble.

When we make inappropriate uses of such phrases as "Praise God" when we hit our finger with a hammer (a good old "Ouch" is more like reality), or when we blame God for problems that are of our own making, or quote Bible verses as a means of avoiding personal responsibility, we are expressing meaningless Bible-babble.

Bible-babble may impress gullible people but it's phony. It's another defense against facing realityâ€"another form of denial which is always a self-defeating way to live. If there is one thing God wants us to be it is to be honest and real. As his Word says, "God desires truth."²

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, deliver me from the sin of dishonesty, denial, and phoniness, and help me to be always loving and real. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name. Amen."

1. 1 John 4:1 (NIV).
2. Psalm 51:6.

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