Good Intentions – Disastrous Results
Many, many people throughout history have based faith actions on the wrong word. And as we have seen, a bad word can get planted on the heart as well as a good word – if not easier.
The opening up of the new world was delayed because people believed the expert’s word who proclaimed the earth to be flat! This sounds preposterous to us now. But mankind has been stifled by ignorance about the true word on a subject.
People have been slaughtered because of the promotion of a wrong word too. Millions of Jews were exterminated because followers of a German mad-man believed his word of Aryan superiority. German people, and especially the leadership of Nazi Germany, believed the word of Nazi psychiatrist Ernst Rudin perpetuating the 1933 Nazi sterilization law. This law led to the sterilization of 375,000 “unfit” Germans and set the stage for the Holocaust.
In another era, hundreds of men, women, and children followed religious cult leader, Jim Jones, like the Pied Piper, to Guyana and committed suicide because they acted by faith on his word. The news footage of the bloated bodies of men, women, and little children that lay dead in the hot sun spoke volumes concerning the power of words.
Every day young people base their hair styles, clothing purchases, and activities on words they receive from pop music, movies, and star’s endorsements or television commercial words and images. We are even living in a day when subliminal messages, or slightly hidden logo/words, influence people to make purchases.
I listened to a documentary recently on television regarding the affect of verbal abuse on the brain. Brain scans have revealed that the physical brain is severely affected by verbal abuse. Studies showed that adults who were verbally abused as children had dramatic differences within the structure of the brain, specifically in the area that divides the two halves of the brain. This difference that lasted on in to adult-hood affected neuro-transmission and resulted in reactive behavior. Words make a difference!
Seemingly innocent words, if not the best or proper words for our life, can have devastating results. There must be a screening process. There must be something by which we gauge the right word so that we can act by faith.
Everything Hinges On The Right Word
Just because one makes choices in life does not mean that success will follow. Making the right choices or faith choices based on the right logo/word is the key to success.
Sometimes this gets a little confusing when two good words from reliable sources are coming at you. So who do you believe? This can happen with political election decisions, conflicting decisions between parents, or the differences in religious dogma.
In the Old Testament there were two prophets, supposedly representing God; Hananiah and Jeremiah. Hananiah was prophesying a more pleasing prophecy regarding their victory over Babylon. Jeremiah was prophesying a warning regarding a harsh Babylonian captivity. The people chose the word of Hananiah. But they were wrong – dead wrong! Hananiah also received God’s personal word of judgment and died that very year.
God felt so strongly about a right and true word going forth that His prescription for a false prophet was stoning to death! The right word was absolutely essential for it affected those who based their faith and life upon it.
Know God’s Word And You Know His Will
A young woman who was desperately seeking God’s help in her own life asked the question in one of our seminars, “How do you know when you are acting upon God’s word on your heart?”
Others, who want to be in line with God’s word, have asked it another way: “How do you know God’s will?”
Oftentimes I have heard people conclude their prayer with, “if it be thy will.” Certainly these people are sincere. They are seeking to be humble. They do not, in any way, want to violate or disregard God’s will. But the truth is that they are praying from ignorance or habit as much as from humility.
You will struggle to find this type praying in the New Testament. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done.” But His prayer was from knowledge of the Father’s will, not ignorance of it. In the, so called, Model Prayer, Jesus said that we should pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. But there was no “if” involved.
It sounds humble to pray this way but it is the wrong way to pray. Can you imagine Jesus standing at the tomb of Lazarus saying, “Lazarus come forth if it be God’s will.” Or, “Man stretch forth your hand, if it be God’s will.”
One prominent characteristic mentioned time and again was that Jesus spoke with “authority,” not like the religious teachers.
Again, the principle is: get a word on your heart and act on it by faith. Jesus could respond with authority because He always acted from the Father’s word on His heart. That is why miracles happened. That is why miracles will still happen.
Knowing The Word And Acting By Faith Is Not Easy
If this experience was easy, everybody would be doing it and it would be so common as to not even be considered as something unusual. The road to the right word is straight and narrow and often requires effort and energy. Sometimes it requires patience and persistence. It is not for the lazy and insensitive person.
In Old Testament times, the prophet Elijah prayed for rain seven separate times. The first time or two nothing seemed to be happening. Then a little cloud appeared. Then it rained in abundance. Daniel prayed for twenty-one days. Jeremiah prayed for ten days. Jesus gave illustrations concerning asking, seeking, and knocking. He told parables about persistent individuals.
The proper word that comes to our heart has to come through many obstacles before it gets planted. Listen to the conversation that an angel had with Daniel as he prayed for many days.
“Then he continued, ‘Do not be afraid Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia” (Daniel 10:12-13, NIV).
Mixing Faith With The Word
As wonderful as is the Word of God, it will remain of little use unless it is activated by faith. Hearing and receiving or agreeing is not enough – it must be acted upon.
In Hebrews 4:2 in comparing the wandering Israelites in the wilderness to us, the writer says:
“For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them: but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (NKJV).
So, if we hear a good word or promise and do not mix it with faith, it will not profit us.
James says:
“…be does of the word and don’t be deceived” (1:21).
“…faith without works is dead” (2:17).
“…by works faith was made complete (perfect)” (2:22.
Today, the true believer in Jesus, has a Helper, as Jesus called Him, to help us know the right word on which to believe. I even think He Helps us to believe. This Helper is the resident Holy Spirit that indwells every believer. When we rely upon His guidance and respond by faith, we “profit,” as James said. And knowing the right word to base action upon and acting in faith upon this word is of great importance for life success.
