Luke 9:54-55 (NKJV) 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.
The disciples spent lots of time with Jesus so He could teach them and raise them up.
As He spent more and more time with them, they began to understand some things very well, but their humanity would show itself sometimes, as with the example in the verses above.
They had visited a Samaritan village, but the people there didn’t receive Jesus. Seeing this, 2 of the disciples asked Jesus if He wanted them to call down fire from heaven.
Jesus immediately rebuked them and told them that they didn’t understand which spirit they were speaking by when they said this.
You see, sometimes we can honestly believe we’re speaking by the Holy Spirit, but in fact we are speaking by a spirit of the enemy. Such was the case with James and John, above.
We need to be constantly checking ourselves and letting God show us whether we’re speaking by His spirit or not, when we say things.
It’s imperative that we do this because great harm can be done if we speak to people by the wrong spirit, while thinking we’re speaking by the spirit of God.
The same goes for those who we allow to speak into our lives. It’s important that we measure what we’re told against the word of God so we will know if what we’re hearing is really of God or not.
There is a lot of stuff floating around the airwaves, written in books and published on the internet that sounds good on the surface, but it is really not of God’s spirit when we start looking closely at it.
So remember; if the disciples, who spent 3 years with Jesus, could get it wrong, so can we and many others.
Be diligent and seek God in everything we say and everything we hear, to make sure it’s His spirit that’s speaking through us and to us.
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808
401-315-0902
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