PROCLAMATION
“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. This is how you can recognize The Spirit of
God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is
from God.” 1 John 4:1-2 (NIV)
EXPLANATION
These words
were written by the apostle John, under the inspiration of The Holy Spirit of
God, to all believers. John begins this fourth
chapter of his first letter by telling them that not all spirits are from God and
they should test the spirits which come to them to see if they are from God or
from the antichrist. (1 John 4:1-3) He
says that The Spirit of God which is within them is greater than the one who is
in the world. (1 John 4:4) Then he tells
them again to love one another because love comes from God. Whoever does not love does not know God
because God is love. (1 John 4:7-9) God
proved that He loved us by sending His only Son to be an atoning sacrifice for
our sins. (John 3:16 and 1 John 4:10) We
love Him because He first loved us. There
is no fear in love. Perfect love cast
out fear because fear is based upon punishment. (1 John 4:18-19)
APPLICATION
Decades ago,
when cartoon characters were faced with a decision, a devil-like miniature version
of themselves would appear standing on one shoulder whispering in one ear, and
an angel-like miniature version would appear standing on the other shoulder
whispering in the other ear. While this
may not be Biblically correct, it does depict that we get messages from good and
bad spirits and we have to choose which one we will listen to. We are to test what we hear to see if it
comes from God or if it is consistent with The Word of God. If whatever it is goes against God’s Word,
then we ought not do it. And if we do it
then we need to ask God to forgive us.
Additionally, there are some people in this world who are under the influence
of evil spirits. They will deny the existence
of God and they have no problem with deceiving, mistreating, or taking advantage
of other people. Love is not part of
their vocabulary and believers should pray for them but not associate with
them.
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