Listen to God, NOT Man!!

[Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks, PsyD]

Be VERY CAREFUL who you listen to - everybody who says they are of God, are not!! 

Remember what happened to the man of God in 1 Kings 13:24, after he was lied to by an old Prophet (1 Kings 13:18). Him listening to that lie, ultimately cost him his life!! 

God had given him specific instructions, but he allowed another human, to redirect him from what God told him to do. The man of God even told the king in 1 Kings 13:9 what God said:

“For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’ ”

Then, he told the old Prophet the same thing in 1 Kings 13:16, when he asked him to come home with him. But the old Prophet told the man of God, an angel told him to have him come to his house, to eat and drink, which caused the man of God, to go with him, in spite of what God told HIM (1 Kings 13:18-19). I am going to give you all the Scriptures from 1 Kings 13:17-26, which is the conversation between the man of God and the old Prophet, which led to his tragic death, a little later, so you can read them yourselves!

Even after KNOWING what God said, the man of God STILL listened to the old prophet and followed him home! He listened to a man, who said an angel told him to do something different, from what God DIRECTLY told him!! 

Let me say this before I give you those Scriptures, think about it. If God has spoken DIRECTLY to you, and gave you instructions, why would God speak to someone else, and tell them to give you different instructions??? Does that make sense?? God is NOT wishy washy!! If God speak to you to tell you to do something, and if things change, God WILL SPEAK TO YOU again, and tell YOU the change!! AGAIN, BE VERY CAREFUL WHO YOU LISTEN TO!! Go to God for yourself, for a word; stop running to people looking for a word from God!! God is speaking to YOU; YOU just have to make time for God, so YOU can hear Him!! 

This is a very tragic, and sad thing that happened to the man of God!! All because he did not follow God’s directions and listened to another human being - someone SAYING he was a Prophet too!!  

My Prayer: Father, help us to recognize the fake from the real; give us discernment like never before!! Father, Jesus told us in Matthew 7:15 to watch out for false prophets because they come to us in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. Help us to stay alert Father!! Teach us Holy Spirit how to hear Father’s voice, and how to hear Jesus’ voice; how to know who is talking to us!! Thank You soooo much Father, for shielding and protecting us, and not having us ignorant of the devil’s devices!! Holy Spirit teach us how to partner with Father, partner with Jesus, partner with You, so we will be able to walk in the Spirit at ALL times, and not be lead by our flesh, or be deceived by the devil!! Father I love You; Jesus I love You; Holy Spirit I love You!!  

Here are the verses I promised to give you all, from 1 Kings 13:17-26:

¹⁷ I have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’” ¹⁸ The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.) ¹⁹ So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house. ²⁰ While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who had brought him back. ²¹ He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. ²² You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your ancestors.’” ²³ When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. ²⁴ As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. 

²⁵ Some people who passed by saw the body lying there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived. ²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord. The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the Lord had warned him.” 

Galatians 1:8 NIV says, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!”

That old Prophet changed what God said, into a lie, and the man of God listened to the lie, and died!! Thank God for Jesus, paying our sin debt, and FULFILLING ALL requirements of the Law!! Back then, if you disobeyed God, in most cases, you were punished immediately!! But thank God for Jesus!! Jesus HAS taken away our sins, past, present, and future, and given us HIS righteousness, and now we have God’s grace, and mercy, manifested to us right NOW (Roman 3:22; Colossians 1:19-22; Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 1:5-6)!!   

To understand what God’s grace is and what’s not, I suggest you study Pastor Creflo Dollar’s study notes, “WHAT GRACE IS AND WHAT GRACE IS NOT.” Another teaching on grace by Pastor Dollar is, “Ten Ways to Respond to Grace.”

Let me give you some Scriptures about what Jesus HAS done for us:

Colossians 2:13-15:

¹³ “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[a] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. [b]”

Footnotes:

a: Colossians 2:13 - Some manuscripts us

b: Colossians 2:15 - Or them in him

Hebrews 2:8:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—“ 

Hebrews 9:25-26:

²⁵ “Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

We ARE blessed; God is NOT counting our sins to us anymore, since Jesus has paid our sin debt!! Romans 4:8 tells us this, “Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

Romans 4:8 references Psalms 32:1-2, which says, “¹ Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. ² Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.”

Micah 7:18-19 says, ¹⁸ “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. ¹⁹ You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”

Jesus is not going to die again; He has offered Himself as a sin offering, once and for all!! Hebrews 10:12 tells us this: “But Christ gave Himself once for sins and that is good forever. After that He sat down at the right side of God.”  

Verses 14 and 19 of Hebrews 10 says, ¹⁴ “And by one gift He has made perfect forever all those who are being set apart for God-like living.”

¹⁹ “Christian brothers, now we know we can go into the Holiest Place of All because the blood of Jesus was given.”

You see, Jesus HAS taken away our sins, that separated us from coming to God, and having fellowship with Him!! Because of what Jesus HAS done, WE can go BOLDLY before God’s Throne of Grace, for OURSELVES!! We don’t need a middleman; we ALREADY have one and His Name is Jesus – Jesus is our Mediator!! Jesus is the ONLY One who can reconcile God, and mankind - Jesus is sitting on the right hand of God!! 1 Timothy 2:5 tells us, “For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:34 says, “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”  

Bottomline, GOD GOT US!! God IS for us; Jesus IS for us; Holy Spirit IS for us!! Therefore, WHY are we so fearful, worried, stressed? Because we are CHOOSING to listen to our circumstances, what we SEE, FEEL, TOUCH, instead of LISTENING to what God HAS told us directly, and IS telling us in His Word NOW!! Listening to our natural senses, after God has already gave us instructions on what to do, makes us carnal Christians!! This is what Romans 8:6-10 says: ⁶ “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. ⁸ So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹ But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. ¹⁰ And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” 

Remember the man of God in 1 Kings 13, who CHOSE to listen to a man, because he thought an angel had given him instructions, through the man? Remember what happened to him? The man of God lost his life, for not listening to God; not following God’s instructions to the letter!! This is a lesson for us; LISTEN TO GOD AND FOLLOW HIS DIRECTIONS!! And DON’T allow other people or circumstances, to change our mind, on what God has told US to do!! Let’s keep our FOCUS on God, and not focus on our circumstances or what people around us are saying!!  

This message was a result of me listening to a message by Pastor Jentezen Franklin titled, “The Power of Influence.” 

God has MANY ways to speak to us; many ways to inspire us, to encourage us! I know for me, God speaks to me through movies (whether they are spiritual or not), music, tv shows, or at times, when I am talking with another person. The thing is, we cannot expect God to move the same way, every time. God has MANY ways of doing things, in addition to His MANY ways of speaking.  Therefore, let’s not limit God; let’s just ALLOW God to do what He wants to do in our lives, move the way He wants to move, speak to us the way He wants to speak!

Click here for PDF version of "Listen to God, NOT Man!!"

God’s Blessings to you all and your families!! May you all ALWAYS hear what God is telling you all to do, and not get off track!! 

In God’s Service,

Rev. Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks