A spiritual balance….

The Holy Spirit, a subject that is sometimes difficult in one way or another. Who is He, what does He do, and what do you do with it???

We ourselves sometimes struggle with it when someone comes to us and says: the spirit has told me that you……….. (and then there will be a story about what He is going to do, or what we have to do for Him, things like that.)

How do we deal with that? Let’s start with an example that everyone can imagine:

A good friend comes to you today with a great offer! I have gold for you to buy. One kilo for $ 25,381 per kilo. See, that sounds like a good deal! Will you let that deal pass you by? Of course not. The gold price is normally $ 55,381 per kilo, so if you can buy it for $ 30,000 less… that sounds good!

What could, and should you have done differently? Walk away immediately if your friend makes you such an offer? If it had been true, you would have missed a great opportunity. So what would you have done?

And the answer is so easy indeed: you research before you take the deal if it’s real. You search the internet for what gold really looks like, you go to an expert, you investigate, you let it rest for one night, you check at least 3 sources to see if it is real. And if that’s really the case.. then you grab that deal and go for it.

And now another example:

Your best friend comes up to you and says, “The spirit has told me that……….”. (and fill in something yourself) What do you do?

Walk away immediately, immediately accept what he says, or investigate first? Let’s look at this verse:

Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.

1 thessalonians 5:20-22

Do you see the balance? With great respect to God, examine what the Spirit has to tell you. Research. If God has something to tell you, find out if it really is His spirit. Let alone if someone else tells you what a spirit told that person what you get or should do. An example:

In Judges 6 there is a beautiful story of Gideon being called by God. An angel came, God had a message for Gideon, Gideon had a dream, and then we see this:

36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— 37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.

Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Judges 6:36-40

Do you see what Joshua is doing? He does exactly what it says in 1 Thessalonians 5. He doesn’t quench the spirit, he doesn’t push it aside, but examines it and checks to see if it’s really true. And only when he is really sure, will he get started. Is God angry when Joshua asks for another confirmation? No, definitely not. God gives him that confirmation, again and again. If you look at the complete chapter 6, you’ll see that Gideon has plenty of questions for God, and God answers them all. One by one.

Also notice that it’s not “just a neighbor” who told Joshua these things. It was God Himself. And even though… Joshua did test it…. that does say something, right?

Let that be a lesson to all of us. Don’t directly say “I don’t believe what the spirit says”, but also don’t say “I directly believe the spirit tells me that…”. Find the right Biblical balance according to 1 Thessalonians 5.

Why? Not because you can, but because you have to:

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 John 4:1

Always. Because God asks that of you, out of obedience to Him, you must do that. Every time. And if He does tell you to do x, y or z? Go.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

And that’s your own responsibility to God. Your spiritual life is worth much more than gold. Take care of it…