Verse of the day: 1 Samuel 3:19-21, So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD. 21 Then the LORD appeared again in Shiloh. For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
How do we know that what we hear from a preacher or teacher is God’s truth? I hear too many people today claiming to be God’s messenger, but their message is not lining up with God’s Word. Sadly, I also see far too many Christians following these false teachers and false prophets like dumb, ignorant, sheep. In the days of the prophets, the only way to truly know if the prophet was of God was to wait and see if the prophecy came to pass. God would do something to verify that the man and the message were sent by Him. Here, we clearly see that God Himself established Samuel as a prophet of the Lord. How did He do it? By not allowing any of his words to fail. Man, in his quest to elevate himself, will claim to hear some special revelation from God Himself, when we all have the ability to know what God’s will and plan is for our lives. How, you ask? We can know by simply reading and studying God’s Word. Yes, God’s Word, that is accessible to all of us. With the abundance of Bible study tools available to us today, there will be no excuse when we stand before God for living ignorant of God’s will. He has given us His complete revelation within the covers of our Bibles. All we need to know about Him and life is in the pages of His Word. However, if we take the lazy approach to God’s Word, we will be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. Ephesians 4:14 put it this way, “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting”. How many of us have honestly gone back to our Bibles and verified that what we heard the preacher preach was true to the Word of God? God commended the Bereans for being the type of people who checked out the Apostle Paul’s messages. Acts 17:11 says this about them, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” If we are diligent to study the Word of God, as we are told to in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”, we will find that God will reveal Himself to us. That was one of the greatest rewards Samuel could have received while serving the Lord, as it reads in verse 21, “For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel”. The bottom line is that we must be diligent to study God’s Word for ourselves, and always be ready to verify what we have heard taught and preached. Be careful about those who claim to have some exclusive revelation from God that is not found in His Word. God has given us His complete revelation. Rather than looking for some new revelation, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate God’s Word so that we can know how to apply it to our lives for God’s glory. The Apostle Paul said this in his prayer for the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 1:17-18, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”. He also said this about spiritual wisdom in 1 Corinthians 2:10-13, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” There are many preachers and teachers who are legitimate servants of God, preaching the truth of God’s Word. Nonetheless, this does not excuse any of us from reading, studying, and growing in our knowledge of Christ and His Word. Let us be students of God’s Word who recognize false teaching and who can apply God’s Word to our lives, with godly wisdom and by the leading of the Spirit.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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