A few years ago I took a trip from Nashville to Atlanta. I had my heart set on eating at a certain restaurant in town when I arrived, so I didn't eat all day long. By the time I got there I was starving...and the restaurant was closed. So we drove around looking for somewhere else to eat and found one lonely restaurant still open. When we got our food, we couldn't even recognize what we were ingesting, but I was so hungry I didn't even care. I had starved myself to the point that I was willing to accept anything and call it "food".
My mind wondered back to this tale last week as I discussed with a friend the desire of the church to hear a Word from the Lord. I know this seems like an odd leap, but stick with me. I have noticed in many Spirit-filled churches there is incredible emphasis on "hearing from the Lord", but little focus on the importance of discernment. We sing about hearing from God, we preach about hearing from God, we teach about hearing from God, but rarely does anyone explain the importance of knowing whether or not the word truly comes from Him. We blindly accept any word from the pulpit as being Spirit-inspired. In churches that still encourage message and interpretation in tongues, congregations are willing to accept interpretations without taking a moment to try the word in their spirits.
So, I started wondering if much like the way I starved myself to a point that I took something that was unrecognizable and called it "food" if we starve ourselves so much that we will call anything God's Word. Could the problem be that we have denied ourselves His true word, so we will take whatever we get? If we were as desperate for His words as we claim, why aren't our noses constantly in the Word He already gave us? If we want to hear Him, we aren't we spending every day conversing with Him in prayer? If we want to experience His Presence, then why aren't we living daily in it?
It's time to let our desperation for Him to become a desire to know Him for ourselves. We can't depend on anyone else to tell us what He has to say, we have to know His Voice for ourselves. Lord, give me discernment!
