when i'm trying to figure out whether an idea is from GOD or not, i need to ask, does my church family confirm it?
when you become a believer, a follower of CHRIST, you not only get a new relationship to GOD, you also get a new relationship with other people. it's called the church, the family of GOD. you become a member of the family.
and GOD never meant for you to make a major decision in life on your own. HE wants you to get help and advise from wise mature CHRISTians, other believers who are grounded in the faith and have a little more bible under their belt than maybe you have.
the bible says, "smart people get advice. fools don't." fools just think they know the right thing to do and act on their own intuition without ever checking it out with anybody else who is a mature CHRISTian.
the third question you need to ask is, does my church family confirm it? ephesians 3.10 (niv), HIS (GOD's) intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of GOD should be made know.
the biggest reason people mess up their lives, CHRISTians too – is they try to live their life without any accountability to anybody else, without any support, without any confirmation, any council, any guidance. the bible says, in a multitude of counselors there is safety.
when we try to live a lone ranger approach to the CHRISTian life we're going to fall flat on our face, because this is the way GOD works
we need to be open to the checks, the counsel, the correction of mature believers, pastors, CHRISTian leaders, other people in the church who have been believers longer than we have. we ought to check it out.
when in doubt, check it out.
just a thought from the front porch…
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