Speaking the Truth

Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 13:36:28 -0500

From: rinker@3dp.com (Jimmy Rinker)

Greetings,

I want to share with the group the urgency of being lead by the spirit and hearing God's voice and obeying it. On Sunday at church I met a woman through a mutual friend. We talked briefly and as usual I just "spoke the truth" without asking God if it was alright to release what He had spoken to me. I had told her that the church is the problem and that we need to repent. Since I was presumptuous (rooted in pride), the spirit behind my words was also rooted in pride. The words I spoke were the truth, but because I spoke them out of "the will of the Father" (in the proper time, place and to whom He wishes I speak them to), they not only were ineffective but they caused this woman to stumble.

What happened in her was that she accused me of thinking of myself more highly than I ought to and that I was critical of the body of Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was unable to tell her that I was first in line to repent and that I was just speaking facts, not condemnation...in fact, I was looking forward to the time when we would be pure enough as a body to lay our lives down for the community like this. So her critical spirit also lashed out at me (unknown to her, she was also just speaking the truth).

When we go forward in pride without taking the time to ask God if we are allowed or are not allowed to say, do, or go, we are going before Him and setting ourselves up for a fall and opening ourselves up to attack as well as causing others to stumble. She was just not ready to receive what I said and perhaps I delayed or destroyed a relationship that we were suppose to have or worse caused her to withdraw back into her comfort zone.

On my side of the coin, the words she spoke by her spirit devastated me for 2 days. They do not sound like she said anything very bad but the spirit behind them had real force. In fact, I could not lift my head up for 2 days! Once the fog lifted (yesterday), and I sought God as to what had happened, He began to reveal to me the spirits behind the spoken words and the impact they have on others, even if what is spoken is truth. If truth is spoken outside of the will of the Father (His timing and place), it could have a negative effect instead of positive.

We are called to preach the gospel of the kingdom, heal the sick, raise the dead, exhort one another, love one another. If we do these things that we are called to do outside of the will of the Father (moving in presumption), which is simply being lead by the spirit on a moment by moment basis, we are setting ourselves and others around us up for trouble.

The "spirit of prophecy" is the testimony of Jesus. The word prophecy means to speak forth the truth with understanding. The testimony of Jesus is when we do exactly what Jesus would have done in a given situation because we are equally yoked with Him and the Holy Spirit and we know what God wants in every given situation because we can hear His voice and are in unity with the spirit.

We are not at this place yet, however. God's grace has provided for us to make mistakes while being in presumption so that He can build boldness and zeal within us. He also knows that boldness without limits (temperance) can be dangerous. Only God has the full plan, we only prophecy in part.

The Lord is taking us to new levels and is now calling on us to yield more fully to His Holy Spirits leading. God is now tightening the harness so that we will be mighty warriors worthy of carrying out His plans and agenda.

Take this as an exhortation from this day forward to press into His will and no longer move out in presumption. Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength, run and not get weary, walk and not faint. I pray Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that You would provide for us the strength, grace, and wisdom to walk in the deeper spiritual truths that You share with Your friends. I pray that you would continue to break us and humble our hearts before You and give us a spirit of trust and increase our faith so that we will begin to wait on You. We declare Your wisdom wiser that our wisdom and Your ways higher than our ways. We pray for You to complete the work You have already began in us and I pray that You would quickly raise up Your army. The spirit and the bride say come Lord Jesus!

Grace and Peace