We must know truth

DANNY G. HATFIELD, SR.

Part 2

God will send strong delusion to those who love not the truth because they have rejected God’s truth by following and allowing man and false doctrine to deceive them. “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (Thessalonians 2:8-12).

We must whole heartedly seek God, we must love God, love the word of God which is God, and above all obey God, grow and mature in the Lord that we might be saved. We must study God’s word; receive from the Spirit and grow. As we grow we will mature, maturity brings understanding and understanding gives us the knowledge to know and to obey God. Now, how can we know the difference between the teachings of men from the teachings of anointed men of God speaking by the Holy Spirit? We know the difference by a gift of the Holy Spirit called discernment of spirits. Discernment is the ability to perceive truth and error, right and wrong and to know when a man is speaking by the Spirit of God or speaking after the wisdom of man or demon. This is the very reason spiritual gifts are essential within the body of Christ. Consider also the gifts of wisdom and knowledge in 1st Corinthians 12:4-11.

As we study God’s word, we are enlightened by the Spirit and will grow in the Lord, as we grow we receive from God knowledge at a level we are able to receive it. To understand the word of God we must begin with the milk of God’s word, God will not feed us at a level we are not able to understand, this would bring confusion and there is no confusion in the Lord. If God fed a child a morsel of meat before they are ready to receive meat they will not be able to digest the meat. We must also continue to grow in the Lord; if we fail to grow we are not learning and will become stagnated. We must understand we can only receive from the Spirit when we seek and allow the Spirit to teach us. We must learn from the Spirit and from men anointed by God having been taught by the Spirit. Knowing this, we cannot receive from God if we have not the Spirit of God. Let us not quench the Spirit by unbelief, by failing to grow in the Lord or by our own arrogance. Repent and receive from God truth.