“Let God Thoughts Lead 2009”

Fresh Manna for2009© by Pastor Tim Burt

Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

I had woken up early after a late night and great time with great friends eating, laughing together and then praying the New Year in. Although I was tired, I was upbeat and excited about starting a New Year. Renee and I had just gotten back from a delightful few days with my son Jeffrey and his wife Lisa in Texas. We still had a couple of days to relax before digging into the New Year and the challenges that lie ahead. There was nothing going on in me that would have made me wake up with any negative thoughts. Yet, as I got up and started to get ready for the day, I heard in my spirit this voice that said “Man we’re off to a bad start! – I hope this isn’t some kind of a sign of how the rest of the year is going to be!”

I knew that wasn’t my thought because as I said, I wasn’t thinking anything negative. I knew in my spirit that God was giving me a “word of knowledge” (1Cor 12:8) showing me what someone else was thinking. I am thankful that I understand and can discern a voice like this. Before I knew the Lord, I may have thought this kind of a negative thought was an omen in my life – something I may have put faith in. Now I know how to address it. So, to you who may have had a thought like this, this is for you!

It is so critical to discern the voices we hear and thoughts we think. When people hear, think, and then believe that some voice, some feeling, or some sign is a sign that is going to tell us how our day or our year is going to go, they are opening themselves to demonic activity. That kind of an experience is called an omen. An omen is defined as a phenomenon or event or circumstance supposed to forecast a good or evil – a prophetic sign. Signs outside of what God’s Word teaches us are born out of superstition, myth, wild and over-spiritual imaginations, and more. Cultures that don’t have the Bible to instruct them end up with religions or spiritual cultures that are filled with myth and superstition. God never wanted this for mankind. He instructed His children through Moses to avoid this kind of thing. We see it in Deuteronomy 18:9-11 (NLT) “When you arrive in the land the LORD your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling or sorcery, or allow them to interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead.”

God wanted them to avoid being influenced by the pagan cultures of the lands they would take over. He wanted them to listen and learn and trust Him and His Word alone. He feels the same way today.

When we give our lives to Jesus, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaches and instructs us from within helping us to learn and execute God’s Word in our lives. For example – you have a bad attitude. Your start to feel wrong about that and the Lord begins to bring to your remembrance verses on loving one another. That is God leading you by His Spirit. God doesn’t lead us by omens or circumstances, but by His Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14 says “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” The excitement of learning of and spending time in God’s Word is that we get to learn how much He loves us, we see the Holy Spirit enlighten us in His ways of thinking and living, and His promises become illuminated, bringing us hope and strengthening us as we put our trust in those promises daily.

Don’t you dare cave into bad circumstances or omen driven beliefs that try to drive your destiny for the day, week, or year. God wants us to rise up in faith knowing that He is our help and our promise. He’ll help us in any situation if we will believe His promises and have faith in them.

On a closing note for today, which will you believe? Some omen generated by a negative circumstance or this promise to God’s children? Psa 115:11-15 “You that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: He is their help and their shield. The LORD has been mindful of us: He will bless us… He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children. You are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.”

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt