The Holy Spirit is a practical Teacher. He doesn't always choose to
send an angel or a prophet to declare His will for our lives, nor
does He always speak to us in a still, small voice. No, sometimes
the Lord sends loud and clear messages through our surroundings. It
is up to us to remain sensitive enough to the Spirit to see the
prophetic implications in every day lives.
I'm accustomed to the Holy Ghost speaking to me through the
illumination of natural events that correspond to spiritual truths.
Don't get me wrong. I don't look for deep prophetic directives if I
lose a button on my blouse. But I do try to remain aware of the Holy
Spirit's presence and ask Him if there is significance to people,
places or objects that strike my spirit.
Like the time I was driving down Interstate 95 coming into Ft.
Lauderdale. I saw a row of orange garage-like doors that I had seen
many times before. This time, the colors seemed bolder, more
vibrant, almost glowing. The sign above the facility read,
"Self-Storage." I continued to drive down the highway with a "hmm"
floating around in my soul. Suddenly, a row of blue doors with the
same familiar facility sign demanded my attention.
"OK, God. What's up?" I asked, certain that I was about to miss an
important lesson if I failed to inquire at His temple. Well, it
doesn't take a prophet to interpret the message. It was clearer than
20/20 vision: It was time to put my "self" in storage. It was time
to decrease a little more that He might increase. It was time to
exchange the heavy weight of self-will for self-sacrifice. It was
time to go to a new level.
You know, Webster's dictionary has a laundry list of definitions
that begin with self. Most of them are self-serving. There's
self-absorption, self-advancement, self-appointed. And we haven't
even got out of the As yet. There's self-deception, self-existent
and self-government. There's self-indulgence, self-justification and
self-reliance. Oh, let's not forget self-righteousness, that
religious version that looks good on the outside but is rotten on
the inside.
Get the picture? (Perhaps that's why the Lord showed me a row of
doors. One self-storage unit for each of the "self" areas I needed
to put away.) All that said, I believe the very worst self-issue is
self-will. Webster defines a self-willed person as one who is
stubborn about getting his own way. A self-willed person is a
willful person. The willful person does what he or she pleases. The
only problem is when what he or she pleases does not please God.
That's when self-will takes us down the path of self-government past
the alley of self-indulgence and toward the path of self-deception.
Now let's bring this home: self-will is one ingredient in the recipe
for a false prophet. How can I say that? I don't have to. Jesus said
it for me and Matthew recorded it in his Gospel. In Matthew 7:15
Jesus tells us to beware of false prophets who appear as harmless as
doves but are as dangerous as serpents. Then in Verse 21 Jesus goes
on to warn the disciples that not everyone who says "Lord, Lord"
will enter into the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus makes it crystal clear
that only those who do the will of the Father will enter in.
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"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done
many wonderful works? And I will profess unto them, I never knew
you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:22-23). So
what are we going to do with that? Jesus undeniably calls out those
who prophesy, cast out devils, and do mighty works. He is obviously
talking about the prophetic ministry in these verses (not that they
don't apply to anyone else). Jesus began His teaching with a warning
about false prophets and then drilled down to the core issue of some
of these false prophets: self-will.
Let's look at this verse again in light of some of the translations
of the Greek words. "Prophesied" translates as "exercised the
prophetic office." "Name" translates as "authority." "Wonderful
works" translates as "miracles." "Knew" translates as "allowed." And
"iniquity" translates as "lawlessness."
So the Scripture could read this way: "Many will say to me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not exercised the prophetic office by your
authority? and by your authority cast out devils? and by your
authority done many miracles? And I will profess unto them, I never
allowed you: depart from me, ye that work lawlessness" (Matthew
7:22-23; Emphasis added).
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In other words, "You did not do the will of My Father. You did your
own will. You were self-willed. You did what you wanted to do
without asking God what He thought about it. You prophesied without
permission. You cast out devils to draw attention to yourself. You
used your gifts, which are without repentance, as it pleased you.
You may have used My name, but I didn't call you to do those
things."
Let me just drive this home with the Message Bible translation: "I
can see it now - at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me
saying, 'Master, we preached the message, we bashed the demons, our
God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I
am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to
make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out
of here'" (Matthew 7:22-23).
I don't know about you, but that was enough to drive me to the
self-storage facility and pay the price to rent as many units as it
takes to unload the self-assertion, self-conceit, self-interest -
and self-will. It's a character issue. Jesus said we will know
people by their fruit. But looking at the fruit of a ministry is not
enough. We must look at character, which should be ever-ripening
without rotting. (But that's a whole other article.)
Kingdom prophets and prophetic people, maybe you are like me and
have seen the same self-storage sign. I challenge you not to flow in
spiritual gifts without exercising self-control, self-denial and
self-discipline. I appeal to you to go through some
self-examination, self-restraint and self-revealing. Rid yourself of
self-will. Self-will is stubbornness. Stubbornness is as iniquity
and idolatry (1 Samuel 15:23). The road to self-deception is not as
long as you might think. And the end is self-destruction.
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