Why Should I Listen to God?
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
Psalm 32:8
Life can be frustrating, to say the least. Certain situations, circumstances, and people–in which we have no control over–can cause us to lose sleep and walk throughout our day resentful. However, God in us wants us to listen to Him so we can enjoy His peace. This peace won’t come easy because we live in a fallen world.
There are three main factors stoking the fire of our frustrations, causing us to forget who we are. In turn, we can act unbecomingly. As you’ll see, people are not on this list, just look:
- The power of sin.
- Satan and demonic forces.
- Unrenewed parts of our thinking.
First of all, I’m writing this devotional to the saints–to Christians. If you’re not a believer, this won’t make a whole lot of sense. If you want to become a believer, say this prayer, believe it as true, and you will instantly become a holy child of God too:
“Heavenly Father, I am a sinner. I believe that Jesus is your Son, and I believe I need His forgiveness. Please, forgive me of my sins. Thank you.”
Congrats! You are no longer a sinner! You’ve become a heaven-ready person! Now, continuing on with my devotional.
For number one on the list above, the power of sin, I’m not talking about committing sins–I’m talking about a force. Like the power of gravity, the power of sin is also invisible and affects absolutely everything on planet earth. Because of this power, you can be in a room all by yourself with nothing happening at all–no temptation or person is around you–yet, you still get a sinful thought. “Where did that come from?” you might think. That’s the power of sin.
If you don’t understand this power, or if you’ve been religiously abused into thinking you’re not saved if you have bad thoughts, the power of sin can influence you away from listening to God. From the opening book of the Bible, the power of sin is introduced:
“Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (See Genesis 4:7)
As you can see, sin is an it. Also, as you can see, we are already being told to rule over it. Paul tells the New Covenant believers the same:
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” (Romans 6:12)
Again, sin is called an it. Sin is not you, Christian. It’s a parasitic power. This power wants you to not be who you really are–sinless in spirit–but it has no power to alter who you are. As a person who Christ literally possesses, you are:
“Loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and you have self-control.” (See Galatians 5:22-23)
God will always reveal this to you, so listen to Him.
For number two, Satan and demonic forces, they too want you to ignore God’s guidance–which is the truth about who you are. They hate you. Their desire is for you to live a frustrated life not knowing the truth about yourself. They want you to try harder to be good, or to forget that you are good.
These forces cannot touch you, but they can constantly accuse you in your mind. The reason they can’t touch you is because God won’t let them. You are sealed up, forever protected from hellish forces! (See Colossians 3:3, Ephesians 1:13, 1 John 5:18).
I say again, CHRISTIANS CANNOT BE POSSESSED BY DEMONS. CHRISTIANS CANNOT EVEN BE TOUCHED BY DEMONS. We are holy, blameless, and set apart! We are members of God’s household! (See John 1:12, Colossians 1:22, Ephesians 1:5, Romans 8:17).
There is not a single verse in the Bible where a Christian is having a demon cast out of them. This is garbage and a learned behavior, it needs to stop. Once we know the truth of the power of God in us, we’ll stop allowing these moronic forces to lead us away from God’s guidance. All the enemy can do, all any demon can do, is accuse you. They lie to you about you. They see the real you in the spiritual realm, and they are afraid of you! (See James 2:19, Mark 5:6-10).
Satan wants to kill, steal, and destroy everything in your life–this primarily happens in your mind (see John 10:10). Jesus called him, “The father of lies,” and in the book of Revelation he’s called “the accuser” (see John 8:44, Revelation 12:10). All he can do is yap his mouth! The main lie he feeds you is the lie about yourself–that you’re not holy. A close second is that you should not handle your problems how God wants you to, and really, how you want to. You want what God wants!
Number three on this list is our unrenewed thought life. When you received your new, perfect spirit, you didn’t receive a new, perfect mind. Sure, some people will claim, “I was miraculously delivered!” and that’s fine. I’m not against that, I just think it’s abused.
A more real way of looking at poor thinking is being transformed by the renewing of your mind, over time. This happens little by little, day by day–it’s not instant, whatsoever. We learn and grow by who we are in spirit. What’s in us comes out of us as the years go by! (See Philippians 2:12). Paul tells the Romans, the Philippians, and the Colossians this truth:
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (See Romans 12:2)
“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2)
This is a process. Your renewed thought life takes time (see Philippians 1:6). You have psychological factors that will change over the course of your lifetime as you come to know the truth about your spirit! Be easy on yourself, and listen to God as He teaches you new things each day!
So today, my friends, know this: You should listen to God because He loves you! You should listen to God because He knows the truth about you! The power of sin, demonic forces, and unrenewed thinking stand no chance against the real you! Listen, learn, and grow!
A prayer for you: Heavenly Father, thank you for your voice. Your voice is a KNOWING to me. I KNOW it’s you when you speak to my spirit. I KNOW it’s you when I’m up against sin, enemies from hell, and my old thought life. Please continue to guide me into peace, comfort, confidence, and a sound mind. I know you will! Right now, I lift up all who are reading this, directly to you. Dad, so many of them are struggling. They’ve been dealing with the same situations and people for a long time now, they just want some rest. Give it to them today! Let them know their rest is found within themselves! Let them know they’ve already been made new! Let them know you’re with them and in them! Let them know the peace which surpasses all understanding will guide them in all of their choices! Teach them more about your ocean of grace as they swim through it today. Amen.
This devotional is from 60 Days for Jesus, Volume 3. Get your copy here!