For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
The passage is, of course, prophetic, future, and contains some things about which we cannot speak for certain. Believers for centuries have associated this whore with Roman Catholicism: the colors, the pomp, the politics, the brutality, even the city set on seven hills, aligns with what Christianity has experienced from Catholicism. As times change, new “theories” about her identity have risen. Islam? Christlam? New Age? I still hold to it being Catholicism, with all her Protestant offspring around her feet. But that’s not the point of the lesson today.
The whore is destroyed in the end by the ten horns. The Bible says God “put it in their hearts to fulfill His will.”
I want to issue a warning about following your heart. Many people believe that the Holy Spirit of God leads through the heart, through the emotions. This is dangerous on a couple of counts. First, the heart is deceitful, desperately wicked, and hard to know. Second, the spirits of the devil can just as easily play on our emotions.
There is a much more reliable and biblical (though I admit it is not as romantic, and surely more humbling) way to know the will of God. We learn the will of God as King David did, through the word of God, the man of God, and the house of God. Rather than following our hearts (God does use that, but it might be in the non-Christian way),
Search the Bible.
What is the plain teaching of the Word of God? Doing the right thing the wrong way is still wrong.
Seek your pastor’s counsel.
He is just a man, and for sure not perfect. But you can trust that God placed him there for your good. God can even use what you think are his mistakes to mature you, perfect you, and equip you for the work of the ministry God has for you.[1]
Submit to the inclination of your church.
That local body of believers to which you belong is not assembled on accident. God fitted them together, and Christ is its head. As in Acts 13, the Spirit of God will tell very likely them His will for the members of the church before he tells the individual.[2]
The heart can deceive us, leading us where we never should have gone. Sure, the Lord can turn even that for good— but shouldn’t we rather do the good first? The surest way to discern the will of God is the word of God, the man of God, and the house of God.
#BiblicalWisdom #GodsWill #FollowTheWord #ChurchLeadership #ChristianLiving
The Surest Way to Know God’s Will: How to Discern God’s Will Beyond Emotions
[1] A minor would defer to his or her parents rather than the pastor. You may disagree with them, but God put them in their position on purpose. Trust God to use them to discern his will in your life.
[2] We practice this principle in the ordination where it is the church, having “observed the gifts and calling” of the candidate, call for his ordination to be “set apart for the work of the ministry.”
- What steps will you take this week to ensure you are seeking God’s will through His Word and His Church rather than trusting your heart?
- Let this be a reminder that God's guidance is always rooted in His truth.
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