Note 12 – Part 3 (continued from same day) (Navigation forward and backward to other notes at bottom of screen)
(Continuing from – “This underscores the vital importance that we all not only diligently seek the Lord, but that we also continually pray that our eyes, ears, hearts, and minds be opened to accurately see, hear, perceive, and understand all the answers He generously and faithfully pours out for us in response – and that we be willing to go to extraordinary lengths, doing whatever we can on our part, to continue to sensitize ourselves to Him and desensitize ourselves to the flesh, soul, enemy, and every other voice.”… )
LISTEN TO HIM
Since this note is focused on some often undetected idols (which may masquerade in Christian/or spiritual clothing), I’ll share about another the Lord exposed to our surprise. During a season when we had inadvertently begun to spend greater amounts of time reading/listening to others’ words about God and His Word than we were actually spending in His Word itself, God moved in to re-solidify our revelation of the preeminence of His Word above all. Since we still believed that His Word is preeminent above all other revelation, the Plumb Line by which all else must be measured, and spent a lot of time seeking Him, we were shocked when He showed us that He considered these new habits a form of idolatry. Although we hadn’t removed the “ancient altar,” the true “altar” of His Word, from our lives, He showed us that we had brought in a “new altar,” and had given the “ancient altar” of His Word a less prominent position in the “temple” of our lives. Though we still held the Word in greater estimation than all other writings/teachings in our hearts/beliefs, He wanted this to be reflected in the prioritization of time we were giving to His Word versus the words of others (even though they were speaking/writing about His Word).
In this most recent season of seeking before Pentecost, the Lord also brought back to mind something He had spoken to us nearly a decade earlier. Once again, at that time we were seeking Him for truth about a belief that had been drawn into question. We had no agenda, bias, desired outcome or answer we were hoping to receive. We simply wanted to know Truth. Each time we set aside all preconceived ideas and sincerely sought the Lord through His Word for truth, we believed the answer was evident. Yet, every time this issue was addressed in the circles we were in at the time, we heard a different opinion and answer. Since we sincerely respected many of these people, and didn’t understand why we seemed to be the only ones seeing things differently than the pervasive and accepted view (in our circles), this created a great deal of concern and confusion in our hearts and minds. One day, as I was crying out to the Lord about this, He took me to this passage:
After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) 7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” 8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. Mark 9:2-8
Through this, He emphasized the necessity that we learn to hear and listen to HIM above the voice of any other person, no matter who they may be. Though Moses and Elijah were great men ~ men anointed and called by God ~ God exalted 
the voice of His Son Jesus above ALL! I believed He was showing me that when we seek Him with all our hearts, He will cause the Glory Cloud of His Presence to envelop us. In this place we will hear His voice. In this place the voices (opinions) and faces of all others suddenly disappear and we no longer see anyone but Jesus. Through this, He ministered to us that we needed to stop being thrown into confusion, swayed by the voices of others, even if they were respected men/women of God. We must seek Him, listen to Him, and follow Him.
(!The night after writing this, while praying about whether to post, we received a word that talked about how we must not allow the “voices and faces” of others to stop us from following God!)
After several weeks of prayers based on this Mark 9 passage as we approached Pentecost, we were so blessed to receive clear confirmation of this word on Pentecost Sunday through a brother who said he believed that the Lord was saying He’s causing a veil to fall around His people so that we will not be moved by the voices/opinions of others, no matter who they may be, but that we LISTEN TO HIM!!! Lord, be it unto us all according to Your Word!
This is vital to the discussion of being able to sift through soul and spirit, in order to receive the counterfeit clarity we need to successfully fulfill our destinies. Not only must we be able to discern, distinguish, and divide between soul and spirit in our own hearts/minds, but also in what we’re hearing through others.
We find a disturbing illustration of this truth in I Kings 13. This is the account of a prophet who was turned aside from completing His God-given assignment in the way God prescribed by an older prophet who led him astray with another “word from the Lord” about how he should proceed (which contradicted what God told him). Rather than refusing to be deterred from what he knew God said, the younger prophet, unfortunately, trusted and believed the word of the older prophet and, therefore, unwittingly disobeyed God. The terrible consequences for his error always seemed so unfair to me. Why was the younger prophet (who was deceived) judged, while the older prophet (who deceived him) wasn’t? This demonstrates the vital importance of knowing with certainty what the Lord has spoken to us (through His Word and Spirit), and not relying on what someone else tells us He said or meant. The Lord has brought this account back to our attention multiple times in the past several years as we’ve found ourselves in near paralyzing confusion, trying to discern what to do when older, highly respected people of God have told us we ought to be fulfilling the assignments God gave us differently than He instructed. As we’ve cried out for clarity, He’s made clear 
that we have a personal responsibility to know firsthand what He told us (through His Logos and rhema) so that we’re not continually knocked off course and led into disobedience by “another word” or “instruction” (even from those who may claim, as in this story, that their word is from Him). When God calls and commissions us with a specific assignment, we are the ones who have the highest level of accountability to see that the assignment is carried out according to His direction. This is a crucial lesson we must learn in order to avoid deception. Help us Jesus! (excerpts from first book on the Holy Spirit)
I was so sincerely trying to make this note shorter! SORRY!!! Stopping here and leaving the rest for future days. I pray I’ve included what I was supposed to in this note (and that it’s circumcised, but not castrated)!
We pray that even these less identified forms of idolatry will be increasingly recognized and rejected. We continue to pray that all come to know and follow the real Jesus and His Word, rather than the counterfeits formed from man’s false ideas, opinions, and interpretations. We pray that we will not be dull of perception, sluggish of mind, or slow to believe, and that nothing He is speaking/showing will remain hidden from us, but that we will have razor-sharp spiritual discernment and perception to recognize and receive all He’s revealing and the humility and hunger to seek out all that still needs to be unveiled. We pray that as we seek Him, each of us will be enveloped in the Glory Cloud of His Presence, where every other voice and face will disappear, and we will see and listen to ONLY HIM. We pray that as we receive divine assignments from Him, that we also receive His detailed instructions to fulfill them, and that we will not be deterred from His path by “other words” and instructions from man. And we pray that as God seeks out those who worship Him in spirit and truth, that He will find what His heart desires and searches for in each of us!!
Blessings and Prayers!
© Laura Jewell Tyree
(Navigation forward and backward to other notes also at bottom of screen)
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Note 1 – “As it was in the days of Noah”
Note 2 – “When “Marvel” Meets Real Life ~ Get Your “Super” On”
Note 3 – Are You “Full of It”? and follow up
Note 4 – “Destroy the Dragon and Take Back Your Home Land” ~ Powerful Prophetic Message from The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug – parts 1-4
Note 5 – Taking Back Lost Territory ~ “Become More Determined than Hell Itself!” – parts 1-4
Note 6 – “No Sacrifice; No Victory” ~ “Have the GUTS to Get in the Car!” parts 1-3
Note 7 – Prophetic Message through “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” parts 1-4
Note 9 – Becoming SALT and PILLARS parts 1-4
Note 10 – Formed in the Secret Place ~ Discovering Destiny – parts 1-5
Note 11 – Choosing the “Glory Road” to the “Utmost Life” – parts 1-3
