Be Careful What You Pray For

I feel like I should begin this post with a warning…”BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR!”

Recently, I started reading John Bevere’s book titled “Good or God?”  I had heard wonderful reviews from my friends who had studied it both in a small group setting or had read it on their own so I was so excited when my church chose this book for our first Women’s Bible Study this year! I had more than one friend tell me this book was “life-changing”, so you could imagine how thrilled I was the first time I was able to curl up on the couch, all snuggled in with my blanket, feet propped up on my husband’s lap as he played video games one evening, ready to devour this book.  Well, let me tell you something for anyone interested in this book…it’s not meant to devour!  This book is filled with so much meat, so you will need to dissect it just one piece at a time!  I need to tell you a little about this book in order to lay some groundwork for why I’m writing this blog post today.  For those of you who want to read this, it’s going to sound like I’m telling you everything about this book, but in reality, everything I share is actually taken from just the first two chapters of the book!  I’m telling you…this book will rock your world!  There is so much more you will get from this book, so I encourage everyone to go get your copy to read!

Proverbs 14:12 tells us “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

This verse sums up the entire premise of the book.  This portion of scripture particularly stood out to me when I read it considering the climate of our world today.  There are so many “good” people who are doing things, supporting causes, and sharing things on social media that sound good and seem right, but if you test them to scripture, we can know that these ways will lead to death…an eternal death.  As I continued reading the first chapter, I was reminded how important discernment is in determining what is truly good and what is truly evil!  It’s always easier to recognize when other people are being deceived, but it takes discernment to recognize it in our own lives. 

James 1:16-17 says, “So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.  Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father…”

One other version reads, “Do not be deceived…”.  Here’s the thing about deception…it’s deceiving!

John Bevere used this portion of scripture to reveal that everything good and perfect IS from God.  In other words, no matter how good it sounds, how much it makes sense to our human minds, no matter how desirable it may be...if it is not of God, we can be assured that it is NOT good!  He went on to say something that still makes my jaw drop because even though I have been in church my entire life and studied God’s Word intently, I had never heard this portion of scripture broken down and explained so well before.    

Listen to this carefully…”It wasn’t the evil side of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that Eve was drawn to in the Garden of Eden, it was the good side.”

“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.” Genesis 3:6

When the Lord revealed this truth to John Bevere through scripture, he said his jaw dropped too and then the Spirit of God said to him, “There is a good that is not of Me.  It is not submitted to Me.”

Guys, when I read that, I literally said “Whoa!” aloud!  That was so profound to me.  As Christians, we aren’t drawn to those things that are blatantly evil.  We don’t want to rob banks, have orgies, or go to drug infested parties.  The enemy knows that, so just as the serpant enticed Eve to go directly against God’s authority and commands with what appeared to be something good, he is STILL doing the same thing with Christians today!  Seriously, ya’ll!  That will preach!  I had an eyes wide open moment in my living room when I read this!!!

Eve was in a perfect environment, never having been abused or mistreated.  She literally was in the presence of God every single day enjoying His many blessings, His overwhelming goodness, yet Satan was able to use a serpent to cause Eve to question God’s nature by convincing her that God was keeping something good from her that could benefit her!  If the enemy can deceive someone who literally communed with God daily and lived in a perfect environment, how much easier are we likely to do the same being that we live in a fallen world filled with offense, corruption, perversion, and deceit!?   Well, John Bevere went on a mission to find out how this devil-possessed serpent could get Eve to turn on God in a perfect environment because if we know his tactics, we won’t so easily fall prey to deception and disobedience to God.  What he discovered and shared in this book was eye-opening!

I’ll try to paraphrase but it’s all so good, it’s hard to leave anything out!  He pointed out that it was no coindidence that Satan targeted Eve.  You see, God gave a clear directive to Adam that he could eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad.  God told Adam he must not eat the fruit of that tree or he would die the same day. (Genesis 2:16-17).  Now, we don’t know how long it was after God revealed that to Adam, but at some point Adam communicated that to Eve.  When the serpent approached Eve, he said to her, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1.  His objective was to sway Eve from godly wisdom and his cleverly crafted question enticed Eve to momentarily lose sight of the numerous amount of fruit available to her and he redirected her focus to the single one withheld.  Eve quickly responded to the snake:

“We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” Genesis 3:2-3

John Bevere points out the inaccuracy of Eve’s reply.  God never said anything about not touching the fruit of the tree.  That may seem insignificant, but it gives us a clue as to why the serpent targeted her and not Adam.  Eve was not on the scene when The Lord revealed that knowledge to Adam.  Instead, that knowledge was later communicated to her. 

He went on to give another example of revealed knowledge versus communicated knowledge.  “One day Jesus asked His disciples, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ (Matthew 16:13)  One by one, the disciples listed all they had heard from others: a resuurected John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets –those were some of the reports these men had heard through their days’ version of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and blogs.  Once Jesus got past what they’d discovered through communicated knowledge, He then questioned, ‘But who do you say that I am?’  The disciples stood paralyzed with no response!  Peter finally blurted out, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’ (verse 16).  Jesus responded, ‘Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven’ (verse 17).  Peter wasn’t mimicking information from what he’d read online or seen randomly in someone’s magazine article!  He was sharing truth God had imparted directly to him.  Jesus then declared that this type of revelation knowledge is what the church would be built on and that hell’s forces could not stop those who possessed it.  On the contrary, hell’s forces can more easily deceive those who only possess communicated knowledge.”

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” James 1:16

Friends, this revelation from scripture punched me in the gut and I’m not sure I have recovered yet!  I stopped reading for the night and simply prayed this prayer.

“God, if there is anything in my life that seems good, but is not of you, expose it so that I can submit it to you and ask for forgiveness.  Amen”

I truly meant that prayer.  I desire to please God.  I read my Bible, I pray and seek His Will daily, but I know I am human and I make mistakes.  I honestly wanted God to expose any areas in my life that I had been deceived.  And do you know what?  He did. 

I have been under such conviction this week because The Lord has exposed some things in my life and in my heart that seemed right at the time, but that actually leads to death.  I would like to share. 

Last weekend, after watching the news and coverage of the “Women’s Rights March”, I was left feeling so confused about the entire movement.  I made a post on my Facebook page asking my friends to explain what rights these women felt like they didn’t have or were afraid of losing.  That post opened up a very respectful conversation with several friends which I appreciated so very much.  During that conversation, the issue of abortion came up.  It is no surprise to anyone who knows me well that I am very pro-life!  I consider myself an advocate for the unborn and the very thought of abortion at any point in pregnancy can literally make my stomach turn and make me feel sick.  It has that strong of an effect on me.  However, somewhere in the conversations that resulted from my post, from a place of compassion to those women who have been raped, I made the comment that I would consider it a great victory for the fight to protect the unborn if abortions were only allowed in the case of rape, considering rape victims make up less than 3% of abortions.  Obviously, I would prefer no babies be aborted, but in an effort to find a reasonable compromise, I considered my statement to be a good thing because think of the millions of babies that would live and at the same time it gave these vulnerable women the choice because after all, I can’t even imagine what those women must be going through, finding themselves in that position not because of their own choice but because someone raped them. 

Well, remember that prayer I told you I prayed?  Well, I was awakened a couple of nights after I wrote that statement and I felt such conviction about it.  I knew that was God exposing those areas where I had been deceived.  I felt the Lord say to me in the most gentle way, “Mary, I did not reveal that to you.  That is something you have picked up along the way because of stories and opinions that have been communicated to you.  If you would go to My Word and seek My Will, you would see that these babies were fearfully and wonderfully made and I planned all the days of their lives before I even formed them.  I had plans to prosper them, plans not to harm them, but plans to give them a hope and a future.  Those are MY children whom I love dearly and who are you to say it’s a victory for some of my kids to live but not all?  Would you consider it a victory if only 3 out of your 4 children live?  Well, just as that idea pains you, it grieves me to hear you even suggest that and communicate that to your friends on social media.  Your words have weight and people are watching and listening to you.  Be careful that you don’t communicate knowledge that can lead to deception and disobedience to Me.”

Be careful what you pray friends.  I am so grateful that God exposed this to me even though the truth hurt…it still stings when I think about it.  After I looked at God’s Word and went to scripture about the subject of abortion, there’s nothing to debate.  It all goes back to that scripture I began with.

Proverbs 14:12  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Abortion is wrong.  Period.  It grieves the Lord.  It’s not our place to cast judgement on anyone, but as Christians it’s also not our place to use compassion as a tool to entice others to fall prey to deception and disobedience to God’s Word.  We need to be very careful in what we say and we need to test everything according to scripture.  I felt compelled to write this post in case my words lead anyone to think it’s okay to abort a child that was the product of sexual assault.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that The Lord lead me to write this post on the day that millions are marching around the world in The March of Life, fighting to protect the lives of the unborn. 

Throughout Scripture, God affirms the value of every human life, from children in the womb to the elderly.  Let these Bible verses inspire you today about how valuable life is in the eyes of our Creator. 

Psalm 139:13-16 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Psalm 127:3-5 “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.  Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.  Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.  They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.”

Genesis 1:27 “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Job 31:15 “Did not he who made me in the womb make them?  Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?”

Psalm 22:10 “From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.”

Isaiah 49:15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?  Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”

The Lord knows my heart and He knows that I would never advocate anyone having an abortion.  Yet, He revealed to me the power of communicated knowledge in the life of a believer.  Satan uses communicated knowledge to entice us to compromise our core beliefs and principles.  The limited communicated knowledge that I had about the vulnerable mindset of a woman who is a victim of sexual assault allowed me to make an exception in my heart and justify the need for an abortion and all out of a place of compassion.  Satan took a characteristic that appears to be good, and he has perverted my compassion to accomplish evil and bring death.  Lord, continue exposing those areas where I believe I am doing good, yet are not of You.  Help me test and approve everything I say and everything I do to Your Word.  If it's not of You, help me understand that it is not good...no matter how good it may appear.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”  Proverbs 14:12