Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
As we are preparing to move to India in the next week, I have been reading a book about a Pakistan woman who received Christ through a dream. The book is entitled I Dared To Call Him Father by Bilquis Sheikh. She takes you through her journey to accepting Christ as Savior and then living by faith in a hostile environment.
What amazed me about this woman was that she did not make any major decisions, and very few minor ones, without going to prayer. When she found that she did not wait on God she ended up regretting it and had to repent and seek God's forgiveness. It amazed me to see how God worked through her and in her as she sought to be in God's graces.
Bilquis Sheikh said that her desire was to honor her God and nothing else mattered, because that would bring her into a closer relationship with Him, because she would be putting Him first in all she did. God worked through her in amazing ways and used her to bring many people to Christ.
What also impressed me was her thorough knowledge of the Bible and taking everything captive to the Scriptures. Whenever she had a dream or thought God was speaking to her then she would go to the Bible and confirm that it was something Christ would say or do. If the Bible confirmed it she would move on what she heard or dreamt, but if not she would not listen to whatever was said.
This is very unlike today, as people think they hear something and they just believe it is from God and do not go to Scripture to see if it was something God would truly say. Take Todd Bentley (considered the new “revivalist” out of Lakeland, Florida) for instance: he says that the Spirit tells him to kick old ladies in the face so the Spirit will move, or kneeing someone in the gut who has colon cancer because God told him to. Unbelievable!! Where does God say in the Bible that these actions would be something He would say? I cannot find it.
If you want to read about how God speaks then I would read this book by Bilquis Sheikh and stay away from people like Todd Bentley. We must live by faith and listen for the voice of God, but we are also to test everything by the Scriptures. Do not just act on everything you hear or dream, but make sure it is something the Inerrant Word of God would confirm.
1 John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
2 Corinthians 13:5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”
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