Nice outside today, blue skies, very little wind and moderate temperatures – thus far.

This may be the week I will have to turn the AC on, which is okay, but prefer the open window ventilation of the house.

I don’t remember anyone in Central Oregon that had an air conditioner.  We would just open up the windows and the cool night air would filter through the house and make doing things in the house, and sleeping, comfortable.

When we came up here we learned that things didn’t cool down at night, by more than a very few degrees.  People had swamp coolers.  A form of air conditioning that blows air over a container of water – that is constantly flowing from a hose (if I remember right, never had one.)  While not really cooling the house it was supposed to make it more feel better.

I can remember seeing an ad for an air conditioner where the wife was sweating in the heat and looked to be going into a heat stroke – the caption was, ‘you would not let her freeze in winter.’

We got a window air conditioner the next day.  It did help, immensely.

When we came up here we installed a heat pump, and haven’t regretted the decision for a moment of it.

Today was a very interesting day with God in my devotions/meditation.  I read a devotion based on:

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

The author was AW Tozer who included in his writing a part of a sermon he had heard and the following words struck home to him:   "Listen to no man who fails to listen to God."...

I thought about the times I have received advice from men that are not Christians – often it was good advice, but just as often if I had followed it (and sometimes, unfortunately, I did) it led to poor consequences.

I thought about some people I have seen through the years that go up to others and told them, God told me to tell you this.

I was intrigued with the response of one young man; when the person giving the ‘revelation she had from God’ came back to him a few weeks later with a condescending attitude and basically repeated her ‘advice.’

The young man answered, “Thank you, Sister, for the advice and as soon as it is confirmed, to me, by God, I will follow it.”

Through the years I have found that sometimes God does work through people.  When I have been struggling with a decision and a fellow Christian has come up and (unbeknownst to him/her what I had been struggling with) felt led of God to tell me something – thus confirming the direction I should go in my struggle I pretty much knew, but was still unsure.

Other times I was contacted by more than one person who gave similar advice, even though they didn’t know someone else had also given me that advice.  I still had to confirm it with God, myself, but often I found that my heart said to follow their words of wisdom.

Then I was reading my assigned passage for today in reading through the Bible in a year and these verses really stood out to me:

1 Kings 13:14-24 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.

¹⁵ Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.

¹⁶ And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:

¹⁷ For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.

¹⁸ He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.

¹⁹ So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.

²⁰ And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back:

²¹ And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee,

²² But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.

²³ And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

²⁴ And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase

The man of God had come into the area to confront King Jeroboam, who was leading his people to worship golden calves.  God confirmed to Jeroboam that this man was from God and that he was disobeying God. (The whole chapter is interesting and worth reading.)

The King wanted to bring the man of God back with him,

Verses 7-10 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.

⁸ And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:

⁹ For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.

¹⁰ So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.

God’s orders to the prophet were clear, he was not supposed to remain and partake of anything in the kingdom.

Yet a man, who professed to be a prophet also, came to him and bid him to come back and eat with him.

And, unfortunately he didn’t confirm that with God, he just went.  He had been steadfast with the King, he told this man that he wasn’t to partake of anything, yet, he yielded and went back with the man.

And, he suffered the consequences of his disobedience.

And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase

Why did he falter?  Why didn’t he follow the commands that God had given him and refuse the ‘hospitality’ of the old man?  How can I learn from this?

We are in so much danger today.  We are beset on every side by those that would try and steal our joy and salvation from us. 

There are millions of men and women whose advice is good.  Who we can turn to in our time of questions – but we must be careful who we choose as our counselor.

We must be satisfied that they have a good relationship with God, that their own path is being guided by God.  We must test their advice and confirm it with God, for ourselves, before acting on it.

There are far more men and women, though, who are not following God, who are not praying and seeking after Him, (even though on a peripheral basis they appear to be living for God) but are more than willing to give advice – and much of it will be to our peril if we follow it.

There are times when we must take immediate action, time is of the essence, but most of the time we have the time to sit with God and discuss whether or not that advice is coming from Him – THEN act accordingly.

I have had many trusted friends give counsel to me through the years, but I learned, that even though they may think they know what is best for me, and are sincere in their advice, I still must confirm, with God, that it is what I should do.

1 Corinthians 7:23-24 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

²⁴ Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

Each of us has the same access to God that anyone else has, it is up to us to use it. 

The promise of being with us always, doesn’t say anything about it being limited to a special type person with exclusions of the rest of us.

We are Christians; we have the ability and relationship with Him for Him to guide us through life.  While we may seek assistance and advice, ultimately we are responsible for our decisions – and God will help us make the right one.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Later, Art :-)