Of Aerials and Ears

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21 - 23)

I was recently really shaken as I considered this passage. I am still feeling very strongly the impact of that message.

In my blog and books I have mentioned this passage many times, with two messages ‘Castaways’ and ‘Useful Rejects’ on my blog focusing solely on these verses.

But it came out differently this time, though not as a different message. God just introduced a scary aspect to the passage.

I do not have a problem with understanding why demon chasers and miracle workers can be disqualified from heaven. In fact God had to clearly speak to me to understand how He can use some people for His ministry. We therefore know that it really does not need character to be mightily used of God in such a way. It is therefore no surprise when we hear Christ saying He does not know people who were mightily used of Him.

But prophecy is a different matter. A prophet must of necessity hear from God to be so. One can never prophesy correctly if he does not hear from heaven. Simply saying one essential of prophecy is hearing from heaven.

How does someone who hears from God become unknown by Christ? How possible is it that I am operating in the prophetic yet the source of that prophecy does not know me?

It is a scary prospect. That is why I am still shivering. Not because I am scared of not making it to heaven but especially because I believe that prophecy might hasten my disqualification. This is because I can easily be misled by the fact that I can hear from heaven to assume that God approves my ministry whether or not I keep His commandments. Hearing accurately from heaven is no guarantee that I am on God’s side or that I represent Him.

I then got to think of communication. A king may issue an edict that is broadcast by the media. Anyone listening to the broadcast will have heard from him. But he heard not because he was anywhere near where the king was. His receiver was just tuned to his broadcast. Proclaiming that edict will therefore be in the interests of that kingdom though the king might not even be aware of the existence those ardent proclaimers of his edicts.

That is different from someone who has been called by the king into his court to have a meeting with him. This time he knows you. Though you will proclaim the same message as the rest, this one has the mandate of the king to proclaim it.

People hearing may never know the difference between the one proclaiming a message they heard from a newscast from the one who was given the message by the king himself because the content of the message is the same since it comes from the same source. One can therefore not use the message as a gauge to know who has a relationship with the king.

Doing the will of God is what distinguishes a proclaimer of a press release from a messenger sent from the palace. You see a person proclaiming a press release does not understand the requirements of the king. He can therefore be proclaiming that press release yet living a life contrary to the expectation of the king. This is because he has no relationship with the king whose message he faithfully proclaims.

But the king does not blame him for proclaiming the right message yet living life contrary to the king’s expectation because he has never had a relationship with him. He only has a receiver that can pick the press releases very well. A good subject will seek to know more than the press releases. He ought to know and understand the kingdom. A subject who thinks he is of worth to the kingdom whose ethos he does not live by is a subject of a different kingdom than the one whose message he is proclaiming.

Balaam is a perfect example. This prophet could really hear from God even without dramatics. But he died the death of the unbelievers because his hearing was unrelated to his obedience.

It is not our performance that will take us to heaven. It is not our gifting or the application of the same that will take us to heaven. It is our obedience that will take us there.

I might be mightily used of God but if I can’t keep my trouser zipped when I see a beautiful girl or woman I might be unknown in heaven. If I can clearly hear from God yet am not riled by the sin of those around me (assuming I have dealt with mine), then I am not different. I might be moving mountains with my faith but if I excitedly minister to the rich even as I avoid the poor my case will be very bad in heaven. In fact I might be part of these who were wondering how they were left out when the list for heaven was being made.

Will we go back to the basics of our faith? Will we retrace our steps to the time we were first called? Will we find delight in our obedience?

Hearing God’s voice is good. But hearing God’s voice for our consumption and obedience is the thing that will determine whether Christ knows me or not. Knowing His will for others is very good. But knowing His will as it concerns me is essential to my eternal destination.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:27, 28)

You see God’s voice not only hear His voice. He knows them and even more important is that they follow Him. He knows them when He relates with them as they hear and obey. And they don’t follow Him to do their own thing but His will.

This is therefore a challenge to me and all my ministry friends and supporters to reconsider our salvation, walk of faith and calling to avoid falling into the trap of being very effective aerials of the heavenly instead of being sensitive ears of Christ’s sheep.

God bless you