Deuteronomy 13:3: “you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

February 28th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

For every thing that is true, genuine, and real in this world, there is also a fake. Counterfeit prophets have arisen in each and every generation. Some are so obvious as to be ridiculous and almost laughable. However, there are many who are more subtle and dangerous, and must be taken very seriously. These are the false prophets that at first blush seem to be speaking about the Kingdom of God we know and love. But be careful; it may be a test. This verse clearly says, “God is testing you.” The test is of course not for God to find out something about you that He doesn’t already know, but for you to know, in your own heart, “whether you love the LORD your God.” The testing of our hearts can be very revealing. We often don’t even know what’s truly in us until it’s tested. And when it is we can see if we really love the God of truth, or if we are only looking for some new religious experience. It is all part of God’s plan to grow and conform us into the image of His Son.

How can we know today if a person claiming to be a prophet or miracle worker is in fact from God? We simply ask ourselves, “Does what they say line up with what God has already said in His word?” We need to exercise care and ask God for discernment as we examine the message of a spiritual leader. We must look at the message instead of any spiritual experience present. God is saying quite clearly that signs and wonders can never be the final evidence of truth. This can be frustrating for us because we want to see, we long to sense, the moving of God in our lives. We would all like to have a supernatural experience each time we fellowship with Him, and God does want us to have a spiritual experience but not necessarily one filled with signs and wonders. When we seek the gift more diligently than the face of the Giver, we open ourselves up to spiritual deception.

“LORD, we do seek a personal encounter with You. Be present in our lives today and help us to give Your love away to a dying world.”

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Deuteronomy 13 KJV

¹ If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, ² And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; ³ Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him ⁵ And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.  ⁶ If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; ⁷Namely , of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; ⁸Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: ⁹ But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. ¹⁰ And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.  ¹¹ And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you. ¹² If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, ¹³ Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;  ¹⁴ Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; ¹⁵ Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶ And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again. ¹⁷ And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;  ¹⁸ When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.