June 20 - Lying Spirit
Prophets are those special people who have been anointed by the Lord to speak forth the Word of the Lord. They have the habit of listening to the Lord as the Word of the Lord comes to them. In the words of the prophet Micaiah: “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak.” This was the way the Lord ruled over His people, through speaking to the prophets. Kings are to submit to the Word of the Lord like King David obeying the Word through the prophets Nathan and later Gad. That was also the reason why Obadiah kept a hundred of the Lord’s prophets against Ahab’s will despite of great danger.
So when the prophets do not speak forth the Word of God but speak their own words or the words of the devil, the whole nation is in danger of losing her direction. Both the king of Judah and the king of Israel wanted to honor God’s Word through the prophets and all the prophets gave the Word that God would grant them victory in their battle for Ramoth-gilead. Four hundred prophets saying the same Word could not be wrong. Little did they know that they were all fooled by a lying spirit.
Only Micaiah saw what happened. It was the Lord who had sent the lying spirit to lure Ahab into battle so as to kill him. All the four hundred prophets of God were wrong because they had been listening to the wrong spirit. Instead of hearing the Spirit of God, they listened to a lying spirit. The majority was wrong this time and only the one who truly listened to the Lord gave the correct Word. This is the danger of false prophets, when they get it wrong, they put others and the nation at risk.
These false prophets were adamant against Micaiah, they were presumptuous and thought that since they had God’s Word before and they would be right this time. They relied on the usual way in getting the Word from God but this time, they were wrong. They claimed to have the Holy Spirit as one of them said, “How did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?” To that Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.” Being a prophet is not just speaking forth the Word of God but the way to obtain God’s Word requires an inner prayer life. When the prophet is intended on outward show to impress others, he would fall out of favor with the Lord and the danger of prophesying falsely can happen.
The Lord wants His children to have discernment, to know His voice and do His will. Most prophecies are confirmations of what the Lord has already told us. Relying on an outside source without seeking the Lord in our inner chamber may lead us into false words and directions. Nothing can replace our own intimate relationship with the Lord. Are you listening to Him on a daily basis? If not, begin now.
Ps 136:1-9 1 Kgs 22:1-53 Acts 13:16-41 Prov 17:17-18