LISTENING TO THE SPIRIT. In a previous page I made a quick reference to listening to a CD by a wonderful man of God. (I like this man and I respect him.) What I said in essence was, "I will listen to the CD, then I will go away and ask the Holy Spirit to show me for myself."

This is because I want to hear directly from the Spirit of God to me and I have learnt the value of not just 'pasting stuff on the outside of me, or worse, into my mind,' and hoping that will change me. The bible says our mind is renewed by the Word of God,"... but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..." and "...the washing of the water of the Word...and I refuse to take what a man has said and call it the Word of God unless the Lord, (the Holy Spirit, because this is part of His work in us), quickens it to me. By quickening I mean, it jumps out and I feel conviction from Him, or encouraged by Him, or corrected by Him. My spirit identifies HIS voice within the man or woman's voice and it snaps to attention. Sometimes this may be one or two lines, or one or two paragraphs, (if it is a book) but I literally feel the Holy Spirit saying: "Pay attention NOW."

I believe the biggest failure with the body of Christ is the ability to hear Him for ourselves. We have left this very important job to the leaders, to the men of God we respect, and to those we deem anointed. What I want to say this time is we are expected to listen to the man of God who is in charge of our church. But we do not do this like a mindless moron. If he says something we have a 'red flag' about and it concerns US, (that part about concerning us is REALLY IMPORTANT,) then you go to him and ask if he would please pray with you and help you to hear this for yourself. This is what submitting to your leader is about. You ask respectfully, and you listen attentively. Now, if the pastor says something and it concerns the church, again this is very important, you mind your own business and commit him and his message to God in prayer, faithfully, until you see an answer come. One of two things will happen, God will change your mind and heart, or God will speak to the pastor, personally.

In my experience in matters of the running of a church I have seen a couple of things happen when someone disagrees with what the pastor says to the church. They leave. They do not leave well, they just up and leave! No word of explanation, maybe, if you are lucky, they will tell the pastor they have LEFT. OR they will try to draw a party of people into believing as they do. These people will have scriptures to "prove their point" and into the muck will be thrown faults in the pastor's character. DO NOT. DO NOT, LISTEN TO THEM. DO NOT ENTERTAIN THE WORDS! Please listen right here, this is important. Your pastor is a man, he is learning too, he will have faults and if you look you will find them.

The bible says: "...LOVE covers a multitude of sins..." Go to the Lord, pray until you hit love. Real love, not the sentimental slush that says: "Of course you know I LOVE THE PASTOR." Real, love, doesn't BRAG. As a man, your pastor may be flawed, but as a LEADER, he needs to be left to the Lord, and your best position is to pray for him. If you find yourself increasingly disagreeing with the man of God you are meant to submit too, again PRAY FIRST. Then, stay in that church until you hit real love for this man. (I have wept buckets over leaving a church that, initially, I was not in agreement with.) But I waited on God for real love and then it hurt like mad when I left. After you have "hit" love, go to your pastor, ask him to release you, say you can no longer walk together. Be honest, give him your reasons, (this could be one of the Lord's opportunities to make him aware of the problems you see), and, this is crucial. BE SENT OUT AND RELEASED FROM THE CHURCH, PUBLICALLY.

This is the only way we should ever leave a fellowship. Otherwise you end up, dragging all the previous junk behind you, wherever you go next, like the tail on a kite. Disagreement with anyone, including the pastor, is an opportunity to grow LOVE. (Not to quit!) We are so unloving (generally) because we do not do what the bible says. We would rather have our 'opinions' than learn LOVE.

The reason people follow error in the church blindly and silently, is because they do not want to touch the anointed of God, so they say nothing. And keep following the leader hoping God will magically correct him. They do not pray until they get to God's Love, they do not go to the pastor privately and ask questions respectfully, and they stay in submission to error, without following scriptural procedure. The bible says; "...go to your brother..." , when you go to your brother you are opening up opportunities for growth, for you and him! We evade the system the Lord Jesus put in place. Blind submission is not the answer, rebellion and insurrection is not the answer, and just leaving without a word is not the answer either. If you feel your pastor may not listen, then take someone you trust with you to pray for you whilst you are speaking.

I have been blessed with some of the finest men in this land as my pastor over the years. I can say that in spite of the fact that I disagreed with them, and eventually left the church. I am not angry at any of them, by the grace of God. And if I meet them in the street we hug one another around the neck! Doing this the wrong way will damage the church you are leaving, the pastor, and YOUR OWN WALK WITH GOD. Listening to the Spirit of God for ourselves does not make us the "Lone Ranger" or worse "The Masked Avenger!" It means we are watching each other's backs lest we fall or stumble too. May the Lord give you His grace to listen to what I have said. Bless you.