Copyright 2010 Theresa Harvard Johnson
This morning as I read my word, the story of the foolish young prophet jumped out at me. If you’re unfamiliar with this passage, turn to 1 Kings 13 and read it in its entirety. But as the story goes, this young prophet had received a word from the Lord to deliver to the people. He did as Father told him and his name – so to speak – went out across the land.
Riding on the high of being used by God, this young prophet went about His way only to run into a shrewd form of flattery. The Lord spoke to him – giving him some VERY SPECIFIC directives. Yet, this young prophet was sucked into the flattery and dismissed the directives that the Lord gave Him.
I tell you, this prophet probably had every intention of following the voice of the Lord. After all, he had JUST heard God and had JUST moved mightily under the authority and anointing of the Word released to Him. How many of us have been in this place?
You see, he was a prophet of the Lord. BUT THEN, someone entered his life (whom He really did not know) who claimed to “BE A PROPHET OF GOD ALSO.” The young prophet remembered well what Father had told Him to do, but instead of listening to THAT WORD, he let another man – WHO SAID HE HEARD FROM GOD TO –
give him something totally different. So instead of following the Lord, he followed the voice of man. This one mistake cost him his life.
Now, there are many avenues we can take with this story; however, what the Lord wants us to see in this is the “kind of DIVIDED HEART” this young prophet had with the Lord. ONE MINUTE, He was hearing from God and working miracles in His name, and the next minute he allowed a man to LEAD HIM to his death.
The scriptures define this place called “BETWEEN” as a place of deep compromise and wavering Faith. 1 Kings 18:21 CJB defines it this way: Eliyahu stepped forward before all the people and said, “How long are you going to jump back and forth between two positions? If ADONAI is God, follow him; but if it’s Ba’al, follow him!” The people answered him not a word.
Father has come today to warn us: That we cannot stand between TWO POSITIONS.
Sometimes, we can look at this “between” place as being blatant sin; but as we can see in the story of the foolish young prophet, it can also be much more than that. The scriptures tell us plainly that a man who despises wisdom is fool. This is where the young prophet met His death. You see, he rejected the WISDOM OF GOD for the WISDOM OF MEN.
WE CANNOT JUMP BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN POSITIONS!
This between “positions” is standing in place of loyalty and disloyalty; obedience and disobedience; trust and mistrust; truth and lies. When you look at it with these comparisons you can CLEARLY SEE that there is no in-between, and this is what Elijah was saying.
There are many people that are with God today and with the sinner tomorrow. There are people who stand for positions in God on something; and totally reject his position in other situations.
As a people, we are being CALLED OUT of this IN-BETWEEN POSITIONS PLACE! We are being challenged by FATHER even more to KNOW HIS WORD, to WALK IN HIS WORD, to STAND ON HIS WORD & TO TRUST HIS WORD.
It is time to make Romans 3:4 stand in our lives. That passage of scripture, in part, says: “LET GOD BE TRUE AND EVERY MAN A LIAR! SO THAT YOU MAY BE PROVED RIGHT WHEN YOU SPEAK AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU JUDGE!”
Father requires LOYALTY on all levels of our lives! Our righteousness is dependent upon that loyalty. Elijah was simply getting the people to understand in 1 Kings 18 that they will have to CHOOSE SIDES and say, “It’s God or nothing.”
An in-between place could be as simple as saying, “God I love you one minute,” and the next you’re cutting down your brother or sister with gossip and slander. It could be “God I’m with you one minute,” and the next you’re trolling on the Internet for pornography. Again, it’s not just about the sin visible to men, but sin that can based on YOU and your good intentions.
Remember the Apostle Peter! One minute he was being herald by Jesus when he recognized him as, “The Son of the Living God,” and then sometime later he was being rebuked with “Satan, get the behind me.” Peter went from being in the spirit to being in the flesh just a short time after.
It’s time, people of God, to choose Adonai and follow him; or to choose Ba’ al follow him. This truth must stay in our hearts and in our mouths in this season. Accountability is at our doorsteps. Releasing Holy Spirit to go before us is a must….
