A republish from WithoutSin.org
Again and again I hear praises of Adonai, Elohim, YHWH, God, but rarely does their praise make sense or actually reflect Him. How do you know if your praise is real, or just self-gratifying hollow words?
Are you praising what is written about God, His lamb, or you, in the scriptures?
- Are you praising something that has evidence of fruit?
- A ministry that delivers people to His household, a soul that is saved from destruction, an affirmation of life?
- Is it edifying, good, a glorify God?
Are your words detracting from God’s glory to glorify yourself?
- 1 Cor. 14: 37-39 If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment. 38 But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 39 Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. 40 But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. [This was written because the church was speaking and practicing in complete chaos. Every person had a prophesy, a teaching, a word, and the chaos that prevailed was a distraction to the newly founded body of believers.]
Proverbs 27:1-3 Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips. A stone is heavy and the sand weighty, But the provocation of a fool is heavier than both of them. [Don’t be a fool. Let others measure your fruit, and glorify the works of the Lord from your hands.] - Deuteronomy 13:1-3: 1 If prophets or those who divine by dreams appear among you and promise you omens or portents, 2 and the omens or the portents declared by them take place, and they say, “Let us follow other gods” (whom you have not known) “and let us serve them,” 3 you must not heed the words of those prophets or those who divine by dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul. [Do not be derailed by other Gods, or even other “grace” messages.]
- Deuteronomy 13:6-8: 6 If anyone secretly entices you–even if it is your brother, your father’s son or your mother’s son, or your own son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your most intimate friend–saying, “Let us go worship other gods,” whom neither you nor your ancestors have known, 7 any of the gods of the peoples that are around you, whether near you or far away from you, from one end of the earth to the other, 8 you must not yield to or heed any such persons. [Do not follow false teachings or gods, even if your friends and family do.]
- Deuteronomy 17:2,2,5: 2 If there is found among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, and transgresses his covenant 3 by going to serve other gods and worshiping them–whether the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden– . . . 5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or that woman who has committed this crime and you shall stone the man or woman to death. [In our modern times we do not kill them, but we drive them out of our places of worship. We count them amongst the dead. If they return to Adonai, and works of Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), then they have returned to the living, and celebrate their return.]
- Deuteronomy 18:10 – 22: 10 No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the LORD; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the LORD your God is driving them out before you. 13 You must remain completely loyal to the LORD your God. 14 Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the LORD your God does not permit you to do so. 15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet … 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. 19 Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. 20 But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak–that prophet shall die.” 21 You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the LORD has not spoken?” 22 If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it. [Adonai’s prophets do not violate His Torah (Word), but they embrace His word. They would not pass through a false god’s trial of fire, practice a false authority of strange things, do not pursue counsel of the dead, etc. When you find them, cast them out of your household, and your temples. They are counted amongst the dead until such that the repent to the blood of the lamb, that they may be redeemed by His sacrifice.]
It is clear that we are to avoid false prophets, working in chaos, and boasting in our works.