Happy New Year!
It’s 2018 guys and I just know that this year is going to be so amazing😃.
I’m still in the process of reading the whole of the bible and I’m currently still reading the Old Testament, but there are many lessons that I have learnt concerning ministry, serving and worshipping The Lord from the book of Kings.
1 Kings 13 is a very deep chapter and I’ve read the book of Kings quite often lol, but you know The Word of God there is always a new revelation and it’s that new revelation that I am going to share with you today.
First I will summarise parts of 1 Kings 13 and then I will share the actual scripture of how the man of God from Judah fell.
1 Kings 13 starts of with a man of God from Judah led by God to speak against an evil altar.
This man of God continued to do the will of His Father, he even healed the sick but there was a very important instruction that the Lord gave to the man of God that was vital for him to abide by, and that was to continue His work without staying with anyone.
That was the Word from The Lord himself.
This man of God was faithful and He obeyed God, but then there was a trap set for him, which has trapped many men and women of God today.
- The Trap of The Familiar Spirit
“Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.”
I Kings 13:11
“And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” For his sons had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah.”
I Kings 13:12
“and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, “ Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am. ””
I Kings 13:14
This is a very familiar problem in the body of Christ today and it is called the familiar spirit.
Many prophets use this familiar spirit to cage the destinies of many men and women of God.
I cannot begin to tell you how many have lost their purpose because it was revealed to the wrong people.
The first trap set for the man of God from Judah was that his speaking against the evil altars and performing great miracles was revealed to the sons of a prophet.
It was God who instructed the man of God to speak against the evil altars, so what he did was not wrong.
However, we must remember that anytime we minister, anytime we do the perfect will of the Father we must soak ourselves in the Blood of Jesus and continually pray.
We must pray against every monitoring and pursuing spirit, we must pray against every spirit monitoring our star because after the sons of the prophets had told their father the prophet about the man of God from Judah, the prophet wanted to SEE the man of God for himself.
The enemy desires to SEE the secret of your success, of your star, of your destiny.
The devil is just around the corner and like a roaring lion he is seeking whom to devour, unhappy with the work that we do for the Lord, he is out to kill, steal and finally brethren he is out to destroy.
That is why it is not everyone that should know what The Lord has said concerning your life, because the truth of the matter is that not everyone is for you.
If there is something that you must master at the beginning of this year than it should be the spirit of discernment, wisdom and the discipline to keep quiet when deemed necessary.
Remember that our Lord and personal Saviour Jesus Christ, did not reveal that he was the son of God from when he was a child, he was mysterious, he was in the temple, he was learning, he was teaching, but He let the perfect will of the Father speak for Him and brethren, did Jesus not know who He was, of course He knew that He was the Son of God but He also knew when to speak and when not to speak, He mastered the discipline of knowing that there is a time for everything!
We are followers of Christ, therefore brethren in 2018 let’s endeavour to master this same discipline also.
Let’s also not forget that when Peter the beloved friend of Jesus said something which seemed right but was not aligned with the perfect will of God, Jesus rebuked Peter instantly!
What about the lady who kept seeing what was true about Paul in Acts 16:17-18, this lady kept following Paul for many days speaking what was not supposed to be spoken of at the time even though it was true, and so eventually Paul just had to silence the woman by rebuking her and brethren at times that’s all we’ve got to do, for there is power, there is life in the tongue and we have that power brethren.
Once your life is known to the wrong people, it is the beginning of setting a trap to deceive you out of God’s perfect will.
2. The Trap of Revealing Who You Are
“and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, “ Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am. ””
I Kings 13:14
“Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.””
I Kings 13:15
“And he said, “I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.”
I Kings 13:16
“For I have been told by the word of the LORD, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.’ ””
I Kings 13:17
The second trap that the man of God set for himself was revealing who he was and not only that but revealing exactly what The Lord had instructed him not to do!
Brethren this is the key to deception and the gateway to the destruction.
By revealing who he was to the man of God, he easily gave the prophet access into his destiny and the power to easily manipulate him.
This is exactly what is still happening today in the body of Christ, many are being easily manipulated into doing things that God never instructed them to do, that is totally against and out of His will.
Brethren, I am reminded of the book of Luke chapter 22 and the perfect example of how Jesus Christ answered people when they desired to know who he was.
At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them.
Luke 22:66
“If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me,
Luke 22:67
and if I asked you, you would not answer.
Luke 22:68
But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
Luke 22:69
You see Jesus is the perfect example of how we should answer questions.
- We must know who we are in Christ, just as Jesus knew that He was and is the Son of God.
- We must apply wisdom
- We must be discerning
- We must know when to speak and when to simply keep quiet.
3. The Trap of Deception
“He said to him, “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” (He was lying to him.)”
I Kings 13:18 😟
“So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.”
I Kings 13:19 😫
“Now it happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back;”
I Kings 13:20
“and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you,”
I Kings 13:21😲
“but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which the LORD said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’ ””
I Kings 13:22🤭😧
“So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back.”
I Kings 13:23
“When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse.”
I Kings 13:24😪
Brethren for me the fall of the man of God is so so sad.
The man of God was easily deceived because he fell into the first two traps, familiar spirit and revealing who he was.
Isn’t it so sad that the same prophet who deceived him is also the same prophet who prophesied against him and caused his destruction.
I mean it’s deadly cycle of events and it’s so so deep.
How We Can Avoid Falling Into The Same Traps Of The Enemy
Let’s take it to another revelation of how many have been deceived and lost their destinies through food.
In Genesis 25:29-34 Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob because he was waaay to hungry.
Let’s not forget Adam and Eve, the first people to live on earth. Genesis 3:1-3 tells us that they lost their destinies to eating food that God told them not to eat and from being easily deceived by the devil.
Disobedience is the gateway to destruction.
We must learn to trust and adhere to the Word of God.
We must also be careful of what we eat as believers and in 2018 we must become discerning in spirit.
We also mustn’t believe what any man or women says over what God says just because they have a title.
Many are called but few are chosen, many have placed titles upon themselves and lack every form of substance.
Remember if God is not with you then there is nothing that you can give.
Brethren let’s also not forget Samson.
In the book of Judges Samson led himself to his own destruction, first because he disobeyed God by marrying from whom God told him not too and secondly, because he lost his power when he revealed what God had said concerning him!
In Judges chapter 16
Do not reveal the secret of your power!
Brethren, 1 Kings 13 is a lesson that even a man of God can be easily deceived, even a man of God can disobey God, but this does not have to be the case.
Learn to keep quiet, for there are more enemies around than there are friends.
If God should open your eyes now, then you would be surprised at what you would see.
If someone asks you did God really say that? Or contradicts what God Himself has said personally to you, then brethren tell me whose report are you going to believe?
Is it going to be the bad report of the spies like we saw in Numbers 13. Their bad report totally contradicted what God had said, and yes what they saw did not look like what God said, it did not look like the promise but brethren that is where faith comes in. Just because it doesn’t look like what God has said, brethren it does not mean that the Lord Himself has not said it.
Brethren believe and only put your trust in The Lord like Caleb and Joshua who were the only two that brought back a good report.
You see that’s why I also love David the psalmist and I believe that was part of the reason that he was a man after God’s own heart.
In 1 Samuel 17
It is revealed that a young shepherd boy killed a lion and a bear and guess what, no body knew!
Nobody had a clue what God had said concerning his life, brethren no body knew the source of his power, until brethren, and catch this revelation, it was time for God Himself to reveal it!
David later was able to step out and slaughter Goliath through the power of God, and even David faced many years of persecution in-spite of his many successes before he became king. Remember that long suffering is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit and no one can avoid the storms of life, but as believers we most certainly have the strength and the power from God to overcome those trials those storms and certain celebrate in our days of tribulation.
We must have faith and hope knowing that God’s Word always prevails.
Therefore, God’s Word alone should always be your affirmation.
Please pray this prayer with me and I pray that it shall surely come to pass in this year 2018.
God hide me under under Your wings, hide me under You my Rock of Ages.
Let the enemy not find me, neither let him speak of my name. Lord grant me wisdom so that I am not the cause of my own undoing.
Forgive me Lord for my disobedience and because of the Blood of Jesus Christ, because of your grace oh Lord, please have mercy upon me and restore me.
In Jesus Name I have prayed amen. ♥️🙏
God bless and thanks for reading.
Happy New Year again!😀♥️🎊🎉
DaFruits 
Timely 🙌🏾
Thanks MOG😁