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Date: June 7, 2010

This is submitted by Teresa Seputis [ts@godspeak.net]

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                        Know God's Word

Today I am going to share a prophetic testimony/teaching instead of a
word. I almost never do this, and I had not originally planned to do 
so today. But the Lord put it strongly on my heart this morning and He 
worked a bunch of things together to confirm that He wanted me to share 
this with you.

Normally I get several emails from people telling me how much God spoke
to them though a word. But for the last one that I sent (on Saturday) I
got a couple of very hostile replies. One accused me of being a false
prophet but did not say why. The other accused that a part of my word 
was unscriptural and demanded that I publically recant it. The line they
look offense to was "I will allow you to taste of My glory, and I will
even share a piece of it with you...but you must always point back to Me
and give Me the glory in all things." They said, "We know that scripture 
clearly states that God will not share His glory with another" but they
did not give a reference. 

(Interestingly, both emails came from the same obscure internet provider 
in Africa, so I am guessing that the two who replied might go to the same 
church, but that is an aside.)

I tried searching an on-line concordance for the words "share glory" to 
find what verse they were referring to, but I could not find it in any
of the common translations (NIV, NKJV, etc). So I had to assume they
were referring to (and misquoting) Isaiah 42:8 where God says He will 
not give His glory to idols (which is a different thing than sharing 
a small piece of it with His faithful servants). So I explained the
difference between stealing glory from God (giving something/someone
else all the credit for what God did) and God choosing to give a small
piece of the glory that He so richly deserves to His servant through
whom He accomplished the work that brought Him the glory. Then I gave 
several Bible passages to support God glorifying (or giving a piece of
His glory to) those who belong to Jesus:

 Ephesians 2:6
   And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the
   heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

 Romans 8:17
   And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with 
   Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also 
   glorified together.

 2 Thessalonians 2:14
   He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the
   glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
 1 Peter 5:1
   To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of
   Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be
   revealed

I had a bit of "flesh" raise up as I wrote the response, and I took
a bit of a jib at the person who demanded that I recant my word. I 
suggested that next time they want to declare a word unscriptural, they 
might actually take the time/effort to see what the bible says before 
doing so. (Alas, none of us are prefect, are we?)

I considered the matter closed and was ready to move on to my regular
Monday GodSpeak work. I thought to myself, "Too bad it took so long to 
deal with that email because I used the time I would have normally used 
to seek a word for today...and today is very busy day where I don't 
really have the time to spare." Then I sat down to seek a word from 
God for today. But instead of giving me a word, He seemed to be telling 
me to address this issue on the list. I have a personal policy that I
don't defend words...because they are God's words and God is the One 
Who needs to defend them. 

So I decided that I might be emotionally involved in the issue and might 
not hearing God clearly at that moment. I decided I better do something 
else first, and then go back to God for today's word. I started working 
on the mechanical things I do to get the weekly lessons sent out to the 
three GodSpeak schools...the lessons are written way in advance but there 
is still a lot of "work" to get them on the web page and sent out each 
Monday.  

I got to the lesson scheduled for today on the prophetic-school, and it 
was lesson one of a new series on OT bible history. It explained why know 
the bible is important to those who minister in the prophetic, and the 
first paragraph of that lesson caught my eye: 

	Old Testament history might sound like a strange topic to 
	study in a prophetic school. But it is extremely important 
	for a person who ministers prophetically to have a good 
	understanding and working knowledge of the Bible, especially 
	of the Old and New Testament stories of how God met people's 
	needs worked on their behalf. 

Then God said to me, "And today I gave you an object lesson of how
people can misjudge My prophetic words if they misunderstand what
My written word says. You have just lived out this paragraph...
where their misunderstanding of an Old Testament passage caused them 
to declare a portion of the prophecy to be false when it wasn't."

I had a good laugh. Then God reminded me that He wanted me to address
this issue for the prophetic-word list today instead of seeking Him
for a word. He told Me that it is important to Him that His people
read His word, know His word, understand what it says and be able
to apply it in day-to-day life situations. 

So, dear bothers and sisters in Christ, I want to encourage you to 
dive into God's word. Get to know what it says instead of relying on
what someone else tells that you it says. Don't just listen to sermons
about the bible, read it and get to know it intimately on your own.
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you things from His written word as you
read it, and trust Him to make it come alive to you as He reveals
things to you from His word. 

Blessings to you.