John 7:17 | Sonlight Devotional

Posts Tagged ‘John 7:17’

An Insurance Policy with God

Posted in Spiritual Food, tagged Bible Translations, Deception, John 7:17, King James Bible, Truth on January 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 7:14-17

Let us look at what is happening with the Word of God in our time. The Word of God is being disfigured by some translators. Translators translate every Bible from a specific denominational perspective. Each denomination will accept a certain translation. The King James Bible, which has been translated from the true original text called textus receptus, has in it the basic truth that we need. There have been several words somewhat disfigured in the different chapters but it is not enough to really turn the believer off or to give him bitter waters to drink. But there are some translations that are specifically made to disfigure, to hurt, to turn the people of God away.

The problem is that the translations are not all false. There are some truths in these translations mixed in with the lie. Of course, if you mix a truth with a lie, the whole thing is a lie. If a truth is going to lead you to accept a lie, then the truth in itself is an agent of the lie. This is the way translators use the truth of God’s Word to disfigure, to hurt God’s people, to bring them into believing a lie. Only the Holy Ghost, at this time, can deliver us from the lie of the seminaries and the different organizations that teach different things. Sometimes you sit down and listen to a message and it sounds so good, and you rejoice that here is a man bringing the truth. But then he brings in some great falsehood that overthrows everything he said before. This is a great distress in our time.

There is one word that Jesus said and we should hold on to it very, very much, very strongly. It says that if any man desires to know the truth that the responsibility of letting him know truth is not his, it is God’s. That scripture is found in John 7:17, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” This is true for every human being. God will never allow any human being to be deceived, to believe a lie, and not give him the truth if that person really desires truth. That is like having an insurance policy with God.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 162-163)

Thought for today: We will not be deceived if we do the will of God and desire nothing but truth.

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The Still Small Voice of God

Posted in Growing in God, tagged Elijah, John 7:17, Matthew 5:6, Voice of God on November 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: 1 Kings 19:9-18

Every believer has a little voice inside him, the still small voice of God. The more you pay attention to it, the more you believe it, the more you move according to it, the bigger and the stronger it grows. When you disobey, when you do not pay attention to it, it grows weaker and weaker. I notice that where there is a pastor and counselors, the voice of God is stifled in the believer. I am here to encourage the voice of God in the believer. When you hear the voice of God within you and you are not sure what it is, you say, “Well, Lord God, because I hear this voice within me and I believe with all my heart it is You, therefore I will go forward.” John 7:17 says, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” This verse tells you that if you sincerely from your heart desire to know God’s will, He is not going to leave you in the dark. He will not allow the enemy to lie to you and for you to act, believing you are acting in God, when you are really acting in another spirit. It is the people who do not really believe God, who do not really want God, who deceive themselves that they want God who go forward and do wrong in the name of God. No one can do wrong in the name of God and God not correct you, if you are genuine in your heart and believe what you are doing.

Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” When you hunger and thirst for God and for righteousness, you throw the ball back into God’s court. The responsibility and the onus is upon God to give YOU TRUTH. Listening to the voice within is a very important part of every believer’s life. Unless it is encouraged, it will grow weaker and weaker until you do not hear Him at all. You just go running around asking everybody to tell you what God says. The more we keep our hearts and minds clean before God, the easier it will be for us to hear God.

Let us look at the case of Elijah is in 1 Kings 19:11-13. “And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?”

Elijah knew God. The earthquake was frightening. The wind was frightening. The fire was mysterious and filled with everything that was spiritual and wonderful, but he knew God. His heart was not satisfied until he heard the still small voice of God. There is a voice within. We must pay attention because the voice is speaking in the temple. If the temple is not clean and ready, it will not hear the voice of God.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pages 121-122)

Thought for today: Let us cleanse our temples so that we can hear the still small voice of God each and every day.

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Hungry for Righteousness

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged God Must, John 7:17, Matthew 5:6, Righteousness, Thirst after Righteousness on March 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 5:6

I remember one time listening to the devil, and thinking it was God. How does that happen? How could you listen to the devil and think that it is God? Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever heard the devil and thought that it was God speaking to you? Well, God showed me that what happens is that when you have something wrong inside of you, wrong concepts, wrong desires, wrong thoughts, the devil can speak to you and you will accept it. You have got to be wrong. Let me show you a scripture where God says He will protect you from that. Turn with me to the gospel according to our Brother John 7:17, “If any man will…” The King James says “will” but it means “desires.” “If any man [desires to] do his (God’s) will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” Look at that verse again. If you have a godly desire, if you have a heart-felt desire, if you have a heavenly desire to know anything and question in your heart, “God, is this You, or is this something else?” the Bible says that God’s responsibility is to make you know. God has a responsibility to you, and when He says “you,” He doesn’t care who you are. He doesn’t care how many sins you have fallen into. He doesn’t care what your condition is. If you will cry out to God, “I want to know, Lord,” and the reason that you are wanting to know is that you might serve God, this desire of yours throws the responsibility back on God. Do you understand that?

Let me show you another verse where God must move toward you in righteousness. Turn to Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Meaning to say, there is no doubt, there is no maybe. It doesn’t say may be filled, it doesn’t say it might happen. It says it SHALL happen. Hallelujah. It says, “…for they shall be filled.” So, if you want to be filled, what do you do? You get hungry. I want you to notice it very carefully that there are certain things that God must do according to His Word and that there are certain conditions under which God will do these things. One of these conditions is the condition of hunger. God MUST fill you if you hunger and thirst after righteousness. There are some people who say, “Well, I’ve been calling to God, I’ve been praying to God, I’ve been crying to God for such a long time and God does not answer me.” It couldn’t be true. Something is wrong about your calling, something is wrong about your praying, something is wrong about your hunger. You probably wanted to make yourself great or whatever. Examine yourself! If you ask for something and you don’t get it, examine yourself. Don’t examine God, for God has already laid down the condition. He said, “If you are hungry.” This is one place where hunger becomes a blessing. He said, “Blessed are the hungry for they shall be filled.” For God will fill them. It is God’s desire, God’s plan to fill them. So, you do not have to fear as far as that is concerned.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 12, 2004)

Thought for today: If you want to be filled, get hungry. God MUST fill you if you hunger and thirst after righteousness.

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Begin to Believe God

Posted in Faith in God, tagged Godly Desire, Hebrews 11:1, John 7:17, Mark 11:24, Substance and Evidence on March 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Mark 11:24

Brethren, let me tell you a secret today. Do you know that you have the power to create? Do you know that God has put in our hands the power to create that which is not, to make it be? He said in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” If you can believe, then you shall have it. Not may, not probably, but SHALL. So if you can believe, it creates the thing! Yes! It creates the thing. But one of our problems is that sometimes when we ask for the thing and God gives us what we need, we find a gap between what we want and what we need. But God is going to give us what we need! Amen.

I’ve heard some people who ask God for a husband or a wife, and after they get the husband or the wife, they start wondering if it was God because they are running into deep waters. That’s a crime! Anytime your heart is satisfied that it is God, then it is God! For God will not allow you to be deceived believing it is God! What am I saying? I am taking you into deep waters. If you believe without the shadow of a doubt that this is what God says and God doesn’t tell you that you are wrong, you are right! Of course, I am speaking to the pure heart now, because people do deceive themselves. People deceive themselves! But God gave us a promise in the Word. This promise is in John 7:17, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” I hold God to it! It is a bit not too clear, but what Jesus actually said was that if any man desires to do the will of God, the responsibility is no longer his, but it is God’s to know what to do. Do you understand? You desire with your whole heart to serve God. I know, and God knows, and you know that you won’t serve God perfectly today, if you just get the desire. But you got the seed, that’s the first step in desire. Do you understand? You must have a godly desire, and the desire must be of God. The desire must be pure, the desire must be perfect. In other words, you have no “maybe” or “probably.” “I desire this, but maybe…” No, God says anyone who wavers is like the waves of the sea and he will receive nothing from the Lord (James 1:6). If you waver you will receive nothing from the Lord.

God said that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). You must have the substance before you have the evidence. So, what you need to do is to get the substance. “Lord, how do I get the substance?” I get the substance from God when I open myself to God. For example, when you sing, you open up yourselves to God (or at least, that’s what you should be doing). You begin to sing and open up to God and let the Spirit flow through. The thoughts of the song begin to form something in you, that is, you are being made, you are not finished. None of us is finished; we are being made. So, YOU must actively begin to seek the substance to make your house right for God. Things will come to you; God will show you things that are wrong with you in particular. And sometimes you don’t have to tell anybody. You don’t go around and say, “Brother So-and-so, I’m a thief. Sister So-and-so, I’m this. Brother So-and-so, I feel this way bad against you, and the other one…..” No, no, no, no. Go to God. Let God heal His temple. For God is coming into His temple, and within a few years, not many years from now, when the destruction comes, God is going to hide us in His pavilion by incorporating us with His Spirit. But we have to start from now. If we don’t start now, we are going to be left behind. We have to begin to believe God.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 8, 2002, pg. 7-10)

Thought for today: You must have the substance before you have the evidence. So, what you need to do is to get the substance.

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