Things They Don't Tell You When You Follow God Closely — God Will Speak Through Unexpected People

This is post 14 in Things They Don't Tell You When You Follow God Closely, a weekly Sunday series from Alpha VI Battalion.

They Did Not Tell You to Watch the Messenger

You expect God to speak through the pastor, the mentor, the person with the credentials and the platform and the history of being right. And sometimes He does. But sometimes He sends the message through the person you least expected to carry it.

God spoke through a donkey. He used a pagan king to decree the rebuilding of the temple. He sent a Samaritan woman, rejected by her own community, to be the first evangelist to her city. He chose fishermen over theologians to carry the gospel to the world.

God is not limited to the sources you have approved. He is not waiting for your preferred messenger to become available. He will use whoever and whatever is in position when the message needs to be delivered.

Prejudging the Package Costs You the Gift

The breakthrough word comes through someone you have written off. The correction that would have saved you years comes through someone you do not respect. The encouragement that would have kept you going comes through someone you did not expect to be paying attention.

If you are only receiving from the sources you have pre-approved, you are filtering out a significant percentage of what God is trying to get to you. Discernment is necessary. But discernment is not the same as dismissal. Test the message, not the messenger. If it aligns with scripture and bears the fruit of the Spirit, receive it regardless of who it came through.

Stay Open Without Losing Discernment

Openness without discernment is gullibility. Discernment without openness is pride. The person who follows God closely holds both. They are not naive about the fact that not every voice claiming to speak for God is trustworthy. But they are also not so locked into their preferred sources that they miss what God is saying through an unexpected one.

Stay open. Test everything. Receive what is true regardless of the package it arrived in.

God is creative in His delivery methods. Try not to be too surprised by the sender.

Stay in it, Light Bringer.

Continue Reading in This Series

Previous: The Calling Is Bigger Than the Comfort It Costs

Next: Rest Is an Act of Faith Not Laziness

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