I was recently counselling a young man who had said something to a friend that caused that friend to give-up on another personal relationship. He defended himself by arguing that all he had said was that the other relationship was ‘weird’. I pointed out to him that he had said the word with a dagger attached. Although he agreed with me that he was wrong and was being selfish and envious for the friend’s attention in preference to their other friend, he still went home and told his father that the relationship was ‘weird’.

With his mouth he was confessing that he had said the word with the wrong motive, but in his heart he showed his defiance to my authority by holding to his position with the argument that all he had said was that it was ‘weird’. He was speaking two languages. What he really was saying with his spirit was

‘it’s not fair that my friend likes someone else more than me’. What he really was also saying was ‘you can’t tell me what to do, and you can’t tell me I’m wrong’.

The Word of God says … that out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, and they defile the man … Matthew 15:19, 20. It’s the language of your spirit that counts and defines the person, not what you speak with your mouth in pretence.

Why was he using the truth to protect his position?

… because he was afraid of getting found out, looking bad, and of getting into trouble, and the truth can’t be argued with. But, beneath that, what he was really protecting was his own self-pride. His immediate reaction was to protect his pride first and foremost. Pride is ME before my neighbour. Pride is opposing or diminishing the Ten Commandments of God. Pride is anything that protects me from the exposure of my sin. Until you see your self-pride, your mouth and your spirit will speak opposite languages.

Like Adam and Eve in the Garden, they told the truth that Satan had deceived them into sin, but in their heart all they were really interested in was protecting themselves from being found out and losing their status and position with God. They hid from God because they let their fears dictate their behaviour to protect themselves from looking bad in God’s eyes, and ironically hid from the Truth which is God Himself. Thus they lied with the truth. You have to walk in the light if you want to be cleansed from your sin (1 John 1:7).

The truth can be a lie

Adam was speaking the truth when he said he was naked. He was speaking the truth that he was afraid, but from his spirit what he was really saying to God was … “it’s your fault that I’m in trouble because You made the woman”. Thus the truth from his mouth was really a lie from his spirit to protect him from being found out and to shift the blame. What his spirit was actually saying was that he was really blaming God for the situation instead of repenting of his sin, and this is exactly what every human does until they see their self-pride and, like Peter, repent. It’s only after genuine repentance of your self-pride that the language of your mouth is the same as the language of your spirit; otherwise what comes out of your mouth is all lies of self-promotion.

The sign of the demonic

Like Adam and Eve in the Garden, when your mouth says one thing but your spirit says another and the motivation of your spirit is envy, then what comes out of your mouth is a deception of your envy and what is really happening is that your spirit is under the influence of Satan and not God. This is exactly what the Word of God confirms in James 3:13 -18. There’s plenty of pretenders but there’s very few genuine.

The resistance to correction

Human nature doesn’t like being corrected and found out that it’s wrong or done wrong. The problem is, if one doesn’t overcome this inherent nature one can’t get saved because a person who is incorrectable is referred to as a ‘bastard’ in the kingdom of heaven (Hebrews 12:9). That is, they are not a true son, but an invalid one. And correction isn’t being bendable, it’s being dead to your self-defensive pride.

I’ve discovered most Christians, like Judas, haven’t repented, they’ve just said sorry to get out of looking and feeling bad, and because they’ve said ‘sorry’ they assume it’s all done and dusted, and they object if you should challenge otherwise.

The 6^th sense of God’s Spirit in you

A mature Christian has come face to face with their own self-pride and repented. Most people can hear the inner voices from the spirits of other people, but a mature Christian needs the wisdom of God to not only discern what a person is really saying, but also to react to the voices the way Jesus would. What people say with their mouth may be ok, but the real issue is what are they saying with their spirit and then to know how to respond with God’s wisdom and not to react with your own? It’s tricky because the person is often speaking the truth with a smile … all I said was ‘weird’ is the truth, but the truth with a dagger attached isn’t the truth, it’s a lie. God measures truth and lies by the motive of the heart not the mouth.

Strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil … Hebrews 5:14

The wisdom from this 6^th sense is not learnt over-night. It’s a learning and growing process just like our human physical development. You can only have the wisdom of understanding this 6^th sense if you’ve surrendered your will to Him that has sent you (John 4:34), and you can only know you’ve surrendered by your reaction to the testing of being put-down, hated and misjudged. The proof that Jesus was really surrendered to the will of the Father was the put-down of His majesty by His own creation.

Bendable Christians vs Broken Christians

All through history the church has been full of bendable Christians. These are the ones who comply on the surface but like the prodigal’s brother their spirit remains green and self-reliant. Like a green twig that is growing plenty of leaves and has plenty of life to it, it looks healthy and good, it bends and flexs in the wind but it won’t allow itself to be broken. This green twig won’t be of any value when it comes to lighting a fire; it just won’t burn. If you genuinely want to be on fire for Christ you have to be broken and dead so that you are burnable. God’s looking for dead sticks to light the fire, not those who are compliant but of no value because they won’t give up their life and trust His will.

If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and die daily and follow Me … Luke 9:23

Pastor Phil Matthews