The Right Way of Believing

 “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” John 14:26 NLT

by Alexandra Copeland

There’s a lot of hokey stuff happening in the world, there can be no doubt about that. Wars and rumors of wars promulgate media airways, and a lot of people seem to have an insatiable appetite for all things gruesome and sensational. Amidst this backdrop, the number of false prophets bearing slick propaganda and false doctrine has increased. It’s no surprise that the prophecies in the bible are coming to past before our very eyes and we, as Christians, have to be particularly careful to protect ourselves through God’s armor. We can’t allow ourselves to become lost in all the negativity, because believe it or not, even with this season of uncertainty and unparalleled chaos, you can still have a life that is both pleasing to God and incredibly fulfilling personally as well.

Jesus Christ told us in John 14:26, “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”  The indwelling Holy Spirit is our advocate, teacher, and guide. He is also our comforter, and most of us need to be comforted during these dark times. We want so much to have the more than abundant life that Jesus Christ has made available for us, and let’s face it, we are a ‘me’ generation. We want things on the double. When our situations do not turn around as quickly as we’d like, some of us are tempted to take a fast food approach. We don’t want to do the work of our souls and be patient as the spirit leads, guides, and directs us to higher heights in Christ. We get tricked into thinking that there’s a faster way to spiritual maturity and the blessings that accompany it. 

A results-on-the-double approach will sometimes leave us wide open for trouble, and this trouble can be planted by people we would never suspect. There are some really sincere folks out there, and they are impacted by the sheer number of unhappy and impoverished individuals in the world. They desperately want to do something to help. Perhaps they have read a few books espousing one system of belief or another, and they feel they’ve found the answer to some of the world’s dilemmas. Or maybe they’ve dabbled in the occult and have so disguised it with nicety and fancy words that we can’t recognize it for the evil that it is.

God has charged each of us with the responsibility to discern and to do so wisely. The thing of which you and I must be incredibly mindful is that sincerity is no guarantee for truth. A person can appear to be the best person in the world, with a heart seemingly of gold, but it doesn’t mean that he or she is a representative of Christ. Our Lord tells us in John 14:6 that he is the way, the truth, and the light. He’s the only way to get to our Heavenly Father.

Individuals espousing a false doctrine or propaganda against the bible are aghast at the thought of Jesus Christ being the only way. “There are many routes to heaven.” They say. Oh how deceptive the enemy can be. He has tricked them into this, and they have allowed themselves to be tricked. In their minds, God should overlook the arrogance of people that do not believe His Word. They completely trample over His overwhelming love for us by denying not only His son, but they also deny the great truth that His only begotten son gave his life for our sins.

False prophets would like us to equate love to an ‘everything goes’ mentality and philosophy. They’d like people to believe that just about everyone will go to heaven. We needn’t fool ourselves. Our Lord and Master told us in Matthew 7:14(NLT) “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

There is very definitely a right way and a wrong way of believing, and you do not have to be confused about it, because 1Corinthians 14:33 (KJV) tells us, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.”  Our Heavenly Father is a God of order, and everything that He does is in perfect alignment with His Word and Will. The Great Jehovah is not a God that vacillates back and forth or flip flops on His Word. He’s 100% faithful to His promises and He can be trusted to follow through.

You do not have to take any one particular person’s word about what is or is not the truth. God has given us a sure way of knowing His truth and He confirms it in our hearts through the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is one of the most fantastically awesome things about being a Christian.

God tells us in Hebrews 10:11-18 The Message (MSG):
 

^11-18 Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God and waited for his enemies to cave in. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process. The Holy Spirit confirms this: This new plan I’m making with Israel
    isn’t going to be written on paper,
    isn’t going to be chiseled in stone;
This time “I’m writing out the plan in them,
    carving it on the lining of their hearts.”
He concludes,
I’ll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.

God has carved His Word on the lining of our hearts, and the indwelling Holy Spirit reminds us of everything that Jesus Christ has taught us. What an awesome gift the Father has given us. We can walk with confidence as we continue to learn more and more about Jesus Christ through God’s Word.

False prophets and others who have believed and trusted a doctrine contrary to the gospel may seem to have it all, with wealth and glamour to boot. They look like the total package, but just because something looks the part on the outside, it doesn’t mean that things are as they should be on the inside. As born again believers, we have access to the one true God through His son Jesus Christ, and God warns us in Hebrews 10 not to turn our backs on the truth we’ve been taught. It says:  

Hebrews 10:26-31 The Message (MSG):
¹ If we give up and turn our backs on all we’ve learned, all we’ve been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ’s sacrifice and are left on our own to face the Judgment—and a mighty fierce judgment it will be! If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses is physical death, what do you think will happen if you turn on God’s Son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious Spirit? This is no light matter. God has warned us that he’ll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite explicit: “Vengeance is mine, and I won’t overlook a thing” and “God will judge his people.”

I encourage you to pray to God for patience in all things and allow Him to help you through any and all situations in life. Quick fixes are not long term solutions.  Proverbs 16:25(NKJV)says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” Left to our own devices, we lack the ability to protect our hearts, keep our feet from falling, and progress towards higher heights spiritually; but through Christ we can achieve this and more. So remember, not only will God’s Word help us to resolve any issues or challenges that we might face, but the spirit that indwells us will testify of the truth and confirm that right way of believing in our hearts.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright ©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.