Experts and the Opinions of Man

Where many experts exist there is little forward motion, only opinions that lead in different directions. Seek a word from God and follow it. God will be faithful to lead you to a place of promise even if the experts disagree with your decision.

One of the challenges in our over-informed culture is the over-abundance of opinions and options available to us at any given moment.  Experts surround us. This is not a bad thing.  How we use these experts is ultimately our choice and can only become something negative if used improperly.  An expert in any field is never a replacement for a word from God. A wise expert will make that clear to you from the outset.

From time-to-time, I have called upon some of these experts, but only after I had received a word from God about what He wanted me to do.  The longer I live the more I am convinced that experts serve us best after we hear from God.

These words from God are intended to set our initial direction.  Once God has pointed us in a particular direction, wise counsel can be invited to the process to help us make plans to steer our lives along in the journey forward into our destiny. The word from God is our compass, never an expert’s opinion or suggestion.

This abundance of experts can begin to displace the voice of God in the Church if we are not careful.  Many of our conferences and gatherings are planned around the wisdom provided by experts in a given field. We faithfully listen to these experts explain in detail a journey someone else took while we wonder why the breakthrough we so desperately desire has not taken place in our lives and ministry.  Opinions of man can too easily replace a word from God. The power for breakthrough is in the word, never in the plan. The plan will work only if the power of the word is what is driving our obedience.

In Acts 13 the Church gathered for worship and prayer and the Lord spoke a word to those assembled. From that meeting the mission to the Gentile Church was set in motion.  A model for our future gatherings also emerged. The prophetic preceded the practical. One did not exclude the other.  They simply needed to be placed in proper order.

Some of the most significant works of God are about to be done by those people are apart from the input of the industry of ministry experts. These who are willing to hear God and obey Him will step out into places of promise that will be labeled as miraculous and supernatural. You might be one of these people.  The history books of the Church are written about the lives of people like this who stepped out in faith without waiting for an expert’s approval or the consensus of the group.

If you become one of these people, someone who looks and sounds like the believers in the Book of Acts, once God begins to work in your life and ministry, resist the urge to become an expert in anything. You will become the kind of person who will model for the rest of us what it means to walk in the raw and unencumbered power of God.