Who Do You Listen To?

CALL TO PRAYER

By: Stephen Osei Kuffour

Date: 30.04.2023

Title: Who Do You Listen To?

And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.” (2 Kings 5:2-3 NKJV)

The word of God talked about a certain great and honorable man who was a commander of the army of the king of Syria. Besides all the great achievements that the Lord gave him on the Battlefield, he was still a Leper. One day, a young captive girl that they brought back from their raids in Israel informed him that there is a great Prophet in Samaria who can heal him.

He listened to the young girl’s advice and went to see this Prophet (Elisha). Elisha asked him to go wash in the Jordan river seven times. He hesitated at first and decided to go back to Syria. However, his servants advised him to obey the instructions of the Prophet. He again listened to the words of his servants, went to wash in the Jordan, and received his healing at the end. The great man I’m talking about is Naaman.

My question for you today is, who do you listen to? We are living in a stubborn Generation who quickly rejects godly advice and counsel. I have met most Believers who will tell you that they only listen and follow what the Spirit tells them and not what other Ministers are preaching. Sadly, such Believers are ignorant of the truth that the Lord also speaks to us through other people.

In most Ministries, if you don’t have a certain academic or financial pedigree, your counsel is normally not taken seriously. There are some men who cannot listen and accept good counsel from a woman. Some husbands don’t listen to good counsel from their wives. Some are mostly deceived to think that accepting their wife’s counsel will make them seem weak.

Beloved in the Lord, we have to know that the Lord can use anyone to speak to us. That’s why it is very dangerous to judge by appearance. The Jews rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah because of how he appeared. This decision placed the salvation of an entire Nation and their Generation at risk. Most of us have prolonged our spiritual growth, breakthrough, healing, deliverance, and blessings because of our refusal to listen to others.

Naaman didn’t reject the advice of the young girl because of her age or race (2 Kgs 5:3). He didn’t also reject that of his servants because of their position (2 Kgs 5:13). It takes a lot of humility for a leader to listen to the advice or counsel of his followers. In general, it takes humility for one to accept that another person’s ideas or counsel are better than his/hers and have to be followed.

I’m not saying you must listen and obey every advice that anyone gives you, whether good or bad. This is because the evil one also uses people. However, don’t be quick to reject good advice and counsel from others due to their appearance, financial status, academic pedigree, age, race, gender, etc. Let’s always be discerning and sensitive to the Spirit, and also align the advice or counsel with the word of God before accepting.

Beloved in the Lord, God can use anyone to speak to you. Let’s therefore not judge the advice or counsel of others by their appearance. Doing so may prolong the good plans and purpose the Lord has for us from being fulfilled in our lives. Let’s be humble, sensitive to the Spirit, and discerning in order to know the words that are from the Lord and those that are of the evil one.

Prayer Point:

Let’s thank God for His Word today. Let’s ask the Lord to give all Believers the Grace to listen and obey the people He sent to us. Let’s also pray for discernment to know those who are from the Lord and those who are of the devil.

God bless you all