Discerning the Serpent's Tail

[Joysong]

There is another smoke screen tactic that is a favorite of Satan, which spiritual persons may sometimes experience. When God sends an inspiration with His customary inner assurance, light, and witness, we receive it with great joy and set ourselves to the business of carrying it out.

Very shortly afterwards, maybe a day or so, we receive a totally contrary "inspiration" with very much the same inner witness and consolation, which may cause us great confusion until we figure out which inspiration is true.

We see this example in scripture when Moses came to Pharoah and performed a sign from God which would have been sufficient for Pharoah to recognize that God was the Author. However, Pharoah's magicians performed an identical sign shortly thereafter, so the result was inaction and hardness of heart for Pharoah.

The lesson we can learn is that when a soul belongs to God and is daily doing its best to follow Him, our Divine Shepherd goes ahead of the sheep. In other words, God speaks first. Amen.

There is another example spoken about by Jesus in the gospels, where the farmer sowed good seed in his field - first, and then an enemy came afterwards and sowed weeds. In the beginning, when either type of seedling is very tiny, it is almost impossible to tell the difference between them, not until they are mature and the lack of a flower is the telltale evidence of the sprig. I am amazed how many true flower and good grass seedlings have almost identical copies in the leaves of the weeds.

So I pray this will be helpful to remember, that God's true inspiration comes first.

Carole