Well, having said that, we are going to look at the discipleship wheel, the husband, the father, and mysticism in the family. Some of you have heard me share about listening prayer before, but as Peter said in 1 Peter, it doesn't hurt me to say it, again and it doesn't hurt you to hear it again, but we're going to look at it from a different angle. We're going to look at the danger of listening prayer from the angle of the father, the husband, the wife, and the parents and the children. Oh Lord God, this is your holy word. We are your servants. Give us understanding that we might know your testimonies. You have prayed, O Lord, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. Use your holy, eternal, inerrant written word to set us apart this day to your service and to your glory. Show us now great and mighty things which we do not know. The sower sows the word. Let not your word go out and return empty, but accomplish that purpose for which you are sending it out and for which you have drawn us together. Protect us from Satan who will snatch your word. Protect us from a wrong reaction to difficulties and discouragements and persecutions, which make our hearts hard and unresponsive to your word. Protect us from the world's cares and the delight of wealth and the passion of other interests, which enter in and choke your word, making it fruitless. Rather give us good soil, O Lord, Plow up now the hard ground of our hearts, that your sown word would send roots downward and bear fruit upwards. Unsheathe now the sword of your spirit, O Lord. Cut to the dividing point of bone and marrow, soul and spirit. Judge now the thoughts and intentions of each heart gathered here. Spread your word before us as a banquet table, O Lord. Grant grace that we might eat of the rich meat and drink of the sweet milk of the great doctrines of your word. Give us the heart of the prophet who cried to you. Thy words were found, and I did eat them. And thy words became to me a joy, and the delight of my heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. O Lord, we live in a dark and a wicked age. Broad is the way, and many are on it, which leads to destruction. Make your word a lamp to our feet. Make your word a light to our path. Show us that narrow way that you would have us run. And Lord, as we run in the paths of your commandments, enlarge our hearts that in loving you, we might be more obedient to your written word. Drop your word against our lives as a plumb line, O Lord. Grant grace that we might see how we deviate from its high and holy purposes. Make your word to us a mirror, O Lord. Grant grace that we might not be as those who look and go away and forget, but make us active doers, not forgetful listeners of your holy word. O LORD, because of our fealty to you, because of our undying love and devotion to your Son, our resurrected Savior, we pledge to you this day our total submission to your holy, eternal, inerrant written word, and we pledge to you our unquestioning obedience to all of its commands. In the name of our Lord and Resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Okay. In the marriage relationship, there are not two wheels. The husband wheel and the wife wheel. Rather, there is one wheel. the married couple in action. Now, that includes praying and being directed by God. The leadership of God the Holy Spirit will never violate the Word of God. Now, that's very important as we look at the error of listening prayer and the marriage relationship. Mysticism and the error of listening prayer. Listening prayer is defined as emptying your mind of all thoughts and allowing God to speak into that emptiness. That is alien both to Holy Scripture and to the order of authority and spiritual leadership that God has created both in the marriage relationship and in the family. The husband is not free simply to engage in listening prayer apart from the injunctions of Holy Scripture concerning his relationship to his wife and to his children. The wife is not free to simply empty her mind and wait for God to speak to it as if she is a single woman and a single Roman apart from the injunctions of Holy Scripture. And the same with children. children are not free simply to go off and empty their minds and come back and tell their parents the will of God apart from Holy Scripture and apart from the authority of the parents. Let's look at what God's Word says concerning true biblical meditation. Meditation is always filling your mind with the Word of God. We know in Joshua 1.8, the Word of God says... So, meditation never takes place apart as a stand-alone discipline apart from Holy Scripture, nor does prayer. Meditation is not emptying our minds of God's Word, and all thoughts, and waiting on God to speak. Rather, it is filling our minds with God's Word and meditating on what He has already spoken, and that's through the Word of God. So let's look at some passages. Bishan, you will look at Joshua 1.8. Emmanuel, you have Psalm 119, 97 and 99. And then Alex, you have Proverbs, you have Psalm 119, 148. So let's take a look at this. Bishan, Joshua 1.8. Joshua 1.8. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosper and then you will have good success. Now in this passage when it says you shall meditate upon it, what does the it refer to? the word of god yeah the written word of god that's exactly right bishan go to the head of the class that's exactly right it's not that we meditate upon the glory of god as revealed in nature it's not that we reflect on our thoughts on jesus and then we imagine what he's doing and what he looked like and Where we we kind of imagined him on his throne in heaven and we kind of meditate no We meditate upon the word of God And if we're going to meditate upon God's glory, it's in accordance with his word It's we're going to meditate on Jesus's heavenly ministry. It's in accordance with the word we meditate upon the word that we might be careful to do and according to all that is written in it, in God's Word. So again, we are not emptying our minds and waiting for God to tell us what to do. Rather, we are embracing the reality that God's Word is God's will, and we are meditating upon God's Word, seeking to understand and apply what God has already revealed to us through His Word. Now that's very important because if someone has emptied his mind and a thought comes into his mind that he's married the wrong person, well, that's in violation of God's word. He doesn't even need to think that thought or that he should marry a non-Christian. or if a young lady says, you know I should live in immorality with this Christian pastor just as Bathsheba did with David and God will give me a king for a son. No, no. Those thoughts don't come from God because they violate the revealed will of God. We meditate upon God's word and obey God's word. Psalm 119, 97. Emmanuel? Psalm 119, 97. Oh, how I love your love. This is my meditation all the day. What is he meditating upon, Emmanuel? God's love. Yeah. All day. Yeah, the Word of God. He's filling his mind with the Word of God and thinking about it. Now that's the beauty of scripture memory. If we have a good scripture memory program, we can be meditating upon and thinking about the Word of God all day. My verse for this week, and I don't have it down word perfect yet, is Psalm 19, 13. Lord, save me from presumptuous sins. May they not rule over me. And I don't want to be presumptuous. I, it's easy for me at age 70 because God has given me the grace of stamina and clarity of thought and strength of body to presume that that is just going to be the normal thing throughout my life and not be thankful for those years that God has reserved for me. So I memorized that verse and I think about it throughout the day that I would not presume upon the grace of God, but I would always be thankful. I was thinking about that as I prepared for this Bible study. I'm thankful that God has given me the stamina to teach a Bible study at midnight. I'm thankful he has given me the stamina to minister throughout the day. Thankfully, he's given me the focus of mine to be able to fundraise so I can send you boxes. Alex, Christmas is coming. You can tell your children. I had a budget for some things for your children, but Eleanor went with me and we call it budget bursting. That budget was thrown out the window. I was telling Bishan, the faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain. What can move a box? I don't know. Does it take more faith? But you've got two pretty sizable boxes coming to you, but don't get excited. They are anti-Ellenist gifts primarily for your children. I was able to sneak a few things in there for you. So she kind of took over the box. They had Christmas decorations put out at the store and she got into the Mrs. Santa Claus mode. So, well. We want to make sure that our meditations are in accordance with the word of God and scripture memory allows us to do that. And it keeps me from us presumptuous sin. I could just presume that I will always have money for boxes. I don't want to do that. Every time I purchase books, every time I purchase gifts, every time I go to the post office, I want to do it in a humble, thankful way. Thank you, God, that just one more time you've allowed me to bless my friends. Psalm 119.99, Emmanuel. 99. I have more understanding than all my teachers for your testimonies and my meditation. Ah, now why does he have a great grasp of God's Word? Because he meditates on them. Yeah, because he meditates upon the Word. While everybody else is questioning the authority of God's Word, is seeking to get out from under the authority of God's Word, oh, you don't have to memorize scripture, You don't have to have a daily quiet time. You don't have to use God's word when you're witnessing. Don't be so legalistic. Just empty your minds and let God talk to you. While they're talking about that, you instead are giving yourself to the discipline of meditation and obedience of God's Word. And as a result, you have a greater insight and understanding than your teachers. And that will also make them insecure. but there's nothing you can do about that you have to just press on psalm 119 148 uh... i believe brother alex said that verse hello brother uh... lewis you have proverbs uh... you have philippians 4.8 Bishan, you are going to get Proverbs 22, 17 through 21. Okay, Psalm 119, 148, Brother Alex. My eyes anticipate the night watches that I may meditate on your word. Now, it doesn't say my eyes anticipate the night watches that I might just clear my head of all thoughts and allow you to speak to me. No. He's saying that his last thoughts in the evening are not generic thoughts of God, but meditation upon God's Holy Word. There are some passages that I fall asleep every night meditating on. One is 1 John 4, 18. There is no fear in love, perfect love drives out all fear because fear involves judgment and the one who fears is not perfected in love and it's to remind me that as I fall asleep at night I want to be reminded that I am in the hands of a loving God that I need not fear His judgment, that I can close my eyes and turn everything over to Him. I don't have to toss and turn and worry about the next day. And the other verse I meditate upon is Matthew 11, 28-30. Come to me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you shall find rest for your souls. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the burden I will put on you is light. Matthew 11, 28-30 And I meditate upon the fact that God would not have me burdened, that I don't have to take on the cares of the world, that he has taken them on for me, and that I can go to sleep in peace. So those are the two passages of late that I have been meditating upon in the night watches as I fall asleep. Well, there are those people would say, well, that's legalistic. Well, Alex, do you ever talk to your wife at night? Yes. And does she like talking to you? Yes. Everything's quiet. And she wants to talk, right? Yep. You're so legalistic. What I think you should do is instead of listening to your wife talk, you should just empty your mind and imagine what she's saying. That'll be much more satisfying to her. Would that make her happy? No. Sweetheart, you just be quiet. I'm going to empty my mind and I will just, my thoughts will be what you want to talk about. No, and it doesn't bring peace to God either. It grieves the Holy Spirit of God when we would rather empty our minds and have them filled with our thoughts rather than listening to Him at night. Many times, Eleanor is most talkative right before She goes to sleep. It's quiet. The cares of the world are not around us. We don't sleep with our phones in our room. It's peaceful. It's dark or there is a soft light on. And she feels the freedom just to all of a sudden things come to her mind. She wants to talk to me about them. And I want to listen. Because I'm a hypocrite if I don't, because if I want to talk to God at night, He will listen. But it would grieve her if I said, well, from now on, sweetheart, instead of hearing what you have to say, I'm going to imagine what you have to say. I'm just going to empty my mind and let the thoughts of my mind be what you have to say instead of your words. That would grieve her, as it would grieve God, the Holy Spirit. Proverbs 22, 17 through 21, that's going to be Bishan. Then Philippians 4, 8 is Emmanuel. 2 Peter 3, 1 is Louis. And John 14, 15 is brother Alex. So let's look at Proverbs 22, 17 through 21. Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge, for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are read on your speech, that your trust may be in the Lord. I have made them known to you today, even to you. Have I not written for you thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge to make you know what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you. Have I not written to you? This is God the Holy Spirit speaking to us about wisdom. And we're not supposed to empty our minds of all the things that God the Holy Spirit has taken the trouble to write down for us and replace it with any spirit thought that comes into our brains. God the Holy Spirit went to a lot of trouble to give us the holy, eternal, inerrant written word of God. And we have it in America because of the blood of the martyrs. People in England were burned alive, boiled alive, had their heads chopped off, for the sin of translating the Bible into English. And then missionaries came over from England to America and were martyred by Indians, by bandits, by different warring European factions to bring us Bibles. You have the Bible in Nigeria and in Cameroon by the blood of the martyrs. They died of disease. They died of martyrdom. Some died cruel deaths, both by European powers who did not want the gospel brought to Africa and by intertribal jealousies and superstitions. So we have a heritage that was given to us by God the Holy Spirit, He watched over it, but the men who carried it on His behalf, the ground is soaked with the blood of the martyrs so that we can have a Bible." And now we talk about emptying our minds and using our thoughts instead of the Word of God. Philippians 4.8 Philippines for it. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Think! not into your mind but think on the lofty and wonderful things that god has has given us through the word second peter three one let's see who had that what did you want cf grants this is not always the complete set i have written to you in what it does I want to stir you up with a sincere understanding by way of reminder. Yeah. So it's the written word of God to stir us up, to remind us we should be thinking about the words of God, not forgiving them, forgetting them. John 14, 15. Brother Alex? If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Yeah. Not if you love me, you will engage in mindless meditation, but you will keep my commandments. And that brings us back to Joshua 1.8. How do we keep his commandments? They do not depart out of our mouth, but we meditate upon them. that we might be careful to do that. How can you apply any of the above passages and at the same time empty your mind? You can't, can you? Now I'm not saying those people who gauge in listening prayer are not spoken to. I'm just saying they're not spoken to by God the Holy Spirit because God the Holy Spirit will not act in contradiction to the words of the Holy Spirit. God would have us meditate upon his word. It keeps us humble. It's a very prideful statement to say God told me something that he hasn't told you. If I exhort Bishan in Matthew 6.33 to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. I'm not telling something, some sort of secret or mystery to Bishan. It's available to everyone. Brother Bishan, turn to Deuteronomy 29, would you please? We're going to look at Deuteronomy 29.29, please. The secret things belong to the Lord. our God, for the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. Matthew 6.33 has been around for over 2,000 years. So I'm not giving... there's nothing for me to be proud about in sharing Matthew 6.33. Brother Bashan, now read Deuteronomy 30, 11 through 14, please. It is not in heaven that we should say, Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it. Neither it is in yonder sea that we should say, Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it. The word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart so that you can do it. Yeah. And it's not when it says it's in your heart and mouth. It's not talking about mysticism. It's talking about Joshua 1.8. It's talking about meditating upon it. It's talking about Psalm 119, 97, 99, 145 through 148. So, I can share with Bishan Matthew 6.33, but I'm not, I'm no one special in doing that. However, if you engage in listening prayer, then you can say, God said to me. That's very prideful, isn't it? That's why we are forbidden from doing that. Brother Alex, would you read 1 Corinthians 4 verse 6 please? Sure. Now these things, brethren, I figuratively apply to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that it as you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. Ah, so God would protect us from this arrogance by staying within the Word of God. And people say, well, John, you're putting, trying to put God in a box by disallowing listening prayer. I say, no, no, I'm not. But I am putting us in the book. We have to obey God. Yeah, but God can do anything. Yes, that's true. But we cannot do anything. we are to do His good and holy will as revealed in the written Word of God. Listening prayer is contrasted with an indirect disobedience to these passages, for listening prayer entails emptying the mind not meditating upon the Word. Therefore we reject any teaching leading us to empty our minds where we listen to spirits rather than filling our minds with Holy Scripture and in doing so listen to God the Holy Spirit. People feel that listening prayer is somehow more spiritual because it is the Spirit speaking to you. That's nonsensical. The Word of God is inspired by God. It is God breathed. They are the words of God, the Holy Spirit. Your thoughts are not that, and we'll see that. Let's see how this affects the role, this error, can affect the role of the husband and the father in meditation. Now in Ephesians 5, 25 and 26, the husband is the spiritual leader and protector of the wife. And in Ephesians 6, 4, he's the spiritual instructor and trainer of the children. He is not a mystical leader. Rather, he is to lead them in the aspects of the Word of God. It says, by the washing of the water with the Word. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Not of our thoughts. Ephesians 5.22-24 means that the wife cannot go to God and come to decisions through mystical thoughts outside the spiritual guidance of her husband. Wives, be subject to your husbands as to the Lord. The leadership of God the Holy Spirit will not violate the words of God the Holy Spirit. and God the Holy Spirit is still wise to be subject to their husbands. Unfortunately though, there are many wives who will say, God told me to do this, I don't have to obey you. I know a wife who is the children's minister in the church, the husband was transferred to another city, and his wife refused to go with him because God had told her that this was her ministry. I shared with her that God had not told her that. But she refused to listen. I lost a donor by that conversation also, because she also refused to write another check to GCI. But what can I say? God's will for her is to subject herself to her husband. She said, well, what if my husband's wrong? I said, 1 Peter 3.1 says, even if your husband is a non-Christian, but he's not wrong. He's a deacon in the church. He's a hardworking Christian man trained as a university student and the Navigators, as were you. And when you married him, you agreed that he would be your spiritual leader and protector. So now you have to follow him, which she refused to do. Ephesians 5.22-24 means the wife cannot go to God and come to decisions through mystical thoughts outside the spiritual guidance of her husband. Ephesians 6.1-3 means that children in the home cannot go to God and come to decisions through mystical thoughts outside the spiritual authority of their parents. And I know of a situation where a child was being put through college, a great sacrifice by the parents and through mystical prayer decided that God wanted him to quit school and become an itinerant evangelist. No thought of his navigator staff person, no thought of his pastor, no thought of his parents, no thought other than I had a thought and I'm going to do it." Listening prayer frees the individual. It frees the individual both from the constraints of the written Word of God and the constraints of God-ordained relationships. because it bypasses that whole system, all based on thoughts in the head. Their untested thoughts become equal to, if not above, the Word of God. It is not referenced to the Word of God, It is not a reference to the Word of God, nor to God-ordained authorities, which are not consulted. And now, we know that a man's body is not his own. It belongs to his wife. You cannot just simply make a decision. I know a pastor. He had a nice job. He had a fulfilling ministry. His wife was able to be a stay-at-home mom and raise the children. And all of a sudden, on the basis of a listening prayer conference that he went to, he resigned his position, his pastorate, and he went to live in one of the most dangerous slums in the world. And wanted to take his wife there and live in squalor and disease and violence. And I rebuked him. He had no scriptural mandate to do that. What about 1st Timothy 5.8? What about Ephesians 5.25-26? What about Ephesians 5.28-31? How can he say he's the spiritual leader and protector and provider of his family and then take them into the center of squalor, poverty, all on the basis of a thought he had in his head? But you see, he didn't have to worry about getting counsel from me. He didn't have to worry about getting counsel from his fellow pastors. He didn't have to worry about his wife being his helpmate and discussing this with her. He didn't have to worry about cross-referencing this decision with known words of God the Holy Spirit. All he had to do was have the thought and make the decision. He got to bypass all of these constraints. Their untested thoughts become equal to, if not above, the Word of God, which is not reference to the Word of God, nor to God-ordained authorities which are not consulted." See this wife, she didn't have to worry about the Word of God, nor the older women in the Church, nor her husband, nor her pastor, based on a word from God she got to make these decisions just as the pastor did. You see God the Holy Spirit does speak of leading us. Not every decision can be cross-referenced with a specific verse. The principle is there But there's not a verse that says in Immanuel, you shall live in Akure. Alex, you shall live in Johannesburg rather than Cape Town. No, that verse is not there. But there are principles. So let's look at some of these principles. I will ask Bishan if you will look at Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Alex, if you will look at Proverbs 24, 16. Emmanuel, you get Romans 11, 29. And Lewis, you get 1 John 4, 18. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. Please. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and you will make straight your path. And we don't have to worry. We do not have to fear that if we make the wrong decision, we are here and this is God's will. that if we make the wrong decision and be going in this direction, that God will just stand by idly and say, boy, you are gonna be surprised when you go off the edge of that cliff. No, God says that if we trust in him, that he'll direct our paths, that he will bounce us off. We might go along and then we might end up here. God says, don't worry, I will direct you. Ah, we cross over, I will direct you. We get down here, we start, no, I'm going to direct you. I'm gonna put a hedge around you so that you end up in my will. Now what we want to do is start off here and go directly. to this point, don't we? But that job has been taken. That was Jesus Christ. He said, I always do the will of my Father. Always. Never made a mistake. The rest of us, though, find ourselves, rather, in the role of Proverbs 2416. Would you read that please? So we get off the wrong way, we fall down, God points us in the right way, we get up and start walking. And God will, if we are willful and start heading in another direction, God says He will intervene and bounce us back. We don't have to be perfect. All we have to do is be willing to repent. We do not have to fear that God will give up on us. Romans 11, 29. from Romans 11, 29, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Yeah, that will never go away. I was taught this false doctrine of backsliding as a young Christian. And you know, and I got to thinking, boy, I'm way up here, I have to go all the way back here and then start all over again. But that's not true. The point at which we repent is the point at which God's leadership takes over and he will keep us going in the right direction. I lived in fear because I was taught that God will put you on the shelf. You have certain gifts, you have a calling, but if you squander that, he'll just use somebody else instead of you. That's not true. God is committed to us. He will not put us on the shelf. Our gifts and calling are irrevocable or irrevocable. They are ours forever. 1 John 4, 18. 1 John 4, 18, there is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives out fear because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love. We don't have to fear that if we go off the beaten path that God's heavy hand of judgment is going to fall upon us. God's going to get even with us for missing his will. No, that's not going to happen. Jesus Christ has received all of the punishment due us. We don't have to worry that something bad will happen. Hebrews 12, 10, for they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we can share in His holiness. We want God to discipline us, but it will not be punishment. It will not be the heavy hand of God's judgment. Rather, it will be the loving discipline of the Father who wants us to succeed. And in understanding that, we lovingly discipline our children for their success. But when you sin, you do not have to worry, what bad thing will God do to me because I sinned? God did all the bad things do you to Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53.5 second uh... first peter two twenty uh... twenty four was that second peter two twenty four first peter yeah first peter two twenty four all the bad things were done to jesus it may be painful but it will be good do you want to god to just allow you to go off the cliff No? Well, how is he going to stop you? Well, he can stop you with the instruction of the word, but that doesn't seem to work. So he's going to get in here and discipline you and get you back here. That's good. That's what we want. And so we don't have to fear. Fear involves judgment. We embrace the loving discipline of God. 2nd Samuel 7, 1-7. Let's go back up to Bishan. Meanwhile, Alex, if you will look at 2nd Chronicles 6, 8-10. Emmanuel, I'm going to put you in Ezra 7, 25 and 27, before we go back to verse 10. And then Lewis, I'll give you Nehemiah 2, 12 and Nehemiah 7, 5. So, let's go back up and hear 2 Samuel 7, 1-7. 2 Samuel 7, 1-7. Now, when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in the house of Peter, but the ark of God dwells in a tent. And Nathan said to the king, Go, Do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. But that seemed like the word of the Lord came to Nathan. Go and tell my servant, David. So says the Lord. Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day. But I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. in all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel. Did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel saying, why have you not built me a house of Seder? So, David had this good idea. It came into his heart. Nathan thought, yeah, it sounds like a good idea. David, you've been serving the Lord faithfully. But then the Word of the Lord contradicted the good idea. David's decision was not God's will, even though noble in nature. It has to conform with the Word of God. So let's look at 2 Chronicles 6, 8-10. that my name might be there. And I have chosen David to be over my people of Israel. Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, Because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. Okay, keep reading. Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you he shall build a house for my name. Now the Lord has fulfilled his word which he spoke. For I have resided in the place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised and have built a house for the name of the Lord. Okay, now David's decision, what was it based on? His heart, wasn't it? Solomon's decision was based on the word of God. as given by Nathan the prophet. Now, David got into trouble a number of times by doing what was in his heart without consulting the Word of God, didn't he? Besheba? Polygamy? How about numbering the people? Ezra, if David had listened to Nathan the prophet, if he had listened to his generals, if he had gone to counsel from the word of God, he wouldn't have numbered the people. He would have first offered a sacrifice and gone to get, receive instruction from the priest. And then he would have found out God's will. He wasn't sin because he numbered the people. There's a whole book called Numbers. It was sin because he didn't do it in accordance with the Word of God, but rather did it in accordance with his own heart, a deceiving spirit. Ezra 7.25 and 27. Emmanuel? And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges, whom will judge all the people in the province beyond the river. All such as know the laws of your God, and those who do not know them, you shall teach." And verse 27, "'Blessed be the Lord, the God of your fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.'" Now, God does put things in the heart of people to do. But that's preceded by Ezra 7.10. Read Ezra 7.10, Emmanuel. Ezra 7.10. For Ezra has set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his tattoos and rules in Israel. Yeah, the wisdom Ezra had came from the studying and obeying of God's Word. And the king said, you know, this man who studies and obeys God's word, let him gather men around him who do the same, and if they don't, teach them that. It was all done in accordance with the word of God. God was placing things in men's hearts, but it was never independent from the written word of God. Nehemiah 2.12. Lewis? I got up at night and took a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God had laid on my head for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the one I was riding. Then my God put it into my mind to assemble the nobles, officials, and the people to be registered by genealogy. I found the genealogical record of those who came back first, and I found the following written in it. So, God gave Nehemiah these ideas, but Nehemiah was cautious. He didn't tell anybody. He wanted to make sure this idea was actually God's idea, and not just any old idea. Well, the role of the husband and the father in spiritual leadership, the husband and father is not free to come to decisions concerning himself, his wife, nor his children. through mystical thoughts. Now, God placed thoughts in these men's hearts and leadership, but it was always in accordance with the Word of God. He is both constrained and instructed by Holy Scripture. Can you see that? You gentlemen are not free To go off somewhere and decide through a mystical thought if you married the right woman or not. Maybe you married the wrong woman. No. You are constrained and instructed by scripture. If you're married to her, she is the right one. You are not free just to quit your job and go off and leave your wife and children to become an itinerant preacher. No. You are constrained and instructed by scripture on the spiritual protection and care and instruction of your wife and children and nurturing them. You can't just take off. The role of the wife and husband's spiritual leadership. The wife mother is not free to come to decisions concerning herself, her husband, nor her children through mystical thoughts. She is constrained by Holy Scripture. She is instructed by Holy Scripture. A wife cannot simply say, I was praying about it, God has called me to do this, I don't care what you say or where you go, I'm going to do God's will. Well, she can do that if she's a single woman, but in a marriage relationship there are not two wheels. Rather, there is one wheel, the married couple. And so she's not free just to simply do that. She's constrained both by Holy Scripture and by what the Holy Spirit says through Scripture about her relationship with her husband. the role of the children and the parents' spiritual leadership. Children are not free to come to decisions concerning themselves, their parents, nor their home through mystical thoughts. They are both constrained and instructed by Holy Scripture. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Honor your father and mother. So, you see, we have these passages that clearly teach the leadership of the Spirit, but is not through listening prayer. It is through the meditation upon and conforming ourselves to the Word of God. And then God can place ideas of application of Holy Scripture, but not freestanding ideas. And no idea of application of Holy Scripture will contradict Holy Scripture. God can and does give us ideas concerning the application of Holy Scripture to our lives and decisions. However, no application will take place independent from God's Word. That's very important for us to remember. It will not take place independent from God's Word. Now, we have run out of time here. I think Bishan, aren't you about to take your children to school? Yeah, and Alex is about to go to work. So I would like for us all to be on the same page in this, and I don't want to get ahead of you. So next week, we will continue on. We'll do this in two parts. And having seen what meditation is, now we will look next week at the dangers of listening prayer. Then we will look at the alternative to listening prayer. And then we will take a look at how did we get to this point where we consider our thoughts to be God thoughts. May God add His blessing to His Holy Word.