“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name did we not perform many miracles?  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’  Matthew 7:21-23 NIV

In this particular scripture passage, Jesus tells us that we will have to do more than call on Him to enter the kingdom of heaven.  I once had a friend that I encouraged to go to church.  I encouraged him to go to church with his parent as I knew how happy it made my mom when her children came to church with her.  When he didn’t want to do that, I questioned him about his salvation.  I asked if he knew for sure that if he died right this minute that he would go to heaven.  His response was “I hope so, I pray every night”.  At the time, I wasn’t well read when it came to my Bible so I was hopeful that he would make it.

So if I pray once a day and do nothing else, I will go to heaven, true or false?  False.   This scripture passage clearly tells us that only those that do the will of God our Father will make it into heaven.  So how do you know if you are doing God’s will?  Well think of it like this.  If you are in a close relationship with someone, do you know what they expect of you? Of course you do.  If you are close, you talk to them and you listen to what they have to say.  You share your dreams and your expectations with each other.  Now I try at least 5 days a week to walk my dogs at a local park.  We go at the same time each morning so I tend to see the same people.  I know them by sight.  I speak to them each morning, but I don’t know them.  I don’t know anything about them other than the fact that they walk at this park each morning.  They don’t know me, even though I speak to them once a day.  So you see what I’m saying.  It requires a lot more for you to be in a close relationship with someone.

You see, you have to enter into a close relationship with God before you can determine his will for you.  You listen to Him talk to you through the reading of His word.  You talk with him frequently through prayer.  You praise Him, you thank Him, you don’t just cry out when you are in trouble.  It is through the establishment of this close relationship that you learn to discern what He wants from you.  You learn to be obedient and to do His will.  You learn His characteristics and you want to please Him and not anger Him.

The one thing that I don’t want to hope and guess about is my eternal salvation.  I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am going to heaven.  I can’t bear to think of the alternative.  I have had enough heat just living in southeast Louisiana.  I don’t like to be that hot and especially not for eternity.  No, thank you.

But that’s not entirely what this scripture is about.  Here Jesus is talking about true followers vs false followers.  In these end times, it is very important we know the difference.  There are plenty of true men of God on this planet and I believe that we should offer them the utmost respect and pay close attention to what they say.  However, there are a lot of false believers out there trying to get us to follow them.  You see, my friend, the devil is very crafty.  He uses people to further his goals as well.  Be careful who you follow.  The true man of God will lead you into heaven.  The false teacher will lead you straight to hell.  Be very careful.

Now you may ask how do you tell the difference.  This is where you have to work at it.  First of all you become a fact checker.  Listen to what they are saying.  Are they preaching God’s word?  Does what they say line up with what the Bible says?  Be leery of someone who tells you life is just a bowl of cherries, often it is the pits.  Be leery of someone who tells you that you don’t have to suffer as a Christian.  We will suffer, the Bible very clearly tells us that we will suffer, We are working for the end  prize.  It is a marathon, not a sprint.

In addition to checking the facts that they speak, look at their production.  Are they leading others to God are they bringing members into church?  Are they out there serving the Lord?  Or are they inwardly focused?  Are they more interested in catering to themselves than they are in serving others?  Are they doing good to bring attention to themselves or are they doing good to bring God the glory?

When we establish that close relationship with God, then we can pray to him for wisdom and discernment and he will guide us in the way that we should go.

God gives us wisdom and discernment, it is up to us to use it to determine who is real and who is fake.

Watch and listen carefully and be very careful in whom you follow.  It is my prayer for today that God will give you wisdom and discernment.  I pray that as you develop a closer relationship with Him that you will also find a good mentor to assist you as you learn to listen to God and find his will for you.  Just be sure they are a true disciple of God and not a false disciple.

Have a great day!