“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”( Isa 55:8-9)
One preacher rightly said that “ the anthem of hell is I did it my own way” This is because “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer 17:9) .We can only be on the right path by relying on the Lord’s word and doing things His way.
The essence of sin is doing things Your Own Way or doing Your Own Thing. Consider the following verses:-
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Pr 1:31 Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
Isa 55:7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Isa 56:11 They are dogs with mighty appetites;
they never have enough.
They are shepherds who lack understanding;
they all turn to their own way,
they seek their own gain.
Jer.15:7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people,
for they have not changed their ways.
Jer 18:15 Yet my people have forgotten me;
they burn incense to worthless idols,
which made them stumble in their ways,
in the ancient paths.
They made them walk in byways,
on roads not built up.
Eze 36:17 Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions. Their conduct was like a woman’s monthly uncleanness in my sight.
Ho 4:9 A whirlwind will sweep them away,
and their sacrifices will bring them shame.
Pr 14:14 The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways,
and the good rewarded for theirs.
Is.58: 13 and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
Is.66:3 They have chosen their own ways,
and they delight in their abominations;
Ac 14:16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. ( Idolatry, fornication, witchcraft, murders, pleasures of sin, deception and all manner of human depravity)
Ro 3:16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
Yet in our generation, the greatest problem of the church is that we have devised our own ways of doing things , other than what the Lord has told us. We may think that we are very clever, but those methods and styles of ministry that are not the Lord’s prescriptions will bring the ruin of those who so do.
King David did two good things but failed to do them God’s way. This led to disastrous consequences.
In 2 Sam. 6. They organized to transport the ark of Covenant using a more modern method than what God had prescribed. They did it their own way. The result was disaster. Uzzah died.
In 2 Sam.24 he carried out a census of Israel contrary to God’s prescribed method of census (Ex.30). The result of taking census his own way was that seventy thousand people died. O the danger of doing things our own way!
When I see some of the things happening in the church today, I am saddened by the realization that the Lord will not be silent for ever while we do our own thing.
The selling of oil, soil, Salt, holy water, brooms, and anointed napkins is doing untold damage in the church. Search the scriptures and you will discover these things are not authorized by God. People involved in this trade are operating in the tradition of Balaam, Gehazi and Simon the sorcerer.
They have simply brought witchcraft into the church. They will stand and appear to do well for a season, after the brief season, judgement is coming.
Then there the practice of conferring honour on self, by titles and elevating self to that are contrary to the Biblical norm. Read Matthew 18 and 23.
Today, some of our Christian ministers are so important, they have to have prestigious titles, positions, servants, bouncers, body guards and special robes. Did apostle Peter have any of these? Are they more important than Apostle Peter? When these things happen, true anointing from the Lord departs and a counterfeit anointing takes over. Let’s beware!
The great danger of our time is that in the church we are doing our own thing. Building our own kingdoms and devising our own methods. This is plainly, the way of sin. We are only safe doing things God’s way.
This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’