If I seek to please man, I simply cannot be a servant of Christ. If my heart is motivated by the approval of others, my loyalties will be divided, and the driving force behind my actions will be confused. I’ll always be striving to please someone other than Jesus.

A few years after the apostle Paul was converted, he went to the church in Jerusalem to try and join the disciples there, “but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple” (Acts 9:26, NKJV). The apostles all knew Paul’s notorious reputation as a persecutor. “I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, ‘He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy’” (Galatians 1:22-23).

Barnabas helped the apostles get over their fear of Paul, and it might’ve been very tempting for Paul to settle into being a type of celebrity convert, but he decided to itinerate among the Gentiles. Indeed, Paul states, “I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ…. I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:11-12, 16).

What did Paul mean by this? In Galatians 1:17, he explains, “Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia.” What he is saying here applies to all who desire to have the mind of Christ. “I didn’t have to read books or borrow men’s methods to get what I have. I received my ministry and my anointing on my knees. I went into Arabia and the desert to have Christ revealed to me. I spent precious time there, being emptied of self and being taught by the Holy Spirit.”

This by no means justifies those who are arrogant, lone-ranger believers. We know Paul had a servant’s heart. He had emptied himself of self-ambition and completely relied on Christ.

When your mind is set on knowing and pleasing Christ, you will not place the approval of human teachers over the instructions of the Holy Spirit. Avoid following other believers rather than the Lord. Only then will you maintain a clear vision of God’s calling on your life.

In chapter nine of Acts, we’re told that the Holy Ghost came to a godly man named Ananias. The Spirit instructed him to find a man named Saul, lay hands on him and restore his sight. Ananias knew of Saul’s reputation. He believed this was going to be dangerous, but here is how the Holy Spirit recommended Saul to Ananias: “Behold, he is praying” (Acts 9:11, NKJV).

The Lord was saying, in essence, “Ananias, you will find this man on his knees. He knows you are coming. He even knows your name and why you’re being sent to him. He wants his eyes opened.”

When did Saul receive this inner knowing? How did he receive this pure word from God? It came through fervent prayer and supplication. In fact, I believe the Spirit’s words to Ananias reveal what moved God’s heart about Saul: “Behold, he is praying.” Saul had been shut in with God for three days, refusing all food and water. All he wanted was the Lord so he continued on his knees, praying and seeking God.

When I was growing up, my spiritual father taught me, “God always makes a way for a praying man.”

There have been periods in my life when the Lord has provided indisputable evidence of this. I was called to preach at seventeen years of age when the Holy Spirit came upon me. I wept and prayed, crying out, “Fill me, Lord Jesus.” Later, I prayed until the Spirit came upon me in divine intensity. As a young man a deep hunger rose up in me. Something in my heart told me, “There’s more to serving Jesus than what I am doing.” I spent months on my knees, weeping and praying for hours at a time, when finally the Lord called me to focus on spreading a global movement of prayer and repentance.

If I have ever heard from God—if I have any revelation of Christ, any measure of the mind of Christ—it came not through Bible study alone. It came through prayer. It came from seeking God in the secret place.

Do you want a fuller measure of the Spirit and God’s presence? Seek his face in prayer. Seek him unrelentingly and passionately. Through fervent prayer and supplication, you will find God’s mind and will for your life.

“Therefore whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33, NKJV).

The Greek word for confess in this passage means covenant, assent or agreement. Jesus is speaking of an agreement we have with him. Our part is to confess him, or represent him, in our daily lives. We are to live by his promises of protection and personal care for us, and we are to testify of his marvelous blessings by how we live.

Confessing Christ means more than believing in his divinity. The Bible says even demons believe this and tremble at the knowledge (see James 2:19). So what does Jesus mean when he says we are to confess him before men?

What had Christ just told his listeners before the passage in verses 32 and 33? He had said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will” (Matthew 10:29). Jesus was telling them, “Think of the millions of birds throughout the earth. Now think of all the birds that have existed since Creation. To this day, not one bird has died or been snared without your heavenly Father knowing it.”

He then pointed out, “The very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30). Christ was emphasizing, “God is so great, he’s beyond your ability to comprehend. You’ll never be able to grasp how detailed his care for you is.”

Jesus concluded by saying, “Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31), then he sums everything up by saying, “Whoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). He is saying, “Think about what I’ve just revealed to you about the Father’s all-seeing, all-knowing care. You’re to confess this truth to the whole world. You’re to live, breathe and testify, ‘God cares for me.’”

Believe in the Father’s love for you, and accept his intimate care for you. Lay down all your fears and doubts. Confess to everyone, “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches over me.” Live before men with the faith that God hasn’t overlooked you.

“Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents” (1 Corinthians 10:8-9, NKJV).

What does Paul mean here when he speaks of “tempting Christ”? Simply put, tempting the Lord means putting him to the test. We tempt him whenever we ask, “Just how merciful will God be to me if I move forward into this sin? How long can I indulge my sin before his anger is stirred? I know God is merciful, and this is an era of grace with no condemnation toward sinners. How could he possibly judge me, when I’m his child?”

Multitudes of Christians casually ask the same question today as they toy with a wicked temptation. They want to see how close they can get to hellfire without facing the consequences of sin. All the while, such believers are casting off conviction from God’s Word. They’re tempting Christ.

Any time we go against truth that God’s Spirit has made clear to us, we’re casting off Paul’s warning: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

Ask yourself if you are testing the limits of God’s precious gift of grace. Are you asking Christ to indulge your sin in the face of your outright rebellion? You may say to yourself, “I’m a New Testament believer. I’m covered under the blood of Jesus. God won’t judge me.” By continuing in your sin, you are treating Jesus’ great sacrifice for you with utter disregard. Your present willful sin is putting him to open shame, not just in the world’s eyes, but before all of heaven and hell (see Hebrews 6:6).

Paul describes a way of escape from all temptation: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Dear believer, don’t flirt with sin and tempt God. Our escape is a growing knowledge and experience of the holy fear of God.

Most of America knows that the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the Ten Commandments are no longer required to be displayed in any government courthouse. This landmark decision has been covered exhaustively by the media, but what does the ruling mean?

A courthouse is where laws are enforced. The Ten Commandments represent God’s moral law, which never shifts or changes. It is as fixed as the law of gravity. If you defy that law, it’s like stepping off a high building. You can deny that the law affects you, but there are consequences to be paid. The Ten Commandments are eternal laws designed by God to keep society from destroying itself.

Despite this, many sand-blasting companies have ground away those Commandments, as well as God’s name, wherever they were engraved in courthouse marble or concrete.

What a telling picture of the state of our society. These unchangeable laws were originally engraved in stone by the finger of God. Now they are being erased from stone by the law of man.

Some Christians are saying, “What’s the big deal? We are not under the law. Why should this be an issue?” No, we are not under the Hebrew law, meaning the 613 additional commandments added by Jewish rabbis. But every Christian is under the authority of God’s moral law, which is summed up in the Ten Commandments.

Other believers claim, “We don’t need these displays of the Commandments. All that’s really necessary is for us to have them written in our hearts.” That’s not what God’s Word says. Consider the very visible presence God intended for the Commandments as they were delivered to his people.

“These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).

If you don’t want God in your midst, he doesn’t simply go away. The Bible offers warning after warning on this matter. Why did God judge Noah’s generation by sending a flood? It all happened because of lawlessness.

We must pray for people to turn back to the Lord and honor his law once more.