I know people who were directed to move to a place by a revelation, angelic visitation, or other supernatural way, and then refused to leave it until they received another such revelation. In some of these cases, it was obvious they had stayed much longer than they should have, but they insisted on waiting for another supernatural revelation to lead them. Where does it say that if we receive a revelation to go somewhere that we must have another one to leave?

     In Scripture, and in my experience as well as the experiences of others I’ve been close to, the Lord uses many different ways to lead us. It can be a mistake to assume that He will lead us in the future the way He led us in the past. People who determine to live by principles like this often miss the Lord when He tries to speak to them in different ways or does not speak because He expects us to be mature enough to know what to do. 

     Here’s a principle to consider—the Lord would usually rather us grow in faith and in wisdom than to need prophetic revelation for every thing we do. If He had to send us an angel to tell us specifically to move somewhere, it may not have had anything to do with the importance of our move as much as it did with the dullness of our hearing. If it takes another angel to get us to move from there when our time is up, it could be because we’re still dull.

     Little children have to be directed constantly. If an adult has to be told in detail every little thing to do or not to do, then they are still immature. Again, what we call “high-level” revelation may not have anything to do with our importance, or the importance of the task, but could be the result of our immaturity or dullness of hearing. 

     This too is not always true, but sometimes things come in a high-level way because of their importance. My point is that in all things we need to guard against setting patterns and principles that will trip us up in the future. As I shared above, I have learned to be skeptical of prophets who interpret their own revelation. Just when I start to make this a principle, there will be a good example of my principle being violated by a prophet who interpreted their own revelation very well. I use principles but hold to them lightly and try to have constant openness to something new. It is a balancing act, but I think it is also one that keeps us seeking the Lord, which may be the most important thing of all.

     Political correctness is a major veil of deception that the enemies of Western civilization are boasting about using effectively against the West, but at the same time, there are stereotypes and overgeneralizations that are major deceptions, too. If we are going to follow the Lord, we will have to grasp the part of His basic nature that would have Him make every snowflake different, every one of us different, and who loves to communicate in so many different ways. Our God loves diversity, and if we are going to follow Him, we must be as ready for uniqueness as anything, which makes many of our own humanly devised principles, methods, and patterns a danger. 

     Witchcraft is basically counterfeit spiritual authority. Witchcraft, or sorcery, is using spirits other than the Holy Spirit, and is based more in manipulation and control than following the Lord. This is listed as one of the works of the flesh in Galatians 5, because in its early stages it is usually more carnal than spiritual. Many Christians fall into using such methods, even to try to accomplish what they perceive to be the purpose of God. We will cover this in more depth later, but we must consider that it is a basis of witchcraft to use patterns, formulas, and principles. It is a basis of our walk in the Spirit to follow the Spirit, a Person, not just formulas.

     If we are wise, we will guard against thinking that because He did something one way, or spoke to us in a certain way, that we can expect the same again. I think we would be much better off to understand that “He is new every morning” (see Lamentations 3:23). This does not mean that He ever changes, but that there is so much more to Him that we cannot reduce Him down to our own narrow-minded concepts. In a relationship when we become too set in our ways, it will become boring and lukewarm. Our God is so awesome that those who stay close to Him will never be bored!