Who Has Your Ear

1 Kings 13:15-19 (HCSB)
15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16 But he answered, “I cannot go back with you, eat bread, or drink water with you in this place, 17 for a message came to me by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or go back by the way you came.’ ” 18 He said to him, “I am also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” The old prophet deceived him, 19 and the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.

This morning for my devotional, I was reading I. Kings 13. I invite you to read it as soon as you can. It is the story of a prophet who is told one thing to do—by God, and does another. Why? An older prophet lies to him. As a result of following the false prophet, the prophet loses his life! Whether prophet and/or leader, we must be careful of who has our ear. Lies to you and about you will often come on the heels of your most successful moments. Today, please remember; you are in a war, and in the words of Aeschylus, “In war, truth is the first casualty.”

As a leader, there are always forces attempting to take you out. The bible says that in the multitude of counselors there is wisdom. Make sure you have people around you that will tell you the truth in love. These are wisdom keepers, and transmitters. We need them. The interesting thing in this story is that the “prophet of God” is bamboozled and loses his life and the false prophet, lives to bury him!

Today, watch out for lies, stay the course. Do not be bamboozled!

Anthony Payton


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