Have you ever met someone who was educated beyond their intelligence?  People who think they know more than they do. . .or that they always have the right answers, no matter what.

I’ve met my share of Christians who feel they’re more spiritually mature. . .advanced beyond us ordinary Christians.  I suspect that somewhere in the Bible there is a verse or twoconcerning self-gratification or spiritual pride.

At one point I had a brief conversation with someone who said: “I heard you talking about focus but you need to know that word is not in the King James Bible.”

My first mental response was less than a spiritual one, but I fortunatelyregained my spiritual focus before saying that the word focus is in the Amplified Version (1);  God’s Word Translation (28); Message Bible (28) and the New Living Translation (4). 

He quickly said that may be true but it’s not in the King James Bible.

Why were you born?

I can tell you. . .it wasn’t just because your Mom and Dad wanted to have a baby as beautiful as you.

You were born for a purpose. God knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb.

Yet, too few believers understand their purpose or why they were born.

Ephesians 5:14:

“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”

According to Strong’s Concordance the word sleepest means “to fall asleep” but it also means:

“to yield to sloth and sin” and “to be indifferent to one's salvation.”

The Lord kept bringing the phrase indifferent to one’s salvation back to my remembrance and I was prompted to ask this question.

What does it mean to be indifferent to one’s salvation?

Dictionary.com defines indifferent as:

Have you ever had someone say. . . “I’ve been thinking about you?”

While we assume those thoughts are good. . .we have no idea what they’re thinking or how long they thought about us.

On a spiritual level. . .God does bring people to our minds. . .people he wants us to pray for.

In this teaching, I want to talk about someone who thinks about you 24/7.

1 Peter 5:7 in The Living Bible says:

“Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.”

He is “always thinking about you.”

Not only that but He is “watching everything that concerns you.”

Can somebody say “Hallelujah”?  You need to stop and really embrace that.

One of my favorite scriptures is Psalm 40:17 in The Living Bible which says:

Over the years, I have sadly had a large number of people talk to me with tears in their eyes about how they lost everything they owned because of bad advice from well-meaning friends and family members..

Couples who got in on the ground floor of a ‘can’t miss,’ explosive money-making opportunity at the urging of a family member or friend only to watch the company go belly up and their money disappear faster than an ice cube on a hot summer’s day.

Dreamers who were robbed of their dreams by the doubts of someone who’s biggest decision is whether to have next Saturday’s breakfast at iHop or Cracker Barrel. 

Listening to the wrong people give unwise advice.

I could go on with other sad stories I’ve heard but let’s move on with seven reasons not to take their word for it.

First, when I say don’t take their word for it. . .let me clarify who ‘they’ are.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

I remember learning The Golden Rule early in life.

Later in school. . .I learned the modified version.

“Do unto others before they have a chance to do it unto you.”

As an adult, I learned yet another version of The Golden Rule.  This one says:

“If you’ve got the gold. . .you make the rules.”