by Sis Jean George
Shalom and thank you for joining us to another episode of Living Supernaturally. We have been
looking at commands and instructions that the Lord has for us which follow the word ‘not’,
embracing God's nots. Today, we are going to be looking at follow not. When we are in a crowd
or when we live in a place where there are a lot of people, being influenced by others or by a
crowd is not a new concept. We may have heard the word of peer pressure. From the time of
ancient Israel to today, people are influenced by a crowd. There is a natural tendency for us to
conform, to hem in, to bend in, to follow what everyone is doing and that's where God
commands us in Exodus chapter 23, verse 2. He told the Israelites, "You shall not follow a crowd
to do evil." Many times, evil does not appear as blatant wickedness. It may just be
compromising values or justifying small wrongs or sometimes even just staying silent when
actually the truth needs to be spoken. This is when the crowd can pressure us, they can
pressure us to gossip, to cut corners, to accept what is against God's word. But as believers, you
and I are called to stand firm even when we are standing alone. We see many examples in the
Bible where there are people who did not follow many others who did evil. The first example
we remember is that of Noah. In a time when the whole world was corrupt, Noah chose to walk
with God. He obeyed; he built the ark and was saved while others perished. Standing alone for
righteousness is not often easy, but it leads to God's favor and it leads to God's protection.
Another example we see is that of Daniel, where Daniel refused to eat the king's food. The
three Hebrew men refused to bow down to the golden image. They stood up to their
convictions about what they had learned about God and they refused to compromise. The
world will have a multitude that follows its ways. But as followers of Christ, we are called to
follow the narrow path. In your place of influence, in your sphere of influence, there can be
many situations that you are called to compromise, to follow the crowd or to do whatever they
do, but here's what God wants of us. When faced with that pressure to conform, let us
remember that command- follow not a multitude to do evil. Even if the world moves in one
direction, our call is to follow Christ even if it is alone. Let's pray together, Heavenly Father, we
need your empowering to stand in the right, to stand alone, to follow not after evil, to not
follow the crowd when they are doing evil. Father God, we pray that you will keep us fixed on
you, our eyes to be fixed on your word and to be fixed on the narrow path. Empower us to do
so for your glory, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Thank you for tuning in to Living Supernaturally, for more resources to strengthen your spiritual
walk, please visit apcwo.org.
Duration:4 mins 22 secs