Are Those God's Instructions? (Pt.6) (312) - August 23 2025

This week we dive into finding the path of truth. When you know the truth through the instructions given, you get results. In order to do that, we must know what lies do. A lie can keep a person stuck in a place, situation, relationship and much more. Why? Because that person cannot find the truth. Everything is based on something false and untrue. A lie can keep the person coming back because nothing makes sense. The truth breaks the chains of confusion because it is based on reality and facts. In fact, a lie holds a space until the truth replaces it. For those who are believers, you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
 
This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC): Matthew 5:37, John 17:16-17, Ephesians 5:26, Ephesians 6:14, 
 Proverbs 12:22, 1 Samuel 16:7, 1 John 1:6-7, Colossians 3:3-5, Matthew 6:22-24, Joshua 24:14-15, 1 John 3:18-22, Proverbs 12:17-22.
 
Pastor Catrice teaches on this topic this week.

Transcript

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hey, and welcome back to yet another episode of Touch of God. My name is Catrice. I'll be bringing the message to you today. For those of you who desire to follow along with us, with the scripture, we always use the amplified classic version. All right, let's do a review. Last week, we talked about are those God's instructions, part five. This week, we're going to continue with part six, but I'm just going to do a little recap on part five. In part five, we discussed about the heart motive and heart posture when praying, okay? How heart posture can affect the motive behind your prayer. How heart posture can affect you hearing God's instructions. How heart posture can affect how you see God in everyone else and everything else. Knowing the motive behind your heart can tell you where you are at in Christ. Example, someone is saying, Lord, I want a ministry to be rich, have power, drive fancy cars and travel. Given the heart posture teaching of last week, what is the heart posture of this individual? Is it one, this person is not kingdom minded? Two, isn't this why Jesus died for us to be rich? Three, this prayer is from the flesh. Four, the focus is not on the Lord. Make sure you are able to identify what the Lord is telling you about that example. Okay? So, now we're going to go ahead and move on to part six. So we're doing a continuation of are those God's instructions and this part is part six and it's focused on truth, the path of truth. There are parts in life that can be held up because of the truth. Not necessarily, it's not being revealed. It could be lack of wisdom and understanding. It could be spiritual blindness and deafness. It could be you lying to yourself. Lack of wisdom and understanding occur because the Bible is not being read and researched daily. Also, lack of relationship with God and hearing his instruction. In some cases, people are not having relationship basically with the Lord. For spiritual deafness and blindness, that occurs when a person refuses to hear the voice of truth and continue to believe what they want to believe versus what is actually happening because of blocking the truth out so long, they're not able to hear the truth over their own voice and noise coming from confusion in their life. An example of that, every time you are around a family member that treats you badly, they say that they love you, but they treat you worse than the devil. It is clear that you need to guard your heart and mind in Christ when it comes to them, but you want them to be your best friend so you keep them around. The abuse continues in repeat cycles because you are placing your truth above the voice of the spirit of truth, which is God, meaning you want them to be who you see them as being, which is that family member who loves you, your best friend, somebody that you can confide in, but the reality is they are treating you badly. You're tired of it and inside of you, you're complaining. Let's move on to lying to yourself. You lie to yourself and others and then start to believe the lie until it's your reality. Example, a woman wears hair extensions so long that she begins to hate her own hair. She cannot fast the extensions. She has made the illusion of the hairstyle a reality and now has trouble facing the reality of how her hair really is. She has, in this case, told everyone it's her hair and does not want to say the truth to herself. We all have done these things or had things that we've held on to for so long. It's like they become a part of us and when we blur the lines of reality and truth, even to ourselves, the truth can be blurry or when we see the truth, we're not speaking it and we're having a hard time dealing with how we really are and this is why women should try to fast makeup and try to fast all of those additions to themselves, but that's another episode. All right, well, let's continue with finding the path of truth. So we know God's instructions and not our own truth. Let's focus on defining what is the truth. Whose truth are we wanting and praying? How does knowing the truth affect the instructions God is giving you? How accepting the truth can break chains of bondage in your life and how praying God's truth can change your prayer life. What is the truth? The dictionary definition of truth. It says conformity to fact or actuality. Does this story have any truth? Reality, actuality, the reality of a situation. We can see by the dictionary's definition of truth that the truth must be based on conformity to fact, reality and actuality. Conformity means and the definition is conformity or conformism is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs and behaviors to a group's norm. When we apply conformity based on fact, reality and actuality, according to the dictionary, we get the truth. Let's go a little further. Let's look at some examples. So an example of a fact that girl is five feet, nine inches. An example of reality. Your portfolio says that you are six feet, one inch, but when we measure you, you are five feet, nine inches. Another example of a fact, no amount of money, beauty credit cards will get you into heaven. No money offering or payment buys you a place in heaven. Sitting in church won't get you into heaven. Doing what the Bible says to do will get you into heaven. Well, those are just examples so then we can get a grasp on facts and reality so then we can apply that in the upcoming situations that I'm going to talk about. So, of course, like always, it's story time. A woman is invited to go out with her friends to go dancing in the local club party place. She had not been out in a while. When she was getting ready, she decided that she was just going to watch everyone else stay in the background and maybe dance a little. And in case someone is attracted to her, put on sexy underclothes to sleep with them. She also set her mind to not dating, no drinking alcohol. The next decision is what to wear. The woman at first puts on a dress and heels, then takes off the dress and heels because she wants to be comfortable. Then she puts on a pair of pants and a revealing top. Then she takes off everything again. She changes her underclothing to something sexy, red and revealing. Then she puts back on the pants and the revealing top. The woman goes out with her friends. She tries to stay in the background. She tries to not drink. She really did not want to even dance. Her friends persuade her to do it all. They proclaim, why are you here if you're not going to have a good time? They say, why did you order a drink if you're not wanting to drink it? Another friend says, if you're not wanting to get with a guy, why are you dressed so sexy? The woman ends up getting drunk, sleeping with this random guy. What is the truth in this situation? A. The woman just wanted to feel good about herself and put on nice clothes. B. The woman is wearing revealing clothes because she wants someone to look at her. C. The woman put on sexy clothes because she wants to get with someone to have sex. The truth is, depending on what is actually in her heart, what were her intentions for the night? The woman is not saved and serving the Lord. Let's take a look at her intentions from the beginning. She said she was just going out to just watch everyone. She was just going to stay in the background. She was going to maybe dance a little. She was going to put on sexy underclothes to sleep with someone in case someone found her attractive. In this situation, the agenda of the woman wasn't revealed to everyone, just herself. Her friends were confused because she said that she was not wanting to do anything. The friends did not understand why she would look one way to attract attention, but say she wants no attention to herself. Why order a drink but not drink it? Why come out to party and to be in an atmosphere yet not wanting to party? Could it be that mixed signals were being sent out? The truth is the woman wanted to sleep with someone. However, the truth was not clear because of mixed signals sent out. How can we avoid being confused sending out mixed signals? So here are some ideas about standing in truth. We're not even talking about being saved yet. We're just talking about basic truth and functioning in truth, right? So in this situation, you can follow through with what you said you were going to do or not do, right? So this is being truthful to yourself in that one sentence. Let your clothes reflect your actions, words and heart intentions. So if your clothes aren't matching what you're saying you're going to do or what you're representing to your friends, you're going to want that to line up. Do not send mixed messages. Matthew 5 37. Let your yes be simply yes and your no be simply no. Anything more than that comes from the evil one. Do not lie to yourself. Another one is figure out what is the truth for yourself by knowing what your intentions are for yourself from the start and asking God now and again in this situation. She's not saved. But to those out there as examples of what to do, we put God in. If you're always truthful, even to yourself from the start, then you can avoid complicated misrepresentation of yourself. If you're truthful with your friends, you can avoid misrepresentation with them as well. This applies to family, to friends, to coworkers, anyone you know, right? Just sticking with the basic truth. That way you don't have to figure out what's going on or what you said to this person or what you said to that person. If you're always just doing the same thing, which is speaking the truth, there's not going to be confusion, misrepresentation, or any complication. Another blurry line of truth can be when people are on social media, the lines between what is true, fact, reality can be unclear. What you see sometimes is not how some of the people's lives are. They are selling or advertising a product, place, or a lifestyle that may be used for sales, likes, or clicks on their website. When on social media, keep in mind that not everything you see is the truth. So we're just looking at this world and what is the truth, what isn't the truth and examining ourselves to just establish truth in general. So let's move forward. When a person is saved in Christ, they walk in truth. In Jesus Christ, according to the Bible, this is when they do what the word says. Not just saying they are saved, but you know them by their fruit, by their actions, by everything that they do. So what is the truth according to the word of God? Let's look at John 17, verse 16 to 17. They are not of the world, worldly belonging to the world, just as I am not of the world. Verse 17, sanctify them, purify, consecrate, separate them for yourself. Make them holy by the truth. Your word is truth. So Jesus is saying that, Lord, your word is truth, right? That's how we're going to know the truth because God's word is truth. So the more you speak, memorize the word of God, the more truth you have in you. Let's look at Ephesians 5, 26. So that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. So when we spend more time in the word, it is washing us, it is sanctifying us, and it is cleansing us. Let's look at Ephesians 6, 14. Stand therefore, hold your ground, having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God. So we can see here that when we guide ourself or gird ourself in truth, which is standing in the Lord, we're walking with morals and rectitude and right standing with God. We're walking with integrity. We're speaking the truth. So speaking the truth sanctifies you when you wash yourself with the word, it makes you in right standing with God, and it makes you walk with integrity, with morals and with rectitude. So let's look at Proverbs 12, 22. Lying lips are extremely disgusting and hateful to the Lord, but they who deal faithfully are his delight. Please note that if you were told the wrong information and not deliberately lying, God knows. So God judges the heart. So if you were told a lie and you speak out what you were told, God is looking at the heart, right? How do we know that? Let's look at 1 Samuel 16, 7, and this is Samuel speaking with the Lord. But the Lord said to Samuel, look not on his appearance or at the height of his statue, for I have rejected him. So this is just the prophet Samuel going to pick out the next king, and he's going to pick out King David, but God is telling him what to look at. And God is telling him how he judges people and how he looks. And so it says to continue in this verse, verse seven, for the Lord sees not as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. So when you are trying to figure out what's the truth and what's a lie, know that with yourself, with judging yourself, God is looking at what's in your hearts. Whose truth are we wanting and praying? So we just talked about in order to please the Lord, we're going to be looking for God's truth. God's truth is going to be the standard. And when you're reading the word of God, that's always going to be the truth. And so you need to set that inside yourself and inside your soul. Let's go on to 1 John 1, verse five. And this is the message, the message of promise, which we have heard from him and now are reporting to you. God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. No, not in any way. So this is saying that when we're speaking God's word and we're speaking the truth that God is light and there's no darkness in him. So when you're speaking the word, there's no darkness in it. Let's go on to verse six. So if we say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with him. So this is saying with Jesus, with God. When we live and move and are walking about in darkness. So if you're saying that you're in fellowship with the Lord, but you're walking around in darkness. Now I'm going to continue with the verse. We are both speaking falsely and do not live and practice the truth, which the gospel presents. So now in this case, when we're talking about the truth, if we're saying that we're walking around in truth, but we're living in darkness and we're doing things that are in the dark, then we're not representing the truth. So let's go on to verse seven. So first John one verse seven now, but if we really are living and walking in the light, which is God as he himself is in the light, we have true unbroken fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses, removes us from all sin, guilt, keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations. So we can see that the truth comes down to a choice. It's not one foot serving the devil and one foot serving God. We cannot say that we are saved and still go to demonic concerts or to do witchcraft and dance for the devil. This is why things can go wrong in life if you're not completely serving the Lord. So how does knowing the truth affect the instructions God is giving you? Knowing the truth can make the instructions God gives you a straight path, or if you go against the instructions that God is giving you, it can be a crooked path. When you want to have it your way and not God's way, you are not hidden in Christ, which is Colossians three verse three. You are hidden in yourself. You become your own idol, worshiping yourself or other gods and idols. This can leave you open to attack. Let's look at Colossians three verse three. As far as this world is concerned, you have died and your new real life is hidden with Christ in God. So this means not that you have literally died like the physical death, but spiritually you're dying to yourself and now you're hidden in Christ, which means you're not represented by yourself anymore. You're represented by the word of God and God. Now, verse four, when Christ, who is our life appears, when you also will appear with him in the splendor of his glory. So kill, deaden, deprive of power, the evil desire lurking in your members. Members is talking about your body. I'm going to continue with the verse. Those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed by sin, sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetite, unholy desires, and all greed and covetedness. For that is idolatry, the defying of self and other created things instead of God. So let's look at Matthew six, verse 22. So this is talking about you cannot serve two masters. Okay. So in Matthew six, starting with verse 22, and we're going to go to verse 24, it says the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your entire body will be full of light. But if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the very light in you, your conscious is darkened. How dense is that darkness? Verse 24. No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon, which is deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in. This is basically saying if you're serving God and then you're serving other gods, or you're serving God and you're walking in the darkness and you're doing those things that are of the flesh, then basically you're not serving God because either you are serving God and your eye is singly focused on God bringing light into your eye, which is into your body, which is causing more light to come in, or you're serving darkness, which means you are serving the devil and darkness is coming into your eye, which is making your entire body dark. This is why if you have one foot on God's side and one foot on the devil's side, it is all darkness because everything has to be cleansed. You can't serve two masters, right? So let's look at Joshua 24 verse 14. Now, therefore, reverently fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity. In truth, put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt and serve the Lord. So this means put away the gods which your father served because you're clearly not on the other side of the Euphrates River, or maybe you are, but when we bring this up to date, we want to put away anything like that, any gods that we were taught to serve other than the Lord by maybe family members. Let's go to verse 15. And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served on the other side of the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So this verse is just basically saying you can either serve God or you're going to serve those other gods, right? But you have to claim for yourself, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Next, let's look at how accepting the truth can break chains of bondage in your life. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Let's look at 1 John 3 verses 18 to 22. Little children, let us not love merely in theory or in speech, but in deed and in truth, in practice and in sincerity. Verse 19. By this we shall come to know, perceive, recognize, and understand that we are of the truth and can reassure, quietly conciliate and pacify our hearts in his presence. Whenever our hearts in tormenting self-accusation make us feel guilty and condemn us, for we are in God's hands. For he is above and greater than our consciousness, our hearts, and he knows, perceives, and understands everything. Nothing is hidden from him. So it's just basically saying when we're walking in condemnation and our conscience is bothering us, God knows about that, right? So let's move on to verse 21. And beloved, if our conscience, our hearts do not accuse us, if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us, we have confidence, complete assurance, and boldness before God. Verse 22. And we receive from him whatever we ask. Hallelujah. Because we watchfully obey his orders, observe his suggestions and injunctions, follow his plan for us and habitually practice what is pleasing to him. If you're wanting to know how God's truth can change your prayer life, it just went through all the instructions. It's saying if you habitually practice what is pleasing to him. So we have to be watchful. We're obeying his orders. So you have to be watchful. You have to be obedient. You have to be observant to his suggestions, not our own, to his suggestions and injunctions. That means if he wants to add to his suggestions, we have to follow his plan for us and habitually practice what is pleasing to him. And then it says, if we begin to do these things, then we're going to receive whatever we ask. Come on, somebody. I need to be receiving whatever I ask in the name of Jesus. So let's go ahead and look at Proverbs 12, verse 17 to 22. He who breathes out truth shows forth righteousness, uprightness, and right standing with God. But a false witness utters deceit. Verse 18. There are those who speak rashly like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise bring healing. Truthful lips shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is credited. But for a moment, deceit in the hearts of those who devise evil. But for the counselors of peace, there is joy. No actual evil misfortune or calamity shall come upon the righteous, but the wicked shall be filled with evil misfortune and calamity. Lying lips are extremely disgusting and hateful to the Lord, but they who deal faithfully are his delight. So I want to be dealing faithfully. I want to be the Lord's delight. Amen. How many of you want to be dealt with God's blessings and you want to be the Lord's delight? That's what I want to be. That's what I'm aiming for. And I'm hoping that other people are coming with me. So you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. I pray that this improves how you hear God's instructions and that yet another notch has been made in your learning belt as far as how you can improve hearing God's instructions, carrying out God's instructions. And it's very clear for you. You can go back to the Bible anytime to read this. Amen. We will continue next week. God, we just thank you for the message that you've given us. We just thank you, Lord, for just pouring out truth. Thank you, God, that your truth is hitting the bull's eye and it's affecting people's life to where they want to serve you. They want to walk in truth and they don't want to walk in darkness. Lord, that you would set them free from bondage, free from bad decision-making, free from the internal struggle of what is the truth. How am I supposed to live, God? That you would set them free because we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free. We just thank you, Lord, that if there's anybody who hasn't taken Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, that they would take time out right now and acknowledge that they are a sinner, that Jesus died for them and rose again, and that they would like Jesus to come into their heart, to be their Lord and to be their Savior of their life. Amen.