Invariably the misguided (bad) advise we get comes from someone close to us like a friend of family member. It will come with a pure heart and in a genuine best interest. However, because it comes from someone so close it makes it hard to ignore. For Adam it came from his wife Eve. Jesus received some misguided advise from Peter yet being Christ remained uninfluenced by it. Daily we are going to face decisions of following God's advice, or following the advice of someone or something else.
My mom sent me this, and I have altered it to my understanding. But she basically said, if we depend on organizations, then the best we can expect is what organizations can do. If we depend on education, then we get what education can do. If we depend on men, then we will get only what a man can do. But if we depend on prayer (God), we get what God can do.
Everyday the Morpheus' of our life give us the opportunity to take the red or blue pill. The red pill is the blood of Jesus Christ and it let's us perceive the truth of what the world really is. The blue pill allows the taker to linger in the ignorance and deception of organization, education, and all that encompasses man's ability. The blue pill, following the advice that is contrary to your mission mandate from God, that is the path to remain enslaved. Enslaved and not even know it.
Let's face it. God's voice is still and soft. It is often accompanied with the sense that "this is good, but it is crazy." And the crazy aspect, the part that requires faith sends us looking for confirmation. Who do we turn to? Friends, family, pastors, teachers... anyone that will listen and has our respect. Invariably, with good intentions, they will give advice that alters the command from heaven in some way. Sometimes there experience will down right discourage the path to begin with. But their opinion is not what matters. What encouragement you get in prayer, that's what matters. Confirmation will come, but it usually comes on its own without asking.So feel free to skip the bouncing of godly ideas off those closest to you, and let God bring the confirmation on His own. Trust me, He's a big God and very capable of the task.
The other side of this equation is how do we not become part of the blind leading the blind with our own misguided advice? The simplest practical technique that I can think of is this. Begin your advice with, have your considered...? There is a cost to following Christ, and the Bible says for us to consider it. (Luke 14:28) So a negative comment in the context of a consideration question really is probably a good thing v. being presented in the context of discouragement. Turning advice into a question allows the person to think deeper, go deeper with God, and find out for himself what is God and what is not. The answers they give will cause us to do the same - - go deeper with God.
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