Remember the game “Simon Says”? The leader would give a command prefaced by “Simon Says” and the players would do whatever was commanded. But if the command was not prefaced by “Simon Says”, then the player was not supposed to do it. The idea of the game was to give “Simon Says” commands really quickly and then throw in one that Simon didn’t say and catch the player off guard and they were OUT.
It was always a fun game to play when we were little and even when we are older because some people are very clever at getting you distracted and throwing in a non-Simon-says command that gets you ejected from the game.
Our thoughts are sometimes mixed up the same way between “God says” and “devil says”. We think we should do one thing and then feel an urge to do something else. As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit in us to lead us to do the right thing but we still have the devil prowling around whispering to us to do the wrong things.
My sister-in-law and great-nephew made up large Ziploc® bags of items to be given to homeless people. The bag included snack crackers, toothbrush, toothpaste, gum, mints, washcloth, soap, and other miscellaneous items. My daughter took a few of those bags with her to college. While riding in a friend’s car one day, she saw a homeless man and didn’t have the bag with her. When she returned to her car she felt the nudge to go back and give a bag to this man. She prayed on the drive back that he would still be in the location so she could give this bag to him.
When she returned to the location, he was not there and she was a little disappointed that she couldn’t help someone that day. But as she turned around to go home, she felt a nudge to go a different route……and there on that route was a homeless man. She gave him the bag and he was so grateful. She said he thanked her three times and as she drove away, with tears in her eyes, she looked in her rear view mirror to see him rustling through the bag.
She followed the leading of the Holy Spirit that day telling her to go back and give a homeless person a bag of goodies. It wasn’t exactly how she had planned it, but it was how God had planned it and she followed the prompting and received the blessing.
Listen to what God says……..not Simon and not the devil – but God. Ask God to show you where He wants you to go and what He wants you to do TODAY. Then do it and you will receive a blessing. It’s not a game. It’s not Simon giving the commands. It’s life. It’s eternity. It’s obedience. It’s what GOD SAYS.
