How can you tell if you are having a God idea or a good idea? Hopefully, by the end of this thought-provoking insight, you will be able to figure out the difference.
The Israelites were complaining to God as they hid from the Midianite and Amalekite invaders. God said the Israelites were worshipping the gods of their enemies. An angel appeared to Gideon and called him a mighty warrior and God was with him. Of course, Gideon made excuses why he couldn’t be used to fight God’s enemies. In an act of faith, during the night, Gideon tore down his father’s altar to a false god. After signs of fire coming out of a rock and dew on a fleece, Gideon stepped into his role to defeat the Midianites and Amalekites.
After all the signs and confirmations, Gideon decided to build a symbolic ephod (a chest garment worn by the high priest), which was to be a symbol of the God Gideon served. Instead of worshiping the true God, Israel ended up worshiping the Ephod, which became a snare to Gideon and his family.
This is an example of how a good idea is not a God idea. I am sure Gideon’s heart was right with God. He just wanted to point people to the God that delivered them. Instead, this good idea just opened the door for Israel to worship other gods.
King David heart was to bring the ark, a symbol of God’s presence, back to Jerusalem. The problem was he tried to bring the ark on a cart. This resulted in the death of one of his men trying to protect the ark from falling off the cart. David was a king not a priest, so he didn’t have the right instructions to bring the ark to Jerusalem. His heart was right, but he didn’t stop to ask God how to do it.
How many times have we gotten an idea from the Word of God or the Holy Spirit and just ran with it instead of checking with God. We need to know how to do it, when to do it, and who God is having us connect with.
Peter just got this great revelation from Holy Spirit that Jesus is Christ the Son of God. Peter gets a wonderful word and pat on the back for hearing from God. A little later, Jesus starts revealing the suffering, death, and resurrection he must go through to fulfill that purpose. Peter, now confident he hears from God, told Jesus that he wouldn’t die and suffer this. Jesus rebukes Peter and says, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Then a lesson of taking up the cross was given by Jesus to enlighten the price required to fulfill His purpose and to follow him.
When we depend on our own knowledge and experiences, they can become an obstacle. It seemed to Peter that standing up in faith for Jesus’s life was a good idea. It looked that way in the natural but because Peter didn’t check with the Holy Spirit, Peter’s knowledge went against God’ purpose to save the world from sin.
Jesus then went of a mountain with Peter, James, and John. Heaven came down and God’s presence surround Jesus like a white light. Moses and Elijah appear and had a conference with Jesus. Then Peter had a bright idea to build shelters for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. God interrupted this good idea and said, “This is my Son, who I have chosen; listen to him.” That put the good idea aside and gave them the right focus, which was to follow and listen to Jesus.
The Lesson!
What is the lesson of these four examples? Even when we have victories, we need to check with God what to do afterwards. Our feel-good emotions are driving us instead of the Holy Spirit. Gideon wasn’t a priest, who could teach people the Word of God that would keep the idols out of the land. He stepped outside his boundary and created a snare.
It was the same with David, as a king and warrior, he knew how to tap into God’s wisdom. His desire to honor God was built on what he thought was good idea. You see this in religion. People get into ruts about doing certain things in the service and it becomes a ritual instead of true worship. Sing songs for thirty minutes, teach for twenty minutes, and end the service with prayer. Are these bad things? No! We need stable godly order, but the key is inviting the Holy Spirit to see what God wants to bring to the table.
Another pit fall is when we hear from God, but don’t check to see what to do with that information. Many times, we only get one or two puzzle pieces. Faith is walking a day at a time with a goal but allowing God to direct all the steps to get to that goal. You and I would just make a straight line to the goal. God, on the other hand, has many stops and curves that creates character and growth in us. This positions us to carry the weight and authority required to maintain God’s kingdom goals. Joseph’s path of being sold as a slave, accused falsely, thrown in jail, and then forgotten when he interpreted a dream were all used to train him for the position of second in command in Egypt.
Fruit of a Good Idea Verses a God Idea.
Fruit from a “good idea” usually ends up with us working hard and having very little fruit. No one joins the team to help with the project. We end up tired, frustrated, and confused. We usually end up mad and complaining. A good idea rarely has provision or just enough to keep you going on the same treadmill. If you end up in that place, it is time to sit down with God and ask Holy Spirit if you missed God’s path or God’s timing. God’s timing is not our timing. Look at Moses who was in the wilderness for forty years after he tried to deliver God’s people the first time and failed.
A “God idea” usually seems impossible and can’t be done without God. Sometimes, like in Gideon’s case of using trumpets and jars to overcome God’s enemy, God’s directions will seem to make no sense in the natural. Like God telling me to jog at 9:00 pm at night which led me to run into a woman who needed help. I didn’t usually jog so I resisted two times before I went. A God idea will have provision and people who will connect with the idea. The provision might not be what we expect but it will multiply. It could be a rod that divides the Red Seas like Moses. It may be a cloud the size of a fist like Elijah saw that provided rain after three years of drought. But a God idea always produces results.
Prayer
Father God,
Forgive me for running with an idea and not checking with You. Teach me the difference between my good idea and a God given idea. I ask the Holy Spirit to reveal how to walk out any and all God ideas that have been given to me. Please, cause all good ideas that have created a snare, to be reversed. I am choosing to let go of my good ideas and ask that You replace them with God’s idea. Teach me how to wait for the right timing and provision. Help me to understand the difference between my experiences, my ideas, and Your ideas. Jesus, You only did what the Father showed You. I ask that my eyes would be open to see My Father’s ideas and let go of my ideas. Thank you!
1 Corinthians 2:11-12 NIV “For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”
Scriptures
Judges 6 & 8, 2 Samuel 6:1-15, Luke 9:28-36, Genesis 30 – 38, Exodus 2, Exodus 14:21-22, 1 Kings 18:44-46
Outhouse Ministries 
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