Discernment: Actions or Words?

By: Eric Turner

Many always associate discernment with the Spirit of YHVH/God as a gift, and it at times is, but in this study, I will provide a very easy to understand and common sense approach to discerning all types of things in a way that leaves no doubt in your mind about exactly what and who is of YHVH/God and who is not. This teaching will be short, to the point, easy to understand, and will not be filled with mountains of scripture like my usual teachings, it is a common sense type issue. Have you ever heard the expression “actions speak louder than words”? I hear it come from the mouths of believers, unbelievers, good, and evil people, which is why we are about to learn exactly what this expression means to us and how we can use it to discern things that will open your eyes to things you never saw before.

When I was in the Military, when I moved to a new unit as a leader, the entire first week with my squad I was given a week, sometimes two, to observe how my new soldiers were performing, and to notice who were the hard workers, or the lazy good for nothings. We can apply this in our everyday lives. The key to all is look and listen before you speak. I can’t remember who said it, but one of the wisest sayings I have ever heard is “HaShem gave us two eyes, two ears, and one mouth, he wants us to look and listen before we speak.” This is a true saying, as it is indeed written,

Pro 1:5 A wise man will HEAR, and will INCREASE LEARNING; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

Pro 8:33 HEAR instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.

Pro 10:19 When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is wise.

We should be first and foremost listening to what men say. We will listen very intently, because the very next step is to watch with the eyes, and see if the person speaking does what he says. Is he a man of a good word, or is he a liar and deceiver? We have one sure fire way of knowing. We watch to see what the man DOES, not exactly what he says. Satan and soothsayers have “silver tongues”, so we must listen yes, but more importantly, we must observe to see if what the man does matches what he says. For instance, if a man tells his wife he loves her every day, brings her flowers often, buys her nice gifts, and things of the like, but beats her often, does he truly love her? This seems like a foolish question to ask, but statistically, most victims of domestic violence of any type truly believe their transgressors love them.

You see, love is an ACTION, it is not an emotion, it is not a feeling, it is not words, or buying gifts, it is an ACTION. On the flip side, a man may live his entire life and never tell his wife he loves her, but he takes care of her without complaint when she is sick, comforts her when she is in emotional distress, mourns with her during times of loss, and does it all without compromise and without partiality. The man has never told his wife he loves her, but through his ACTIONS, the woman knows he loves her. It is the same with YHVH/God. People can honor him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him, as it is written;

Isa 29:13 And the Lord said: “Because this people honor me with THEIR MOUTH and honor me with THEIR LIPS, while THEIR HEARTS are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.

So a person can say they are a Christian, or a Hebrew, or an Israelite, and speak wonderful things about YHVH/God, but where you really separate “the men from the boys” is what do these men DO? We are told this by Yeshua/Jesus and His Apostles. A man can lie to you and say very flattering and easy to hear things from the Pulpit, the Synagogues, or whatever platform he has, but goes home and treats his family as a tyrant, is he a man, or is he a boy? Is he a called and chosen Prophet, or is he a False Prophet? Men can give true prophecies, cast out demons, and do miracles in the name of the Messiah, but if they do not DO what he teaches, they are truly not His and he will let them know that very thing.

Mat 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy IN YOUR NAME, and cast out demons IN YOUR NAME, and do many mighty works IN YOUR NAME?’23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you WORKERS OF LAWLESSNESS.’24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

A man can shout from the rooftops that he Loves Yeshua/Jesus louder than any other man, but if he does nothing that He teaches us, his false faith is completely worthless. Those who truly love YHVH/God/Yeshua/Jesus will keep his commandments, ALL OF THEM.

Joh 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

And again;

1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

If we apply this concept in our everyday lives, we will see that many who we thought to be friends, or people who love us actually do not, no matter what they say. I have my own saying about this. “A man can lie with his mouth, but his actions do not lie.” An action can’t lie. Once someone does something, it is done period. If a “Rabbi” or a “Pastor” tells their followers how much he loves them and cares for the poor, but then denies you of your needs, you have a sure fire way to KNOW that he does not truly love you. On the flip side, if a person never says they love you your entire life, but they are there with you through thick and thin consistently, you have a sure fire way to KNOW that they do love you. Love is ACTION, not emotions, not feelings, not words, not cards, not anything else, LOVE IS ACTION!!!!!!!

Let me give an example from my own personal experience in life. I pick on Pastors enough, so this time I am going to pick on a man who calls himself “Rabbi”. After I was forced from the Baptist Church I went to, I was led by a person to a Messianic Synagogue. For the first 6 months, I was amazed at what I was learning, I was so sure of myself that this was where YHVH/God wanted me to be, but I soon learned, through this so called “Rabbi’s” actions, he too was playing lip service. I had a friend who also attended the same Synagogue that was in great need of counsel over personal and VERY serious issues. This so called “Rabbi”, who had said with his mouth a thousand times he loves each and every one of us did NOTHING to help the man in need. We called him, emailed him, and even spoke to him face to face, but he never did a thing to help the man he had so many times claimed he loved so much, and treated me with heavey contempt for calling him on it. I was forced out of that Synagogue later, and now I am pleased and happy to say I have had more FREEDOM and more of a TRUE loving relationship with both God and Man since we stopped looking for organized religion and started accepting that we are and most likely always will be a voice crying from the wilderness, with nowhere to call our spiritual home.

If you have received anything at all from this teaching, beat it into your brain like a hammer, “MOUTHS CAN LIE A MILLION TIMES, BUT ACTIONS NEVER LIE!”

So, I will ask and leave it to the reader, who loves more, the man who says nothing and does everything, or the man who says everything and does nothing? If you use this one very simple way to discern what Spirit people truly have in them, you will most likely figure out that the people you believe to be so great and so close to you are as far from loving you as Satan is. Do people make mistakes? Absolutely, the writer being one of the world’s most, but the question is again about ACTIONS, if you make a mistake, do you TRULY repent, and stop doing those mistakes, or do you play lip service with God and man?

Food for thought, Shalom to all who have ears to hear, eyes to see, and a slow to speak tongue.