Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Sometimes God will give us an instruction directly by the Holy Spirit bringing the instruction to our mind. We must be faithful to that word, to do it.
When I was a new Christian and owned a business, a young woman filed a law suit against me and took me to court to try to get money from me. Before the court date, I heard these words: "Don't testify"
I believed this word was from God so I told my lawyer he might not want to represent me for I had heard "don't testify" and I believed that instruction was from God. My lawyer said he would represent me even if I didn't testify. He said if I would testify there was no way we would lose the case. If I did not testify, he didn't know what would happen to me.
We went to trial. The woman who worked for me who witnessed the event in question testified. My lawyer said her testimony was not as good as he had hoped and if I would testify he knew we would win the case.
I replied to him that I would check. I went into the ladies room at court house and prayed and again I heard: "Don't testify"
I returned to lawyer and shook my head "no" ...
The man I was dating at the time was really upset with me because I wouldn't testify. Bob said, "You're not doing this girl any good by not testifying." I told Bob I wasn't trying to do the girl any good, I was just trying to do what I believed God told me to do.
The trial continued. I did not testify. I won the case.
Holding to the word you believe to be from God is very important.
In the following Bible example, the prophet heard an instruction from God. The king tried to get the prophet to do otherwise. The prophet continued to cling to the word he had heard from God. But then an old prophet told him that he (the old prophet) had heard from an angel from heaven and it was alright to go a way other than that told him by God. The prophet did not have respect to the King but he did have respect to the old prophet so he disobeyed the instruction from God and went according to the word of the old prophet.
I Kings 13 ... 1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel:and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. 4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. 5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. 6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before. 7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. 8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:9 For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.
11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel:the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father. 12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah. 13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass:and he rode thereon, 14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak:and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.
15 Then he (the old prophet) said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.
16 And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee:neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:17 For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
18 He (the old prophet) said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. 19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back: (to the old prophet)21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, 22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him:and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase. 25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase:and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord:therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him.
Paul said: Gal. 1 ... 6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
"Gospel" means ... God's story ... What God has said to you.
In the court trial example, given at the beginning of this writing, I told you I believed God told me "Don't Testify." That would be "God's story" to me ... the "Gospel", so to speak, to me from God concerning a specific issue pertaining to this present life. We must hold faithful to that which we believe we have heard from God even when kings and leaders of the church speak contrary to us.