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By Ian Byrd: The following is a presentation made by Ian Byrd at the Prophetic Pursuit Conference in Regina, Canada on March 7, 2025.
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Thank you so much, Diane. You know, it’s a huge honor and privilege to speak tonight. I really felt, yeah, really humbled and privileged to be here and to be able to share with you.
I want to talk to you tonight about something that I think is just so important. And as I was praying about this, Scripture came to mind. I’m going to call this message tonight, Pathways of the Heart. And so, you know, we’re talking about pathways.
And I really felt like as we start this conference, God wants to lay a foundation in us in our hearts. You know, as prophetic people, where does everything come from? Where does the revelation, where does the unction from God come from? It comes through our hearts.
And you know, Proverbs 4 tells us this. It says, “Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity. Keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet. And be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left. keep your foot from evil. Guard your heart for everything flows from it.”
You know, pathways are a means to an end, aren’t they? They all lead to a destination. And so we got to make sure we’re on the right path. Because if we’re on the wrong path, we’re going to go the wrong direction.
And so God says, look, I want you to guard your heart, the pathways of your heart, so that your focus, your attitudes are proper. So your direction in me is proper. So you can actually guide and be a blessing to others.
You know, sometimes the paths we choose can be downright dangerous, certainly in our spiritual life, but also in our natural life.
And I just was thinking back to a journey my wife and I took. We must have been early 20s. It was the late 80s. We didn’t have kids yet. And I remember we were, you know, we live, we were living in southern Alberta at the time, living in Lethbridge, Alberta. And so we were, I must have been up in Banff for a break or something.
And we were coming back to Kananaskis country, beautiful country, Highway 41. But it was winter. And definitely winter turning to spring.
So we were driving along in our 87 Ford Tempo. I mean, I think in the dictionary, if there’s the word gutless, there’s the Ford Tempo beside it. Because it was a four-cylinder. It didn’t have much jam. It was a front-wheel drive.
Anyway, so we’re driving along. And I see a sign. I see a sign on that road. And usually that road’s closed. So it must have just been opened. And there was a sign that said Coleman in the Crowsnest Pass.
I thought, oh, we’ll drive to this. I don’t know. Wonder what this road is. We’ll take this road to Coleman. We’ll get to the Crowsnest Pass. And then we’ll head east to Lethbridge. Sounded like a great plan. And it was dark. It was night.
Did I say I was in my early 20s? Yeah. Okay. So some things are missing.
So we get in the car. We drive. We’re driving on this road. Well, at first it seems like this isn’t too bad. But then it got muddy and like puddles and it’s wet and it’s night and it’s dark and there’s no one on the road.
And it was about halfway through the trip, I thought, this is probably stupid. And there’s no cell phones and there wouldn’t have been cell phone coverage there anyway. So we’re driving and I remember it was like turned into a logging road and went up the side.
Anyway, we came out finally at Coleman. I was so relieved to come out. And I stopped at a gas station. And I got out and looked at my car. And I looked like I’d been off-roading. I mean, I had mud all over the bottom and all over the car. Like, honestly, I was off-roading in a Ford Tempo. But what a stupid path to take. Like, what a dangerous path to take. And thankfully, God was gracious in my ignorance and we made it.
But sometimes that’s what we’re like in life. And sometimes that’s what we’re like with our hearts. And sometimes we follow the wrong voice and we’re deceived.
You know, anybody know this phrase? The machine knows where it’s going, yells Michael Scott in an episode of The Office before driving his car directly into a lake. How many people saw that episode? Yeah, yeah. Follow the GPS to the nth degree.
Well, here’s another story for you. A lady named Sabine Moreau wanted to pick up a friend from the train station, which was north of her home in Brussels.
But when the GPS directions took her south, instead of north, the 67-year-old woman didn’t question it. She stuck by her GPS, even when she saw the signs for the German towns of Frankfurt and Aachen and Cologne.
And when the lengthy trip forced her to refuel twice and pull over to catch a few hours of shut eye, Moreau didn’t question the machine even then. Only when she entered the Croatian capital of Zagreb did she finally realize something was up. Her friend at the train station and her son had also caught on and her son called the police.
When Moreau finally returned home, all she said by way of explanation was, I admit it’s a little weird, but I was distracted. For hours, she was distracted. Listening to the GPS, listening to the wrong direction, going the wrong way and not realizing it.
And I wonder sometimes how often that happens to us. We get distracted.
Sometimes we get distracted in life. Sometimes our hearts get distracted. We’re not tuned into God quite the way we used to be. And life is busy. And so we’re not hearing Him properly. We’re actually not hearing Him sometimes at all. And we’re hearing other voices. And we’re being led astray until we wake up someday. And we go, well, how did I end up here?
I don’t want to be distracted. Do you? I don’t want to be led the wrong way.
Three Pathways We Want to Avoid
And my heart, the pathway of my heart, it’s so important that it be going the right way, that I have the right pathways. What I want to do is I want to look, first of all, at three pathways that we want to avoid. Three pathways that we do not want to have in our lives. And if we notice it, we need to repent.
And then I want to look at the pathway that we do need. In fact, the pathway I want to look at will actually help us to leave the other three. Isn’t that good news?
The pathway I’m looking at at the end will actually help us to avoid the three. But we need to see the three for what they are. We need to acknowledge them. And at times we need to repent of them.
The first one is this.
1. The pathway of self-reliance
Proverbs 3 says this. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him and he will make your path straight. Lean not on your own understanding.”
You know, years ago, Craig Rochelle, the great pastor in the States, he wrote a book called Christian Atheist. I don’t know if any of you have read it.
And it’s basically talking about how as Christians, we can often settle into a routine where we act like God isn’t real. You know, we believe He’s real and we would say, yes, I trust Him and I believe He’s all powerful, but we live and act in fear and worry like He’s not real.
Anyone ever been there? Anyone ever been a Christian atheist?
And that’s really what this pathway of self-reliance is. You know, we can settle into a safe and tepid state where we’re no longer relying on the Lord, where things are comfortable. Things are simple. In fact, we don’t want to take risk. We don’t want to move beyond the scope of where we’re at because we like our comfort. We like where we’re at. We can trust ourselves.
We can rely on ourselves. Andy Stanley has said this. He said, past boldness is no assurance of future boldness. Boldness demands continual reliance on God’s Spirit. Can’t rely on past boldness. Can’t rely on what I did yesterday or what I trusted God for yesterday because it’s fragile.
I could wake up tomorrow, and if I don’t have a fresh relationship with Him, and I’m not trusting in Him, I can be as timid as anything. I need the Lord every day. We must avoid the pathway of self-reliance. So important that we trust in the Lord. So important.
And sometimes there’s those chains that we talked about, that we talked about in worship. Those chains of fear and anxiety, and they cause us to trust more in ourselves than in the Lord. You know what? God wants to free us from that.
2. Pathway of Idolatry: Idols of the Heart
The second pathway I want to talk about is the pathway of idolatry.
This passage in Jonah 2.8, I think it just says things so well. It says, “those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”
And I often think about this passage. I mean, the man who wrote this passage had a lot of time to think about his idolatry as he was in a fish. I mean, I would probably repent too in a fish. And he did. And he’s realizing that he was clinging to worthless idols, that he wasn’t following God the way he was called to follow God. In fact, he had attitudes and reasons why he chose to go the opposite direction. He was clinging to worthless idols.
I wonder how often, I’ve seen times in my life where I do this, where I want God’s grace in my life. I think we’d all say, if I said do you want God’s grace? Do you want his empowerment? Do you want his enablement, I think you’d say, absolutely I do.
But here’s the problem. Sometimes we want that, and yet we want to hold on to some things here that we feel give us comfort. Some things that give us strength, or some things that we look to even more than God. And we say, God, can I just hold on to this thing here, and also have you? Can I just have both? Can I just have both, God? Can you let me in?
And the Lord says, you know, no, you can’t. You can’t. You can’t hold on to that idol, that thing that you’ve put above me.
What are Some Idols of the Heart?
1. Fear of Man
Well, fear of man can be an idol, a desire for glory. Our pride can be an idol. We’re unable to humble ourselves and to look to the Lord and to obey him.
2. Entertainment
It can be entertainment is an idol. We have our escapism. it could be an overblown hobby in our lives that takes so much time. And we say, God, I really, I want to give to this, but I want to give to you. I don’t want to let go of this, but I want to have you. And he says, I need you to let go of that. I need you to another level.
I’m coming to you. In love I’m coming to you and I’m calling you up to another level. Because I have more for you. I have more for you, your churches, this network. I have more that I want to do. And I want your voice for Me to be strong. I want it to be full of My revelation. I mean that’s why you’re here, right? We’re here to grow in our ability to hear the Lord and grow in our prophetic gifting.
But God says it starts with the idols in our hearts. And here’s the sobering thing Ezekiel 14 says about idolatry. Listen to this passage, verse 1 to 5. It says,
“Some of the elders of Israel came to me, to Ezekiel, and they sat down in front of me. Then the word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts, and they put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? Therefore speak to them and tell them, this is what the sovereign Lord says, When any of the Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet. I, the Lord, will answer them myself in keeping with their great idolatry. I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel who have all deserted me for their idols.”
Now this is a heavy passage, isn’t it? I was a little nervous. I was like, oh, these heavy passages. People are gonna be like sinking in their seats. But you know, this is something to think about though.
Here’s what it’s saying. When you and I are set on something, Because that’s what an idol is, right?
Again, our focus is not on the Lord. Our focus is on something else. And when we have set our hearts on something so much that we want it so bad, God is saying, look, I’ll answer you in accordance to your idolatry. I’ll actually say yes. And I’ll do it because I know that when you grab a hold of that, it’s actually going to bring you back to me in the end. You’re going to repent in the end. So I’m going to allow you to go through that.
3. Desiring Fame
You know, I looked at my own life with this. And there was something, I remember back in the mid-90s, we were living in a town called Tabor. And I bought a business. I bought a television magazine business. And I ran it for a year and lost thousands of dollars.
I could have just traveled around the world with my family and had a year off and it would have been better. But anyway, I paid this money and I did this. But I was thinking back to when I made the decision to buy that franchise. And I prayed about it. I sought God about it. And I felt like God said, yes, yes.
Even though he knew what was going to happen to me. He said, yes. And I was thinking, why did he say yes? And I realized something.
There were some idols that I had in my heart.
There were some reasons I wanted that business. I wanted it for profile. I felt it would give me profile. There was a bit of me in there. And a lot of me, actually. And there were some other motives I had.
And when I look back, I realize, oh my goodness, my heart wasn’t clean. So you know what the Lord did at that time? He said, yes. He said, yes. And you know what it did? It did break me and God used it in my life. But it’s sobering for us.
Listen, we want to be people who hear God correctly.
And so if we have idols in our heart, if there’s anything that’s above the Lord, any attitude, God says, I want to clean that out because I want you to hear me properly. Not just for yourself, but for other people.
The Pathway of Impurity: Porn
And then there’s third pathway is the pathway of impurity. Did I say these are ones you don’t want to be on? I just want to emphasize these are ones you don’t want to be on. Here’s what the pathway of impurity is.
Ephesians 5 says this. “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality.”
A hint. You ever thought about what a hint is? That’s sobering. must not even be a hint of sexual immorality or of any kind of impurity. This is a high level scripture, right?
Or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure, no immoral, impure, or greedy person, such a person as an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore, do not be partners with them. Do not b e partners with them.
You know, I think in our age it is very, very tempting for us to be partners with those who are not walking in godliness. To be partners with those who are leading us into immorality.
You know, Proverbs 2.18 tells us of the adulterous and seductive woman, and she represents sexual sin and impurity. And here’s what it says. “Her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. Impurity in our world is a path to death.”
That’s what it is. That’s what Bible says.
Proverbs 4 says, “do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.”
Now, I was doing some research on this this week because it’s good to know latest stats, and I got to tell you something, the statistics are horrendous about this. Not just in the world, folks. Listen to me. Not just in the world, in the church. Listen to this. I’ve got this on, I think I did have it on the screen, but listen to this if it’s not up there.
A majority of practicing Christians, including pastors, admit to viewing pornography and a large share say they are comfortable with the habit a new study has found.
Some 54% of Christians reported viewing pornography compared with 68% of non-Christians. Think about it. 68% non-Christians, 54% Christians, 14% difference. It’s not a very big difference, is it?
In general, 75% of Christian men and 40% of Christian women reported consuming porn on some level. What may be more troubling, this is more troubling, is that well over half of Christians who use porn say they are comfortable with their porn use.
Folks, this is horrific.
Over half of Christians, first of all, we shouldn’t be using porn, but over half of Christians that do say, you know, I’m actually okay with it. I actually think it’s all right. This is like the frog in the water, isn’t it? This is like the boiling that’s happening to us in our culture.
And I feel like, like I said to you tonight, I thought, man, I’m talking about some heavy things. The Lord says, I want you to talk about these things. These things matter to me. Because I want people to be free. You know, we can’t be free if we’re not convicted. We can’t be free if we’re not led to repentance. Do you know what I’m saying?
Now, some of us might think, well, I’m not into porn. I don’t do that. But, you know, I think about a lot of the novels today in our world, right? Some of them are good novels, but they got those little sex scenes all through them, right?
I know that. You know why? Because when I was in my teens, I used to go to relatives’ houses, here in confession, and I used to grab those novels, you know, and I’d be like looking through them for all the bad bits, right? And I repented of that, thank the Lord.
But, you know what, the sad part is, if I think about it, I can still think of some of the bad bits. Even now at 60 years old, I can think of them. Because they stick in your mind. They’re terrible and I see and I know of Christians that read these novels. And I think to myself, what are you taking in?
And I’m not here to lay condemnation. Don’t get me wrong.
But I just think we have to see it for what it is. The scripture says, not even a hint. Not even a hint. Right? and yet we say well that’s okay I can look past that or whatever.
I know myself I gotta be honest I just gotta be so careful in this area I can be so careful what movies I go to you know there’s movies I’d like to watch and I go oh I’d like to watch that movie and then I look at it I read the the thing about it and there’s such stuff in it and I can’t watch it not watching it why because it just takes me I can’t handle it, I can’t handle it, Sometimes I think we think we can handle more than we can. And so we take stuff in and there’s a cumulative effect on our spirits.
You know, this area too, in my book, Life is a Highway, $15 at the back table, little plug. But anyway, in my book, Life is a Highway, I talk about how the struggle with pornography. I talk about it, share about it and I remember not wanting to put that in there. I remember thinking I didn’t want to put it in there, but the Lord said, ‘yeah, you should.’ It’s a real deal and you should tell people of the struggle you’ve had, so that they can gain some victory as well.
And you know, to this day, I have to be really careful. I have three accountability partners that receive notifications from my computer. And what it will tell them is if I even Google something that’s inappropriate or I even open an email that has an inappropriate title, it’ll tell them. One of them is Dave Wells.
And you know, talking about the fear of the Lord or the fear of Dave Wells. I mean, I don’t want Dave to see. I mean, more than once, that stopped me from even looking at anything close. It’s like some article, like, I don’t want to read that. Dave’s going to see that. He’s going to wonder, what’s he reading that about?
So actually this week when I was researching this message, you know, the thing I had is, you know, Christians viewing pornography. Dave was notified a few times because I kept going back to it. His phone is exploding. right? Thankfully it talked about Christians viewing pornography. Dave knew I was okay.
Why do I tell you that? Because I know I’m vulnerable. And you know what? I don’t have room to get on that path. I’ve been on that path and I’m not going back to that path. I’m not going to get on that path. You know what? I’m going to protect myself. I’m going to be accountable.
Look, if you’re struggling in this area, you can’t win on your own. You need to win in community. You need to come out of the shadows. Get some people involved. Get some allies. Get some people walking with you. It’s the only way you’re going to make it because this is a path that is huge in our world.
God says, I want you to be holy as I am holy.
Ephesians 4 says this:
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander.” It’s a whole list there. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ forgave you.”
You know, that part of grieving the Holy Spirit of God is the biggest thing.
What was David in the Bible concerned about? Holy Spirit leaving him. Remember David’s word, “take not your Holy Spirit from me.” That grieving the Holy Spirit is a very key thing.
I remember we were youth pastors once. I know I don’t look like a youth pastor anymore, but at one point I was.
And we would drive in vans, long trips, and we’d have youth in the van. And so we would teach them something. This passage here talks about, you know, not talking unwholesome talk and not saying things that are unhelpful. And so when the discussion got a little rangy in the van, you know, people are talking and suddenly they’re getting on a bad vein, we just yell out from the front. “It’s almost 4.30. It’s almost 4.30.”
What’s Ephesians 4.30 is do not grieve the Holy Spirit. We’re saying you’re almost grieving the Holy Spirit. He’s almost leaving the van. Settle down people, right? Listen, we need to have a barometer in our hearts that says it’s almost 4.30. I don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit.
I don’t want to do things, see things, participate in things that are going to taint my spirit, that are going to grieve the spirit of God. It’s important we understand this.
So God wants us to avoid self-reliance, idolatry, impurity. And here’s the good news though. It’s not a case of just trying to not go in those directions. It’s actually a case of getting onto the right path. I’m going to show you what the right path is. And we’re going to have an opportunity tonight to push into the right path.
The Right Path: The Fear of the Lord
Proverbs 23:19 says, “listen, my son, and be wise and set your heart on the right path.”
But where does the truth and knowledge come from? Where do we gain that revelation? It’s ultimately from the fear of the Lord. It’s the spirit of the fear of the Lord.
And here’s what Proverbs 9:10 says. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Proverbs 15:33 says, “The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. And before honor is humility.”
And in Isaiah 33:5-6, “The Lord is exalted for he dwells on high. He will fill Zion with His justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times. A rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.”
Wow.
So here’s what God’s saying. He says, look, I have salvation and wisdom and knowledge. And I have blessing for you. And the way to unlock that treasure chest and to receive it, the key is fearing Me. The fear of the Lord is the key to the treasure.
You know, I want to tell you something tonight. In those areas that you’re struggling, you know what the key is to freedom? The fear of the Lord. Fear the Lord. It is a gift. It is a gift.
You know, John Bevere in his book, Fear the Lord, said this, “when the church is infected and diseased with a lack of the fear of the Lord, it will be unable to help society.”
You know what the society needs from us? It doesn’t need us to be relevant by trying to participate in the stuff that it does. It needs you and I to be set apart. It needs you and I to be holy. It needs you and I to be different. That’s what it needs. That’s what God is calling us to. That’s what God is challenging us to. He’s calling us up to that next level.
We know the fear of the Lord is a deep reverence and an awe for God — His power. His authority. It’s not meant to be a cowering or terror based fear. It’s meant to be actually out of an awe and respect for who He is. The glory of His majesty.
We sang the song tonight about Him on the throne. Out of our respect and our honor of Him, we’re meant to fear Him. We’re meant to have such a revelation of who He is. And how powerful He is. That we want to serve Him. We want to walk in his ways. And it’s important for us to have an understanding that He disciplines us.
You know Hebrews 12.5b-6 says. “It’s my son. Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline. And do not lose heart when he rebukes you. Because the Lord disciplines the one he loves. He chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
You know, sometimes I think, I mean, I love the Lord. He’s my friend, right? I mean, I love Jesus, and I think we can get into this place where we think of the Lord God like our friend. He’s like my buddy. He’s like somebody that, and listen, He’s the Lord, right?
I mean, we do need to have that closeness, and God wants that closeness. He’s our father and He loves us. But we can never get away from the fact that He is the Lord. And sometimes I think we get into a place as Christians where we think God will understand.
In fact, I’ve had people tell me this. My wife and I have had people say, “Well, I know I’m living poorly right now. I know I’m not doing the right thing. But God will understand. God will just love me. He’ll just accept me.”
Listen, God does love you, but he can’t look past His righteousness. He can’t look past His holiness. He can’t just accept you for that. He can’t just look at that. You need to repent. And God says, I want this to begin in my church. I want my church to understand that I discipline those I love. Because I care for them. And that they’d have a fear of that, in a good way.
That they’d respond to that and say, you know, I remember, like, I didn’t want to get spanked as a kid. Now, some kids get tons of Spanks, right? I wasn’t one of them, I’ll be honest. I was a little more, you know, I mean, occasionally I get a spanking. But generally I was pretty good. Sometimes even a look would be enough, okay?
But the reality is I didn’t want to be disciplined. And that was an incentive, right? Sometimes if we lose that sense, like there are consequences, then we just think, oh, no matter what happens, God will be gracious to me. Well, there are consequences, and God does have to discipline us at times. God says, I want you to understand that.
Isaiah 11 says this in verses 2 and 3:
“The spirit of the Lord will rest on him, speaking of Jesus. The spirit of wisdom and of understanding. The spirit of counsel and of might. The spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. And he will delight in the fear of the Lord.”
Jesus delighted in the fear of the Lord. And I wonder, what does that mean? The Hebrew word for it means ‘to incline to or to bend or to be pleased with.’ To bend. It’s to incline and bend to. It’s a submitting is really what it is.
if we delight in the fear of the Lord we’re willing to bend and incline ourselves to whatever God wants us to do. It’s a heart posture now. Listen none of us is perfect and none of us can fear the Lord on our own. In fact we need the spirit of the fear of the Lord to come we need him literally to guide us into this.
Psalm 99 says, “the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” In another version it says “pure.” The fear of the Lord is pure. The fear of the Lord is clean. It produces true holiness in our life.
Now listen to this. Look at this. I was reading this article again by John Bevere. And he was talking about a meeting he was in. And the Holy Spirit came and it started off with people laughing and just having a great time, right? And then all of a sudden, the tone and tenure shifted, and it got more serious. And all of a sudden, people were crying. They started to cry, and they started to weep, and they started to repent.
It was God. God was just touching them, and they were having a sense of His holiness, and it was causing them to repent of things. And it was just a powerful time. And as they left the building, this is in Malaysia. As they left the building, one of the young women goes, after all this experience, she goes, “I just feel so clean. I just feel so clean.”
And John Bevere went home and went back to his hotel and this just jumped out to him, “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.” Listen, the path of the fear of the Lord, which leads to holiness, is clean. It cleans you and I. If we embrace it and allow God to work in our lives. It will clean us. It will get us off the other three paths. And God says, I want to do that in your life.
Isaiah 35:8 says this, “And a highway will be there. It will be called the way of holiness. It will be for those who walk on that way. The unclean will not journey on it. Wicked fools will not go about on it. It’s the way of holiness.”
So the fear of the Lord leads to holiness. What is holiness? Well, I think a definition is best in Ezekiel 44:23. Look at this for a minute. I want to show you this:
“They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.”
These are the priests. So the priests were supposed to teach people between the holy and the common. Interesting. The unclean and the clean. The holy and the common.
I want to read you something by Jackie King of Lewiston, Idaho. You know, Ryan and Jackie were at a young adults conference, at Origin Young Adults Conference at Cranbrook Connect Church a couple weeks ago and Kimberly and Andrew Gal were there too and some young adults from this church. It was wonderful.
I got to minister a bit and it was just a great time but Jackie King and Ryan gave a great message. And she talked about holiness.
And I want to, I’m literally going to read her notes, okay? Because it was so good the way she expressed it. And I want you to get this. It’s so important. Here’s what she said:
“For years, I thought the opposite of holy was simply unholy, which certainly makes sense. That is often how we do opposites in the English language. The reality is I hadn’t spent much time thinking about what unholy really meant. I just tucked it away as a word that expresses the opposite of holy. Especially since scripture uses unholy to describe the bad stuff in the Old Testament that displeased God.
“A few years ago, I was reading a different Bible translation than I normally do. And I came to a passage in the book of Ezekiel that talks about holy and unholy things. But this translation is stated differently. Instead of there being holy things and unholy things, the scripture referred to them as holy things and common things.
“That changed me. Forced me to pause and realize that many common things are unholy things. Lesser things. God has called us to be holy, not common. Holy and set apart. Different than the world we live in.”
1 Peter 1:15-16. But now you must be holy in everything you do. Just as God who chose you is holy. For the scriptures say, you must be holy because I am holy.
Hebrews 12:14, “Work at living in peace with everyone and work at living a holy life. Work at living a holy life for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.”
Here’s what she goes on to say:
“Engage in what is common and you will not see the Lord. That is sobering. If you want to see the Lord, do not do what is common. It is common to watch trash shows on TV.”
“It is common to have sex with people you aren’t married to. It’s common to cut others down with your words. It’s common to swear and tell inappropriate jokes to get a laugh. It’s common to be dissatisfied and compare your body, your job, your car, your education, your life, and your capabilities to other people. Do not be common. You were chosen to be holy and set apart.”
Wow. Thank you, Jackie. Do not be common.
You know what this does? This changes the picture of what my life should look like. Because sometimes if it’s holy or unholy, I can think, well, I’m pretty good. You know, I’m doing all right. I’m not really unholy. I’m pretty holy.
But when we talk about common, that changes it. It’s like, what is it that I do that’s just common? It’s just like everyone else. God says, I want you to be separate. I don’t want you just to be like everyone else.
1 Corinthians 6, 12 says, “I have the right to do anything, you say, but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything, but I will not be mastered by anything.
I have the right, they were saying, but the reality is I may have the right, but it may master me. It may not be what God has for me.”
You know, I think of Dave Wells, who’s obviously sitting right here, and I asked him if I could share this. You know, Dave shared a story how when he first became a believer, the Lord told him that he should not drink.
Now, listen, I don’t think Dave’s putting that on everyone, that no other Christian should drink. But I think for Dave, the Lord spoke to him and said, Dave, and this is literally what he said, “some may, you may not.”
So for Dave, God was saying, Dave, drinking is common for you. I don’t want you doing that. And Dave hasn’t, right? Had a conviction. And obviously God said, some may, you may not. For whatever reason, God said, Dave, this isn’t for you.
And I wonder in my life, what are the things that God says, “Ian, those things are common. I want them out of your life. I want you to be holy.”
For me, God’s been really challenging me about my speech. I can get negative, critical, judgmental. I can speak out stuff that’s not helpful as far as what’s happening. I can be unbelieving.
And my wife will catch me on it sometimes. I’m grumbling and complaining and she’ll be like the Holy Spirit. And that’s okay. I need her in my life like the Holy Spirit.
And she’ll say, “Ian, you’re kind of grumbling here. You’re kind of complaining.”
And I’m like, yes, she’s right. I am. And the Lord’s been catching me up. He says, look, “I want you to be a man of faith. I want you to be a man who speaks right. I want you to speak truth. I don’t want you to speak that garbage.”
It’s so easy to be common. What does the whole world do? They’re all grumbling and complaining. What’s happening right now in our culture, folks? Grumbling and complaining about tariffs and everything else, right? Pointing fingers, getting mad at people.
Seriously. I get the angst. I get it. But listen, can we be different and not be common? Can we be different than the world? Isn’t God calling us to be a higher level? Aren’t we supposed to bring hope and not just be the naysayer who’s grumbling and complaining and carping?
Seriously, I’m tired of it, if I’m honest. Makes me want to leave Facebook. Some of you said, I already have, right? Tired of it. We need to be different. We have a higher call, folks. And yes, these things are important. But the souls of men and the work of God in our nation is more important.
Conclusion
Come on, let’s pray. let’s seek God let’s turn all the angst into prayer. Let’s push in. Let’s believe for a breakthrough in these areas but let’s believe for the hearts of our nation to be turned to God.
This is an opportunity for God to get a hold of our people. We have been complacent and comfortable and we are being buffeted and you know what this is the perfect moment for God to work. So let’s engage the church.
People are grumbling complaining and griping we should be bringing life. Well something’s on that or it might just be my personal frustration, but it’s coming out you know.
I remember a few years ago, Lord really caught me caught me up and brought conviction because I slid into being crude. Someone in our family that I would get with and I would just kind of go off on stuff and I was pushing the line. I just wasn’t being godly and I didn’t see it.
I just, ah, you know, I’m just being funny. It’s, you know, whatever. And the Lord just caught me up and he said, I want you to stop that. That’s beneath you. That’s not who you are. And I felt like a fiction. You need to stop joking like that. You need to stop just kind of being crass.
We need to hear when God comes to us. And again, it’s a hint. In fact, what I realized is the closer I get to the Lord, the more He refines it. Do you understand? Do you see that? Like He makes what’s allowable even less. Why? Because He wants us to hear Him even more.
Look here’s where I want to land tonight. Okay. Here’s where I want to land. The Lord wants us to embrace a new “the fear of the Lord.” And he wants to create a highway or pathway of holiness in our lives.
He wants us to reject the paths of self-reliance, idolatry, and impurity. And He wants us to follow Him and enter that path of “the fear of the Lord” and holiness.
You know, I experienced something a few weeks ago. I’ve been going through a really hard time. And I realize, and listen, when we go through hard times and we can’t break free, It’s often lies we’re believing, right?
I mean, the enemy was working. He was pressing me pretty hard in some areas. But I wasn’t believing some truth. I had allowed some lies to creep in. And I even had a time of fasting and praying and still didn’t break.
And I was just like, I just not. It was actually one of my hardest times of fasting and praying. Because when you’re not feeling good spiritually and you fast, it’s like even worse.
But anyway, I was trying to push through. I did.
And then finally, I think as a result of that, the Lord came to me one night. As I was lying in bed, I was talking to my wife. And all of a sudden, He came down on me and He gave me the gift of repentance. And all of a sudden, I could see it all. I could see it so clearly in front of me. I could see what I’d been believing. I could see how I was deceived. I could see, and I started to spontaneously repent.
I said, “Lord, forgive me.” And I just started to pour it out. And it was His gift. He helped me repent. You ever wanted to repent? You don’t know how? He gave me the gift of repentance. And this all poured out of me. And literally something broke. Just bang. It broke. I could feel it. It was like it was gone. I was clean. Like the spirit of the fear of God came and I was clean.
And I literally prayed, and I said “God thank you for the gift of repentance.” I believe tonight God wants to grant us the gift of repentance. I believe He wants the spirit of the fear of the Lord to be here and to move in our midst. Because He loves us.
And we talked about those chains falling off. He wants chains to fall off. But the only way they’re going to fall off and the only way we’re going to be able to move away from the paths that are taking us from Him is if we move toward Him in the fear of the Lord in holiness.
And that’s what He wants. I believe tonight he wants to do some heart work on each of us. And it’s not me putting anything on you. It’s Holy Spirit.
Listen, as He moves on you, respond to Him. Because He loves you. He loves you individually. He loves you collectively. And He has more for you. And He doesn’t want you to be common. He doesn’t want you to be merely common. He wants you to be holy and set apart so He can do even more through you.
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Ian Byrd is the Apostolic Team Leader of LifeLinks International Fellowship where he provides oversight and input to network churches. Ian also speaks internationally at ministry training schools and conferences. As a speaker and writer, he has an engaging communication style that helps his audiences receive and process challenging truths.
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