For many Christians it is a challenge to decide whether they are suppose to wait on God or step out. Many are also discouraged because their personal prophetic word has not come to pass yet and they are unsure if they are: 1) suppose to do something to make it come to pass, 2) whether God will do everything Himself or 3) they have to co-labor together with Him. There even seems to be scriptures which emphasize two different aspects of responding to the Lord's word, one thinking and one doing.
In Philippians 4:8 we are instructed to:"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things." And in James 1:22 we are exhorted:"But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves."
The word dwell in Philippians 4:8 means to reckon, count, compute or calculate. In other words, we should calculate with our mind so that it counts according to these things: true, lovely, good repute, excellence, and worthy of praise."
When we practice"hesed" (covenant compassionate acts) God asks us to count and see if we are following through with action on these acts, not just thinking about them. So it seems we are not just suppose to dwell or think on these things, but put them into practice.
James speaks of the same concept of being doers of the word and not just hearers. Delusion in James is not doing what we already know to do. The Bible is about obedience and applying what we've learned, not just gathering more information. Sometimes I think we criticize others because they are applying the principles of the Bible and yet we accuse them of trying to perform God's word to get approval and love by striving. In reality, they may just be obeying God's word and doing what they know or sense to do from understanding and following scripture.
It is good to check to see why we do what we do, and figure out why we are motivated to do certain things. However, after we understand our motives, receive healing and sincerely want to please Him, then walking out covenant compassionate acts of love would certainly follow the biblical directives. I believe this is a time if we do not hear clearly what to do from God, we need to continue doing what we already know to do by applying the principles of His word. In response to loving others compassionately He will continue to give, direct and communicate because of His covenant love for us.
