Firstly, it’s important to note that when we do anything spiritual for the first time, we cannot make a mistake. We can only learn. There is always an abundance of grace available to us as we grow up in all things in Christ. If we do not learn and change our methodologies, then we are making mistakes and heading into error.
The fundamental difference between mistake and error is that the first is an internal disorder that leads to an external disobedience. Any action, good or bad, is usually preceded by a thought. Even in an apparent thoughtless act, there is usually a moment when we ignore consequences, or we do something that stems from a wrong belief.
A mistake is concerned with our inward territory. We think inappropriately, we understand poorly and we believe wrongly.
The assumptions we make become the actions we produce. We are acting out a belief system that, at best, is undeveloped.
Error is a fundamental defection from the right path. It means to miss the mark continuously-to go astray by wrongdoing. It means to be affected more by external circumstances or influenced by the wrong people. This produces an internal fault that creates a breakdown. The conclusions that we make become the resolutions that we follow.
When we hold to a particular line of thought, we create a belief system, good or bad, that drives our actions. Our belief system empowers us to see the world in a peculiar way. In our perception we adopt a position that enables us to walk through this world in a distinct manner. It is where we develop attitudes and perceptions that are a blessing, or we develop prejudice and distortions of mind and heart.
When our mind is renewed it is because we have accepted that God has all the best thoughts, and we want them too. Repentance is to think again literally. Restoration is the external consequence of an internal renovation. In Christ we get to change our mind for his. We can learn to perceive differently and believe something that will empower us to be Christ like in the way we act.
When our mind is renewed, our spirit is refreshed, and our walk with the Lord is unrestrained. When I see people behaving oddly my first question is: what is it that they believe about themselves that makes them behave in this manner? My next question usually is: how are they seeing and thinking about this other person that makes them speak and act towards them in this improper way?
It seems that most disciplining involves putting constraints around people so that they do not do things that are inappropriate. We terminate people. We pull them out of their function, but we do not empower them to change. Restriction without development is punishment. Loving people enough to enable them to think again is a powerful part of the Kingdom.
In the prophetic realm, it is all too easy to have our input towards someone colored by how we view them or by our understanding of them both positively and otherwise. Eli thought Hannah was drunk and became indignant because he was watching her mouth(1 Samuel 1: 12-14) And not listening to the Lord. She was crying out to the Lord in distress, desperately wanting a child. Moses completely misunderstood the heart of the two of the tribes, Ruben and Gad, in the time of the exodus(numbers 32). Actually, they were the first to see their inheritance and receive it. Moses accused them of being a sinful brood of men like their fathers, who were discouraging Israel from entering the land of promise.
It is always too easy to get caught up relationally with people around us and prophecy out of what we see and know about someone. David and Nathan had a good friendship. Nathan saw David’s passion for worship. He probably read some of David’s psalms. No doubt these two good men, serving the Lord together, had many conversations about the health, wealth, and well-being of the nation.
Seeing David’s desire to build a temple for the Lord touched Nathan’s heart. When in conversation David expresses his intention to build a temple, Nathan steps into the place of ministry because of what he thinks and believes about David-second Samuel 7: 1-17. He spoke prophetically: go and do all that’s in your mind, for the Lord is with you.
How could such a passion be wrong? David is a man after God’s own heart. Surely, everything fits together. A mindset about David, a lack of understanding about God and a belief that everything fits together-these all led Nathan to give permission to something that the Lord had not spoken.
When Nathan and David got it wrong, the Lord took responsibility for putting it right.
That same night, God made it clear to Nathan that he wanted a man of peace to build his house. David could collect materials, but his son was to build the temple. A man of blood couldn’t do it, only a man who knew the peace and rest of God. The next morning, Nathan went to his friend and king and gave him the word. Sorry, my friend, I was wrong, he probably said.
God made his will known when both the king and the prophet had missed it. If we stay in relationship with him, constantly seeking his face, he will guide us in the same manner.