This week, we are in our second-to-last message in the series Lessons from the Wild. The heart of the message stems from an interesting conversation Marcus and I had with a few hunters as we neared the end of the hunt.

The Story:
From time to time, you come into contact with other hunters. The encounters are usually filled with small talk about whether they have seen anything and how their hunt is going.
On the second-to-last day, we came across a few hunters who shared about their experience during the hunt, and after we left the conversation, Marcus and I thought. Why did they even come out here in the first place?

The tone was negative, pessimistic, skeptical, and full of complaining. They spent ten minutes talking about how miserable everything was and how dumb hunting was, in their opinion. After we spoke with them, the Lord spoke to my heart and said: “Be Careful Who You Talk To.”

As I asked the Lord for clarity, He helped me see that people with the wrong perspectives can derail you if you give their voice a place in your life. If we had taken on their attitude and perspective, we probably would have quit the hunt early.

How does this tie to our walk with God?
What God puts in your heart can be strengthened or weakened by the voices you allow around you.

Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”

It is important to recognize that not everyone has the perspective, faith, or spiritual maturity to speak into what God has placed in you. As a result, learn to guard the voice of God in your life by being intentional about who you listen to, what you share, and whose words you allow to shape your faith, and even more important, the call of God on your life.

We need to learn to be careful who we talk to about God’s dreams in our lives because not everybody sees what God showed you.

There are moments when God puts something in your heart before there is any evidence in your hands. A dream, calling, burden, promise, direction, vision for your family, or a step of faith.

An easy misstep is sharing too quickly what God has shown you with people who don’t know what God has been doing in your life, or who may not understand the call He has placed on you.

The wrong voices can make you question what God said. Whereas the right voices can give you the courage to pursue it.

The key: Guard the Soil and protect what God is developing in you.
Proverbs 4:23: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."

Your heart is the soil where God's Word, promises, and vision develop.
If the soil becomes contaminated by things like bitterness, offense, pride, fear, comparison, compromise, doubt, unbelief, or spiritual neglect, then what God planted can be weakened before it ever produces fruit.

In Matthew 13:18–23, in the Parable of the Sower, Jesus reveals that the condition of the soil determines what happens to the seed. The seed in the parable is good, but the question is what the condition of the soil is.

If you like to grow plants, then you know that not all soil is the same, and especially that good soil must be cultivated. The same is true for our hearts. We must cultivate the good soil in our hearts.

How do we do that?
Through abiding. John 15:4–5 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

By hiding God’s word in our heart.
Psalm 119:9 “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.” Psalm 119:11 “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.”

By recognizing that what you sow will eventually produce a harvest.
Galatians 6:7-9 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

The simple reality when it comes to the soil and seed that is planted. Not everybody needs access to what God told you. There is a difference between secrecy and stewardship. You must protect what is still developing.

A simple example of this is Joseph in Genesis 37. Joseph received dreams from God, but Joseph’s brothers didn’t celebrate what God had revealed. Instead, their jealousy intensified. The dream was from God, but the audience wasn’t prepared for it. The result was a lot of heartache.

The key to understand is this: Not everyone is in a place to help grow the seed God has placed in you. Some may love you but lack faith. Some may care about you but still be limited by their own experiences. Others may hear what God has placed in you and see it through their own lens of fear, doubt, or inadequacy. Matthew 7:6.

In Matthew 7:6 Jesus says: “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.”

Jesus is teaching discernment about what is valuable and who is capable of handling what is valuable. A maturity moment is learning that just because God showed it to you doesn't mean God told you to tell everybody.

Some things need to be prayed over before they're announced. Developed before they're displayed. Protected before they're public.

Before sharing something God has placed in your heart, ask: Does this person have faith? Do they have wisdom? Do they have my best interest at heart? Do they have the spiritual maturity to help me steward this? Is this the right time to share it?

If not you don’t want their doubt to become your reality. An example of this is the children of Israel after spying out the land in Numbers 13-14.

The spies saw the same land, the same promise, the same God, and the same opportunity, but they didn’t have the same perspective. Ten saw impossibility, and two saw fulfillment of promise. The same group interpreted the data quite differently. The outcome shows the power of words. Israel, as a result of listening to the wrong people, spent 40 extra years in the wilderness.

We guard what God has planted in us because what we hear affects what we believe. You cannot stop people from having a negative report, but you can stop a negative report from becoming your confession.

Once you've guarded the soil, protected the vision, and defended your faith, you still have to move forward. Protection without obedience leaves the vision dormant. God didn't give you a promise so you could admire it.
He gave you a promise so you could walk toward it.

2 Corinthians 1:20 “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."

Christ is the foundation of every promise you hold, and the words that HE speaks, He will do. Isaiah 55:11.

Our need is to become like Abraham in Romans 4:20-21.

Romans 4:20–21 “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”

Abraham held onto God's promise while circumstances argued against it.
Being careful who you talk to isn’t about hiding because everyone is bad. It’s simply because voices have influence. You and I need people around us who will speak life into what God is doing in our lives. Reminding you when you need it that God is faithful, not to give up, will lift you up in prayer and lead you to the Word to confirm the promise of God.

Because there will always be voices that tell you: You can’t, that will never work, that’s unrealistic, or all the things that could go wrong. You have to decide who gets the final word.