CONCERNING PROPHECY
We are going to touch bases on the what, why, and how of prophecy so that you may have another tool in your arsenal for spiritual warfare. I am talking to everyone who has gone through The Door -- Jesus Christ and have become a child of the King by receiving Him as Lord and personal saviour. And if you haven't I strongly suggest that you give your life to Him now! You see God is a personal God who desires intimate fellowship with individuals more than a distant relationship with humanity. He is continually thinking His thoughts toward us and wishes to communicate His desires, plans & purposes. You can find evidence of this in Psalms 139:17-18 & in Psalms 95:7.
A very dangerous doctrine that is being taught is that the Lord does not talk to us in these days. When in actuality -- hearing God's voice should be a normal and everyday occurrence for Christians. Unfortunately, the main reason for dullness in hearing the voice of the Lord is sin. Because God wanted to communicate with us so much, He devised various means in order to let His thoughts be known unto us. For example, in the Old Testament, He spoke through the prophets and patriarchs, then He sent Jesus. And of course we have the logos word (which is the Bible), and after Jesus left we were given the Holy Spirit (Who gives the Rhema word). And if that's not enough He's sent modern day prophets, the gifts of the Spirit, and throughout the logos word you see angels as messengers. We as Christians should concentrate on hearing from Our Lord, but it takes a concerted effort on our part. It's all about desiring more of God in our lives, which means we have to die to ourselves (our thoughts, feelings & emotions) and let the Holy Spirit have free reign in the theater of our minds.
I challenge you today to take that step, to hear what the Lord is saying to you. Jesus said in Revelation 3:20: Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. And again in John the 10th chapter and the 27th verse: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
Prophecy Is To Help Us Determine Our Purpose And Destiny
Since, God has created man in His own image, only He knows what we are capable of doing. And because God is the master planner, He has created each individual with his or her own special talents. There is a reason for uniqueness. God has an eternal plan for every individual that is born on this earth. The world is like a giant jigsaw puzzle and we are the pieces to be joined together. Now since we are His creation, wouldn't it make sense for us to hear from our Maker on what we should do with our lives? Wouldn't life be a little easier when we have specific instructions along the way? Of course it would. One of the primary reasons that we should hear from God is for our purpose and our destiny. That is exactly why He sends His prophets into our lives to begin and to end seasons, and also to speak to our future. Then in the interim we have the logos word, which is the Bible. (And of course you know that the Bible is our Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth). There are also the gifts of the Spirit, mainly the gifts of utterance and the gifts of revelation. Saints, it would be foolish in these last days to deny and to quench the operation of the gifts of the Spirit. The Apostle Paul admonishes us in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 and the 1st verse to not be ignorant of spiritual gifts. We the church, are to be well aware of and in fact flowing in the gifts of the Spirit. In 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20 we are commanded to "Quench not the Spirit" and to "Despise not prophesyings." This life that we lead is a college course of our destiny, and our professor is God. He has given us our textbook that we should learn thoroughly. But the textbook <em>is</em> available to the general public. Because He is the author, He is the best teacher on the subject. And He has the strategies available to make the best use of His textbook.
Jeremiah 33:3 reads: Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. So we need to challenge ourselves into seeing what new insight He wants to give us about ourselves.
Prophecy Is Important To God
Prophecy
is very important to God and He wants us to be at a ready
state to receive and fulfill every prophetic utterance.
In Revelation 19:10 we are told that the testimony of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. In Ezekiel 37, we see a
good example of the prophetic word in action. God told
Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones, and when he did,
the bones joined together, then flesh covered the bones,
and then skin covered the flesh. The next thing you know
they became a great army of living beings. You must
realize that everything in this earth was born out of the
mind of God and was created by His words. That means
nothing will happen until God says it will
happen. Amos 3:7 reads: "Surely the Lord God will do
nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants
the prophets." That is the reason why He admonishes
us in 1 Thessalonians 5:20 to not despise prophecies.
When the Lord wants to do something in your life, He will
speak it whether to your spirit or through an individual
and then He will confirm it through another. Once that
Word is spoken by God, the spirit realm becomes aware.
And because the word in most cases is conditional, the
enemy will try to steal, kill or destroy that word that
has been sown into your heart. After receiving the word
from the prophet, you can expect all hell to break loose
against you, to prevent you from walking in that
revelation. But that is where God is developing your
character. Because He said to count it all joy when you
fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of
your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her
perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting
nothing.
So if you are tired of living the way you are living -- you need a word from God. If your Christian walk has become stagnant -- you need a word from God. If you want to have good success in this life -- you need a word from God.
The Believer's Insurance Policy
The prophetic word is the believer's insurance policy against mediocrity. Once again, the prophetic word is the believer's insurance policy against mediocrity. It guarantees you a future, an expected end. Hebrews chapter 11 & verse 1 states that "now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."Unless God gives us a road map directing us in the things that we should hope for, we would all become shipwrecked. Because if we walk by sight, we would not desire the things that are truly edifying to us, and which would benefit us in fulfilling God\'s plans on earth. So the prophetic word is the means by which God gives us to focus our hope, which in turn directs our faith. Now we know that when we walk by faith, we have to enter into battle to bring the word that was spoken into fruition. The prophetic word is a very powerful weapon against the forces of darkness. 1st Timothy 1:18 reads; "this charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare." How do we war with the prophetic word? By confessing it every chance you get. All you are doing is repeating what God has already said is going to happen. You have to let the enemy of your soul know that you remember above all that the word of the Lord takes preeminence over everything. Sometimes the enemy of your soul is your very own soul. So you have to repeat it for your own benefit, because usually you cannot see how the Word is going to come to pass. That's how you know it's God.
Today, let's walk in boldness, believing those things in which the Lord has spoken concerning us. Numbers 23:19: "God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"
Attitude Is Everything
The biggest factor in having the prophetic word come to pass in your life is having the right attitude. There is a common saying that states "your attitude determines your altitude." Believe it or not, that saying is a good capsulation of the Christian walk. As you commit your life to following God, He in turns speaks words into your life to create your success and as you keep the proper attitude, the words spoken come to pass and you ascend to higher levels of understanding. Which in turn brings you into closeness with God and as a result the blessings of God overtake you.
I want to quickly go over the four components to having a right attitude. The first component is faith. Faith is like the engine that drives the right attitude. It is the only way the word of God can help you. Hebrews 4:2 reads: "For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."
The second component of a right attitude is obedience. James 1:22 tells us that you are deceiving your own self, if you just hear the word and not take the action that is required. Unfortunately, there are a number of Christians who never realize their potential because of downright rebellion to the word of God.
The third component of a right attitude is patience. Hebrews 6:12 commands us "not to be slothful, but that we should follow those who through faith and PATIENCE inherit the promises." And if that's not enough, in the 15th verse we see that Abraham received the promise after he patiently endured.
The fourth component of a right attitude is humility, and along with humility: meekness and submission. You cannot hold onto pride and self-importance if you desire to advance anywhere in the kingdom of God. In 2 Kings chapter 5, we see that Naaman although he sought out Elisha to be healed of leprosy, it was his pride that almost prevented his healing from happening.
So today
let us do what we are commanded in 1 Thessalonians 5:21:
"Prove all things; hold fast to that which is
good."