As human beings, we are very linear in the way that we think. This is part of the natural mind that thinks in straight lines and fixed points. We want the shortest route between here and there. When we receive a prophetic word, we want the outcome above all else. This is a normal, human way of natural thinking.
God however, is a Spirit who lives on a different plane of perception. In our thinking, prophecy is mostly functional and therefore only about the end result. In God’s thinking a prophetic word is primary relational and mostly about the journey we undertake on the road to fulfillment.
Both ways of thinking are concerned about becoming what God intends. Our linear thinking will not reach the outcome because it cannot commit our heart to the process of how we should journey towards it. Our focus is destination. The goal of the Holy Spirit is transformation.
The Holy Spirit doesn’t think in straight lines or fixed points because he has so many things he wants to accomplish in our lives. He wants to walk along the trail with us for a while, not race to the next stop. God has work he wants to accomplish in us before releasing us into any fulfilled prophecy; the only way he can do that is spending time with us.
The father controls the pace that we walk with him. He will not allow us to ignore issues of integrity for the development of faith, intimacy and faithfulness.
When we are learning about faith and patience for example, our circumstances will slow down our forward progression for a season. We simply cannot learn patience through acceleration. It can only be learned by persistence. Our perseverance must also be joyful (Colossians 1: 11) otherwise we will not learn true endurance. Persistence cannot be properly achieved if we are downcast or despondent. Persistence is waiting on the Lord with joyful expectation. It’s not engaged with timing, but with presence. It is not linear in its objectivity.
When we are focused on Presence we will cooperate with God’s current assignment in our lives. Prophecy is relational because as we concentrate on becoming the people that God sees in the prophecy, then the outcome is drawn towards us.
If we receive a prophetic word that we’re going to become a warrior but currently we’re a wimp, some changes must occur. What is the difference between a warrior and a wimp? That is our journey of exploration and discovery. Prophecy takes us on a journey of transformation by guaranteeing us the outcome as we travel the road.
The Holy Spirit will bring us to a place where we can trust God for everything, and to where God can trust us with what he wants to give us.
Isaiah 30: 18-therefore the Lord will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore, he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are those who wait for him. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When he hears it, he will answer you. And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, this is the way, walk in it, whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.
God works cyclically and seasonally in our lives because of the things he wants to accomplish. When we begin to stray from his path, he speaks to us: this is the way, walk in it. He promises us that we will know where he wants to go. Our choice is to respond willingly to that guidance and choose to stay on the journey with him. Wisdom comes when we learn how God thinks and how he likes to work.
The Holy Spirit wants to give us a desire to press into our prophetic journey with God. All prophecy starts a process to take us from what we are now to who God wants us to be. On every step of that journey, we are supposed to discover who God wants to be for us. Isaiah understood the grace that God has for those people who choose to walk the path that he has outlined.
Cyclical thinking involves times and seasons. When the Lord commits a prophetic word to us, he also provides a time of change as part of his intention. Mostly these times of change need only last as long as it takes for us to make the upgrade.
If we are unresponsive, the season can become extended until we make the adjustment. Every response is tested so that it can be established. It is one thing to get free and another to stay free. The test is designed to establish freedom. If we fail to respond, our life goes on but turns in a cycle (hence cyclical) to present us with another opportunity. If we respond but do not pass the test, it too, will come around again. God is always faithful.
I have seen the lives of many, many people go through numerous cycles (some of which were repeats of cycles because of failure to adjust) and still not understand the ways of God in development. When you are in the cycle, enjoy it. Love the learning. Enjoy your discovery of Jesus. Enjoy losing things you did not want to keep concerning your sin habit or human nature. Enjoy the process of putting off the old and putting on the new. It is usually only painful if you resist it.
Do not think in straight lines and fixed points. Enjoy the season you are in with Jesus. Make sure that you get the most out of your transformation. If you are locked in a season where you have not changed, it is likely that the cycle can become a spiral. The only way out is to practice full on repentance. Humble yourself and be restored to learning and change.
The opportunity to repent is a gift that must not be ignored. With joy, draw water from the well of salvation-Isaiah 12: 3. Response is everything.
Cycles are about times and seasons-the necessary ebb and flow of life. There is the primary season where God cuts back our ministry to increase our intimacy and relationship. The planting season where prophetic promises opens us up to a new life and possibilities. The hiddeness season where nothing seems to be happening, but the seed is growing out of sight. The manifestation time where new growth suddenly appears, and life takes a different form.
When we adjust our thinking and timing to heaven’s routine, we are less likely to be caught out by life and events. Our perceptions can therefore be more in line with ultimate purpose.