Why does God give us prophetic words that can be so far into the future, we often feel that we cannot connect with them now? He loves us to have a horizon in our lives; Something to aim for and head towards in our relationship with him.
Jeremiah 29: 11-for I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not your calamity, to give you a future and a hope. These plans will connect us with our destiny, identity, and calling.
The principle of a future directive word is: the father puts words into our long term future because he wants us to explore them in the Spirit and bring them into our present relationship with him.
There are two ways that we walk in the natural. Firstly, we look at the ground around our feet so that we do not stumble or step onto something bad. Secondly, we look ahead at where we are going. Our view of our horizon may be limited, but we look for landmarks to guide us.
What is true in the natural is also true in the Spirit. We look at where we are now in our fellowship with the father, and we look to where he is taking us in our relationship. It is normal for us to have two perspectives on life; we Live Today and plan for the future.
People who pay conscious attention to the interaction between the present and future usually lead successful, productive lives. Those who live only for the moment seldom fulfill their potential and usually live with regret that they have not accomplished anything.
Present/future is also a way of thinking. It is a mentality that all fruitful people develop. We always make decisions now with the future in mind. We do not want to just move from crisis to crisis. We do not want our future to be a hostage of decisions we make in the present.
This is why meditation and reflection are so vital for us in life. The capacity to pause and calmly think about things (selah) is an important part of our fellowship with the Holy Spirit, who is a genius at doing life!
If we really want to be transformed in our, then we must be renewed in how we think (Romans 12: 2). As a man thinketh in his heart so is he (Proverbs 23;7).
What we think about God is the most important thing in our life. Too many Christians are trying to have faith without being settled in their hearts about who God is for them and what he is really like in himself. They have little chance of becoming men or women after God’s heart because their own hearts are not fixed. When our hearts are unsure, our heads are double minded.
Our testimony is always concerned not just with what Jesus has done (that is our history), but primarily with who he is for us now. What are we discovering presently about God’s nature? What are we exploring about our future in him? Our present fellowship provokes future assurances about our walk with him. He who has begun a good work in us will perfect it in Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6). Paul drew lots of confidence from his present/ future way of relating to the Lord.
If what we think about God is most vital, then surely what he thinks about us is just as important. The father’s loving disposition towards us is essential to our well-being, both in the natural and in the Spirit. This revelatory knowledge when combined with actual physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual encounters and experiences of God’s nature becomes to us the very evidence of the Incarnate gospel. We are living proof of the good news!
Our thinking needs adjusting on two levels. Firstly, regarding our ongoing thoughts, ideas and reasonings about ourselves. Are innermost, heartfelt, emotional perceptions of ourselves must fit the way that God knows us and sees us in Christ.
Secondly, it is essential that we come to the place of understanding, agreeing with, and consciously aligning ourselves with God’s view of us both in the present and with the future in mind. It is much more than an agreed perception; It’s the basis of an upgraded relationship!
We see this, most particularly in God’s fellowship in relationship with Abraham. In Genesis 18: 17-19, we see the Lord visiting Abraham and Sarah. He tells them that they will have a son by this time next year and Sarah has laughs inside the tent. As the Lord is leaving, he makes his statement about Abraham to the two angels who are traveling with him: shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great mighty nation, and in him shall all the nations of the earth shall be blessed?
Firstly, shall I hide really means I choose to include Abraham. I will reveal something to Abraham. I will hear his thoughts. God is taking Abraham into his confidence. This represents an upgrade in their relationship.
Secondly, the most powerful word in this statement is the word sense. God begins a dialogue, which obviously originated in heaven concerning Abraham and his destiny. I will include Abraham in what I am doing next since (for this reason) that Abraham will become a great and mighty nation.
It was a done deal in the heart of the Lord. He wanted to connect Abraham’s present with his future. The Lord is going to include Abraham in what he is doing now because of what he sees Abraham will become in the future. The Lord lives in the gap between our present and our future, relating to us easily in both contexts. Jesus who ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7: 25), stands in the gap between our present identity and our future destiny.
God speaks to us prophetically about our future and then relates to us in the present through our destiny. God begins to develop us from the place of our future towards where we are in the present. We partner with the Holy Spirit by cooperating in the present with our future in mind. In this way between our fellowship/relationship we always connect with our present/ future.
All success is backwards. When developing a business, we start with the launch date in mind and then work backwards to the present to determine a pathway of development. It is called a critical path analysis that allows us to work out everything that must be accomplished in the order of sequence to ensure a timely launch of our product and resources.
When the Lord speaks prophetically, he has a date of fulfillment in mind. After the release of the Word, he begins to work in our hearts and lives to ensure that the prophetic word comes to pass. When we fail to respond to that process of change and development, then the timing of fulfillment is delayed. Continually not responding may postpone fulfillment indefinitely and could lead to a cancellation.
He works from the future he has declared towards the present that we occupy. What attributes and character traits must I develop in line with the person that he perceives me to become? All discipleship is undertaken with the future in mind, not just the present. God begins with fullness in mind and takes us back to our present lack of resources to teach us about faith and provision.
If God has spoken prophetically about us, then we are not living in the present with no concept of our future. We have a God who knows our future and tells us how to align ourselves with him to create a pathway from now to then and there.
Jesus loves to say an hour is coming(future) and now is (present)(John 4: 23; 5: 25; 16: 32). The seeds of that hour to come are in the present with us now! The fruit of the future time will be realized if we nurture the seed that is currently present. God sees the end from the beginning and is always in both places at once. Which is precisely the reason why we can always know rest and peace.
He plans our journey by his own desire to be present with us! He is so trustworthy in this regard.
Deuteronomy 1:30-The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight on your behalf, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place. But for all this, you did not trust the Lord your God, who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, and fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.
He goes before us. He carries us through the difficult times. He seeks out a place for us to inhabit and he shows us the way. He is fully present-future with his people. Prophecy connects our present with our future. He speaks to us from our future and works to develop us today so that we can become aligned with our truest identity as he perceives it. We then have the pleasure of cooperating and moving towards the future with the Holy Spirit.
Prophecy begins a process, a series of steps that will take us to our destiny. It is vital that we align ourselves with the process, rather than just the destiny. Many people want the outcome but not the journey of transformation. The process is concerned with establishing our identity. The outcome is focused on achieving destiny. No identity, no destiny! There is no future without process. It is the process that makes us rich.
Because he sees our potential for destiny and then speaks it to us, God begins to deal with us from the viewpoint of destiny perceived rather than destiny pronounced. Personal prophecy relates more to the possibility rather than the inevitability of fulfillment, all personal prophecy is conditional upon response and obedience.
The purpose of development time is to enable us to work with the Holy Spirit so that our prophetic future can become a present reality. Our prophetic word describes our next piece of territory, whether it is relational, personal, or ministerial. We must go there, explore it, and bring into the present the attitude and persona required to respond, take ground, and inherit the promise.
Israel had received prophetic promises regarding Canaan. They sent out a group of men (the best warrior in each tribe) to explore the territory and bring back a report (Numbers 13-14). Only Joshua and Caleb had a right attitude towards what God had promised. They looked at Cannan in the light of God’s nature and his prophetic promise. They saw nothing in the land that would prevent them from inheriting it. They realized all along that the fulfillment of prophecy depends upon alignment with God, not our own capacity to perform.
Numbers 14: 5-Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. Joshua the son of none and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes ; and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, the land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us-a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord; And do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.
Alignment is only about pleasing the Lord. Development is about becoming the people that God perceived, turning potential into something actual. At the very least, do not rebel against God, and do not fear the opposition. Process is about experiencing the effect of God’s favor. They will be our prey. Their protection is removed. God is with us! Process is about developing confidence in God’s name, nature, and intentionality.
Joshua and Caleb explored the territory that God promised. They brought back courage, confidence, and faith. They became stakeholders in their own future. All success is backwards. We must agree with the end result before we start. When God shows us the person that he sees when he looks at us, we must take hold of that in our heart. Create a link between the person we are now and the one described in the prophecy.
When Moses was sent to Egypt to speak to Pharaoh and demand the release of Israel, understandably he had some misgivings about himself (exodus chapters 4-6). He had many excuses and fears that caused his sense of inadequacy to be most tangible. The only antidote to our lack of vision is the one that God is seeing when he looks at us!
Exodus 7: 1 See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother, Aaron, shall be your prophet. God sets markers down on our horizon. To fulfill that word we must develop a greater spiritual dimension in and around ourselves, particularly so that we can encounter and experience faith, favor, intimacy, and authority.
If Moses does not see himself the way that God did, there is no possibility of him traveling to Egypt. If he does not agree and align himself with God’s view of him, then he cannot generate enough faith to overcome his own fear. If he does not take on the characteristics of faith, power, and authority, he cannot stand before Pharaoh. He must become the deliverer in his heart before he steps into Egypt. This is a spiritual principle, not just a prophetic precept.
Philippians 3: 12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I was also laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press towards the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; And if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.
We are either enjoying our possession or actively pressing in to take it. The language here makes a powerful statement of intent. I press on, in order to take hold. Real believers will always believe! They are honest, and they have a plan. I am not there yet, but my strategy is to forget the past and reach out for my future. There is a pattern of behavior in faith that enables us to reach our destiny more quickly. It involves being present future and not present past in our outlook on life.
God speaks from the place of your future completion into the place of your present fullness. Take it on board. We can live from the past into our present and be undone by prior circumstances, or we can live from the future into our present and be edified by God’s view of our real identity. But we cannot do both without destroying our momentum.
Our destiny does not come to meet us; We reach out for it and press towards it. We attract it to us by how we live our faith. We are learning to be as intentional about our future as the Lord is about our life in Christ in the present.
Prophecy promotes who we are in the Spirit. We learn confidence in that identity and God’s intent. We developed a mindset, character and attributes that are in line with God’s frame of reference. That mindset includes all the possibilities of ongoing victory. Whatever is going to oppose us on this level is smaller than God’s perception of us.
Philippians 4: 13 we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. This is a mindset! A mindset dominates our personality so that we become that spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. The viewpoint of God towards us will release favor as we partner with him, rise up, and take possession of our identity and destiny. Own it. Wear it. Become involved with it!
Our favor attracts faith. We will need an upgraded provision of this new level of identity. This will be contested by the enemy who must surely be worried about a present-future disposition. He controls us when we live present- past, but has no authority when we press into the prophetic. We need a mindset that can receive under pressure. Significantly, our future self has never known defeat. Prophecy is history spoken and written in advance. In our mindset we must develop our identity from the place of advancement (future) and bring it into the present.
The crucial questions are:
1- what is the difference between where we are now and where we need to go?
2- what must change in our relationship with God and how we connect with him in this new season of his will for us?
3-what must change in our personality as we pursue this mindset?
We have been present- past in our life for far too long. It is time to forget what lies behind and reach out to what is before us. If we are to really become significant people, we must live a prophetic lifestyle. We are present- future in Christ.