Jesus became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Therefore, the judgment of death came upon him, so that the fullness of his life might come upon us.
Romans 8: 31 what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Jesus Christ is he who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
God delivered Jesus up for all of us, and no one can bring a charge against us. As prophetic people, we must carry that same positive outlook towards others. We represent the essential nature of God, including the Galatians 5 fruit the Spirit. Being prophetic does not excuse us from being Christ like. It does not mean we live one way and talk another. We don’t get to live lovely in Christ but talk nasty in the spirit. Instead, we must display the character of God-loving, kind, gentle, patient, peaceful, joyful, good, and meek. Perhaps the hardest fruit for a prophetic person to show is self-control. Yet self-control is the only form of control that is acceptable in church life. This is the basis for all true maturity, purity, and integrity. People must take responsibility for how they speak in every circumstance. If the fruit of self-control is not visible in a person’s life, then it is hard to trust the character of the one speaking.
In the New Testament church, there is no place for judgment. When someone sins, they have an advocate with the Father through Jesus. We cannot bring charges against each other, because we are under grace.
1 John 2: 1 my little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
The prophetic ministry points to that advocacy. While there is a place for correction, discipline, and chastisement, judgment must be thrown out of the equation.
1 John 4: 7 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
A truly prophetic voice is very in tune with the heart of the Father. Our role in the earth is to proclaim his love, seeing people as God sees them-not how we see them in the natural. The prophets speak to the all sufficiency of Christ for people. We represent who God is in Word and deed.
We are not subject to judgment because God has already judged Jesus. We are in a prophetic season of grace. God judged Jesus on the cross and he will judge us when the books are opened at the end of this age. Between then and now, however, we live in a season of grace. There is no judgment now, only the chastisement and discipline that comes because we are maturing into full grown sons and daughters of God.
Every day, the Holy Spirit desires to bring us into cooperation with the father. He has a series of adjustments he wants to make in our lives because he loves us. Unfortunately, there are times when those adjustments go unnoticed; we ignore them, but they don’t go away. Many times, we just wait the will of God out rather than change.
Discipline that is not adhered to doesn’t go away; it accumulates. It grows to a point where God must chastise us. We can ignore discipline, but it will not ignore us. Eventually, it reaches the level where God has to practically beat or scourge us because he loves us so much rather than allowing us to remain in our sin.
When a handyman lays a floor, he knows that the first row of tiles is the most important. If those are off even slightly, the floor well look worse and worse as he continues to build it. Eventually, it must be completely redone. By ignoring God’s call to realign that first row of tiles, we end up having to have our entire life pulled up and relayed. Sensible Christians know this and keep a short account with God. They constantly repent for their sin and open themselves to his subtle touch. Hundreds of small adjustments are better than six really big changes. Being taken behind the woodshed by God isn’t ever fun. Discipline and chastisement are a part of our spiritual journey because they show that God loves us, that he wants us to change, and that there is no judgment for us in this season. So-called prophecies that are centered on sin, judgment and death tell us nothing about the nature of God but may reveal everything about the person prophesying! It is a significant witness to their lack of intimate relationship with God. It witnesses to their inability to live, move, and speak out of the fruit of the Holy Spirit( Galatians 5: 22-26). It demonstrates the poor quality of their love and attitudes towards people.
In the New Testament judgment becomes a sober assessment of what is right and wrong. Judgment does not always imply condemnation in the Bible. When used in relation to scriptures it constantly refers to the evaluation of a believer’s work in the context of them gaining reward from the father 1 Corinthians 3: 10-15.
God is not looking for opportunities to destroy or judge people but to reveal his own nature to the earth. He is merciful. He is kind. He is good. It is the goodness and kindness of God that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrew 7: 25). The whole world now belongs to the father because the spirit of redemption has been released through the cross. We are now God’s prime ambassadors of reconciliation.
We are his visual aid to the earth to demonstrate the Kingdom of heaven and to reveal the name and nature of God to a sin sick and hurting world.
There is a rising tide of evil in the earth and there is no rising tide of goodness to combat it. We overcome evil with good (Romans 12: 21). What if the problems in the world are not lawlessness and crime; Not poverty and sickness; Not greed and selfishness; Not drugs or terrorism; Not abortion or immorality? What if the biggest problem in the earth is simply the lack of goodness that leads to repentance?
The ambassadors of Christ are spewing out judgment in the name of righteous indignation and the world is going to hell because we have misunderstood the glory of God.
When Moses asked to see the glory of God, the father showed him his goodness while proclaiming his compassion. The world is wanting to know what God is like. Jesus came to put a face on God, the church is present to put a face on Christ. He who has seen me, has seen the father.
Millions of people are caught up in bondage. Many, many millions more are victims of evil and are living with no perception of the majesty of God’s goodness. The sex slave trade is greater now than at any other time in history. Child abuse is at an all-time high. Poverty has never been bigger in the history of man. There are still wars being fought. Where is the goodness of God? Where is the church? Why are the people of God consumed by judgment and negativity when they should be leading lives overwhelmed by the goodness and the kindness of God.
The good news must become the good news in our lives. The church is an agent of freedom. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Not just our own freedom, but that of every living soul. We are caught up in a war between darkness and light. We’re not fighting people, but dark forces arrayed against us that persist in their intention to enslave all God’s creation. Let us preach the gospel of reconciliation and the goodness of God to all men everywhere, whilst at the same time taking authority in the name of Jesus over principalities and powers and interceding for the victims living in bondage.
Christians must live and operate within the nature of God. We must demonstrate the fruit of the spirit. We cannot function outside of his loving kindness and mercy. Indeed, when James and John asked for the fire of judgment, Jesus rebuked them gently: you do not know what kind of spirit you are! ( Luke 9 : 54-55).
There is a difference between a judgmental spirit and the Spirit of God, as seen in the face of Christ the Redeemer. We live in an age of redemption, so we must live in the Spirit. The old and the new testament anointings particularly with regard to the prophetic are manifestly different.
How do we maximize grace and mercy without reducing all forms of sin to a misdemeanor? There are some horrendous sins being committed across the earth that clearly cannot be ignored. The church must understand her role in the earth. Firstly, to act as ambassadors of grace and mercy through reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5: 18-19). Secondly, to expose sin and to release people from bondage. Mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13). Unless mercy triumphs in the heart of each individual believer they will never know the fullness of God’s presence.
The nature of God comes to our perception, or it remains veiled because of our lack of compassion. When Jesus asked the question: who do people say that I am (Matthew 16: 13) he was wanting to know about people’s perception. From people’s perception of us we can gauge how we are going to be received. The father builds the church on the right perception of him. We apprehend what we perceive whether that is good or bad.
If we perceive God to be harsh, demanding, and prone to judgmentalism, then our experience of him is not going to grow into any great place of relationship. How do you make friends with a tyrant? It is impossible because fear ruins the relationship. Fearful of making mistakes; or saying the wrong thing; Of doing a wrong act? Paranoia rules and peace is impossible.
However, if we perceive that the father has huge wells of compassion and mercy, which never run dry. If we know him as being one who is full of grace, rich in love and abounding in mercy. If he is slow to anger and incredibly longsuffering towards us. If he is joyfully happy always having a sunny disposition. If his very cheerfulness can overcome the world. If he is scandalously forgiving and generous. If he is the very personification of goodness; So much so that we can only be transformed when we link our repentance with his goodness and kindness. If these things are true and form a large part of our practical and spiritual theology of life, then our whole personality is formed by such values.
Jesus was always accused of lavishing too much time on sinners (Matthew 9: 11-13) but he always had an answer for the religious people. God desires mercy and not judgement, he desires love and compassion in his people.
We are called to pray not to condemn. We are called as Jesus is to intercede for a depraved world. God takes care of his own wrath; he does not need our help. We have favor to request mercy (1Timothy 2: 1-2). The father wills that all people should be saved. So, we must declare the goodness and kindness of God so that repentance may come Romans 2:4).
Jeremiah knew the goodness of God and he also understood his prophetic role in a country where the one, true, God was not worshipped. It is to seek the good of the place where God has sent you and to pray on behalf of its inhabitants. Blessing comes to blessing (Jeremiah 29: 7).
Judgment comes to judgment (Matthew 7:1). We are told numerous times to pray for people not against them. We have the honor of praying in line with the Holy Spirit’s revelation of the father. Therefore, we can appeal favorably to his compassion and mercy which never fails(lamentations 3: 21-23) For they are daily renewable. The God who has always identified with sinners is unchanging in that respect. Read Isaiah 53 to understand the Christ like nature. Jesus always opposed the spirit of the pharisee by moving in the opposite spirit himself. We must choose between being Christ like and becoming a pharisee. Jesus numbered himself with sinners.
In our thinking we must focus on mercy and grace, or we will be mentally judging others. Jesus is with us, and he is for people. Pharisees defined themselves by what they are against, thus putting themselves on the wrong side of God.
Jesus’ appeal to the churches was to be merciful, just as your father is merciful (Luke 6: 36).
We are in a prophetic season of grace so, prophetically, let’s be gracious. It is God’s kindness and goodness that lead people to repentance, not our hammer of revelation. God’s love is impossible to resist. To communicate it properly, our hearts must be soaked in that love. We need to be completely overwhelmed by the grace of God.
Like any other secular group/organization, the church today contains people who are skilled at running off at the mouth. We criticize one another, saying nasty, sarcastic, and disrespectful things. We ignore God’s command that our ordinary speech be full of grace. We talk trash all week and then sing praises on Sunday. Such a lifestyle reveals immaturity and a lack of self-control.
We all have choices to demonstrate our allegiance either to Christ or ourselves. There will always be difficult, hardnosed people seeking to put their mental, emotional, and spiritual imprint upon our lives. How we move in the Spirit in those situations will tell us an awful lot about ourselves. What comes out of our mouth either glorifies the father or defiles our heart and ministry. When we are trapped in a situation where people are being nasty and negative, we can choose to be Christ like. If we don’t choose the path Jesus would have taken, I guarantee that such sin will show up and influence our ministry. That negativity will be reflected in the way we prophesy. Our everyday conversations must have the flavor of God in them.
Matthews 12: 34 for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. It is great to worship and have our hearts filled with the presence of God. But what fills our hearts when we’re in a negative situation; is it bitterness, sarcasm, or something cynical? It is in those moments that we can win only by exercising self-control. We must be better than we have been. We must become Christ like, for it is in those situations that are prophetic voice is established. It is so important that we develop a lifestyle of moving in the opposite spirit to what comes against us.
In tough situations, we must ask God what the need of that moment is. Do we need something? Does the other person need something? Instead of speaking out the first nasty comment that jumps to our minds, we must settle into the Spirit of God and speak a word of edification. If we can get into a lifestyle of gracious speaking in our everyday conversations, our prophetic ability will grow in leaps and bounds. The heartbeat of God’s will become clearer and clearer to us.
Colossians 3: 8- but now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. How could God be any more obvious than that verse? We must put those evil behaviors away and live a life of grace in word and deed. A prophetic voice cannot speak love and kindness one breath and hate and bitterness the next; a fountain cannot give off both sweet and salt water. Being prophetic takes a tough choice about our lifestyle of communication. What will we speak out? No one can say ungodly things in conversation and expect to prophesy at a meaningful level. God will not honor such hypocracy.
Our ordinary conversations show the Holy Spirit if we can be trusted with something remarkable. Romans 14: 19- therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which we may edify another.
James 3: 8- but no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brother, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can saltwater produce fresh.
If we do not tame our tongue, our gift will hit a brass ceiling and level off. Operating in the prophetic takes two things: we must trust God with everything, and he must bring us to the place where he can trust us. We can aspire to higher and deeper levels of the prophetic but the cost of that is controlling our everyday conversations.