All personal prophecy is conditional and requires faith and a character response. Prophecy does not have to express those ideals in the context. They are explicit enough already in our approach to Scripture. We base the pattern of our lives on the revealed word of God in the scriptures. We base the direction of our lives on the preceding word of the Lord as the Holy Spirit proclaims it.
Keeping the revealed word of scripture is a major element of our prophetic teaching. If we cannot obey scripture, it will be even harder to see prophecy fulfilled in our lives. We must remain diligent in our partnership with the Lord. All prophecy has a moral imperative. Obedience to righteousness is implicit in all that God’s speaks and commands in our lives.
When prophecy is spoken over us, we must take the opportunity to examine ourselves. Is there anything in our life that would prevent this word coming to pass? What needs to change in us as we pursue our response to the now word of God? We cannot just sit around waiting for the prophecy to fulfill itself. Prophecy comes to completion through partnership. God has invaded our time-space world with an invitation to move further into our future destiny.
What skills, attributes and giftings must be acquired in us in order that we may see that particular destiny unfold? What character defects must come under renewed grace so that obedience may achieve its just reward?
Personal prophecy declares the possibility, not the inevitability of fulfillment. We will probably need to make some new adjustments in our lifestyle and approach to God because of the prophetic word spoken over us.
I absolutely love the excitement that is created by the prophetic gift. I love the entrance of a personal word from God into someone’s life and the internal rise of faith and enthusiasm. However, after the high point of the revelation, God often plunges us into a place of confrontation. We are faced with our deficiency. These are the irregularities in our life that will, if they are not dealt with, become the biggest opposition to our forward momentum.
On the journey from revelation to manifestation, prophecy spoken to prophecy fulfilled; the Lord confronts us with the things in our lives that presently just do not work. He points out the area of change that he will require. This confrontation is designed to produce a transformation as we respond.
The Holy Spirit does not torment us with things; However, he does convict us for good. When he highlights a deficiency, he also points to Christ’s sufficiency. Whatever he spotlights, he has a plan for its change. Firstly, God wants to confront us with who he is for us regarding this situation. Secondly, his grace, his empowering presence begins to work in us to enable our faith to move in the right direction. Thirdly, he invites us into partnership with him so that we can experience fresh momentum in our relationship. Finally, it is important to understand and experience that confrontation is intended to bring us into a place of renewal and refreshing.
It is immature and foolish to become despondent when the Lord is dealing with us. He is good and his goodness has extended to cover a part of our life that we probably do not like or want anyway! We get through this sequence of events by focusing on what he is giving to us, not what we are giving up.
Love the learning. As we go after renewal in our thinking, so we upgrade our thanksgiving. Be refreshed. The plans he has for us are for our welfare, not for our climate, to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29: 11).
God’s grace is amazing and abundant. When he points out our deficiency, he is pointing out his sufficiency by declaring to us the diametrical opposite. He always moves in the opposite Spirit to our flesh. When we are not being generous, he shows us his generosity. If we lack compassion, he shows us his compassionate nature.
When he shows us something we do not like about ourselves, he also shows us something wonderful about himself, that we can love and desire. When we see that incredible part of God’s nature, it provokes us to give up the thing we do not like. The Holy Spirit, in effect, displaces the bad with the good.
In God’s economy a moral imperative means that when he confronts us with our weakness, he is wonderfully obligated in his righteousness to show us his strength that is made available to us in Christ. He is righteous because he can only do what is right.
When we understand what the father is really like, it seriously affects our capacity to prophecy into people’s lives. Our experience of the nature of God is what we impart into the lives of another through the prophetic word.
People who have no current experience of grace, mercy, kindness, or the love of God will not be able to convey the heart of the father when it matters most. They should keep silent for a season and explore their personal relationship with God to take it into a new place of compassion and mercy.
All prophetic people have a moral imperative to speak out of the fullness of God’s heart. A prophet must be good news, even if that news is repent! A call to repentance is to invite people into a deeper experience of the gospel. It cannot just be a command to stop doing something negative or hurtful. It is a call to return to first love. It is an announcement of glad tidings of great joy. It is designed to arouse people to receive a fresh encounter and experience of the living God.
How we speak to people prophetically must line their hearts up with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The good news is that transformation is available, accessible and attainable.