Most prophecy is unpredictable. No one knows when a prophetic word is going to arrive in their life. When it does arrive, change will become a fact of life.
Prophecy is God’s intention made clear. His vowed intent in scripture is to make us in his own image. Prophecy works directly in alignment with that focus. It provides us with a specific opportunity for an upgrade. I’ve never known a personal prophecy that does not involve change. When prophecy comes into our lives and we remain unchanged, then that word has no possibility of fulfillment.
Prophecy is designed to shake our world. To disturb our status quo; It is unsettling in the best possible way. Who really wants to stay the same? No true lover of God wants business as usual. We all want to become more! Prophecy moves us out of our safety and comfort zone. It provokes people. It gets us out of any spiritual rut that is holding us back. The very nature, especially of directional prophecy, is to get something moving that was motionless.
Change is necessary. Transformation is vital. Prophecy is essential to that end. Even prophecy that edifies, exhorts and comforts (1 Corinthians 14: 3) will challenge us in our relationship with God. Inspirational prophecy embraces our understanding of who God is for us. That elevates his intentionality so that we are in no doubt about what his purpose is for us at this time.
Everything that is negative or contrary to our development will begin to be agitated by the prophetic word. All prophets hate complacency, whether it is the self-satisfied attitude of the Pharisee (Luke 18: 10-12), or the foolishness of people who are unconcerned about their spiritual state and are therefore unprepared when something momentous occurs (Matthew 25: 1-11).
Contentment with godliness is relational. It demonstrates that we are upgrading and improving our communication with the father. It means that we are happy where we are with him at the present but still want more of who he is imparted to us. We are exploring our future relationship while we are enjoying our current fellowship.
Contentment outside of that context may lead us into complacency. Prophecy is to stir people up into a new place of desire, to agitate for an upgrade. Prophecy shakes us up into something better.
Prophecy increases vision. Initially the entrance of vision sparks liberation. It breaks us out of the safe, narrow confines in which we see ourselves. It gives us a new horizon, lifts our viewpoint, and brings us into a much broader place in the Lord. We are free and our newborn liberty vastly improves our sense of well-being.
After the first euphoric rush of freedom, we begin to count the cost. For us to accomplish what liberation offers, certain choices have to be made. An athlete called up to the Olympic team must now make decisions about lifestyle, health and fitness that are in line with a vision to win the gold.
Vision releases freedom but also brings restraint. There is no liberty without restraint. If I want to stay out of prison, my liberty depends upon restraining any criminal tendency to do something illegal. We must order our lives in a certain way.
We all must choose to live in a way that is aligned with God’s purpose and permission. To generate accomplishments in some areas, I will have to restrict my involvement in areas that are doubtful or unhelpful.
When we are first called into the prophetic, we are elated but after the call comes the training. Hopefully we will have mentors who will council us to count the cost. Eventually we begin to realize the height of the calling of God upon us. With that understanding comes the comprehension that life, as we have known it, is over.
This may cause us to be shocked. It seems everything we’re doing is inappropriate to the vision we have received. Our whole world becomes shaken. We want to compromise a little bit here and there. Not much: just enough to have a life of our own.
When change comes into our life it’s a period of unsettling and shaking.
God’s high calling cannot be matched by our low commitment. We need to begin the process of change. We only have one life, and this is not a dress rehearsal. We are on stage now and the curtain is up. Practice is not separate from life in spiritual terms.
We begin to flow with different people, so our relationships change. When we start out, we have to finance our own development, so how we use our income changes. We need to learn the ways of faith so being around people more familiar with doubt than trust is no longer an option. Our study habits and subject’s change. Our conversations and whom we converse with change.
We count the cost initially, but we seldom get an accurate figure in the beginning. We pay the price in installments, which makes it bearable. We receive grace upon grace. Measure poured out into fullness. Every time we pay the next portion, we receive the next measure of God’s allowance. It is more than enough. We are growing up in all things into Christ.
When directional prophecy comes, change will not be far behind. That change will be both liberating and restrictive, hence the shaking and unsettling we experience. Ironically, it is when we are shaken to our very core that we first discover the hunger to overturn everything contrary to the life God has predestined for us.
Shaking provokes a response towards God. It promotes a determination to lay aside every weight and pursue the life that God has promised.