predicting what will happen in the future. In the context of Christianity, the word comes from the heart of God through Holy Spirit – not one’s natural mind.
But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak of His own authority. But He will speak whatever He hears, and He will tell you things that are to come. John 16:13 MEV (emphasis added) All receive Holy Spirit when accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Some will press in for more, and the Holy Spirit baptism Jesus said would come and told the disciples to wait for in the upper room of Jerusalem. This outpouring was prophesied in Joel 2:28 and causes sons and daughters to prophesy. See Ephesians 1:13-14, Acts 1:5, 2:4 & Joel 2:28. How does one know if what they have heard is coming from the Lord and it is not their own thoughts? For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it delays, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Habakkuk 2:3 MEV What we have seen or heard from Holy Spirit in our thoughts and confirmed in Scripture, will materialize. It will happen, regardless of how long it may take. Can people get it wrong? Yes. What sorrow awaits the false prophets who are following their own imaginations and have seen nothing at all. …these prophets of yours are like jackals digging in the ruins. They have done nothing to repair the breaks in the walls around the nation. They have not helped it to stand firm in battle on the day of the Lord. Instead they have told lies and made false predictions. They say, ‘This message is from the Lord’, even though the Lord never sent them. And yet they expect him to fulfill their prophecies! Can your visions be anything but false if you claim, ‘This message is from the Lord’, when I have not even spoken to you? Ezekiel 13:3-7 MEV Woah. Not only will a prophetic word materialize but it will also repair and help. But we can get caught up on the “people can get it wrong part”. If people can get it wrong, shouldn’t we as believers just stay away from prophecy all together? It’s too risky. There’s too much room for fallacy. Too much damage can be done. After all, isn’t salvation enough? A natural and rational mind might draw such a protective conclusion. However, the written Word of God (our ultimate reference point), and the supernatural walk we are called to disagrees. Follow after love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. But He who prophesies speaks to men for their edification and exhortation and comfort. 1 Corinthians 14:1, 3 We are to desire prophecy, not resist God’s gift. A true prophetic word from God will be similar to what was spoken of in Ezekiel, the gift repairs, helps, edifies, exhorts or encourages, and comforts the body. A divine word from Holy Spirit will also reveal the secrets of one’s heart, causing them to fall before God in worship, revealing, God is truly revealing through the one sharing the word. See 1 Corinthians 14:25. If the prophetic word does not evoke such a response, it merits being subjected to testing and reproof by others. Note, even the appointment of others will come from God, not just anyone and everyone has permission from God to share their two cents on the matter. The Spirit of God within all parties will bear witness, or confirm the will of God. Let’s summarize:
All of the examples provided in the introduction are certainly encouraging! A NEW thing! A GOLDEN year! FRESH bread, wine and oil! What we may often forget is that in order to enter into a new thing, an old thing must die. Death is uncomfortable, and can often produce sorrow, crying or pain. Who among us doesn’t understand how painful it can be to allow old mindsets, habits, behaviors and relationships to pass away while God transforms us? God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death. Neither shall there be any more sorrow nor crying nor pain, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:4 Sometimes we just see the glimmering gold, forgetting it must be tested in the fire, where tested equates to being examined or proved – to have one’s heart scrutinized. I will bring this one-third left into the fire, and will refine them as the refinement of silver, and will test them as the testing of gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, “They are My people”; and they will say, “The Lord is my God.” Zechariah 13:9 We often do not think of the process for making bread, wine and oil. Fresh bread involves threshing, or separation of, the grain from the chaff that is then ground to a fine consistency before baking. Fresh wine includes being picked from the vine, squashed, and a drawn out process of waiting for the conversion. Fresh oil encompasses, again, being picked from the tree, grinding or pressing the olive to then separate the oil from the water and solids. When a word comes from the Lord that seems contrary to words before it and not so encouraging, it may be easy to dismiss it or simply not believe it. Yet, when it comes to pass and events align with God’s prior revelation, we begin to see. We begin to see Holy Spirit really does prepare and guide us towards things to come. We begin to see He really will protect the apple of His eye, as His Word declares (also a prophetic word or promise of God). We begin to see, in Jesus, we really are valued and looked after as God’s people. As we begin to see His redemptive and protective hand at work in our lives, we become increasingly fortified, encouraged, and built up in Him. Our faith and trust in Him begins to abound even more. We begin to no longer fear the process He needs to take us through; WE KNOW He has our well-being in mind. When we know our well-being is attached to His GLORY filling the earth and others seeing and being amazed and placing their trust in Jesus, we can enter in with joy, confidence and peace to any situation or circumstance TRUSTING His word will come to pass. God is ALWAYS good and I trust He, through this word, has repaired, helped, edified, encouraged and comforted in what may feel like or even be a season of dying, testing, threshing, grinding, or pressing to get to the fresh outpouring of blessing He has previously promised. I pray this word came at just the right time in your life and love, trust, joy, confidence, and peace overflow in your life and the lives of those around you. Please let me know how I might be able to join you in prayer. Blessings!
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