Reader Beware…this blog talks about prophecy.
I have to admit that ever since I started to learn about
prophecy and prophets, I have been fascinated. At the beginning, I wondered how
the prophets like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, and many others really knew they
heard from God and I believed that prophecy was more for the Old Testament
times. Who really hears about legitimate prophets
today? Then, I read some verses in the New Testament that said, “It was he who
gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets…”
(Ephesians 4:11) and “in the church God has appointed…prophets” (1 Corinthians 12:28).
Wait, this can happen in the church today?
Immediately and maybe a bit over-zealously, I wanted the
gifting or calling to be a prophet, even as I still doubted that God would use
someone like me as a prophet. Well, folks, I’m here to say that God uses
everyone and anyone to be His voice. I am experiencing a nearness of God and
clarity of His voice that I have not experienced before. He is incredible and
the best part is that He gives me encouragement for people! I have yet to call
down fire from heaven, and while that would be cool to see, I am so delighted
to have the opportunity to begin to see people through God’s eyes. I am
starting to have His heart for my team members, the ministry contacts in each
country, the people groups we are visiting, and people who do not know Jesus as
their Savior and Friend.
I have to relate a story from one of our team’s house visits
in northern India.
When my team arrived at the house, we discovered that we were the majority of
the people in the house. Our audience consisted of the couple who owned the
house, their neighbor, and our rickshaw driver. We gave a testimony, performed
a skit, preached a short message, and then people started encouraging the
people who owned the house. As they spoke, God started speaking to me about our
rickshaw driver! I told my contact/translator that I had a word of
encouragement for the driver. Our contact warned me, “Non-believers don’t
really understand words of prophecy,” but I insisted that my words wouldn’t be
filled with Christianese (code words like prophecy, prophet…most of the words
I’m using in this blog. Email me if you need a translation. J)
So, my contact invited me to speak to the driver and I told him, “Your presence
in this meeting is not an accident. God has a purpose for your life and even
now, He is prompting your heart to want to hear about Him and to receive Him.
Do not turn away from this prompting. He loves you more than you can imagine
and longs for you to know Him as He knows you. You are God’s son.” (The ministry contact didn’t like that I
called him “God’s son” before he “accepted Christ,” but I’m not going to censor
God. Plus, it was a word of prophecy, because I believe he will become a
follower of Christ. That’s part of the reason God wanted to get his attention
in the first place!)
So, I just wanted to share my experience and how I am
learning not to limit God. Be encouraged that prophecy from the Lord is not a taboo
subject or some occult practice. Prophecy is calling out in others what you
hear from the Lord or what you see for that person in who God has made them to
be. The Lord has been teaching me that prophecy is not something to fear.
Instead, it is a way to give God’s love to those around me and speak His
purposes into their lives. On that note, happy prophesying!
