I want to talk about a tricky subject, prophecy, 1 Corinthians 14:1,3) “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy.(3) But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.”
The hard thing with this is the reputation that some have given it. This is truly the churches lifeline, it is not for unbelievers, it is for us, to lead us, guide us, protect us and sometimes warn us.
I really can’t say much for fear of the Lord, but this is really for anyone who maybe hasn’t been “churched”.
When I got saved it was like “falling off a turnip truck” I did not know anything. And now more than ever we have to be very careful what we listen to.
God never changes and prophesy has to conform to his word and his Spirit bears witness with the truth. It is imperative that you really, really know who is touching you and what their relationship is with God. How “slick” is this stuff going to be?
Matthew 24:24 “ For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that If it were possible they shall deceive the very elect.”
Now that is scary, A deception so great that if we weren’t protected from it, his very chosen would fall to it.
I want to give some of my lessons from the battlefield insight to this, years ago I was seeking and seeking and this was right before my calling was confirmed, at that time I only went to the church I was baptized in and this was a really good church and one night this guy shows up and for some unknown reason they turn him loose, and he ended up showing up for services after that, he never took his eyes off me and made feel so uncomfortable that I thought several times about leaving, he even gave me a card in case I ever wanted him to lay hands on me, and I was thinking Buddy, you are not touching me, anyway he told me some things as I was trying to leave and that night I had a dream, about him and another person and they were putting all this fruit in my arms and I started looking at it and it was all fake, it looked beautiful, but when you looked closely, it was not real fruit.
So being afraid because we cannot ever speak against anything of God, I called our late Pastors wife and she told me that if something makes you feel that way that it is the Spirit letting you know that something is not quite right.
So I stayed away from him and left it to God, one night I knew I was really close, they were praying for people and I kept waiting out hoping he’d leave or something because I knew I really needed prayer, I finally made it up there and this same guy was coming over to me and about that time one of our preachers was behind me touched the back of my head and one word it was over. I took it as God got to me before he did.
As it turned out NOONE knew this guy, and I have seen that in other churches and I’m always thinking, People you are turning them loose with your sheep, and I’ve seen churches tore apart.
After I started pondering all of this God let me find some examples of just how cautious we need to be.
Acts 16:16-19, tells us of a girl who had a spirit of divination and was used to make money by fortune telling, she followed Paul and Silas around proclaiming who they were. The striking thing with this is, what she was saying was TRUE, but Paul was GRIEVED IN HIS SPIRIT and he commanded the spirit to come out of her.
Another example is Numbers chapters 22-24:
More or less a sorcerer had been hired to curse Israel and God intervened and forced these curses to be turned to pronounced blessings. Something to be said about what’s being spoke and prayed over us.
Why would God not just laugh and say “Go ahead, it won’t work anyway”. No he reversed it and had good spoken.
I do want to be careful again to say we must never say anything against anyone of God, I think maybe sometimes things are not right in a persons life or they get too excited or pray based on what they know, I don’t know.
All I know is be obedient to the spirit, always trust him even when you don’t understand, and sometimes God does have a word for us that may not be exactly what our flesh wants to hear, but he will come to what is his.
Now I’ve said all this to say this, Just as the magicians in the book of Exodus could imitate the plagues to a point, I think he was just kind playing with them letting think they were accomplishing something, So when he put “the smack down” on them it just hurt their egos that much more.
We know false prophets are here but I believe He is getting ready to rock the world with his real prophets! Next time.
Nina BrownJohnson /Φλογίζω-Αλληλουια/ FOWC/02/16/2014
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