Dec 27th 2008
In this article we will look into an important marker that will help us to judge prophecy.
The witness of the Holy Spirit.
Whenever a prophecy is uttered, the question that needs to be asked is does our spirit bear witness with it? God’s witness in our spirit is perceived mainly in two different ways. It is by the peace of God that passeth all understanding or by a definite inward assurance.
The peace of God is supernatural and is not dependent on external circumstances. (Philippians 4:7-And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus). It is this peace Jesus had before He went to the cross and therefore was able to say, “My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27) during is our of greatest trial.
It is the same peace the Christians experienced when they were tortured many different ways during the early church times. Today, we seem to have only a natural perception of peace. We seem to have peace when circumstances favor us, when they don’t we are troubled. Not that it is wrong in itself but we need to know the difference between God’s peace and our natural feelings.
God’s peace supersedes the natural. It protects our hearts and minds during difficult times. The Spirit uses it to forewarn us or to indicate the presence of evil or error.
The assurance of the Spirit in our own spirits can be also termed as the “knowing”. It bears witness to truth (Romans 8:16). You just know that you know that you know that it is from God or not from Him! This also helps us differentiate true from false.
So when someone is speaking a (prophetic) word, do we have the peace of God in our hearts or does our spirit bear witness to it? If our peace is disturbed or if the assurance that it is of God is not there then we can conclude that the word is not from God. However due to our human frailty that shouldn’t be the only basis from which we determine truth from error. There are also several other important characteristics that will help us in our discernment!
We will dwell on those in the later articles. For now we will look into rediscovering this basic and most important aspect of God speaking to us (through our peace and the inner assurance).
1) Surrender an important key to walking in God’s peace.
We looked at this aspect in the last article from a different perspective, which is, our hearts need to be right before God. In this context, if we are yielded to God then we can walk in the peace of God regardless of the circumstances. When we are not yielded in a particular area and situations turn contrary to our expectations in that area then we will experience doubt and turmoil. Jesus experienced great turmoil at the garden but once he had yielded His will to God’s He was strengthened and had God’s peace
2) Obedience brings God’s peace.
Romans 8:6 – For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. In the context of the passage, it is talking about a life walked in obedience to God’s Spirit!
If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river. Isaiah 48:18
Romans 16: 19,20 -For your obedience reached to all… But I desire you to be truly wise as to good, but simple toward evil.
And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
We see from these verses that as we discover the Spirit’s mind and start walking in obedience to His will, God’s peace will be with us. If we walk in disobedience in our lives then we will not have the peace of God with us.
3) Sin hardens our heart and conscience.
Today, if we have lost the inward witness of the Spirit in our lives, it could be because we have continued in sin regardless of the Spirit’s promptings. The more we ignore the Spirit the duller we become to His voice, in this case His voice as our inner witness.
4) Lets get rid of the itch in our ears.
2 Timothy 4:3,4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers ,having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth.
The verses here show that our lusts if left unchecked will corrupt the way we hear God. When that becomes the case there comes a time what we perceive to be God is actually not Him and what we think is not of God is actually from Him.
Brethren let us repent and ask God to make us lovers of truth. Let us ask God to renew our spirits, soften our hearts and remove the veils in our conscience. Brethren lets get back to the basics and start living a life pleasing to God and then we will start to differentiate truth from error. Then we will walk in the peace of God and the anointing we have from Him will testify to the truth.
Finally, Philippians 4:5 to 7 tells us how we can through prayer [ thanksgiving, praise and petitioning] attain God’s peace. However surrender and yielding comes first.
Basics on judging prophecy -Part 4
