08/28/2009
Today one of our greatest achievements lies in bringing out the truth that everyone can prophesy. On the other hand, some of the methodology employed behind to bring that about has led to some devastating consequences in the body of Christ. Creating an awareness of a truth and encouraging people to walk in it, does not necessarily guarantee that they will properly.
Many have been made aware and encouraged to prophesy but on the other hand with no proper guidelines or fundamentals to access that realm, some have run wild creating a lot of mess.
It’s important we look into this and learn from our mistakes, so that we get back on the right path. In this article we will focus on the errors in the methodology employed to get people to walk in the prophetic. In that process we will also explore the solutions to it.
The overemphasis on certain truths at the expense of others.
When a baseball coach teaches a novice the art of hitting the ball, if all he focuses on is building a positive mentality and swinging the bat, the student would develop to be a very poor hitter. In order for the pupil to succeed, he has to be taught to hold the bat properly, stand balanced, how to swing, the need to watch/follow the ball and so on and so forth.
Only when he starts doing well in all these areas he will succeed in becoming a good baseball hitter.
Today, most of the emphasis in the prophetic has been on having a positive mentality and stepping out in faith. We need to walk in those truths; however they’ve become the main focus taking the place of other major fundamentals.
This parallel is similar to swinging the bat blindly and hoping to hit the ball. That’s why we have so many misses and have stroked out a lot of times.
Prophesying is not just based on knowing a few promises that it is for everyone and stepping out in faith. Prophecy is an outflow of a person’s relationship with the Lord. It has to come out of a life led by the Spirit. It needs to flow from a clean vessel .It is the testimony of Jesus Christ intended to bring Him honor and glory.
When we teach people to prophesy, keeping these fundamentals in perspective, we will do well.
Further we will look into each of these fundamentals in detail and how to apply them when we teach people to prophesy.
1) Prophecy- an outflow of one’s relationship with the Lord.
If a person cannot hear or discern God’s voice, then he needs to focus on his relationship with the Lord. Not being able to hear God’s voice usually has its roots in a lack of a real or broken relationship with the Lord.
In a general setting where prophesy is encouraged, the focus should be first and primarily on ones relationship with the Lord, building a solid foundation to discern the Lord’s voice. This should be the main intent, before bringing out the necessity to prophesy.
One of the major things to improve today is that we have blindly encouraged people to step out and prophesy, ignoring the basic fundamental of ones walk with the Lord. This has led to those who don’t have a proper relationship with the Lord to step out and prophesy. While our intentions may have been good since there has been no proper platform for accountability in such cases, when they error in their prophecies, it goes by unadressed.
In such a scenario, people deceive themselves, as they presume/think to have heard God’s voice. As a result, they do not see the great necessity of setting right their relationship with God.
Many today are not operating by the Spirit of the Lord but rather according to their own thoughts. Quite a few have learnt to discern by their human spirit, which is nothing more than mind reading.
Discernment can be exercised by the human spirit but it needs to be always done under subjection to the Holy Spirit.
For when the Spirit of the Lord is not in control of a discernment exercised, the consequences as a result can be very misleading. An example would help understand this thought better.
Some time back, I had taken a coworker to a certain meeting. He was addicted to pornography and masturbation. He had been deceived into thinking that no matter what he does; God still loves him, concluding that there will be no consequences for his actions. So, rather than dealing with the problem, he was further encouraged to continue in it.
Now, in the meeting, a person prophesied over the coworker saying that “no matter what he has done God still loves him”. The word that was given was accurate to the detail, but since the person giving the word did not have communion with the Spirit at that time, he didn’t put those words in perspective and address the deception. Instead, he simply read his mind, furthering the deception. The individual became even more convinced that he was on the right track after he received the prophecy.
Before even wanting to prophesy, people must cultivate their relationship with the Lord. They must learn to discern His voice in private. Public settings are not the places for them to hear God, if they haven’t heard His voice in private.
