In the last two articles, we saw several areas where we need to progress or change is needed. We will list them briefly and then look into practical ways by which we can apply these truths into areas which need change or improvement.
- An extreme positive mentality
- Prophets are called to sanctification
- Confronting and dealing with sin
- The need for revealing Christ
- The need to be established in the essential foundations of the faith
1. DEALING WITH UNHEALTHY(EXTREME) POSITIVE MINDSET
Firstly lets go back to the causes that lead to this.
Firstly lets go back to the causes that lead to this.
- An extreme negative approach with little wisdom that hurt a lot of people.
- Desire to please self and the fear of man.
When the prophetic took a negative approach sometime back we saw that it was the cause of a lot of hurts and overreaction. So firstly we need to pray that God should bring healing to those wounds in the body and if by any chance we have been the cause of those wounds we need to repent and release healing to the body.
Secondly because of the overreactions there has developed a culture within the body today that has adapted itself only to the positive side and any kind of negative word or action is perceived as from the religious spirit. So a counter culture has to be developed with Love and balance based on the word of God, where it would be the norm to hear both positive and the negative.
For instance the culture in India is mostly such that people have no or little problem with the negative approach even though it is used in a very legalistic way. If we develop a balanced culture, there would be then no problems with the negative approach.
This would mean messages and sermons in light of that being preached to develop a balanced taste in people who hear. Also a working prophetic model that would deal with sin (will see that in detail later).
When a culture like that is developed within, then it could grow outwardly and influence people of other camps also.
In regards to dealing with ‘self’ and ‘fear of man’ we have to simply teach people to be disciples of Jesus. This means’ denying oneself taking ones cross and following Him. This is not an option but an absolute necessity for victorious Christian living.
When self is crucified, pride is also along with it. When pride is out of the way then people can be easily corrected and they automatically would have no problems with the negative approach.
Today there are too many doctrines (II Timothy 4:3,read also verse 2) and materials promoting self that are not from the Spirit of God but are from the flesh and some are of demonic origin also. The roots of it is based on self-exaltation and building a self image without God as the center. This in turn has produced selfish and carnal people in the body of Christ.
In light of all of this, if we were to preach self-denial in the coming days there would stiff opposition from within. However if we stay faithful to the message in love, it would produce lasting results.
2. HOLINESS IN THE PROPHETS
Holiness is not just a quality required for the prophetic ministry but a must for every believer. However it is even more increasingly necessary for the prophetic ministry.
It is like this, all of us need food and water to live. However the daily requirements for Bill Gates and Michael Phelps greatly vary. Obviously Phelps would consume (or need) five to ten times more than Gates’ normal diet. This is because of his profession.
There is a similar demand for greater Holiness for those in the prophetic in comparison to the others.
If we would take prophets of the Old Testament they had to be ‘set apart’ (Holy) a lot of times for the jobs that they were called to accomplish. This pattern hasn’t changed in the New Testament either. Prophets have the demand on themselves to hear God accurately and represent Him properly to the people. Unless they pay the price to set themselves apart on a regular basis they are not going to be able to fulfill that role to the maximum and that too with accuracy. If we don’t we risk mixing our thoughts and desires for God’s and leading people astray as a result.
The same applies to any person functioning in the prophetic. It is important we keep our thoughts and motives pure and stay connected to God to bring God’s word to the people in reverence and fear.
