| << | Contents | >> |
How to Judge Prophetic Messages
I believe that God continues to speak through circumstances, visions, messages from the Holy Spirit, and other methods. He gives us insights that help us discover what He wants for our lives. I know that some good brothers and sisters believe that this no longer occurs, at least not the prophetic parts of it, but I don’t believe the Bible teaches this. As I have studied the Scriptures, it has been hard for me to reach any other conclusion than that the first century Christians were modeling for us what the life in the Spirit looks like (apart from their unique job of writing the New Testament Scriptures). We may not have exactly the same experiences they had, but our hearts can anticipate seeing God’s supernatural guidance at work.
Jesus is our example, and His life was based on doing what He saw the Father doing.
So Jesus explained himself at length. “I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing.”
(John 5:19-20, The Message)
I don’t mean to imply that each of us will do every specific sort of act that Jesus did, for the simple reason that none of us is called to His ministry. We can’t be the Savior of the world, God in the flesh, the Head of the church, or the many other realities that were for Jesus alone. Even in areas where we can do some of what He did, most of us have not been called to preach publicly, and even fewer of us have been given gifts to perform miracles.
We all can, however, see what the Father is doing in our specific lives and work with Him. Just as the Father showed Jesus what His unique tasks were, He will show us what ours are. And amazingly, in some ways, what He does through us will be greater than what He did through Jesus when He walked on the earth.
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
At the time I saw the insights I have shared in this book, I had come to the end of myself. My heart didn’t know how to deal with painful issues churning within me. I needed something new, and the subjective voice of God looked like a good place to start. I had sought it for the first twenty years of my Christian life but had backed off in frustration. Now, I found myself with an amazing new opportunity. The wisdom of Proverbs had joined with the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit to open to me a lifestyle that I had previously touched but had never been able to bring to maturity.
It seemed good to me to investigate it to see where it would take me!
I made that decision in 1998, over twenty years ago, and God has used it to transform my life. I found the insight and encouragement I needed to make my way through problems that had confounded me for years. God laid out a path to healing I could never have found on my own.
I encourage you to cautiously consider what I have written to see if it seems good to you. May God lead you into all that He has planned for you!
Search Comments
This page has been visited 0016 times.
| << | Contents | >> |
10 per page