Thoughts : Handling Prophecy

Although I do prophecy I have more experience of being on the other end of words.

Did your prophecy have a "best before" date on it ? We've been a rather "now" people expecting things straight away rather than understanding that sometimes things can take generations.

Was there an "if you" clause ? Of course God does act sovereignly but obedience does seem to be his preferred route.


Another thing we've found is that prophets don't always distinguish in what they're shown by God between what is and what will be. Some want to tell futures but what they're being shown is the present and it ends up being unclear what God is actually expecting  those receiving the word to do about it, if anything. 


We have found to our cost too that a prophet can be a nice person and having been given a number of key words and phrases will then interpret that in a way that he can understand as something to look forward to, when in fact it would have been a very helpful warning. If we'd understood it right at the beginning it would have short circuited the unhelpful speculation and confusion in a particular situation. He's not a bad man or a bad prophet, I'm sure he was trying to be kind. We needed pastoral support in praying through the word.


Like with being a faithful steward of some money means you get given cities to run, I've found that being honoured with a prophecy can a whole lot of hard work, sweat and tears is on it's way. The prophet sowed the word but now we need to be faithful to help the fruit happen and to make storehouses to hold it as it were, or it may happen but the value be lost cos they didn't believe it enough to equip themselves to harvest it. The whole thing is to be able to separate words from God from magic in people's minds.

Same with the bible - I gather that when the Coran first started to become popular some people thought they should market the bible in a way that is similarly attractive. But it is just so not the same thing. We can't take any old bits out of the bible and treat them as "sayings" in the same way, or as if they have magic properties just cos they're in that collection of documents. It's not omens, or spells or charms - you know that but unless it's clearly stated lots of people don't know that. There is so much "folk" belief around very deeply rooted and reinforced by the syncretistic use of "christian" beliefs. Sometimes prophecy brings out the best in people, sometimes they need help and wisdom how to handle it wisely and how to respond appropriately. Of course this is even stronger here on the continent, but we found it a lot in pentecostal circles.