Not sure why but God has been speaking to me a lot about discerning spirits and prophecy. For those who don’t know I tend to have a really sharp eye, I can often sense what is going on with people, and pray for them accordingly. Sometimes there are actual words of encouragement they need to hear that can only be Divinely inspired. People have done that to me too, like how did you know I needed to hear that precise thing at just this moment? I love that, I call that the music of the Holy Spirit.
I don’t speak for God. If there is something He really needs you to know He’ll tell you Himself. There are simply too many variables, I could have eaten bad pizza the night before or discerned His voice incorrectly. So I never claim to be speaking for God, words of God perhaps, but not for Him. I don’t claim that authority at all.
When I’m listening for His Still Quiet Voice, it takes some discernment because there are usually 3 voices, mine, God’s, and the enemy. The enemy is not in my head, but the echo of his words are sometimes. (No jokes about hearing voices, most of us have voices floating around in our heads. Identifying them can be really helpful.) To really listen to God you have to get still and quiet your own voice. What I want to hear and what God is saying to me are often different things.
I caught a glimpse of a woman on TV doing prophecy the other day and she bothered me. Immediately I thought of the fortune-telling slave girl who Paul freed of her demons. She’s in Acts 16:16, a soothsayer who earned a great deal of money for her owners. She actually goes around saying, “These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation,” and yet she still grieved Paul or annoyed him, so he cast her demon out.
The TV profitess, pun intended, got to me right away because she was breaking all the rules. There are rules here people, crazy I know, but the first thing she did was to claim to be speaking on behalf of God Himself. You just can’t do that. Then she claimed to have a Divine revelation that contradicted The Word. Uh-huh. Right. Then she looks right into the TV having no idea who she is speaking too, I imagine there are millions of us out here, and she makes a prediction over someone’s life about money and inheritances. Not good because she has no idea how many people are receiving that information subjectively. She says, “God wants to return what has been stolen and profit you.”
Well yes true, in a metaphorical way, I suppose, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Just the same, what we want and what God wants are not always the same thing. For some people He may have removed their inheritance to build their character. Or perhaps it was stolen and God has no intention of intervening. Maybe God will give you your money back or maybe in your case what God wants you to know is that, the poor will always be with us. Who knows?
The point being you cannot tell the truth and tickle people’s ears at the same time. It struck me as somewhat funny, because when you engage in actual prophecy people aren’t going to like you much! Most likely you’ll be hated, feared, and forced to spend three years walking about the earth naked, tearing your hair out. That’s the truth and nature of prophecy, Jeremiah the weeping prophet, or perhaps the insane profit, the imprisoned profit….. the promptly executed prophet.
Here’s the difference, fortune telling is, “you will meet at tall dark stranger and fall madly in love next Thursday.” Prophesy is more like, “the chickens are coming home to roost, you are about to enter a time of deep suffering and grief as you are forced to take personal responsibility for the ugliness you have sown. It will feel like an eternity of regret and repentance as you confront the error of your ways….”
You can probably guess whose tip jar fills up faster.
dawnlizjones said:
I do believe that the gifts of the Spirit are so in force today (seriously, as we look around, do we need them any less?) but that leaves us with the grave responsibility, as you said, to hear God for ourselves, learn to “walk in the Spirit” and know the Word of God personally and practically. I still question what “prophecy”, this side of the Cross, is supposed to look like. And certainly, Jeremiah was not invited to many parties.
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Shattered in Him said:
Someone told me once that I reminded them of Jeremiah – weeping, praying, and speaking with great passion. I don’t get invited to many parties. Hm.
Also, I do believe the church took prophecy way too far once upon a time and it got distorted and twisted. We need to be so careful of how we handle this area.
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Wally Fry said:
That was great, IB. You made some really great, Biblical points here.
It’s worth note that even among “the prophets,” the bulk of their ministry was actually simply preaching with just a bit of actually foretelling the actual future in there. By that I mean foretelling specific events. Simply preaching that we have violated God’s standards and face judgment is not really especially specific..that is something that has remained true since there were people to screw it up. Anybody remember Noah preaching those 12o years?
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insanitybytes22 said:
Thanks, Wally. Great point about Noah. I often forget about him as a prophet. I imagine quite a few people thought Noah was nuts. Noah may even have wondered about his own sanity himself. He wasn’t a young man and he wasn’t a boat builder, when God pulled on him what we like to call a “plot twist.”
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Wally Fry said:
That’s my new catch phrase!
This is not a trial…it’s a plot twist!
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insanitybytes22 said:
LOL! Yes, relax, it’s just a plot twist. 🙂
I also like, “well I guess God just decided to level up this video game.”
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dianarasmussen said:
Very well said sis! Thank you 😉
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Joanna said:
Very insightful! Thanks for sharing
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irtfyblog said:
THE CHICKENS ARE COMING HOME!!??!!
Hallelujah and Praise Jesus! I’ve been waiting for them chickens to finally wise up and make their way back home! Thank you, IB! This is great news!
Of course, I disregarded everything else in that prophecy, ‘cuz the only thing that matters is that the Chickens are coming home!
😀
lol…Ooooookay, please forgive me for my weird sense of humor. In all seriousness your post here made me smile and also, reminded me of the many times I’ve had the same “rubbed me the wrong way” feelings toward so-called prophets of God. Which I’ve found to be a stern warning from the Holy Spirit letting me know it’s best to run away because these people are not delivering a message from the Holy One.
And I’m so happy to see you weighing what they say against scripture because too many people in this world refuse to do that and then find themselves unhappy when the “prophecy” doesn’t come true.
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Shattered in Him said:
I have an eye for burdens and I get nudged to pray specifically for people, nudged to reach out, nudged to do something kind, etc. I do believe some of us have a great sense of discernment as a gift. I enjoyed this.
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TT said:
We seriously need to connect: tadtexer@live.com If you’ve read the Bible, who would ever WANT to be a prophet? Discerning of Spirits is a whole different animal….great post!
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Pastor Randy said:
Great words. By the way, IB, because of your humility about “your words”, God is speaking through you and you are speaking for God. Be blessed, Sister!
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seeingdeep1 said:
Amen. We are called to be a discerning people and must be. Great post!
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auroraroschen said:
Love, love, love this! “Profitess” – never heard that before but definitely going to use that in the future. Thanks for sharing your wisdom and insight. We could use a lot more discernment in the world right now.
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MJThompson said:
Another amusing and insightful post! I wonder, was the spelling intentional? >>> “Jeremiah the weeping prophet, or perhaps the insane profit, the imprisoned profit….. the promptly executed prophet.” I used to operate a monetized website – “Prosper-Always. com. I took it down when it came to my attention that it possibly promoted the wrong idea about God’s economy. My initial premise was firmly established on the scripture – “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” – 3Jn. 1:2 . Further Jesus said He came to give life, and THAT more abundantly. But I was deluged with accusations of promoting ‘name it, claim it’ theology (which I abhor), so that still small voice prompted me to “abstain from all appearance of evil” – 1Thes. 5:22. We may know we’re right, but we are to be always good witnesses to others. God forbid anyone would mistake my preaching of godly prosperity as selfish gain.
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