DISCERNING OUR PROPHETIC DESTINY
by Pam Clark (pamclark@prophetic.net)
- des·ti·ny n., pl. des·ti·nies. 1. The inevitable or necessary fate to which a particular person or thing is destined; one's lot. 2. A predetermined course of events considered as something beyond human power or control. 3. The power or agency thought to predetermine events; fate.
We all want to be in control of our lives. There is a certain comfort in it. The more tribulation that comes, the more one desires to control the evil rather than having the evils control us.
At the end of the year, so many words go out about what people say is to come. Why do people give these words? Is it to show how smart they are? Is it to show how prophetic they are? Do the words help you, do the people (prophetic ministers) help you, or is it about "being right"?
It can be a job to sort through it all! You must not only use your mind and intellect, but discern the spirit as well.
Your own soul wants to believe the good and pleasant things, and it naturally abhors the unpleasant things. Do we desire to be contrary to nature, or work with it, for our best good? Are we seeking to be over nature or in order in nature?
Is being Godly and dying to the flesh about how much pain we can endure and not show it? Or is there really the opportunity for a changed character and countenance? Is there a quality destiny in the change? We of course hope there is.
Because destiny lies in the area of the unknown, there is a mystique about it and a market for it. People always want something they don't currently have, or to know something they don't yet know about themselves or someone else. But is the prophetic about what will happen, or what can happen? Is it just about predicting with a certainty or with an option to the future?
Does God give prophetic words to make us look good or to make Him look good? Or does He give them to us for edification, exhortation and for comfort? Through the mystery of Scriptures God predicted many things. Because the Bible was written over time, only the Holy Spirit could orchestrate it, reveal it, congeal it, and cause it to come to pass and be understood.
Jesus is the Living Word and without desiring to enter the supernatural world, we can and will miss the whole thing of knowing Him without experiencing it. If the power of the supernatural is used for the lust of the flesh, it may be right, but misleading. If it is used as a power to have over people, to have people in fear of man or the events, it could be being misused and misapplied.
We must determine where our peace is and what is our best. There is a rise in the occult today. Is there a good occult and bad occult? Are occult powers to be used for our best interests? What does it mean to glorify God?
If our goal is not to feel, we are seeking this "Nirvana" type place (which is a type of Hinduism) where nothing matters, then no relationship can really take place. We are seeking a desensitized death.
If our goal is to obtain and score all we can get, we are really at the center of our own desires and others serve us for our benefit. We are at the center of our Universe then. Some believe they must be right and everything that stands in their way is the enemy to their soul. They are "in charge" of their destinies and claim diety, sometimes without even realizing they are doing it.
If whatever happens is whatever happens in a type of "que sera, sera", what will be will be, then we really have denied ourselves and who we are by saying we have no control or choices in our destinies. Some think so little of themselves, that they turn their lives over to others to direct.
All of these things are popular religions today in many different forms! But if our life is about the bettering of other people, we will not only have a good attitude about others, but also about ourselves!
So what are all these prophetic words that come forth? Are they words from God? Or are they words proving that carnal man can predict? Or do these words have the character of God?
Many things can be figured out from knowledge and experience. Parents can often predict their children from their own experiences, leaving the kids in awe sometimes. Parents can capitalize on that to help their children, control them or compete with them, but there are things to reap from doing so. Do we want their best good? Does God want ours? Is it about emotions or truth?
People who deal with high tech things can often predict when someone less experienced is going to mess something up by experimenting with it. After a few of those yourself, you can tell when someone who claims they are high tech are not really high tech, like when you are working on your computer! (Ask me how I know that!) Do we provide safe environments for learning and growing? Or do we quench the Holy Spirit?
The prophetic has to be discerned as well. To know if a word is truly a prophetic word from God, we need to seek the character of God in it. Does it tell the truth? Does it want our best? Or is it just about being right, or weilding a power? Does it help us grow in our relationship with God, or does is just leave us frustrated?
Does it improve us or scare us? Does it give us an advantage, or does it flaunt an advantage, or does it expose an advantage? Do we know what a prophetic word is?
Is the prophetic prediction only or does it reveal something? "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to give you a hope and future and an expected end." (Jer. 29:11)
If we don't know the good will of God for all people, then we either don't believe in ourselves, or we believe in ourselves too much! There is balance - the balance of knowing God wants a dynamic quality relationship with you through helping and blessing other people. It should improve you!
God will give us demands, but those demands are not meant to scare us only and subdue our will, but to will us into doing His good pleasure for our blessing to pass that on, and to have a quality relationship in knowing Him. The Living Bible puts it this way in Philippians 2:13 "For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what He wants." Or KJV says: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."
Our prophetic destiny should be about building a future with God at the center of it. His character should be in it, revealing the many ways He shows Himself to be good to others and to us for their sake and ours. We can't hog it, we can't deny it, but in balance, we can thrive in it.