Receiving Unsourced Prophecy
by Pam Clark
It's the absolute will of God for you to be saved.
In that salvation is healing and wholeness for your spirit, soul and body through the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
You are born-again of the incorruptible Seed of Jesus if you have received Him -- and however you nurture that Seed is the fruit you will see manifesting in your life.
There are many personal prophecies going around, some of God, some well meaning and some are missed prophecies. Sometimes missed prophecy can hurt you greatly, especially if the word related to your heart's desires.
Prophecy is not above the Written Word and Will of the Sovereign God. When the perfect is come, the imperfect, which includes prophecy and knowledge, will pass away.
I remember being in Lakewood Church one time and hearing a flakey sounding prophecy, or should I say "questionable." I remember Pastor John Osteen saying, "Remember that the Bible says to despise not prophesying." He was not only honoring his guest but the Word of God.
Many things that God does will surprise us! I have been wrong before in my estimations of new things. If I didn't "go for it," I'd still be living in the past levels. I am a maturing Christian!
Whatever became of that prophecy that day, I don't know, but I do remember his exhortation from the Word of God ringing in my spirit and it stuck with me. Because when we get "bad" words, we sometimes want to throw the baby and the bathwater out!
When you realize that the Scriptures also say that we prophesy "according to our faith," it's enough to let you know that prophesying is not an exact science! I would like to make things easy for you and say it's always easily discernable but it's not.
Oh, we all would like the infallibility of prophetic words, but even Jesus' prophetic words were not understood or accepted always when He gave them. So if His gift of prophecy is operating through us, it still may be the same with His words today!
And I know of no prophet who does not have to grow up into his/her prophetic maturity with mistakes along the way. To say that prophets don't make mistakes is like saying prophecy passed away. It didn't!
But Jesus also warned us to be careful of what and how we hear. There are words and teachings (and spirits) that can be like leaven, if not dealt with. I remember a message from Kim Clement exhorting people to accept or reject prophecies immediately if they did not line up with the Spirit and the Word.
If you are well versed in the Scriptures, most of the time that is fairly easy to do, but some prophecies are not so clear when they deal with personal life issues. This is where we must be led by the Spirit.
Kim gave an example of a word that was given to him about a future thing he was going to do that meant "bigger ministry" for him by way of travel overseas and contacts but it did not agree with the Spirit's leading in his life at that time.
Because he did not reject this word immediately, he said, the word defiled his ministry for a number of months until he dealt with it and decisively rejected it. It promised much, and sounded good, but deep inside he knew it did not line up with his Spirit walk and therefore competed with it.
For those with prophetic interest, we must especially be on guard. We cannot look at prophets as the Source, as much as we may want to look up to them. Some "words" do not defile as such and because we are not sure, we can "Just file them in Miscellaneous" as Paul Cain frequently says. We know they may not mean so much today, but possibly will later, and so we put them "on the shelf" so to speak, and see if later they have valid meaning and ministry for us. If not, we toss them.
But we really cannot discern how to do that correctly if we do not have a basic understanding of the good intentions that God has for us. Today I was reading Lamentations 3 and relating to Jeremiah. The battle was hard for the prophet, he was giving his best, and it seemed God was not there. He felt as if he were deceiving the people because the mercies of God for the people did not come as fast as he desired, but if you keep reading you will see that deep within him the truth of God welled up and the good intention of God came bursting through his spirit in positive confession. His faith was still there!
The enemy is hard at work to oppress and overcome our spirits. He can be very subtle in his treachery. I believe it's very important to do as Kim Clement exhorted in discerning if a word we receive is of the Lord or not. Look at the fruit it begins producing in your life. If there is no fruit one way or the other, then go ahead and "File it in Miscellaneous"!
But if you feel defeated, discouraged, attacked, unfairly marked, and anti-Scriptural, the word was most likely not the word of the Lord. God will allow tribulation to refine you but not defeat you. It's your sin that defeats you, but the Holy Spirit is hard at work to correct and deliver you from that sin and tribulation, if you will allow Him to focus you right.
God has a Plan and we must seek to walk in that Plan in Love and in Life. Words wrongly spoken can greatly defile a person's life to the point of great discouragement and shipwreck. Insensitivity and callousness for the well being and good of another can be most damaging.
Can we just throw all prophesy out? No, because as Pastor Osteen declared, the Scriptures say to: "Despise not prophesying." It is part of the Spiritual giftings we need to survive in these last days. But we do need to balance those prophetic words out in OUR FAITH in God's good will for our lives.
I could have been angry at my two prophetic friends who had given me a negative word about my dad. What I went through was very hard because of it. It was a judgment call on their part to share with me what they saw. I am still not sure they did right to share it. But because God was able to show me His overriding good will, I was able to fully forgive any offense, first of all, because I know they meant well. But what about those who don't? They bear the consequences. (How we thank God for the work of the Cross!)
But even in spite of someone meaning well, to take into your spirit a word that has negative meaning for your life is wrong and it will defile you. I have seen many prophetic words overcome by better, and worse, words. One thing is sure though, the Scriptures that declare God is for our well being can be trusted. It's WHY Jesus went to the Cross! Prophecy is a gift that is meant to serve us, not defeat us.
Prophecy is also a means where God shows His Sovereignty. But His Love is greater than any negative effects that may accompany His Sovereign will. There are and will be many false apostles, prophets, teachers and messengers as well as the operations of the anti-Christ spirit in these last days.
The ONLY WAY we can overcome these negative effects is to believe FULLY in the goodness of God. Greater is Jesus who is within His Body with the greater gift of Life, than he who is in the world for a fleeting moment and destined for doom.
We must confess our faith in the love and beauty of God. He does love us and His will for us is good and not evil, to give us a future and a hope and wonderful expected end. (Jeremiah 29:11, with my paraphrase) Believe in HIS prophets and you will prosper -- those who speak according to this Word -- His Scriptures!
Let the good thing sown within you come forth!
In His Love,
Pam Clark