Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Seeing

I was intrigued by the following statement by Bob Hartley in his preface to a message about called Quartermaster Generals.

I was behind a big dark cloud with a group of people; some were "Daniels" and "Josephs." This dark cloud represented the challenges of the day. These people were called to be "Hope Reformers," however everywhere they looked ahead of them, they couldn't see through the fog and were not able to perceive solutions. As a result, they felt hopelessness and were overwhelmed because it felt like they could not get ahead.

In the encounter, I also saw many prophets in the cloud prophesying; even though they were stating true facts or circumstances, they were not seeing or prophesying the answer in Him. Therefore, they were not to prophesy according to their discernment in the dark cloud, but to move ahead of the dark cloud, and here was how from the dream: those in the dream had to make a choice of whether to focus on the black cloud or to focus on His Eyes.
This vision points to a weakness with much modern prophecy. Many prophets are warning of future disastrous events, but very few are explaining what God is doing and how he will work through these events to accomplish his purposes. Seeing from within the dark cloud of events seems to prevent them from seeing what Jesus is seeing.

A related problem is that many Christians seem to enjoy warnings of judgement on the world, more than they want strategies that would require them to take action to bring in the victory of God.

God does not cause troubles and calamities; they are rooted in human evil or folly with a bit of demonic mischief thrown in. During a judgement, God takes this human mess and works it for good to achieve his purposes. One role of the prophet is to warn of troubles before they come, so God’s people can prepare. Their more important task is to explain what God is doing through the event, so his people can participate in his purposes. Prophets can only accomplish the latter task, if they are standing outside the dark cloud of human events and seeing with the eyes of Jesus.

When a prophet receives a warning of a calamitous event, their task has just begun. The next step is to find out what God plans to achieve through the event, and his strategy for the people who want to participate in his purposes during that event. We need more of eyes of Jesus and less of the dark cloud.

According to Romans 12:6, Christians with the gift of prophesying should prophesy in proportion to their faith. Bill Johnson has noted that when a nation is in decline and has lost the blessing of God, prophesying judgment does not take much faith. Prophesying the strategy by which God will use the judgement to change the nation and bring a great victory for his cause takes much more faith. That is a challenge for modern prophets.

2 comments:

Gene said...

I think the prophets have been pretty clear.
1. There will be calamity
God did not abandon you when it comes
2. The end of the calamity will be better than before.
3. This change is not loss but gain.
4. God is using this to bring people to himself, this will be a great time of spiritual harvest.
5. You will make it if you don't faint.

THAT to me seems like a pretty clear message. It's universal with the prophets right now. It's encouragement with a warning.

Specific strategies must be specific to the individual. To those who have nothing, they will use a different strategy than those who have much. It will be essential to seek God for themselves.

So, some prophetic pronouncement to Buy Gold or sell stocks may not be universal.

There are enough instruction in the book of proverbs to carry anyone thru the crisis on a strategic level.

lastly, be careful in reading what the prophets say. We are prone to put our personal bias spin on the prophecies coming forth. When a prophet says that promises made will be fulfilled in God. He doesn't say when or how.

I believe that 2 Chronicles 20:20 still applies today as it did then. We need to hear what is being said and take confidence in our God.

Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

Many people are established and even if they are destroyed will make it to heaven, when the Lords will was to help them prosper in HIM by the word of the Prophets.

Don't despise prophecy Paul Said. It's still true.

Ron McK said...

Your six points are very clear. Very few words on the Elijah List set things out so clearly.

Strategy is much more than deciding whether to invest in gold or bonds. The book of Proverbs is very useful, but it does not provide the strategies that God's people need for the future. The way we relate together may actually be more important than the nature of our investments.

I do not despise prophecy, but I am embarrassed by mush and mediocrity. I am looking for prophetic excellence and believe that God has much more to give than we have seen so far. In the future we will see much more strategic and tactical guidance coming from clear prophetic voices.