Prophecy in Action

My friend Linda posted this comment on my last blog post:

I’m suspicious of prophets because of all the creepy stuff I see on TV. How can a person know if the word they are receiving is real?

I went to a really lame church for awhile, and this woman was constantly telling me she had a “word” for me from the Lord. It was always something she wanted me to do (to humiliate me) but she swore she was a prophet.

So now I’m skeptical… not of you Rob, but of the gift itself. Would you please help me understand this gifting better?

So I promised her I’d email her.  I started to wax poetic on one of my favourite topics, so I decided I would edit my answer to her and post it here for all to see.  It has some links into the archives of my blog – and this post goes back to the original intent of this blog called the Hand of God – to document and testify to the awesome hand of God working in my and others lives as He interacts with us right here on Earth!  Here goes…

One of the things I wanted to tell you? Prophecy isn’t scary – much. LOL

Seriously. You said in your comment that you had some awesome times with the Lord where you wrote what he said and knew that you knew it was him, and looking back you could see how he led you, right? Well, prophecy is getting one of those same kinds of messages – but for someone else. That’s it in a nutshell.

I post about some of it on my blog: Thoughts on Prophecy

Here’s a link to one of my first prophetic experiences:  First Prophetic Word

And here’s a practical example of prophecy in action: Prophetic Word Leads to Re-commitment!

I can totally understand why what you see on tv freaks you out. It isn’t all true, although some is. And how do you know? Really, I believe that the Holy Spirit lets you know. Put another way – how do bank tellers know counterfeit money? True they are trained in what to look for and stuff, but take it from me – they know the false because they handle the authentic on an ongoing basis.

I will post one more… it is the first time I was exposed to the gift of tongues, but it has a deeper meaning. God was showing me that any gift (Tongues, Prophecy or any other) HAS to come out of LOVE – or else it is no use. THAT is the real test. Do you sense love or manipulation when you watch or interact with a person who claims to be prophetic?  For example, in your comment you spoke of the fact that this lady was saying she had a prophetic word for you – but the goal and motivation wasn’t love, but manipulation and humiliation.  That’s not true prophecy. That is witchcraft!

So what are your thoughts after reading this post and reading the testimonies linked here?

Personal Devotions – Radical Obedience

The Lord is emphasizing radical obedience to me by speaking through a number of different sources.  One of my devotional emails I receive – Spiritual Fuel – spoke about the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7:24-27, the same Scripture I used to base one of my recent Personal Devotions posts.  It really spoke to me as it also mentions firm foundations – and spoke to the fact that the storms will come to everyone.

You will notice that the storm comes both to those who do Jesus’ sayings and those who don’t do them. No one is exempt. Storms are most certainly headed your way. The only question is, will you survive?

Will your foundations be strong enough to sustain the winds and floods? Those who walk in radical obedience have made themselves ready for the storm, and they will overcome.

The author said something that struck me: “The closer you get to God, the more obedient you must be.”  He mentioned Moses being so close to God that absolute obedience was a necessity:

The issue for Moses was no longer simply, “Is this action right or wrong?” The issue was, “What is God’s command?” For example, when Moses was on the fiery mountain the command was, “Stay behind the cleft of the rock. Because if you come out from behind the protective rock and see My face, you’ll die. You’re so close to Me right now, Moses, that if you make a wrong move you’ll see My face and have a cardiac arrest on the spot.”

Now, is there anything wrong or sinful about stepping out from behind a wall of rock? No. But when you’re that close to God, it’s imperative you follow His instructions to the letter and stay where He’s putting you. It bears repeating: The closer you get to God, the more obedient you must be.

Powerful words.

Fast forward to today – more confirmatory words in my inbox:  a prophetic word from another source, Retha McPherson, which says, in part:

“I will send you where I want you to go. I will stop the things that are not according to My will, if you keep on surrendering to me every day!” That is the secret: Keep on surrendering everything into God’s hands.

“Stay faithful to Me. Keep on walking in radical obedience to Me. Stay loyal to Me. And above all – be happy in all I ask you to do, because it is not about you; but all about Me.” Stay in God’s Word, and live the Word of God!

There it is again – radical obedience.

Yet one more source from a different angle – my Daily Audio Bible podcast for yesterday mentioned the rich young ruler in Mark 10:13-31.  Brian, the narrator of the DAB podcast,  asked the question, “What is it in our lives that we are not willing to surrender to God? What are the things in our lives that we would have a very difficult time letting go of in pursuit of the Kingdom?”  I was challenged by my one of my best friends about that.  What was it that was hardest to let go of?

For me it was praying for others, it was ministry – even in this time of sabbatical I have found myself periodically praying for the needy around me.  I was challenged to stop frequenting a Christian chat room that I love to go into for a time; I found that the temptation to pray for others is strong there.  It was a hard decision for me.  I hate how it makes me feel – I miss my friends.  But God has to come first.

I struggled because I had made ministry an idol – I knew it for a while – and even knew that I should take a break from the chat room.  Brian said in his podcast yesterday, “These may be idols that we are even worshiping in our lives because the thing is, anything…anything that exalts itself above the lordship of Christ in our lives is an idol. That is not to say that anything that we have exalted above the lordship of Jesus in our lives right now currently is a bad thing…”  And he mentions a word my counselor uses all the time: alignment. He said,” ….what that means is we are not in proper alignment and Jesus invites us to put things into proper alignment and come and follow him.”

So Father, I come to follow you.  I choose to follow you.  I repent of my sins and put down my idols.  I cast them off – I only want one focus – you.  I don’t want to be distracted; I don’t want to be sad and walk away from you like the rich young ruler did.  You promised me that there was a price for the anointing – but that if I walk in radical obedience, it will all be according to your will. Do what you will. I accept your hand to get at your heart.  In Jesus’ name. AMEN

Miraculous Reconciliation!

I just want to give God a HIGH note of PRAISE for his WONDERFUL, POWERFUL intervention!  I can’t stop praising the Lord for how he has done in about three / four days what I thought was going to take the whole year to do… God is restoring my marriage completely!

Let me preface this by saying that one of my closest Spiritual connections – my South African sister Jennifer – had a prophetic word for me on November 26 last year, where she said in part,

Jennifer: yes….true….well there u go….u won’t even need to lift a finger….THE FINGER OF THE LORD IS POINTING AT YOU and He will work this out!!!!!

And he has been true to his word!

My wife Lesanne went to a leader’s retreat at church over the past couple days and on Saturday came home and lined the whole family up and prophesied to us each in turn… Through her, God told me that I had to pass through the way that I did because he was preparing me for the new season in my life. She prophesied over the entire family as a unit as well – and it was a powerful experience! She was severely impacted by the presence of the Lord while praying and laying hands on us – especially our younger son Jonathan.

But that’s not the best part!

God worked on her over the retreat so that we have become one again! There was a lot of confession, and asking for and receiving forgiveness on both our parts, and all the past has been washed away in the power of the spirit of reconciliation! And, just like Jen prophesied – without me lifting a finger.  Isn’t God AWESOME?

Since that time, we have really been re-linking and really connecting on a deeper level.  We woke up on Sunday and worshiped together, singing songs of praise and worship together on our bed – something we hadn’t done in a LONG time.  I remember when she said, “I love you,”  and I could actually see the love shining from her eyes again – that sight nearly broke me.

After the singing, I, following the prompting of the Spirit, told her that I would put our wedding tape (still VCR, haven’t had it copied to DVD, yet – I know, lazy, right?) in so that we could have it playing in the background while we got ready for church.  Guess what it started on (it wasn’t set at the beginning)?  The first things we hear are the prophetic words spoken over our marriage by the leaders of my house church at that time – an observation that the colours chosen for the wedding were white and gold, and how gold represented the glory of the Lord, and prayer – and that how Lesanne was being called into a ministry of prayer which included me, her husband.  The prophetic symbol for her was a piece of gold coloured cloth that was draped around her shoulders; when the word included me as well the cloth was extended and placed around both our shoulders together.

The prophetic word over me was an encouragement to continue in the prophetic call I had been released in – the call to show the church its dimensions and what it is to look like. Prophetically, I was given a gold coloured straight stick, representing a measuring rod. Ezekiel chapters 40 -42 detail the account of the prophet seeing an angel measuring out the exact dimensions of the Temple area with a measuring rod.  In fact, there was a time that the Lord literally forced me (naturally I was bored out of my skull at the time, but I was compelled!) to read that entire account – and I knew afterwards that this was my call.

That’s what was shown immediately after our prayer time.  Is God saying something to us?  I think so!  He is re-establishing our call together as a couple, and speaking the words over us that he did on our wedding day!

I went with her to her assembly as well that Sunday, and we were touched there powerfully as well.  The sermon was on the fear of the Lord, taken from Acts 9:31, which reads in the NIV –

³¹Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.

See this same verse in the NASB

³¹So ^(A)the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase. (my emphasis)

The sermon used the analogy of needing two legs to walk, with the two legs being the fear of the Lord AND the comfort of the Spirit.   That sermon was so powerful…. the congregation was challenged to come forward as the Lord wanted to release a new awareness of the fear of the Lord on us.  Lesanne and I both went forward, and suffice it to say that the Lord touched both of us quite tangibly.  There were tears and shaking and having to be picked up off the floor and everything…

And I took my diamond to lunch as well – the glass of wine went well with our meal … 🙂

We have a lot to thank God for! That’s a major understatement…. I am in awe at the majesty of our God!

Join me in praise and worship and thanksgiving as the Lord has restored us!  I pray that he puts in place what is necessary to continue to knit us together, and I pray that you will continue to pray for us as we seek God’s face together – a pride of lions roaring to our King!

Personal Devotions Series: Prophetic Challenge

God told me a great way that I could stay on top of my personal devotions – blog about what He has said through his word!  So, I’ll start today and see what happens…

God has been stirring me this morning – I read 2 Chronicles 18:1-27, where the prophet Micaiah has prophesied not just Ahab’s death, but the method through which he would be lured to his death.

Context – The kings of Israel and Judah have allied through marriage, and want to go to war.   Ahab calls on his court prophets and asks them if he should attack Ramoth Gilead, but Jehosaphat wanted to hear from a ‘prophet of the Lord.’

What struck out to me was the fact that Micaiah was adamant that he would only say what God would have him say, even although everyone else was ‘prophesying’ success.  When I was reading this, the Lord said to me that a prophet’s job doesn’t make you popular….

The prophet tells the kings that he sees all Israel “like sheep without a shepherd” …. and then continues to tell them that the Lord has sent a lying spirit amongst the court prophets to lure Ahab to his death.

What struck out to me is that, although Ahab tries to act all macho by having Micaiah imprisoned ‘until [he] returns safely’,  he still went to war dressed in an ordinary soldier’s uniform as a disguise – and he still dies.  Did Ahab really trust the prophet, or was he being cautious? You know – ‘Just in case he was right….’?

The Lord was reminding me of a prophetic word that he gave to me – that I was one of his trumpets, sounding a clear clarion call to others…. To declare clearly, I must be able to stand up against opposition, no matter what.

Lord, help me to be like Micaiah – faithful to hear and report only what you say, and faithful to you and you alone, even if everyone else is saying something different….

The Hand of God – Declaring Purpose!

For this new year, I am seeking God for the direction of the deliverance and prophetic ministry that the Lord as released me into.  Before this year, people were dealt with on a one on one basis, as requested.   The requests came locally by phone and referral, and internationally through this blog.  

The purpose of the blog has always been to chronicle God’s powerful hand working in and through my life – I never expected people to come here asking me for prayer!  That being said, it has been a wonderful honour to serve others through this blog.  I have seen God move mightily through online interactions – for anyone reading this post who’s never been to this blog before, please run through the site and read past testimonies (For examples, click here, here, here and here.)  

My children are still small, and I have responsibilities at my ‘day job’ as well, so I have had to think long and hard as to how to move forward without endangering life and limb by being so busy that I become no use for anyone.  So please pray for me that my strategy for balance is found quickly.

With that being said, I am now putting out publicly here on this page that for anyone reading who wants to be prayed for,  wants to have a friend to listen to and maybe be in a position to hear the Lord concerning any situation:  I am willing.  I have also seen demons flee in the name of Jesus by just my typing on a computer keyboard… testament to the fact that demons can read as well as talk!  I have prayed for people over Skype, MSN, Google Chat …. and I have seen the Lord move mightily over all forms of communicatiion!  Be blessed, and may the Lord meet you at the point of your need!  

I look forward to praying with you! 😀

Reminiscing … Again

Just listened to an awesome song from my friend Darla’s blog.

The awesomeness of God being so HUGE but still finding time to hear when we hurt reminds me of a story.

Once upon a time, while in college, I was friends with this girl.  She and I were good friends, but then she got a scholarship and moved away from Barbados to England.  We kept in contact with a couple letters (yes hand written – emails had not become the staple of my existence yet!) and things were good.  Until…

One day, one of our mutual friends asked me quite out of the blue if I had heard from our friend in England.  I was about to say, “No, I hadn’t,” when I was struck with – what I was to learn later was – a word of knowledge.  I just knew that our friend was in trouble. I said, “I don’t like what I hear in my spirit,” and after a little bit, I told my friend, “I hear the word ‘rape’.”  This was ages ago, when I was now learning about the Spirit and realizing that he speaks specifically today – so I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I shared it, was troubled and eventually let it go.

Out of the blue my friend calls – from England – wanting to know how I knew that she had, in fact, been raped! I was about to be dumbfounded and shocked, I mean – I didn’t know! – but in a flash the Spirit of the Lord took over and I knew what to say. I said to her, “You hid it and did not tell anyone what had happened because you were ashamed and did not want anyone to know, but the LORD told me, so that you would know that you have friends and family in Barbados who will stand by you and support you through this time.”

I just started to remember this story while listening to this song.  I hope that someone reading this will recognize that God, although he IS great – is also small enough to hear you cry.  But not only that – but he cares enough to be with you through the hard times as well.

Stepping out in Faith!

I just have to share this tesimony of God’s awesomeness….

I was online this morning and one of my friends, nudged me (a capability on the MSN Messenger to shake my computer windows to get my attention) and started to talk.  While we were in conversation, she told me that she was talking to a girl on the phone.  Immediately I heard the word ‘Seeker’ and I told my friend that I had a prophetic word for the girl on the phone. The Scripture verse I heard was this:

‘Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, for he will abundantly pardon.’

I told her to tell the girl on the phone that ‘…he is near, and she is to turn away from her impure thought life and seek him, and he will deliver her from her bondage.’

Before I got any response from my friend on whether what I had said made sense or not, another MSN window pops up – and it’s another one of my friends, Melinda.  Melinda tells me that she’s the one on the other end of the phone!  What that did, though, is make me start to doubt the word I had, because I know Melinda: I hear ‘impure thoughts’ and my mind equates them to ‘lustful thoughts’, and I know she’s not like that. So, man, I start to freak out  – “Oh Lord, oh no oh no… I’ve missed it! I got it wrong! This is so horrible!” all in my mind… and as I look over what I wrote, wondering if I had misheard God, I hear him say “Impure doesn’t always mean sexual.” He gives me a slap on the wrist with that comment – stops me whining.

Then he repeats the whole thing again and then  has me type: “God is near – seek him while he is near. Impure thoughts = flesh thoughts, soul thoughts – despair, worry, anxiety.”  I know this one is true, because just the night before, we went to a prophetic meeting and she went up for prayer because of anxiety and worry!

Then.. the first friend that I was speaking to comes back to me and tells me: ‘She said that the word ministered to her.’  I had the entire conversation with Melinda unbeknownst to her and was confirmed ‘behind her back’, so to speak.  I was like – wow!!!!

God is AWESOME! I’m sure he orchestrated the whole thing so that I would know that I’d heard right.  MAN!

I then continued to prophesy over my friend and pray over her as well that God would use her in prophetic evangelism – the details of that I’ll put into another post (grin).