A Word to the Prophets

“If they had stood in My council, they would have proclaimed My words to My people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.” (Jer 23:22)

Jeremiah 23 is a chapter in the Bible in which we see many hallmark signs of false prophets.  Prophets that seek out God purely for information are no better than fortune tellers who speak to people to impress them with seemingly hidden knowledge.  In the verse above the Lord is telling His people that the fruit of a prophet that stands in His council and speaks words from God is salvation.  Prophets help turn people around, from evil to good, and from darkness to light. God’s prophets spend a life-time learning about God’s nature, His requirements, His service, and His government.  They learn what He likes and dislikes, and gain wisdom to pass along to His Church.  A true prophet represents God to people, not to be “right,” but to deliver souls into God’s grace. They put men in the best possible place to serve God and to receive their reward.

When men want to become impressive, they risk speaking delusions from their own minds which can be represented in their dreams. Some people believe there is mystical knowledge hidden in their dreams.  While dreams can be from God, and indeed Joel prophesied that God will give dreams (Joel 2:28), God does not speak contrary to His Word nor His nature through dreams.  If men minister knowledge gained through false dreams, their recklessness will lead others astray (Jer 23:26-32).  They are reckless because they value mystical knowledge over standing in God’s presence.  If they would look at the fruit of sharing false knowledge they would see that those who receive their ministry do not follow God, but tragically they forget God’s ways.  This is the bad fruit of a false ministry.

To be God’s prophet is not a ministry of comfort or popularity.  Who wants to be a hammer that breaks rocks to pieces, or a fire that burns out the stubble? (Jer 23:29)  If one knew that the Lord would give him words to uproot, tear down, destroy and overthrow before He gave words to build and plant (Jer 1:10), would he agree to speak God’s words?  Many men see the favor of their fellow men as a sign of God’s approval on their ministry and would not want to offend others.  False prophets avoid speaking words of correction. Yet the true prophet of God sees that God’s wisdom cannot bear fruit unless old wineskins are discarded for new ones that will hold what God has to give.

Because the Holy Spirit ministers to each of us individually, there is a teaching amongst the churches that the Holy Spirit alone corrects. Yet Paul tells Timothy to preach the Word, correct, rebuke and encourage . . . all ministries parallel to the Holy Spirit’s work in the believer (2 Tim 4:2).  If men do not correct men, they fail the ministry given by God’s Spirit.  If prophets only prophesy nice things, they mislead men, lulling them into a false peace.  King Ahab typifies the attitude of those who only want positive reinforcement for their ideas, and want all prophecies to agree with them (1 Kings 22:1-28).  He despised the Word of the Lord when it differed from his own will and purposes.

If we are going to overcome sin, the world, and our enemy, God will send His Word to help us do so.  Though correction is not the sum total of what God speaks to us, we err in thinking He never will correct us.  If our doctrines and teachings are based on the knowledge of men and not on the words He speaks through men, we need to be corrected.  Today, if we have an ear to hear all God has to say, we need to listen.  If prophets are to minister God’s words, let them stand in His council. Amen.

 

Courage

Sometimes it’s easier, and takes less courage, to believe we need to start over with God than to walk forward into what He’s prepared for us.  It’s as if we would feel more accepted and loved by Him by repeatedly being found and saved, than in maturing and walking in our destiny.

When we lack courage, our enemy is good at playing on our fears.  He knows we are more dangerous to His kingdom as mature Christians who eat meat than as baby Christians that can only drink milk. The further we get in our growth, the more satan accuses us of being false in our faith.  If we say we know Him, then he accuses us of lying.  If we say we speak His words, then he accuses us of being full of our own ambitions.  And yet, of all the things we could boast of, only one thing is written to boast about; knowing God (Jer 9:24).  And of all the gifts to covet, knowing God’s voice and speaking God’s words is the most coveted (1 Cor 14:1).

If we find ourselves repeatedly seeking after God to save us, we need to consider this: are we lacking faith for a more meaningful walk with the One who already saved us?  It is time to walk forward into the maturity appointed to each member of the Body of Christ, the one body who is His Bride.  Amen.

God's plan

Have you ever felt stuck, and your own carnal nature overwhelms you?  What is a Christian to do when they feel the need for salvation over again?  Today I was asking just these questions and the Lord interrupted my thoughts.  He said;

 

"There won’t be any great redeeming act before the end.  I came once as the Savior.  All my words point to the fact that Man needs to believe my words and live them to be saved (Jn 15:9-10). . . to not partake of the second death (Rev 2:11). 

Men are waiting still for Me to prove Myself.  They slumber, pampering their flesh, and wait for Me to show Myself big.  But I have shown Myself big, and I have provided a plan that there is no addition to.  There is a great need to become acquainted with the plan, and a great need to listen and to see. 

If any man has an ear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

If we are to have faith, let it not be in our own holiness and the successes we enjoy in our walk with the Lord.  Let our faith be in the accomplished work of Christ, who was God's plan.  Let us follow His words and live His example.  His shed blood is sufficient for all our short-comings.  God's work now isn't to convince us that He is  . . .   it is to enable us to see His life at work in us.  Amen.

 

The Cross as our Beginning Point

Men have to learn to see the cross as a beginning point, and not an end.  Churches upon churches teach salvation to men and then take them no further beyond the baby steps of faith.  The Church is the place to mature and equip Christians to overcome, and to rule with Christ. 

When the Jews sought for their Messiah, they were looking for the beginning of freedom, and a closer relationship with God.  He had promised to live amongst them. Somehow men have changed that Messiah to a figure stuck to the Cross.  He has risen.  The Apostles spread the news about His resurrection and the power of a changed life across their known world.  Leaving sin and the worldliness that so entangles us behind is futile if we stop at the cross and go no further.  There is the life of Christ to be lived, and He wants to live that life in us, and with us.

God is at work amongst us to build our faith for a kingdom wherein He reigns.  He works in our lives to broaden our vision, for His plans are so much more than what we see.  He invites each believer for a personal glimpse of His nature and the works appointed to us, if they are interested.

Salvation is the beginning of sanctification, and not its end.  Those who are cleansed, who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb will enter into His holiness, becoming more and more like Him.  They will find the works appointed for these difficult times.

We’re looking forward to the City built by God, not a church whose members are counted each Sunday.  We will get to His City if we each mature in stature, building together with those gifts whereby we nurture one another.  Those who want to be in the image of men will not get to His City; only those who are becoming the image of Christ.  The pastors and teachers that produce cookie-cutter Christians have no vision, for they have plucked out their own eyes, the Spirit of Prophecy.  Until they learn to submit to the Head and serve their congregations as serving the Lord, they hinder Christians more than help them.

Let us re-examine our works today and the motives whereby we serve the Lord.  Many orbit around His City but do not have the power of a holy life, and it takes power to break through the orbit and reach the City.  God is finding many weak churches and ministries.  He is amongst us to strengthen that which is yielded up to Him.  Amen.

The Hidden Things God Does In Our Lives

Have you ever wondered what God is doing, or felt that you’d have greater faith if you could see what He is working on in your life?  We can pray to see His hand at work.  But the things we see might surprise us.

I prayed this prayer a few days ago and the Lord did not show me that He was forming stars or vanquishing enemies of the faith.  He began unraveling how the broken people in our lives are knit together in a final, and good, purpose.  You see, it is His grace that enables the good we do.  For us to fulfill our calls, it takes the wholeness of God.

God showed me that the worst trials with other broken people weren’t given to discipline us hatefully, but lovingly.  As a Father, God has His eye on us overcoming our nature so as to become more like His nature (Heb 12:10-11).  To partake of His divine nature we must let go of the selfishness that the flesh and the world prefer.  But above all this, we need to grow in the ability to love selflessly.

Love is brought about in a man’s heart many ways. But it is during the trials with broken people that love deepens, sending down roots that will hold it in place during the storms of life.  As love grows, we become capable of not only enduring hardships, but of taking on more of Christ’s nature of selflessness.

To see God’s hand at work in our lives might surprise us.  We are part of His eternal thoughts.  We will awake one day in His image, and all because of the many things that we do not see on this earth and in our lives.  Amen.

True Righteousness

People who pretend they are righteous cannot have compassion on the unrighteous, for they are not in touch with the truth about their own nature.  Jesus was touched by men.  He knew their shortcomings and sins, and yet had compassion on them.  Jesus loved men.

I had a dream about walking on dry twigs and branches. They had all been discarded and were tossed out.  The man who was leading me was an angel, taking me to the City of God.   After this dream ended, I knew that it is we who become dried and dead twigs when we do not bear fruit.  To bear fruit we must abide in Jesus, and cannot have a righteousness that is from ourselves (see John 15:1-6).  By taking me across the dried and dead twigs, the angel acquainted me with the failings of Man, and my own.

When we have our own righteousness we become as the hypocrites Jesus opposed: the scribes and the Pharisees.  We think ourselves better than others. Though Jesus was the Son of God, He did not lift Himself up above men but became their servant, and Savior.

Because Jesus became like a man He could be touched with our nature.  He did not hate our nature but chose, as a man, to not sin.  We cannot control ourselves nor other people by our dislike for sin, nor think that our dislike of sin makes us righteous.   In Revelation we read that the Ephesians could not tolerate wicked men, but this did not protect them from leaving their first love (Rev 2:2-4). Like Jesus, we must love Mankind.  And in loving, we become truly righteous.  Amen.