Leann Rubsam at Out of the Fire has a great set of posts titled: Prophecy: The Presumption of Assumption (Part 1 and Part 2).
She makes the basic point that if God tells you prophetically, “I see Bolivia for you”, that you shouldn’t pack your bags and head to Bolivia as a missionary. That word could mean many things.
That reminds me of back a few years ago now. I was still a fairly new believer at the time, and God spoke directly to me a word I’d never heard before: Azerbaijan.
I had NO idea what it was, had never heard of it before, and didn’t know how to spell it so I wasn’t sure I could figure it out on Google. But I started to pray about it.
A few days later, we got a map from somewhere – Voice of the Martyrs, I think – that listed assorted hotspots and dangerous areas around the world. Guess what I found? The country Azerbaijan (it’s bordered by Iran, Turkey, and Armenia). It was listed as an area dangerous for Christians, and I began to pray in earnest, for some months, for the country, it’s people, the church there, and for missionaries to the region.
Some months later, a missionary couple came to our church and shared about their ministry (Guess where? Azerbaijan!) I’d been praying for them, without even knowing who they were or that they existed, all that time! What a privilege! And it’s been a privilege to continue to pray for them over the years.
Now, I suppose if I’d assumed something about that word, as soon as I knew where Azerbaijan was, I’d have headed off there. But I don’t like to assume. I want to do what God wants me to do. So I just kept praying, and God unfolded His wishes over time.
Kathi so true. God speaks and tells someone something and they don’t check it out, one to see if it lines up with the word or even with God had been speaking to them. I heard a guy say that a prophet told him that this certain woman would be his wife and he said I knew it as I felt it, and I said are you sure of what was said, he said you calling the woman of God a liar, I said didn’t say that, but you say you are going to pursue her now, and he said yes. I said see that guy over against the wall, and he said big guy isn’t he and I said yes he is and he might not want you to go after her now and he said why, I said thats her husband. He said oh, I guess I should wait,I said better than that, pray that he doesn’t find out.
Rev, was it a case of the prophet being wrong? Or was it the guy applying his own interpretation to what was said?
Just curious.
As I clicked “submit comment” a thought occurred to me.
It’s entirely possible for the prophet to say to him, “This is your future wife” even though she’s married.
Of course it might take years to play out – but if her husband dies, she’s free to remarry. Maybe even this guy here.
I’m not saying that’s the case… just pondering at what point it’s right to judge a prophet “wrong”, know what I mean? A lot of people hear prophecy and it doesn’t come to pass in the next five minutes or is impossible at the moment and they judge the prophecy to be invalid.
Kathi,
This is the problem I believe people have that they don’t let prophecy take Gods timeing and not their own. I know for fact what was a prophecy to me took two years to come true. I made sure, first of all that I don’t just let anyone speack into me. I first ask God to show me is this person of you. Second, I want to know that his person is speaking from the Lord and not the flesh. As for the incident I just talked about, yes it could happen years down the road. We never know the Lord’s timing and that is what we must remember. Oh by the way, the man who said it would be his wife, he is married and very happy to someone else he said God brought to him. I also believe we can stop prophecy in our lives.
Rev, I’m encouraged to hear you say that. A LOT of people believe that if God says it, settles it… and that’s not always the case. I believe that what God says is often subject or conditional to our obedience to Him.
Does that make sense?
Oh Kathi makes alot of sense forsure. Now we have to believe that obedience is the key to this forsure. We can be told something but if we don’t act on it, it won’t happen. We have a will that God gave to us. non obediance is disobediance.