Receiving from God

Receiving from God

How do prophetic people receive from God? How do they cope with silence?

We have all encountered a time of decision or uncertainty and sought God. Sometimes those moments are saturated with the overwhelming sound of silence. Does the silence mean, ‘yes’, ‘No’, ‘Maybe’ or try again later?! I’m being flippant but you know the feeling.

There is a certain degree that we have to realise that God’s usual way of leading us is through the Scriptures, but He does speak when we pray and give indications or a sense of peace about a proposed plan of action. We are told in Proverbs, to commit our plans to the Lord and we will succeed.

This is a big topic. People hear God speak in different ways – there is no set way in Scripture. To one the “Word of the Lord came to them saying..” to another “the Spirit said”, and to others, the most dazzling theophany came accompanied with terror and dread.

How would you like God to speak to you?

Unfortunately we don’t get a choice, one thing is certain, God will always speak through His Word, the Bible.

If you share something that can be said to be a ‘prophecy’ more than 5 or 6 times, it will soon become apparent that there is a way that God speaks to you that prevails over others.

I know someone that God has used in an awesome way with words of knowledge. At other times he has shared prophetic words with the Church which are generally well received, but my friend is most at peace with stepping out in words of knowledge. It is what God has graced him with.

At times God has given him names, people’s jobs and even on an occasion, someone’s phone number. How does he receive? God speaks to him often in dreams where he sees the meeting played out before him like a film. The next day he simply replays what he saw in the dream! At other times he has impressions and mental pictures. His experience is that God just turns up and shows him those things.

Other friends are different and spend time asking God during the week for a word for Sunday. Again, God will begin to reveal himself.

So here are two points of consideration; God reveals Himself Sovereignly, and God reveals Himself when we ask. Both are true, but we need to learn how it is that God speaks to us generally, and be attentive to His voice and leading.

Having said that, we must never put God in the so called ‘box’, limiting Him to one way of doing things that suits us best!!

One final ‘negative thing’. Always avoid the retrospective prophecy unless you are with close friends who know and trust you. We have all encountered it at some point, an event happens (someone gets married, pregnant, elected etc) and then after the event, someone says that it was what God had shown them.

I think these things are good to encourage each other with, but I don’t think (I may be wrong) that they are things that we should necessarily be sharing as a prophetic message or statement in a public setting. Privately, hearing how God is speaking to people can be extremely encouraging, but do consider this carefully before sharing!

Another consideration is don’t be an echo – be a voice! God doesn’t need parrots in the Kingdom, but people who will speak clearly and faithfully what He says and shows them. In Jeremiah God takes issue with prophets who steal words from one another. Maybe they did it because they so wanted other people to know that they too, heard from God. Selah!

Lastly, and I am sure you would never do it! Don’t look at newspapers, or CNN etc for your revelation! Guesswork prophecies will always end in tears and get you in trouble with God!  Let’s go for a real reformation of the authentic prophetic ministry.

God is good!

Adoption – good news!

Adoption

Are you in God’s family? As believers, we already possess a wealth of benefits and privileges because we are in Christ, reconciled, sanctified, but God has provided us with another incredible privilege at the moment of our conversion; that of adoption.

This is a truly amazing event, and it happens instantly when we put our trust in him.

God doesn’t just justify us, forgive us, and leave us to our own devices. He also doesn’t cleanse us from sin, reconcile us with himself, only to exclude us from his activities and the intimate relationship of being with the trinity; leaving us to live alone in eternity mingling with angels and feeling like a stranger. Forgiven, yes, but having no sense of belonging. No! Adoption means we’re included intimately and happily into all the things God’s saying, doing, and planning.

We are brought into the full privileges of sonship – God is now our Father where he makes us members of his family. (John 1:12; Gal. 3:26; 1 John 3:1–2). Whilst speaking of sonship there is an inference that is also inclusive – we are the sons and daughters of God. Since Israel’s historical days have been characterized by great inheritance rights going to the oldest son, our adoption signifies a special privilege as a son.

John mentions this amazing adoption at the beginning of his gospel, where he says, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” (John 1:12). In other words, we are now God’s children (1 John 3:2), but we await the full benefits of adoption when the Lord returns and gives us our glorified bodies so we may fully enjoy him forever.*

The New Testament epistles bear repeated testimony to the fact that we are now God’s children in a special sense, members of his family. Paul says: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. Remarkable!

When in prayer we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8:14–17). Although we are now God’s children (1 John 3:2), we should also note that there is another sense in which our adoption is still future because we will not receive the full benefits and privileges of adoption until Christ returns and we have new resurrection bodies.

Paul speaks of this later, fuller expression and sense of adoption when he says, “Not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:23). Here Paul sees the receiving of new resurrection bodies as the fulfillment of our privileges of adoption, so much so that he can refer to it as our “adoption as sons.”

This means we should be encouraged by the fact that we are never alone, we are part of a loving, intimate family relationship and no matter what happens to us, we are by our father’s side who helps us and provides all the assistance we need.

God is our Father who knows all things, has all the power to accomplish all that he plans, and is everywhere, so we are never alone.

Don’t forget that inclusive, powerful and wonderful prayer, “Our Father…”