CHILD OF GOD, PROPHESY!

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy - 1 Corinthians 14: 1 NIV

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We are to pursue the fruit and desire the gift. Here we see the fruit of the Spirit (which is encapsulated by the phrase “the way of love”) and the gifts of the Spirit with emphasis on prophecy going together, hand in hand as it were. Why? Simple…Everything in the Kingdom of God operates by love.

Our motivation for everything we do should be love. God’s love has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5) who is in us. His love should be the motivating factor behind our desire for His gifts to operate in and through us. God is Love, His very essence is Love. Anything done without love doesn't amount to much, 1 Corinthians 13, the popular love chapter in the Bible, makes that abundantly clear.

As we yield to the love of God that’s poured out in our hearts, we won’t have any other agendas, our desire will be to see others saved, healed, delivered, blessed, lifted up, restored and fulfilling their God ordained destinies. The gift of prophecy that flows out of love is never condemning, neither does it seek to bring fear, control or manipulation; the gift of prophecy will always edify, exhort and comfort others. True prophecy will never contradict the written Word of God, the Bible, which is the standard against which every prophetic utterance is to be measured before being accepted or rejected.   

The ministry of the prophet goes beyond edification, exhortation and comfort but that is beyond the scope of this blog post, suffice it to say that prophets prophesy but not everyone who prophesies is a prophet. The ministry of the prophet in the New Covenant is a foundational ministry in the Church. Now, back to the gift of prophecy...

Every believer can and should operate in the gift of prophesy, the Lord urges us to desire it earnestly – above all the other gifts, He knows we need it. He wants to reveal His heart to others through you by way of the gift of prophecy.

In His wisdom, God has made a way for us to learn how to operate in this gift, and as we learn we become bolder and more fluent in flowing with the Spirit. Let me quickly say this: we cannot improve on the gifts of the Spirit; they are already perfect gifts from the Perfect One. 

What we can and are ENCOURAGED to do is to LEARN HOW TO BETTER OPERATE in the gifts, especially the gift of Prophecy.

³¹ For you can ALL PROPHESY ONE BY ONE, THAT ALL MAY LEARN and all may be encouraged. – 1 Corinthians 14:31 NKJV (Emphasis mine)

Start where you are, when God reveals something to you (by way of a vision, a spontaneous thought, an impression, a “knowing” etc.) for someone else and impresses upon you to share it with them, then in love, step out by faith and share it, even if it is a one word or a one liner prophecy such as “rest in the Lord” or “I love you” or “I’m with you”, that might be exactly what the person needs to hear at that time. Don’t hold back and wait until you can prophesy paragraphs and chapters; faithfully start with what He reveals to you and don’t try to interpret the message just present it exactly as you received it. Do not let fear hold you back, the Lord desires to bless others through you.

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Beloved, desire the gift of prophecy today and as you do, delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart - the gift of prophecy being one of those desires! Become a blessing to someone today, pay attention to what the Spirit is revealing to you and prophesy! 

Blessings!

GOD LOVES YOU…He Always Has and Always Will!

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God is not mad at you, He never was and never will be. He is on your side, He is for you, not against you. There is nothing you can do that will change His mind about you, He knows everything about you and loves you perfectly and eternally. He is for you, not against you. Remember it was Adam and Eve who ran and tried to hide from God’s presence after they had disobeyed Him, God came to hang out with them as He had always done up to that point.

God wasn't mad at them even though they had disobeyed Him, He still made them skin suits. He did that for them not for Himself, He could have left them with their flimsy fig leaf skirts but He chose to make them skin coverings to alleviate the shame they brought on themselves by their own disobedience. 

They were naked all along and God didn't have a problem with that (He made them that way) but after they disobeyed and their “eyes were opened” they had a problem with the fact that they were naked. So even in their sin God was still looking out for them and reaching out to them. Oh, what love!

Of course their sin had consequences but God never stopped loving them. He never stopped communicating with them. He talked to them and they talked to Him. I mean God even had conversations with Cain before and after he killed his brother Abel. The claims we often hear that God neither hears nor talks to sinners crumble against such pointed Scriptural evidence to the contrary.

Immediately God set in motion a plan to redeem and restore mankind to Himself through the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15); that is through the coming of Jesus. He chose Abraham and through him raised the nation of Israel for the express purpose of bringing redemption to mankind through them. Jesus came and became the perfect sacrifice, putting an end to the Old Covenant including the yearly sacrifices the Jewish people had to offer for forgiveness of sin.

At God’s appointed time, Christ came and died for the sin of the entire world, every single human being is included – no exceptions.

² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. – 1 John 2:2 NIV

However, each person must receive the forgiveness of sin by believing in Jesus and confessing Him as Lord. What does the Word of God say?

⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. – Romans 10:9-10 NIV

  

God was in Christ reconciling the human race to Himself. And the best part is, today on account of what Christ did, God isn't holding your sins against you, instead He is pleading with you to be reconciled with Him. So stop trying to earn points with God by trusting in your "good works", instead believe in Jesus and when you do, you instantly become a brand new creation in Him. His Spirit gives you His life, you then become a member of God’s family, a dearly beloved son or daughter of the Most High.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. - 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV      

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You don’t have to “clean up” your act before you approach Him, you couldn't do it even if you tried, just put your trust in Him and allow Him to take care of the rest. 

Remember you are loved, perfectly and eternally – the least you can do is to respond to God’s love today, that is, if you haven’t already! And if you have then rest in His love, be rooted and grounded in it, let God’s love compel you to reach out to someone else today. 

Blessings!