Is impatience and improper
perspectives or impulsiveness negating your personal
prophecies? Discover how to cooperate with God's prophetic
word.
One of the main reasons some people have been
turned off from the prophetic is that they or others have mishandled
words from the Lord. Having shared, counseled and ministered to
thousands of individuals over the years, I have discovered some very
important principles for you to practice in order to fulfill the
personal prophecies spoken over you.
First, we must keep personal prophecy in proper perspective.
Personal prophecy is not designed to replace God’s written Word in
our lives, but it should support and confirm His Word. All personal
prophecy is subordinate to the Word of God, meaning that God is not
going to speak something to you that is against the Scriptural
principles of His written Word.
Personal prophecy is just one of the ways we receive from the Lord,
but not the only way God speaks to us. I have seen individuals who
put more emphasis on personal prophecy than on anything else; they
seemingly need a prophetic word for everything they do.
While some become imbalanced with personal prophecy, still others
think that personal prophecy is strictly for confirmation of what
God has shown us personally and not designed to reveal anything new
about God’s will in our lives or that God doesn’t speak through
personal prophecy today. Remember, God’s Word says that we are to
“covet to prophesy” and “despise not prophesying” (1 Corinthians
12:39; 14:1,39; 1 Thessalonians 5:20).
I personally feel each of us should have a desire to hear God’s
voice clearly for ourselves, and one of the primary purposes of
personal prophecy is to confirm what the Lord has already spoken to
us personally. However, because many have difficultly hearing God
clearly, He will speak and reveal His will to us through personal
prophecy.
There are several Scriptural examples in both the Old Testament and
New Testament that show that God does reveal new things to us about
His plans for our lives through personal prophecy. Apostle Paul is
an example: God revealed a calling and plan for Paul’s life that was
not already previously confirmed to Paul.
We also must realize that personal prophecy is conditional, whether
or not conditions are spoken in the prophecy. Personal prophecy
requires a proper response from us. Moses received several
prophecies from the Lord revealing and confirming His will for
Moses’ life. Not one of these spoke of any sin in Moses’ life. But
after Moses had received a prophecy about being the deliverer of
Israel, God sought to kill him because he failed to circumcise his
children.
Moses also failed to fulfill all of God’s will through his
disobedience of striking the rock instead of speaking to it, and did
not enter into the Promised Land. I believe when God prophesies
something to us, He intends for us to have the fulfillment of His
prophetic promise, but it is our responsibility to fulfill God’s
will.
Not only is personal prophecy conditional, but it is also partial.
Remember, each personal prophecy is designed to reveal a part of
God’s will for our lives. When we understand that prophecy is
partial, then we are not offended when God doesn’t speak to us the
things that we want to hear. We can also understand that just
because the Lord doesn’t reveal something to us through personal
prophecy doesn’t mean that He doesn’t care about that area of our
lives. Nor does it mean He is giving His approval and blessing to
every area of our lives. (Remember Moses).
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We must also understand that personal prophecy is progressive,
meaning that it unfolds over a period of time and does not
necessarily come to pass in the timing that we think it should.
Sometimes we can become frustrated, discouraged and impatient as we
wait upon the fulfillment of God’s prophetic word. In my own
personal experiences, it seemed that many times my personal
prophecies took years to come to pass, while others’ prophecies came
to pass almost immediately. (I still have prophecies I received
years ago that have not been fully fulfilled as of today.) I have
said numerous times that God doesn’t seem to be in a hurry, but He
is never late.
Think of the progressive nature of prophecy this way: our lives are
like a book, with different chapters and pages within each chapter,
and prophecy reveals what is on the different pages. One prophecy is
not designed to reveal the entire book of our lives, or even an
entire chapter. You may be walking on page 27 and you receive a
prophecy about something on page 61.
Don’t become confused, but simply walk with God. As we walk in
intimacy with Him daily, when we get to page 61, we will begin to
understand what He was prophesying to us earlier. There is freedom
in realizing that prophecies are progressive, that they will build
on one another and will unfold throughout our lives with God.
Keeping personal prophecy in proper perspective and understanding
these three principles of prophecy being conditional, partial and
progressive is the basis for receiving the fullness that God has for
each of us through personal prophecy. Now we are ready to respond to
the Word of the Lord.
In order to properly respond to personal prophecy we must have a
proper attitude. A truly inspired personal prophecy is God’s
specific word for an individual and should be treated with the same
biblical principles as His written Word. Just as we must have faith
in order to receive a promise from God’s written Word, we must also
have faith to receive the fulfillment of our prophecies.
Hebrews 11:6 states that without faith it is impossible to please
God. In Hebrews Chapter 4 we read that the Word of God did not
benefit the children of Israel because they did not mix it with
faith. Prophecy will sometimes speak to impossible situations in our
lives and we must receive the Word by faith. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, meaning that
we must believe our prophecies are coming to pass before we see the
natural manifestation of the prophecy coming to pass.
Find prophetic books and books by Dr. Hamon at
www.TheVoiceBooks.com
 |
Prophets Pitfalls
and
Principles:
God's Prophetic
People Today
By Dr. Bill Hamon
Learn More |
 |
Embracing the Prophetic: How the gift of prophecy operates
By
Eileen Fisher
Learn More |
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Next, we must be obedient, willing to do whatever the Lord desires
to see His Word come to pass in our lives. We must be “doers of the
Word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). We are only willing to do
what we believe. As we believe and do, then God will reveal more of
His will for our lives. For example, if someone receives a prophecy
about God’s call on their life, but is not willing to properly
prepare to fulfill that call, then how can it come to pass? Noah
demonstrated obedience by not waiting until it began raining to
build the ark. Obedience demonstrates cooperation with God to see
His will accomplished in our lives.
We must also have patience to see God’s will come to pass in our
lives. Hebrews 6:12-15 shows us the importance of patience: by faith
and patience we receive the promises of God. Impatience produces
Ishmael whereas patience produces Isaac. We must realize that God’s
timing is much different than ours, and if we keep a proper attitude
of faith and patience we will inherit the promise of our prophecies.
Humility, meekness and kindness are also important attitudes for us
to have regarding the Word of the Lord. Sometimes we fail to receive
a personal prophecy because it’s not what we want to hear. When this
happens we are actually demonstrating immaturity. Prophecies can
sometimes be “adjusting” or correcting, and if we fail to receive
the Word with humility, meekness and kindness, we can negate the
prophecy. Keeping these principles in mind will greatly aid our
understanding and application of personal prophecy to our lives.
Dr. Bill Hamon founded
Christian International Ministries
(CI). A prophet for 50 years, he has prophesied to more than
50,000 people and provided training for over 250,000 in
prophetic ministry. He has authored six major books,
specializing in the restoration of the Church and what to
expect next on God’s agenda. He serves as bishop over 600
ministers and churches and CI’s headquarters on five
continents. Bill and Evelyn, his wife of 49 years, have
three married children who co-labor in the ministry with
him, eleven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
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