Hi all,
In The Revelation 19: 10 it says this: “…the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.”
It means that any prophetic word won’t be about us, it won’t boost our ego, it will always be about the Lord. Simple prophecy is a divinely inspired word for us or someone else that brings “edification, exhortation, or comfort.” That is Paul’s definition of simple prophecy in I Corinthians 14:3. It has nothing to do with the future, and it will always point a person to Jesus – He is our builder, the one who encourages us, the one to bring us comfort.
When the Lord does give a prophetic word or vision for our future, it too will be about Jesus. If you have a prophecy that focuses on how you will preach to millions, or minster in a stadium or be on TV, or anything else that would give your ego a boost – it isn’t a true word from the Lord, or at least it is polluted by the giver’s fleshly additions. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, so if you are mentioned at all, it will be secondary to His work and His vision and His goals for you.
I once had a woman give me a 20 page prophecy (written front and back sides of each page) some so called prophet had given her – she transcribed it from the recording. She asked what I thought of it. The truth made her angry, for the first 3 sentences were of God, the rest of the 20 pages was just fluff, using many words to say nothing, and what was said made her sound like God’s gift to the world. Part of what confirmed it was mostly ego boosting false prophecy was she was so angry with me she hasn’t spoken to me since. She wanted a confirming word about her greatness, but I am bound to telling the truth….
Yes, of course a prophecy may include you and His plans for you, but as you fit in HIS plans, it isn’t about you. In Acts 9 when the Lord appears to Paul as he was about to enter Damascus, He told Paul a few things about his ministry. But He also blinded him for 3 days, just to remove his ego out of the call on his life. He wanted him to know Jesus is boss and it is all about what He wants to do in Paul’s life.
Important: The reason for the promises of God
Is not first and foremost as answers to our prayers or what we are ‘believing God for.’
II Peter 1: 3-4: “His divine power has given everything we need in life and godliness, through Him who has called us to glory and virtue. Through these (life and godliness) He has given to us very great and precious promises, that by these we might come into fellowship of the divine nature…”
The Greek word ‘fellowship’ or ‘partaker’ or ‘participant’ is ‘koinonos’, meaning ‘in common’ and the root is translated ‘fellowship’. It means the promises are given so we might fellowship with Him in the divine nature as we wait for the fulfillment of those promises, or provision.
The higher truth is that each promise is given that we might partake in fellowship with Him, in His divine nature. The fastest way to receive a promise from God is very often, to set that promise aside and focus on knowing Him and character growth in Him.
That is exactly why Peter immediately encourages us in the next verses, 5-8, to build on our most holy faith, virtue (moral excellence), knowledge, self-control, consistency in that self-control, godliness, brotherly love, unconditional love, for “if these things are in you and abounding, THEY will make you so that you are not ineffective nor unfruitful in your walk with the Lord Jesus.”
Marriage? It’s about making that couple holy. Friendship? It’s about making that friendship holy. People in your church? It’s about perfecting holiness in them and you. School, work, neighborhood relations? It’s all about holiness and you and they partaking in the divine nature. It’s all been provided, but it is first and foremost about fellowshipping with Him in the divine nature.
What has been provided flows through the conduit of our fellowship with Him in His divine nature.
Confusion about the how, when, and why
The name Habakkuk means ‘to embrace’, and many have said he had this name because he embraced or wrestled with God. The rabbi’s say he was the son of promise of the Shunammite woman of II Kings 4:16, but we have no way to confirm that. The issue in chapter 1 of Habakkuk is that he doesn’t understand God’s plan. How could a righteous God work through the sins of evil people, even evil empires like the Assyrians, enemies of Israel? Why would a righteous God allow His own people to be judged by an evil empire?
v13: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil. You cannot look upon iniquity. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent when the evil man devours a man who is righteous?” He didn’t understand the word of the Lord. He didn’t understand how the vision and promise could be so great while he saw the opposite happening before his eyes.
In 2:1 he has had enough and says: “I will stand my watch, I will wait for Him for Him here on this tower and just see how He answers me.” (Stubborn and arrogant wasn’t he?). In v2 the Lord refuses to answer his questions, but commands: “Write the vision, make it plain for all to read so that he who passes by may know. For the vision is for a future appointed time….but the just will live by is own faith…”
“The just shall live by his (own) faith.” That exact line is quoted in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3: 11, and Hebrews 10: 38, in each instance having to do with not understanding everything, but walking with Him in faith. We may not understand why the vision says this, but circumstances say that. Yet we are told to hold onto that vision, even if it means realizing it is for a future appointed time.
Your faith isn’t the issue
In Hebrews 4 the author is comparing the Old Testament with the New Testament, writing how Joshua could not give Israel rest even though they had entered the Promised Land. He makes the point that Jesus is our rest. He is the Sabbath, which is what the 7th day rest prophesied about. He is what the Sabbath rest is about. It prophesied a time when God would rest, ceasing His efforts towards the sin of mankind, by giving us His rest – Jesus. It also prophesies a future time when the earth would be at rest, for the Person who is the Sabbath will live with mankind.
The point in v10-16 is that if we have Jesus was have that Sabbath rest. Every day is a Sabbath rest for those who have Christ in them. Therefore the effort is not to believe, but to rest. “Let us work to enter into that rest, for he who has believed has entered into His rest, having ceased their own efforts.” It means your faith isn’t the issue, your level of rest is the issue.
When God gives a promise, and we are doing the best we can to walk with Him so that it will happen, we can’t do it out of our own strength. Faith feels like peace. Period. Faith feels like peace. To have peace about any situation, you must stop your own works. That is the labor, that is the effort, to get into that peace by stilling the mind, rejecting the mental arguments, rejecting the habit of measuring your salvation by feelings or what things look like. At some point we must come to the end of ourselves, and rest. Stop it. Just stop it. Learn to quiet the mind, redirecting thoughts to the promise. Redirecting emotions to line up with what God says about you.
And then – peace becomes like a high wall protecing our hearts and minds as the flaming arrows of the enemy bounce off it. Labor to enter into that rest, that peace, and then guard it by refusing emotions and thoughts that would give you reasons not to be at peace. Hold onto the vision God has given you, but don’t measure its legitimacy or how near it might be to fullfilment, by the circumstances swirling around you now. Don’t measure God’s promise by how you feel, or what others say. Go back to the last thing you know that you know the Lord told you – and hold onto it, even if just in your heart, privately between you and the Lord – and rest in that promise. Enter into that rest, that peace, and stay there as you go about your business in life.
New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
