Peter’s cultivated heart in Old Testament prophecy brought forward Joel 2 into the Pentecost sermon. Now, THIS IS THAT you can hear the apostle say!

When the creative word is found in the cultivated heart, prophecy inspires us because the Holy Spirit is the author. Much will challenge the living anointed Word. Even the disobedience of the prophet. Remember Jonah. How good of God to refuse to allow him to be alone, because the salvation of Nineveh was on God’s agenda.

We all know how an anointed prophecy stills the meeting with a sense of awe and the presence of God fills the room. However, we also have witnessed how a soulish or flesh-inspired word has then come to counter, to dull, to negate the true word from God’s mouth.

The very basis of true prophecy is death to self in the life of the prophet. The IMPARTATION of the anointing comes to the humble. Three examples: -

a) JESUS    Matthew 3:14-16;
b) DAVID     1 Samuel 16:1-3,18;
c) ELISHA   1 Kings 19:19;

Are we pregnant through prayer with something to impart? It may be the counsel of judgement as given to Jehu. It may be a miracle and direction as given to Ananias for Paul……again notice it was a meeting of no high visibility. In matters of true prophecy, God often moves in limited company or in privacy!

In fraternals we know leaders want the prophetic to say something favourable to their situation. Church history tells us differently. Throughout, there has been a prophetic-pastoral tension. Each of these five-fold ministries need each other. Are we aware of God’s agenda when pastoral needs swamp our church life? Will the prophets submit to the pastoral and be healed of their isolation, rejection and sometimes depression? Has the church gone through a dry spell of de-edification and cries out for the prophetic to lay the axe at the root of the tree that fails to produce fruit?

Sadly, the negation of the prophetic can be leaders and fraternals. I know one fraternal who hearing the word of the Lord from Ezekiel 22 made no steps to search God’s heart concerning it. Judgement begins at the house of God when leaders fail to apply the prophetic word and prefer to dismiss it. Three elders died in two months because of self-interest and self-importance in those men who collectively failed in the prayer closet. Doctrinal debate and sharing problems militates against the urgency of the prophetic obedience. 

If God is not moving we get depressed. Opposition to the true prophetic stops the river of the glory of God.

OPPOSITIONS

1.The jealousy of the older prophet toward the younger prophet who had a word of the Lord. The problem of diversion. 1 Kings 13 and Song of Songs 8:6.

2.Charismatic prophesying from their own spirit (often in line with the word of God but NOT the rhema for the specific situation.)Acts 21:4 and Ezekiel 13:2-7.

3.A false authority that lacks repentance and humility. False authority refuses to come near Jeremiah 2:30,31 and 5:30,31.

4.Materialism in God’s people. The true seed cannot be sown among thorns. Those who are selfish among riches and wealth are unable to find direction. Jeremiah 4:3 and Hosea 2:6.

5.No vital intercession or groaning. The sovereignty of God is experienced by the faithful praying remnant. Romans 8:22-28. The prophetic releases the joy of Romans 8 living. Intercession comes first. Ezekiel 22:30.

6.No identification of taking responsibility. Note the humility of Daniel 9:10,20.

7.A refusal to see the whole counsel of God, particularly the judgement of God, so that prophecies have no prohibition, no conditions or no warning. Luke 19:27, 41-44.

8.Very few can recognize true, balanced prophecy. So few will wait with the prophets for the answer of the Lord in crises times. Prophets see the historic, political and cultural background to a situation and then see the present church life foreground of the situation. This double focus leads into a clear strategic grip of future grace and the appropriate purifying power of His promises. Amos 3:7, Psalm 74:9; Ezra 6:14. Only God and Jehoshaphat knew that only Micaiah could discern accurately. 1 Kings 22:7,8,14-28.

There are many other oppositions including the spirit of fear, but those might have contemporary significance.

THE NATURE OF THE LEOPARD

I remember once having an anointed time of prayer in a car park in the Outer Hebrides. No one was around. A VW transporter turned up and several Muslims appeared - the anointing quickly lifted and I sensed the operation of heaven and the simple event on earth were connected.

Islam, whether the fundamental or nominal strain, is a deception and possesses a hatred for historic Christianity and Judaism. On 11 September 2001 the world saw its true face, but our politicians hastened to draw a line and say terrorism was not Islam, and vice versa. God allowed Islam huge success in 650 - 800 AD conquering N Africa and S Europe. It was God’s tool of judgement on an apostate Christianity, which had elevated Mary to the Trinity to the exclusion of the Holy Spirit.

The leopard of Jeremiah 5:6, Daniel 7:6 and Revelation 13:2 is probably Islam with the crushing feet of the bear and the devouring, roaring mouth of the lion. Inter-faith movements will come under its dominion. The Antichrist system is a skillful mixture of religion and politics (Revelation 17). Islam will be part of this system and possibly a dominant partner.

However, the believers’ attitude to these end-time realities should never be that of cowardice. Remember, God Himself PERMITS AND CONTROLS the catalogue of catastrophes that come to the world. HE IS SOVEREIGN! Check Revelation 17:17:

“For God put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of ONE MIND, and to give their Kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.”

The EU is rapidly moving to this point. The leopard is swift and the EU with Islam will probably become the system and geography of the Antichrist. Between Europe and the Islam world lies Israel! The theme of the Bible is found in the post-Exilic books:-

 1. TEMPLE  (Ezra)
 2. CITY  (Nehemiah)
 3. PEOPLE  (Esther)

The Sovereign Lord allows it all. Islam is rising again to judge apostate Christianity where countless millions in the West profess Christ through infant baptism but do not know Christ through the new birth and the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. Look at history:-

600 BC              “The Chaldeans are coming”, warns Jeremiah.

650 -1000AD       Huge Islamic advances.

1980’ s - ?          Communism falls and Islam rises, with an aggressive agenda for world dominion. 
                         ‘Holy’ Jihad has returned to Muslim leaders as a legitimate weapon against 
                         a) Israel b) western civilisation.

THE PROBLEM OF FEAR

The setting of the “spirit of fear” on 2 Timothy 1 contains the gift of prophecy (verse 6 and 1 Timothy 1:8). When your gift is exposed to the church, you will be attacked. We need the keeping power of God as we commit our lives “until that day”, i.e. of His return. As you keep your life right at the source (John 7:37,38) then God will protect, even if you are relentlessly attacked. Don’t let the words of your accusers breakdown your faith. The word ‘keep’ in 2 Timothy 1:12 means that God is marching round my mind to keep me in peace. Too often we look at the attack negatively by seeing it as an attack on ourselves. The enemy opposes the carrier of the gift because he hates the living word being manifest. A paraphrase of 2 Timothy 1:7 could read: ­“God has not imparted to you a spirit of cowardice or intimidation, but of capability, committed love (to the body of Christ) AND CLEAN, DELIVERED THINKING.”
The word “fear” in this verse is “deilia” and is also found in John 14:27. We must refuse this demon in the all prevailing name of Jesus, because it prevents the outworking of John 14:26 where we note the work of the Helper, as teacher and one who brings to remembrance. 

These two aspects are vital in prophecy.

a) Our prophecy is proportional to the depth of our grasp of the word of God.
b) A pure mind, free in the peace of God, and stirred up to remembrance, helps the precision of the prophecy.

CHARISMATIC COUNTERFEITS

To know the true workings of the Holy Spirit prevents the counterfeits that negate true prophecy. The exaltation of ministries and manifestations in the charismatic movement has brought about a situation where discernment is essential. A real word from the Lord can be attacked by spurious gifts of supernatural power NOT from the Holy Spirit. This assertion leads us into difficult territory……..to say something is not the Holy Spirit when in fact it has the Paraclete as its source, is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Another problem is the manifestations can have one of three sources:- divine, human or satanic. Take laughter for example. I have heard the mockery of Jezebelic laughter, human laughter, and laughter in the Holy Spirit in christian meetings. The issue is not whether the laughter is of God or not, but which source it is coming from. Again we feel our need of discernment. Most quality discernment of spirits comes from those engaged in deliverance ministry and spiritual warfare.

Can we discern the true presence of God from the counterfeit?

The true is known in the believer’s spirit through the Holy Spirit when He fills the atmosphere. Our Spirit is tender, pliable to the will of God and conscious of God’s presence. The actions of this believer will be in harmony with holiness and grace, agape love and heart forgiveness. The counterfeit presence is felt upon the body as “ fire’’ ‘‘thrills’’ with the mind becoming passive. The believer locates God as a person within, then turns and prays to the One within. This results in fear through the insistent voice of the evil spirit driving to sudden action.

Counterfeits will bring great manifestations but little real fruit, and inevitable division, passivity of mind, vain journeys, elations followed by crushing and a life of confusion and contradictions.

The reality of the prophet stands on the foundation of receiving thoughts from God. We have to stop our mind-set, our traditional understanding, very often before we receive from God. The Queen of Sheba disqualified her set mind when she saw the conduct of the people around Solomon and testified that half had not been told her. Joseph of Arimathea had refused to consent to the death of Jesus in the council and then asked for the body of Jesus. That thought had been planted in his mind by God for scripture to be fulfilled. The KINGDOM comes when we hallow our lifestyle with holy living. Joseph took the holy line by standing among the council and not consenting. He then became truly prophetic. If we don’t speak out for truth and keep things bottled up in our hearts it stops God from moving.
In converse with God, Habakkuk approached with:

His mind (Chapter 1)  -  QUESTIONS
His will    (Chapter 2)  -  INTERCESSION
His heart (Chapter 3)  -  WORSHIP

HOW LEADERS NEGATE PROPHECY

The strength of many leaders is based on gifts rather than wisdom and love. Set thinking and covering up sins in the life produce unreality. But God gives grace to the weak, to the humble, to those who know they need the help and contribution of the Holy Spirit. Leaders often prefer DIGNITY to being channels of DEITY. Paul preferred to boast in his weaknesses and his fighting writing to the Corinthians was to prove authenticity of his apostleship.

There was no DIGNITY in Paul! Check out Philipians 3:7,8 and 1 Corinthians 4:8-13 and 2 Corinthians 6:4-10. His method of making disciples was always effective. Today the stamp seems to be in the travelling ministry to add as many names as possible to the mailing list. These false apostles gradually become detached from the believers under them. The intervention of DEITY, however, through the apostolic team will bring responsibility. Confusion reigned in Corinth because of false apostles’ teaching stealing Paul’s converts to their way of thinking. Paul waived his right to full-time ministry! Check 1 Corinthians 9:6, feeling he had no right to refrain from working. His willingness in this financial matter would give him a KINGDOM REWARD (1 Corinthians 9:17). The Cross of enduring all things in this matter (1 Corinthians 9:12) would keep his ministry pure in motive. The mind of Paul was never to give unnecessary offence so he would be a channel of deity, an imparter of the true prophetic word! True grace in prophecy will come through the cultivated heart. You see it again and again in scripture and less and less in western christianity.

Look at Josiah the child king who fulfilled a prophecy at least 300 years previously. Check 1 Kings 13:2 with 2 Kings 23. Josiahs’cultivated heart of zeal would be safe in the days of trouble and judgement. God holds those leaders who negate the prophetic word, responsible for the days when prophetic vision is rare. Those who truly walk by faith like Abraham will know the precise secrets of the Lord in judgement times: 

“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?”  (Genesis 18:17)

Spirit filled
Word obedient
Cross-centered
   
PROPHETS