The Holy Spirit: Power Presence and Purpose Part 152

The Gifts Part 57

Prophecy continued...

Contrary to what some vociferously claim, God will neither strike you down, disinherit you, give you ulcers, blow up your car, or burn your house for evaluating or judging a prophecy, for being awake and on guard, and separating truth from deception.

It is the word of God that admonishes us to be watchful, it is the word of God that admonishes us to be on guard, it is the word of God that admonishes us to inspect the fruits of men and see whether they are good or bad, and in so doing we will keep ourselves from being hurt, wounded, shipwrecked and disillusioned.

Since the nine fruit of the Spirit have the same author and derive from the same place as the gifts of the Holy Spirit, one cannot possess gifts without possessing fruit. One can claim offices, titles and gifts, yet if love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are not evident in their daily character it is a warning sign that the individual might not be all that they claim to be.

One can still deliver a harsh word, even a word of rebuke, warning and reprimand and do it in love, one can have the burden of knowing what the future holds upon his shoulders and still possess joy and peace, one can be maligned and spoken evil of and still possess longsuffering, kindness and goodness, one can go through countless trials yet still have faithfulness, one can be tempted and still retain self-control. The fruit of the Spirit, just like the gifts of the Spirit reside in us, and work through us, defining our character, our nature, our conduct and our actions. A true believer, especially one that claims to be gifted spiritually, must always possess evident and undeniable spiritual fruit.

1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”

Another way, by which we can judge prophecy, especially when it comes to the gift of the word of wisdom, or the foretelling of things to come, is if they indeed come to pass. Although it sounds simple enough, there are certain aspects of prophecy concerning future events that must be taken into account in order for us to evaluate them properly.

Unless a specific timeframe is given for the fulfillment of a certain word, just because a few weeks, a few months, a few years, or even a few decades have passed, it does not nullify the word, or make it false. In our up to the minute hyper speed existence, we expect a word that was given today to come to pass tomorrow, but God’s time is not as our time, for to Him a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day.

Most often, when a word is uttered concerning something yet to transpire, God delivers it far enough in advance wherein there can be no shadow of doubt as to its origin when it does come to pass. Often times words of prophecy concerning future events, at the time they are uttered, are seemingly improbable or even impossible to human reason, because that which is prophesied goes against the grain of what men are currently seeing with their own eyes.

God does this for two reasons, first is that His children have time to prepare, and second that when the word eventually comes to pass the children of God will know that He has spoken it.

David prophesied of the Messiah one thousand years before His birth, Hosea seven hundred years before His birth, Isaiah six hundred and fifty years before His birth, Jeremiah six hundred years before His birth, and Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple which came to pass forty years after His death and resurrection.

There are even certain prophecies uttered by Jeremiah and Ezekiel that are yet to be fulfilled, or which we are just now seeing being fulfilled.

The point is that God is not on our time clock, and unless a specific date is given for a certain event, time will tell the tale as to whether or not a word was true and from the Lord.

As a side note, something that is more of a pet peeve of mine and although not included in scripture is nevertheless reasonable and logical, is to make certain that a word attributed to a certain person was really spoken by that person. Our ministry being a prophetic one, and my grandfather having operated in the gifts or prophecy, word of wisdom and word of knowledge, this is one of those things that hits close to home, and something that I’ve had to deal with consistently throughout the life of our ministry.

If someone tells you that someone else gave a certain word, especially if it a foretelling of some future event, please do your due diligence and inquire of the individual in question whether or not they truly spoke the word that was attributed to them.

I have heard of countless things attributed to both my grandfather and myself that we have never said, and words attributed to us that we have never given. I will stand by any dream or vision that God has given me as I know they were from Him, but I cannot defend something that I never wrote or intimated.

Another thing to be cautious of is delineating between someone’s personal opinion, and a word from the Lord. Not everything that comes out of a vessel’s mouth is prophetic, some things are personal opinion, and it is a dangerous thing to confuse between the two. If someone precedes their words with ‘I received this from the Lord’ then judge it and evaluate it as something that they received from God, as a prophetic word that must be evaluated via Scripture. If however they say ‘I think, I believe’ then take it for what it is, their personal opinion and not divine revelation.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.