GATHERINGS OUT THE STONES
A BENJAMIN COMPANY TEACHING
"Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones;lift up a standard for the people." (Isaiah 62:10)
To fully avail ourselves of the value God intends for us to get from a prophetic word, we must guard against offences." For because of offences, some have "stumbled at the stumbling stone," and missed things which God intended for their lives. What can cause an individual to reject a prophecy of God, and what do I mean by offences? The following are a list of the things that create blocks to the prophetic word in peoples minds.
LACK OF FAMILIARITY WITH SCRIPTURE
Jesus answered a doctrinal controversy by saying: You err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." Sometimes a person will disgard a prophetic word because of a misunderstanding on their own part as to what God is actually saying, because they lack a thorough understanding of scripture. Some prophecies contain metaphors, terms and symbols from the bible which are "prophetic keys" to unlocking the revelation of God. When I receive a prophecy, I get into the bible first of all, and research out any aspect of the prophetic word that I don't understand or am unfamiliar with.
Most of the time prophetic words will be understood. Why would God give a prophecy that isn't so easy to understand? For this reason. Sometimes we can be in a place where we have become complacent, and God wants to stir us to action. When the word comes and includes terms we are unfamiliar with, we will do one of two things. Either we'll disgard it if we don't wish to put forth the effort to search it out, or we will look up the terminology and pray for further revelation from God.
God has challenged and broadened my vocabulary (since I never graduated from high school) through the bible and His prophetic word. I have heard terms like "infra-structure, and subterfuge."
PROPHETIC TERMINOLOGY
One day, I heard the strangest prophecy at a church in Kirkland, Wa. in the USA. God said He would meet with us among the myrtle trees. This had immediate meaning to me, having studied about intercession for classes I taught at the Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 Club in Seattle. I learned that the myrtle tree is called the weeping shrub, because it exudes a little tear. In this way, it typifies intercessors and intercessory prayer. It is also a low little bush, symbolizing humility.
Some people find it strange that anyone would want to prophesy in Elizabethan or King James English, but there's a good reason to do this, if this is the way in which the prophetic word comes. Many people still use and have studied the King James bible all their life long. Certain KJV words will trigger revelation, whereas you trying to interpret the prophetic word for the contemporary audience will only serve to stiffle the flow of God's prophetic purpose. If the prophecy comes to you in KJV, there's a purpose for it and you must trust the leading of the Lord. Don't try to alter the words that come froth from His mouth.
LET THE PROPHETS JUDGE:
Because God uses His word to prophesy to us, He instructs the "prophets" in
the church to judge prophetic words. Do you want to know if a prophecy that you
receive is from God? Distribute it to as many prophets as you can, so you can
get a broad base of understanding, and that counsel you obtain will be as free
as possible of religious bias.
We all should be able to line up prophetic words with the scriptures, but
when it comes to a meeting or the need for the church to judge, this should be
the responsibility of those who are more versed in the scriptures.
"Let the prophets speak two or three and the others judge. If anything is
"revealed" to another that sits by, let the first hold his peace." (I
Corinthians 14:29) There is probably no principle that is violated in the Pentecostal church as
much as this one. The principles taught here, about allowing revelation to flow
when the Lord is moving prophetically are almost totally ignored by the majority
of churches. Hopefully this is another aspect which God will restore with
revival. Another scripture given to me when Tom and I were ordained to ministry
in 1984 is this:
MANY PROPHETS BUT ONLY ONE "GREAT
PROPHET:"
God is raising up many prophets in these days. But there is only one "Great
Prophet, and that is Jesus Christ. We must hear or hearken to His voice. He
speaks as surely as He spoke to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road. (Acts 9:5)
Or like He spoke to Ananias to receive Brother Saul into fellowship. (Acts 9:11)
And Jesus gives prophetic direction just like He did when the disciples assayed
to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus (Greek text) suffered them not.
(Acts 16:7)
This dividing wall between the so-called Jesus only people and the
trinitarian exists solely because of those who err not knowing the scriptures
nor the power of God. When this "wall that has stood in the way like the Berlin
wall, comes down---there will be a great shout in heaven and on earth alike! The
prophecy of the way in which brother shall rise up against brother (Matthew
10:21, Mark 13:12) has surely come to pass, and it's abominable before God that
His bought church should betray and slander one another in the
contemptible way that they do! This is a "spirit of religious controversy"
which has bound God's people and many are willingly ignorant of it's
influence because they harbor jealousy, envy and strife and this enables them to
justify their ous hatred of their brethren. The bible says: "He that
hates his brother is a er." And "no er has eternal life abiding in
him. (1 John 3:15) Revelation 21:23 is what all of this fuss is about! "And I
saw no temple therein, for the Lord God almighty are the temple of it, and the
Lamb is the light (Greek "THE LAMP") thereof!" When you see Jesus face to face,
you will stand before His throne and you'll see one God in Christ, who purposed
to reconcile the world to Himself through Jesus. Other verses concurring with
this are Revelation chapter 1, and Revelation 5:6, 7:15-17. The bible says there
is "ONE SPIRIT." (Eph. 4:4) The Eternal Spirit of God; the Father of the Old
Testament manifest Himself or robed Himself in the flesh in the man Christ
Jesus. (Isaiah 9:6, John 1:1) God has given a "spirit of slumber" to
those who are contentious, so that seeing they see not, hearing they hear not,
neither do they understand. God hates the sin of discord sown among the
brethren. (Prov. 6:14-19)
LISTEN TO WHAT GOD SAYS TO US AND HOW HE SAYS IT:
sometime during the year of 1982-3, God called me to prayer with an urgent
"word of knowledge." My life was in danger. God gave me a vision of a hornet,
and I saw the hand of God smite it and watched as it fell to the ground. With
this Jesus said: "Behold, I saw Satan fall as lightning from
heaven."Three days later, I was in an , but my life, which could
have been taken; was spared! I'm convinced God gave me this word prior to this
car to strengthen my faith and to encourage me with the fact that God
knows and sees everything before it happens. This puts the believer on the
victorious side of things! After this experience, I began to study God's word as
to how to avoid s all together, and learned that there is a "Secret
Place of the Most High" which God wants us to abide in. This was the holy of
holies in the Old testament, and translates over to being "In Christ,
in the New Testament. We must pray listen to the voice of the Lord all of the
time, if we want to see Psalm 91 ccome to pass in our lives.
I ask myself: Why did God say it this way? In a prophetic word given at our
ordination through a 700 Club leader, God instructed the man to anoint my
right hand, saying that as I laid my right hand on people I would receive an
unusual flow of revelation in the form of words and visions and I was to share
these with the people. I pondered this "right hand" terminology, asking
God to help me to understand it. He said: "It's the right hand of my
righteousness!"
Since then God has given me a greater understanding of this. I now know that
the right hand of God's power and authority is my position in Jesus Christ, as
seated together with Him in heavenly places, far above all principality and
power. (Eph. 2) I even go to the dictionary, if I need to look up a word.
Remember that even the apostles, were so different in their writings that Luke
used medical terms, and the others terms peculiar to their own revelation of God
and His word. God will use our individuality in the giving a prophetic word.
PERSONAL BIAS AGAINST THE ONE GIVING THE
PROPHETIC WORD
Petty jealousies, envy, strife, or dividing into camps or groups under a
heretical "party" spirit, contrary to Apostle Pauls's admonition not to say, "I
am of Cephas, I'm of Apollo, etc." Jesus Christ our Messiah, experienced discrimination of this sort, from those of his own village, who instead of crediting Him for His calling, saw only through natural eyes. (Matt. 13:55) The Pharisees also at times, misunderstood some of the things that Jesus said. The Jewish thought of Messiah's day, expected God's Anointed One, to come as their Conquering King, and not as God's Suffering Servant, although both concepts are clearly evident in the scripture. (Isaiah 53)
THE SIN OF PRIDE
If you prophesy to a person under the of pride, they will be offended
at most anything which does not come into agreement with the spirit of pride.
THE SIN OF UNBELIEF
Like Israel, there are those who do not obtain that calling thich they seek
because they do not seek it by faith. Rather they assume that God will bring a
thing to pass apart from their being a co-worker together with them. In
Abraham's case, he got a very brief word, and it was as he obeyed this and left
Ur of the Chaldees, that he was given further information and confirmation in
the way of prophetic encouragment from God.
REASONING WITH THE MIND VS PERCEIVING WITH
THE SPIRIT
God gave a word to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, but the crafty serpent
talked them out of it with a "Has God said...?" It was the devil who trained man
to reason away with their minds what they perceive with their spirits, by
examining physical evidence, and natural circumstances. This was "eating from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 3)
Remember that it was by faith that the world's were formed by the word
of God, so that things which are seen were not made out of things which do
appear. (Hebrews 11:1-2)
When God gives a prophetic word, talk to Him about things which concern you
about it. Search the scriptures to look up any metaphors or terminology which
are confusing to you. Examine the prophecy in light of the scriptures, comparing
"spiritual things with spititual" and in addition to other prophecies you've
received, to see how this fits, and the further dimension which it adds to the
overall picture of God's will and plan for your life. Cindy Jacobs of Generals
of Intercession, even comments on valuing a prophetic word from God to such an
extent, that one is so careful and so objective with it as to even receive the
portions of a word which may contain a mixture of human thought with divine
counsel. In other words "take what you can, and be very careful not to throw the
baby out with the bath-water."
"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee,
of thy brethren, like unto Me; to Him ye shall hearken." (Deuteronomy 18:15)
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What Can Be Learned From The Life & Tribe of Benjamin?
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