Skip to main content

Following the prophet - or following the Lord?


I was reminded by the Lord of a vision that someone had, that had impacted me greatly.

The vision was about three people praying:

As they prayed, the Lord Jesus Christ walked by. He stopped by the first person and began to lavish his love on them: they were being edified, encouraged and mightily touched by Him;

However, when he moved on to the second person, he simply laid his hand on them, blessed them and moved on;

To the third person he seemed to pay no heed at all, simply walking past them. 


The explanation to this has impacted me forever: 

The first person was a new believer, and as such, was given more care and special attention by the Lord.

The second person, a growing Christian, was also encouraged, but without the attention of the first one - because they did not need it. They were growing in faith and becoming stronger.

The third person, a mature believer, had no need of a “tangible touch” or a “prophetic word” at all. They knew who their Lord was - and they knew who they were! 


I was also struck by the level of trust that the Lord seemed to have, towards the second - and especially the third believer: He had no need to give them any special attention. His Word of Truth was enough: It was written in their hearts and was now producing fruit.


I have never forgotten the lesson of this vision: For me, (especially when I’m in a more charismatic environment, where the measure of a person seems to be based upon their level of “anointing” which in turn seems to be based on spiritual manifestation) this puts everything into perspective.


On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 

while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 

so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.” 

1Corinthians 12:22-25


So what of the epidemic that seems to be sweeping the western churches: where people are following the prophet because they want a word from the Lord…where they are running to and fro looking for the next move of God because they want an “experience”? This cannot be the measure - the plumb line - that we live by.

I think most of us have experienced seasons where we have received prophetic words of encouragement, edification and even instruction from the Lord - and valued these words when they came: But, there is no substitute for the teaching of the Word of God.

Surely we will never reach maturity as the Body of Christ, without the daily manna of the Word of God. There is only one source of Truth in this world full of lies and deception…there is only one Rock that cannot be shaken…only One Tried and Tested Cornerstone.


If we cannot learn to have fellowship with God in the dark places of trials…in the desert places where there is nothing…if our faith is based on feelings …on experience…on what we see, hear, touch, feel - than it is not truly faith in Christ and Him crucified.


1Corinthians: 3 

But I, brothers, could not address you as  spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 

2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 

3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 

4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.

 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 

7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 

8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 

9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ch.14 The Unraveling to the End

  Isaiah 52:7 This picture - taken from the movie “ War Games ”, is as close as I can get, to describe the John 12:24 glory over the nations: the overlapping and arching lines are the Body of Christ as we go out to preach the Gospel; the dark background is the evil of the anti christ regime and the white orbs are literally bright white explosions, representative of both Salvation and martyrdom : because in the days I was looking at here, there would not be one without the other. These two things went hand in hand! “ Now   is   my   soul   troubled .  And   what  shall   I  say ?  ‘ Father ,  save   me   from   this  hour ’?  But   for   this  purpose   I   have   come  to  this hour .   Father ,  glorify   your  name .”   Then   a   voice   came   from   heaven :“ I   have   glorified   it ,  ...

Ch.13 The Unraveling ~ Part III

I saw a world without borders: As if all borders between nations (at least, borders as we understand them to be)  had been dissolved  - the anti-Christ system had seen to that…but of course, the Lord was way ahead of him and using it for His purpose and His glory.   I knew that the unraveling was not going to stop until the End. And it would end in the very place where the Gospel first began: Israel   ~ see previous chapter. i To Every Nation And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the world, as a witness to all nations and then the end will come…Matthew 24:14 {From  Kim Clement vision ~ “The Resurrection”: see prefix to ch.3 “Last Call” Kim Clement: “Everybody SHOUT!…there’s a victory!…Shout and clap your hands!” This one final surge against the darkness…God’s “Last Call”…seemed to penetrate everywhere…people started rushing from all over…every tribe and people…even unto the farthest islands of the sea…through the Door that is Christ…and whi...

Ch.8 ~ The Love of a Motley Crew

~From now on, whenever I write “the clock was ticking” or words along that line, I am referring to the winding down of the time of the Gentiles spoken of by Paul in Romans 11:25 - and the lead up to “ Jacob ’s trouble”, spoken of in Jeremiah 30:7 (which I believe to be the (7) or 3 1/2 years of great tribulation) *With regards to the differing views on eschatology, I can only write what I saw, enforcing it, as best I can, with the Word of God. You the reader, may or may not agree.* ~~~ {In 1607, landed at Cape Henry, Virginia and surrounded by a motley crew of sailors, ex-criminals and prospectors, the Rev. Robert Hunt kneels under a seven foot cross, brought with him from England and prays the following: “Father, we come to you in the mighty Name of Jesus Christ our Savior to dedicate this land to the glory of God…Father in Heaven, we consecrate this Cross.   We consecrate ourselves to the Great Commission, making disciples of all the people of this new land.   We consecr...