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The Prophetic Pitfall of Self-Pity
Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. – 1 Kings 18:22
It took Elijah some weeks to get back on track after his run in with Jezebel. He journeyed down into the self-pity pit and wallowed around there. This is what I like to call prophetic soap opera. It seems some prophets have a tendency to get melancholy and even dramatic. Elijah and Jonah are two prophets that come to mind.
We know that Elijah went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree and asked God to take his life. Sounds sort of like Jonah sitting under the gourd, doesn’t it? Have you ever been in a place where you said, “God, just take me on to heaven now? I can’t deal with this anymore?” I’ll admit that I have. If God was listening (later, I always hope he wasn’t) he didn’t even dignify my whining with an answer.
Preparing for the Office of the Prophet
And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. – 1 Samuel 3:20
When called into prophetic ministry, many want the whole world to know the Lord has chosen them to stand in the office of the prophet. But this very desire demonstrates the lack of maturity necessary to stand and withstand the persecution, rejection and spiritual warfare that comes against the prophet.
When you consider this Verse, also consider that Samuel had been prepared to be established. He had served in the house of God for since he was old enough to hold a broom to sweep the temple. He grew in the things of God and was faithful to Eli. He learned to hear the voice of the Lord. And he overcame the fear of man when Eli demanded to know what the Lord had spoken to him.
The Prophet as Intercessor
Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. – GENESIS 20:7
The very first time you ever see the word “prophet” in the Bible, it is connected to prayer. Old Testament or New, you can’t separate the prophet from prayer. It is the life blood of the prophetic because it is our connection with God and His will.
Who should we pray for? It’s our duty as prophets to pray for others and for ourselves (1 Timothy 2:1). We should also pray for our government leaders and all in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all goodness and holiness (1 Timothy 2:2). And we should certainly pray for our spiritual leaders. The Apostle Paul made many pleas for the prayers of the saints.
Moving Out of Spiritually Dry Places
If the Prophet Isaiah were with us today, he might repeat a declaration from the 43rd chapter of the prophetic book he penned. Since he’s among the great cloud of witnesses, I’ll make this Spirit-led declaration instead. Behold, the Lord is doing a new thing! We need to move forward with His Spirit so we don’t get left behind in the desert.
Interestingly, Isaiah was the same prophet who announced John the Baptist’s day, another time when the Lord was doing a ‘new thing.’ John was a voice crying in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3). The Bible says he was filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb, and when he launched his ministry – to prepare a way for the Lord – he was visibly anointed.
In fact, despite his less-than-luxurious meeting place, his uncouth exterior and his fire and brimstone message, the Baptist probably drew some of the largest crowds since Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal hundreds of years earlier. The Bible says people went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.
The Stubborn Seer
Jonah’s experience in the belly of a whale may be a kid’s church favorite, but there are serious warnings here for New Testament prophets. While the Book of Jonah tells a familiar story, deeper examination demonstrates two spiritual death knells for prophets: rebellion and stubbornness. The Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against the wickedness of its society. Jonah’s immediate response was to run away from the Lord and board a ship that was headed in the opposite direction toward Tarshish. Jonah rebelled against the word of the Lord because he wanted Nineveh to experience the wrath of God instead of the mercy of God. Jonah knew that Jehovah would forgive the people there if his message brought them to repentance.
This is where Jonah’s woes begin because rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23). Prophets who operate in rebellion are in danger of tapping into a spirit of divination and perverting the voice of God. Divination is foretelling the future by occult means and Isaiah Chapter 44 declares that the Lord makes fools of diviners. Rebellion made a fool out of Jonah, who brought danger to himself and those around him. The Lord even sent a violent storm upon the sea in response to Jonah’s disobedience.
The Bible tells us that the ship was about to be broken into pieces and the sailors were terrified for their lives. Meanwhile, Jonah was down in the hold of the ship taking a nap. Who could take a nap in the middle of such a violent tempest? Is it possible that Jonah’s rebellion opened up a door for a spirit of witchcraft to attack him? Spiritual witchcraft is the power of satan and fatigue, weariness and slumber are some of its manifestations. When witchcraft attacks, its victims may feel tired, oppressed or depressed. What could have caused Jonah to remain fast asleep in the midst of such a life-threatening situation? That’s exactly what the ship’s captain wanted to know.
2012 Apocalypse: Profits for Purveyors of Doom
The widespread Internet belief that Dec. 21, 2012, will be doomsday for planet Earth because some astronomical event will destroy or decimate our planet is a complete hoax, according to NASA scientist David Morrison. His concise summary of the claims and the scientific response is being published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific as a public service at: http://www.astrosociety.org/2012
For several months, NASA and many astronomers have received increasingly worried letters and e-mails from members of the public about the possibility, widely touted on the Internet, that the world will end in 2012. Many mechanisms for doomsday are being proposed, including a collision with a fictional planet called Nibiru, deadly activity on the surface of the sun that lashes out at Earth, alignments with the center of our galaxy, etc. David Morrison has coined the term “cosmophobia”—fear of the cosmos—for these concerns, and has seen a huge increase in the phenomenon this year.
Dr. Morrison, a world-renowned expert on the solar system (and asteroid impacts), also serves as the public scientist for NASA’s “Ask an Astrobiologist” service, where he answers questions for the public. He has received so many questions about 2012 and the end of the world, that he felt he had to investigate and set the record straight.
Birthing Your Prophetic Dreams
About this time last year I had a somewhat perplexing dream. In this dream, I was about five months pregnant. Now, for starters, I’m not married and had no reason to be pregnant. I was trying to deny it, but my mid-section was clearly swelling and it wasn’t from too many tasty empanadas from the corner Cuban café. In my dream, I asked a trusted friend what she thought. To my dismay, she said, “You’re definitely pregnant!”
To say I was none too happy would be a monumental understatement. A flood of thoughts rushed at me in my dream state. “How will I get all my work done with a newborn baby to care for? I’m too busy for this! My life is challenging enough as it is. This is certainly no time to complicate things with a baby!” I thought to myself. Even still, I knew there was no way of escape on this one. I had a sense that I really didn’t have a choice in the matter. This baby was coming in about four months whether I liked it or not.
Then I woke up…perplexed. Of course, I’m not spiritually dense. I understood the overarching meaning of the dream. God was birthing a new thing in my life. We were a little more than halfway through the incubation process, and I needed to align my will with His in a hurry. My fellow prophets chimed in as to what this “baby” could be. Some said it was a new ministry. Others said it would ultimately be a good thing though times were likely to get rough over the next few months. They were all right.
Can You Really Buy A Spiritual Breakthrough?
A newspaper reporter called me the other day to solicit my opinion on an elderly woman’s so-called “divinely inspired concoctions.” Her little shop of mystic wonderments peddles oils, herbs, sprays and candles that claim to bring love into your life, and even get others to obey your every command.
As the reporter described the woman’s mixtures, supposedly potent enough to solve any problem known to man, I couldn’t help but see mental images of the Apostle Paul wrestling the beast at Ephesus. But I digress…
The elderly woman has 10 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and a divination sanctum littered with statues and images of various saints. A necklace adorned with charms of the tools each saint works with dangles from her neck, according to the reporter’s observations.
A Prophetic Showdown
Just like Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal, the time is coming when God’s New Testament mouthpieces will confront modern day merchandisers. The true will defy the false. The holy will challenge the unholy. Until that day, spirits of divination, with a little help from the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, are working overtime to woo God’s true prophets to the side of err.
Some merchandising prophets, with their miracle water, prophetic soap and prosperity oil, are catching naïve Christians hook, line and sinker. Other Gospel gainsayers are profiting with urgent announcements that God will heal the first five people who run up to the altar with $100 bill in hand.
But perhaps the most dangerous merchandisers are those who use their gift to tap into divination. These prophets announce what the believer wants to hear in order to sow a false seed of faith in his heart and reap an improper financial reward, inappropriately earned position or wrongly received recognition. No matter the merchandiser’s brand of deceit, it is a practice that stinks in the nostrils of God.
Coming Soon: A Prophet’s Heart
My new book is being printed and will be available within days. It’s called A Prophet’s Heart: Avoiding the Doorway to Deception.
Have you ever wondered how false prophets become false prophets? The enemy seeks to pervert prophetic voices at every turn – but he can only use what’s in us. Serious character issues left unaddressed can lead the true into the realm of the false.
In this companion book to “The Heart of the Prophetic,” I exhort prophetic people to examine themselves for specific character flaws that open the doorway to deception. In this book, I offers practical guidance on:
The Patriotic Prophet
It’s time for the David’s to arise with prophetic warfare strategies that bring God’s will to the land.
Ezekiel was a patriotic prophet. He proved his love for the nation of Israel over and over again in ways that were sacrificial, uncomfortable and downright humbling. In utter obedience to the word of the Lord, Ezekiel, for example, married an unfaithful prostitute. In total submission to the Spirit of God, Ezekiel laid on one side of his body then the other for months on end.
In fact, in an effort to demonstrate the heart and mind of God, Ezekiel executed some of the strangest prophetic acts in the Bible. Ezekiel wasn’t the only patriotic prophet in the Word of God, though. There are many nationalistic nabis in the Word of God. Indeed, prophets who were loyal to God and country at all costs mark the annals of the prophetic ministry. I pray that this same spirit will sweep over every prophet in every nation today.
Put Your Determination Where Your Desire Is
Whatever they are, stop wishing and get determined. See, the difference between hoping and wishing is significant. A wish is a desire for something that seems unattainable. (But nothing is impossible with God.) Hope, by contrast, is desire with an expectation of attainment. Hope expects with confidence. Hope cherishes a desire with anticipation. Hope breeds faith – and faithful determination generates grace.
Put your determination where your desire is. Now, if your desire is for your household to be saved, or for your spouse to abandon some annoying behavior, your determination is bound to prayer. James 5:1 says the effective fervent prayer of a righteous person makes tremendous power available. You can’t change people no matter how determined you are. But you can pray for them with a sincere heart and open the door for God to move in their lives – and you should.
But I’m not talking about other people. I’m talking about you. Put your determination where your desire is. Put your determination behind the desires that God has put in your heart. But Jennifer, doesn’t God’s Word say to delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart? Indeed, it does and that is undisputable. Does that mean we should hang out on a glory cloud worshipping the Lord and expect Him to send an angel to hand deliver the desires of our heart in an express mail envelope? We both know the answer to that. (The answer is “no” in case you are just catching up.)
The Spirit of Jezebel, Part IV
In this final part of our series on the spirit of Jezebel, we’ll look at Jezebel’s demise.
Jezebel is an enemy of the apostolic because she counterfeits true prophetic operations that lead hungry believers to empty their pocketbooks for false spiritual moves that work to discredit the true five-fold ministry gifts the Lord is restoring.
But just as mature prophets are rising up with a Jehu conquering spirit to rid their lives of this menacing spirit, mature apostles are combating the false spiritual moves that Jezebel is orchestrating by refusing to compromise the truth of the Gospel for the sake of unjust gain. Notice how Paul dealt with the damsel in Thyatira.
The Spirit of Jezebel, Part III
In Part III of this series, we’re looking at the damsel in Thyatira and how he handled this situation in the light of the Jezebel spirit and false apostles and false prophets. It was in Thyatira that Paul encountered a damsel possessed with a spirit of divination who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling (Acts 16:16).
The “masters” in this verse were governmental officers with natural authority in the jurisdiction just as the apostles were governmental officers with spiritual authority in the jurisdiction. But the thievery of these wicked masters lumps them in with the “sorry bunch” Paul described as pseudo-apostles and crooked workers.
So in Thyatira we see the damsel (false prophetess) making a way for the masters (false apostles) to gain unjust profit (merchandising) through a false ministry gift (divination).
The Spirit of Jezebel, Part II
We’re talking about the spirit of Jezebel, and false prophets. You’ll recall that the Apostle Paul spoke against false apostles who sought unjust gain, proclaiming: “I’d die before taking your money. I’m giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing ‘preachers,’ vaunting themselves as something special. They’re a sorry bunch – pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers – posing as Christ’s agents but sham to the core” (2 Corinthians 11:12-13 MSG).
Apostle Paul was no stranger to the operations of false apostles or demonic governments. Jezebel is likely one of the principalities Paul wrestled against (Ephesians 6) as she attempted to exercise her influence in territories through which he traveled to preach the Gospel. Thyatira was such a territory. Jesus had one thing against the church in Thyatira: it tolerated Jezebel (Revelation 2:20).
Just as true prophets (John the Baptist) make a way for true apostles (Jesus Christ), false prophets make a way for false apostles. Thyatira was the city where a false prophetess made a way for false apostles to merchandise people through soothsaying and attempted to discredit the ministry of true Apostles Paul and Silas.
The Spirit of Jezebel, Part I
Jezebel gained her reputation as an enemy to the prophets of God in the Old Testament era. While dogs devoured the wicked Queen Jezebel, her spirit is alive and well in New Testament times. And this depraved principality has earned another reputation in the last days: enemy of the apostolic.
Queen Jezebel is infamous for her antics in the Book of I Kings. Jezebel is charged with murdering many prophets and cutting off the voice of others that fearfully hid in caves (I Kings 18:4, 13). The Book of Revelation exposes this spirit’s operation in the New Testament age as one that calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce the Lord’s true prophets with lust and idolatry (Revelation 2:20).
Jezebel’s attack on prophets has a ripple effect on apostles because these two graces are foundational gifts that work together to build the Church (Ephesians 2:20). Prophets say and apostles do. Cutting off or perverting the prophetic voice, then, hinders the manifestation of the glorious church because apostles are most effective when prophets are in watchtowers instead of caves, in local churches instead of in lust, parking lots and street corners.