Tag: trusting God

The Prophetic Process

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Prophetic words.

I love them.

They open our eyes to see our potential.

They help us see ourselves as God sees us.

But I think there is great danger in receiving prophetic words without understanding God’s process.

Disappointment can set in when we grow weary in the waiting for God to fulfill his promises for us, but if we truly understand His process then we learn that the waiting seasons are more about developing our character to carry the largeness of his vision and less about figuring out where things went wrong.

Not only should we hold our prophetic words up to the word of God to judge them but I think we could save ourselves so much disappointment if we remembered that our enemy also wants to use our prophetic promises against us.

If he can get us into the place of trying to make a prophetic word come true – we’ve stepped out of faith and into striving.

God can’t bless that.

Why not?

Because he is a God of rest, never burn out.

Remember, come to me all who are weary and I’ll give you rest??

Yeah, he said that.

Will he use that experience down the road for our good?

Absolutely.

But the promises of God are for Him to perform.

Not us.

Our job largely is, to watch and wait.

If we blur the lines, we’ve stepped into no longer being yielded to God which verges on rebellion which opens the door towitchcraft.

Yeah, witchcraft.

The promises of God are yes and amen but not always now and immediately, because the best things take time and patience to create.

If you thumb through your Bible all of the great heroes of faith waited and waited for their dreams and promises to come true.  There was so much journey between the delivery of the prophetic word to the actual fufillment.

Why?

Because God was developing character.

This is why the Bible says, “a man’s heart plans his way but God directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9)

Because there is character building to prepare us to carry the vision.

It is very possible that there are in fact people in your life that have held the doors closed that God meant for you to walk through.

Or it could be that maybe you’ve made some ummm, let’s call them lapses in your better judgement.

But it wont matter.

Not really.

All of this works together to build character and God is the God of the scenic route.

He’s faithful to get you to your destination.

And He can use the detours to heal some lies you may have believed about yourself, or others, or even about God himself.

Just remember to keep your heart right before him in a posture that puts him above all else. . . and trust him.

He’ll see you through.

You can purchase Joyce’s latest book, Scattered, Finding God in Your Story at Amazon.com

Scattered, Finding God in Your Story

When Mountains Won’t Move

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mountains-2228273_1920

I’ve had several requests for help this past month, some really fun opportunities and others that were heart-breaking pleas for help.

One was extremely hard to say no to, due to the sadness of the situation, but I knew with everything in my heart that I needed to say “no”.

It was such a difficult thing to say no to, that afterwards, I crawled into the shower and sobbed.

It is excruciating to say “no” to people.

People with very real need, people with very tender hearts.

And that’s really hard, especially when you know that you could change the outcome of the story.

That with God’s help, you could move mountains.

 

And yet, I hear the Father’s heart saying, “No, not this time.”

 

Why?

Why would God say no to something that is very much in his power to give through another person?

 

Because there are some journeys that were meant to be taken alone with only him.

Those mountain roads that only He can navigate with you.

No person, no church, no gifting can ever replace that.

 

I think sometimes, that it can be a good thing when our churches and the people in our lives disappoint us.

It’s a healthy reminder that at the end of the day, you and I are just people.

But I can only imagine how hard it must be for God to delay things that are in his power to give.

He is still the God who heals.

He is still the God who is with us in our loneliness.

He is still the God who sees and knows and is all powerful.

 

But sometimes He doesn’t come through like we hoped.

And sometimes the Christians we know, and the churches we attend don’t come through the way we thought they would.

And this is hard to swallow, whether you believe in God or not.

Disappointment is never easy.

 

But disappointment can be an opportunity to make room in our lives for God to be God.

Not the idea of a grandiose God who hovers above us, punishing us for our sins.

But a God who loves us better than we know.  Who loves like a Father and gives us his best, even if it might cause us to misunderstand him.

It’s about making room in our lives to tell God things that hurt us and that disappoint us.

And for those of us who have been through a season like this – it is one of learning to let go.

Learning to let God do what only he can do in the lives of those we love.

To step back, and not be the hero of the show.

To let him do what only he can do.

Remembering that he is faithful and able to be trusted.

 

 

 

Photo Credit: “Mountains” by Skeeze, Permission through C.C. by 2.0