I believe the Lord gives all of us special gifts and talents to be shared with others and used for the Kingdom. I believe all of these gifts has it's place in the body and is of great use to us Christians. As I was thinking about certain gifts, I felt it on my heart to write a blog warning Christians to be careful not to use the gifts that God has given to humans as a substitute for speaking to God Himself. For the purposes of this blog, I will reference the gift of prophesy and the gift of dream interpretation as my examples.
A few months ago I spoke to a friend who has the gift of prophecy who shared things with me that God revealed to her in terms of me. One of of things that she shared to me was a complete shock, so much so, that I had to grab my bearings for a bit. See I was so surprised because God had said nothing to me in regards to this particular topic...nothing at all. So I was left wondering, where is this all coming from? Since then, I have not done what I was told to do as yet because God still has said nothing to me about it. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying what was shared to me was untrue...it could very well be true. However, prophesy can be complicated sometimes; it could mean something that is going to happen right now, something that is going to happen in the future or even give a partial clue but not the whole picture.
So I have been staying put, I have not moved and I am seeking God on this. Why? Because God will never reveal something about you to someone else without telling you first or confirming by speaking to you about it after. God is not a respecter of persons, if He talks to someone else, He will surely talk to you too. He sent His one and only Son to this earth to die for you so that He can break the barrier that was separating you and I from Him. We don't need a secondary person to hear from Him, we can hear from Him on our own.
Again, I'm not discrediting the gift of prophesy or dream interpretation, what I'm trying to say, it grieves my heart when I see Christians clinging to the words of people who have these gifts and depend on them to hear from God instead of going on their faces to God on their own. That can be dangerous! Yes God has gifted these people but we also have to remember that they too are humans, they don't live perfect sinless lives and there are subject to struggling with the flesh. What if one day, what they're telling you is not from God but from their flesh? How will you know? When will you know? Especially if you are depending on them to hear from a message from God? You won't! And you risk doing something or going on a path that is completely opposite of where God wants you to be, because you listened to what someone told you He said without taking the time to go into prayer and getting that confirmation from God.
He is not a source, He is THE source, let us not forget that. Let us stop making idols of these people and go back to worship the true God. Having a problem? Not sure what to do? Waiting to hear from God? Stop running to go on the prophet conference calls looking to hear from him. Stop going to church and expecting your preacher to give you a personalize message from God. Had a weird dream and not sure what it means? Stop running to look for dream interpreters to find out the meaning. Get on your face and talk to the Dream Giver.
I'm so passionate bout this because I, too at times have slipped up and been this person. I've been the person sitting in the audience at church while the speaker starts to pick out people and prophesy over them and hope that he picks me because I want to get a message too. I have been the person to hang around those who can prophesy in hopes that they will tell me something from God. I have been the one who has had dreams ( I dream a lot) and went around asking people "what do you think it means? I would ask a lot of people. Never once did I ask God what it means.
So if you're reading this and you know you have the tendency to do this, let's agree to stop. Let's agree to share this with other people who might have the tendency to do this (run to humans instead of God). Believe me, I get it. The idea of getting this information from a human seems great because it's easy. It's a real person on the other line or standing in front of you, it's audible so there is no question about what they're saying. It could be someone of influence that you respect and their spiritual life is on point or spiritual maturity level is high so it it must be from God. But let us practice patience. Run to God. He wants to talk to you. He wants to share with you. He wants you to take some time and listen to Him and what He is telling you. Sometimes when you ask Him for direction, answers, clarification or meaning the answer is yes, no, we'll see, silence or not now. Just because you don't hear anything from Him right there in that moment doesn't mean you go running to someone else. Wait on the Lord. I'm sure there are times when people have dreams and seek God's face, He leads them to another brother or sister within the body to get the answer. That's okay. Sometimes God will send someone to you who He has given the answer to. That's okay. Just make sure other humans aren't your first stop.
As I was writing this blog, this article was shared with me. Here's an example of someone h"hearing from God" gone wrong:
Pastor Impregnates 20 Members of His Congregation and Claims the Holy Spirit Told Him to Do it
I hope this was a blessing to you and that your eyes have been opened or refocused.
xo
Tasha
Well said. It's an issue that believers can easily be swept up in. Such truth !
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