The Charismatic movement, particularly the apostolic/prophetic branch, has been taking a beating lately, and rightly so. Several prominent prophets have been caught making up prophetic words and presenting “words of knowledge” which they had really gotten by searching social media, public records, and genealogy websites for information about the people they spoke them to. All this is in addition to widespread exposure for various kinds of sexual and financial immorality, spiritual abuse, and heretical teaching. So yucky, isn’t it?
Rather than chucking the gifts and other works of the Holy Spirit out the window, we need to understand what is going on. Jesus is currently cleansing His bride “that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, and any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27).
I wrote about this a few months ago in my post, The Winnowing Fan. In it, I shared with you Matthew 3:12, “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn. But He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” The Lord is continuing that cleansing, and He is doing it with a vengeance. Some have said, “Jesus is flipping tables” in His temple once again. And it’s a good thing!
A few days ago, the Lord began to speak to me a caution for those of us who are inclined to hear from Him prophetically, and I think it is all a part of this same cleansing. You see, it’s not just for the big name folks.
It started with a phrase from Jeremiah 23:28 repeatedly coming to mind for several days in a row: “What is the chaff to the wheat?” I was then reminded again of Matthew 3:12, about the winnowing fan which separates the chaff from the wheat. Truly, this is what the Lord is doing in His Church right now.
I felt that He said, “Some houses [churches; ministries] will come, and some will go.” I remembered 1 Peter 4:17: “…Judgment must begin at the house of God…,” and Hebrews 12:29: “For our God is a consuming fire.”
Then the Lord reminded me of the story of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. He said we must have oil — abundant, overflowing oil — in our lamps. But He warned that we must make sure it is genuine oil from the Holy Spirit, NOT GMO (genetically modified) oil. He does not accept man-manufactured prophetic words, gifts, or other supernatural manifestations. He does not want us to mix His genuine words or manifestations with something we’ve manufactured either. The Lord hates mixture! (I think the danger of mixing the genuine and the “GMO” is probably a greater problem than something which is entirely GMO.)
Now, if you are fairly new to sharing words you have received from the Lord, I don’t want to make you fearful of saying or doing the wrong thing, so that you clam up. There is grace to step out in faith and make a few mistakes here and there, to learn and gain confidence as you mature. Just keep listening and taking a few risks, if you think you are being prompted by the Lord. Our immaturity is one reason why 1 Thessalonians 5:20, 21 says, “Do not despise prophecies. Prove [judge; discern; weigh] all things; hold fast what is good.”
But our goal should always be to seek and treasure the genuine things of God and to forsake what is not genuine. That goes for whether it is something we put out there, or something we receive from others.
(If you hear from the Lord through dreams, visions, the inner voice, etc. Jeremiah 23:9-32 is a great primer on how to handle what you receive with integrity. I encourage you to read that passage prayerfully.)
So, endeavor to only speak what you are sure (or are reasonably sure, if you are fairly new to the prophetic) is from the Lord. Ask Him for wisdom about releasing your revelation to others, including the right timing for it. Be careful not to add to what He says. And when listening to what somebody else puts forth as a message from God, ask Him to help you discern if it is real or not. Because chaff is chaff, and wheat is wheat. There’s the real and the GMO — and nobody needs that stuff!
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Out of the Fire 