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A prophet often sees "down the road," and so often when people approach them about a word, there is the question, "Do they want to pay the price for the word they want to hear?"  The reality is that God wants to be personal with you, and He can be.  But sometimes He may provoke you in ways that you do not want to be provoked, to deal with issues in your life.

Often that is when prophets come under attack (you know, the one that was loved a minute ago), and what is really in the heart of the accuser comes out.   The prophet has to comfort themselves that there was a reason the person asked them.  But that is usually the issue that God wanted to deal with in the first place!  I may want to see the mountains, but miss the views because I won't work to transport myself to them!

We all can personally seek God and find Him.  It's a promise!  It is written in the Word.  So what prevents us?  It is not other people.  And the reality is that God does to a great degree respect your personal life, but we have to learn how He does it.

Are you seeking "the word" that you desire for power, for acceptance, for agreement, or for revelation?  God can give you what you want and send leanness to your soul.  The more I walk with God, the less I need the "words" of others. 

Walking with God

Are you wanting someone else to do the work for you?  God will encourage you to a certain point and then He expects you to take up your part.  At first that can seem quite frustrating but then it gets very liberating, because you realize you can do this walk with God, one on one and it is a joy!

He will incorporate you into the Body with love and service but He is most interested in your getting to know Him.  The more He will choose to use you, the more demand for that He will place upon you.

If you work to get to know Jesus, you can be thought to be a prophet even if that is not your main calling because the destination for every believer is knowing Him.  So often, prophets can discern your roadblocks and realize that you will have to work or stretch a bit to attain the promise and prize that you want to attain.

Some people collect words for themselves, but if they don't work their words, and so they are not seen as people of substance.  Substance is knowing your ground in the Lord and being able to hold on to it, not just holding a fantasy land cartoon of an idyllic life that may never come to pass except in your head.  But incredible wonders that will fill your soul with awe and amazement on who God is and can be is the true joy of the Kingdom.

Life has hard places and many want to avoid them.  But often they are stepping stones to the greater glories.  If you will learn to walk with God you will see Him working with you to come up to the higher places.  You will begin to discern that He is preparing you for greater things and making the lessons easier and quicker because He is setting the stage for it.

But if we fight the realities, we can become so self-focused that we cannot see what He is actually trying to show us.  It's very true that through faith and patience we inherit the promises of the Kingdom.  (Hebrews 6:12) 

Overcoming Evil

One thing God is going to show you is that you can overcome evil like He did.  So many live defeated lives, like I did once, because disappointments seemed to be permanent.  But it was through struggle and wrestling with God - to be in Him and not away from Him - that I have broken through to see that struggles mean something good is about to be revealed.

Acts 14:21-22 says:  And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."

Now that is not a Scripture that most people have on their refrigerator, but they might if they really understood it.   This is not a false statement, it is in the Bible.  But the reality is in how you see it and approach it.  God is not a torturer;  the devil is.

Probably like most of you, I would like to be in my pleasure cocoon, but if I were there all the time, I would fail to get to know God on the many different levels He can be known.  He wants us to grow and mature.  When I say that I want to know Him more, I now know that He is going to take me on a journey that will provoke my soul.  But!, if I am "in Him", He will lead and guide it in such a way that I come out way ahead.

The power of salvation - that wholeness spirit, soul and body - is very real.  When I conquer things, I can then administer that salvation to other people and make the world a better place.  We need to ask ourselves who we have on the throne of our lives.  Is it us, the doom and gloom of the devil, or the Lord who IS the Resurrection and the Life?

God is not taking you through gore just to be showing you the dark side.  If He permits you to go through something, it is so that you can come out ahead.  If we willingly choose the dark side, then we will battle those effects without His strength.

When we taste and see that the Lord is good, we may want to pig out on certain things much like I'd like to with chocolate mint chip ice cream.  It shows some that I have enjoyed a bit of that already, but if I have a steady diet of that, my body and health will not respond in a positive way.

Taught by Our Heavenly Father

I could have the temporary pleasure at a serious cost to my strength.  When we over isolate ourselves, we make ourselves weak.  On the other side, some who are never alone, wonder why they never hear from God, but it is because He does speak in that still small voice, and the voice is never a final word, but a continuing word of relationship.

Obviously good parents teach their children to eat right and so does our Heavenly Father.  The more we confront and embrace life, the richer we will be spiritually.  We don't take charge of the process, but we can walk with God through it and find amazingly at how personal He in fact is.  We will find out that He delights in us, but He delights in others too.  And we are called to be His ambassadors and to carry to the ends of the earth His Good News.

If we fail to do our parts, we fail Him and the Body of Christ and our portions will be small compared to what it could have been.  People who walk with God and who hear God can usually speak for God and then they are seen as prophets.  A prophet is a person who can speak for God.  They are still humans.

If you know Jesus, really know Him, you have something to share.  We can all prophesy.  I am glad that He is a never ending God and that His works go out into eternity.  And in all that eternity, He thought of me - and you!  He has made a place for us, but we need to remember that we were created for His pleasure and for His fellowship. 

That can be conflicting when we love ourselves excessively but it is great joy when we learn how to walk in what we were designed for - and that is to rule and reign with Him.  He is not giving over His Lordship to anyone, but He will share it and He will find joy in your strength.  He is a good Parent.

Pam Clark