So here’s a few pages of personal prophecy and what we later called ‘prayer journaling’—most all of this is from my wife over that time. She was so close to the Lord and hearing his voice so clearly for a long time. It’s amazing to read these words and think how things later unfolded.
Remember when she was hiding under the blanket hearing God’s voice for the first time? Well, this is what she was hearing. It’s ten pages long so I can only paraphrase it, but God was telling her how he sees her, me, our daughter, Tiara, telling her our daughter will do great things in God’s name one day—I think Tiara was 8 years old at the time—etc. Asking more about Tiara, my wife asked God:
“Is she a diamond?”
The Lord: “Yes.”
“Is that my word? What would you call her?”
The Lord: “A jewel. You are proud of her, that’s good. I trust her in your hands. She can be the jewel that you shape her to be. There’s some people I take care of, and there’s some I give to others to take care of. I gave her to you. I like watching Tiara play. Nice imagination. She brings me joy. She’s doing an ‘Ed’ on me.”
The Lord: “If you make your heart pure, you will see me.”
The Lord: “The meek will inherit the earth. Jesus is humble. He’s the example. Be like Jesus. Jesus knew everything. He has my wisdom. He was the closest anyone can get to me. I love Jesus.”
The Lord: “I am a happy God. I love to laugh. It’s easy to make me happy.”
We had been on safari in South Africa over New Years and saw many kinds of animals but didn’t see any cheetah and she asked God about that.God said:
“They were right there. Right in the grass.”
“This is bizarre,” she said.
The Lord: “I am a bizarre God! I can be goofy too. I love it when people get to know my lighter side.” Then he told my wife she has to lighten up adding, “I knew Ed would like that but I’m working on him too.”
He said our daughter was anointed to pick up the good things. “She’ll see the good. She’ll see me. I talk to Tiara all the time; she listens very well.” Then added, “Tiara should eat apples instead of drinking apple juice. She should eat it because I made it. Eat what I made. People ask me to bless what they made, but you can eat what I made for you and it will bless you. You can eat what I made.
The Lord: “People don’t recognize how close to them I am.
The Lord: “You can eat what you made, things are really not bad, but wouldn’t you prefer what I made?”
Then Tiara said, “God’s people eat the fruit of the Spirit and it’s fruit that never goes bad.”
God said, “Listen to her! … Eat an apple. Thank God and it will bless you truly, and I will bless you. I made it with a lot of love.”
Then we started asking God about each of the kids in the youth group, about 30 of them in all, and other people in the church, including the pastor, and even some neighbors. What was so interesting is that when He gave a personal word for each one of them, each one was in a different style matching the personality of the person he was talking about!
About one he said he had a pure heart, another he said was special in his sight, another girl he said was “My Heart” and that she had a close relationship with her sister that God liked so much.
Another teenager God said was,
“My baby. I will protect and nurture him. He will do good things in my name. I love being with him. He has a lot of peace and compassion, kindness, joy, humble, meek, My Baby!”
Then the older boy,
“David, the anointed one, has a very big heart. I will use him mightily. Tell him everything he wants I can give him. Dream, dream BIG. If he keeps his willingness, I will show him the way. It’s up to him. David’s job is to choose life. He will always do great things as long as he keeps choosing life.”
To one of the pastor’s daughters who was a gifted singer and worship leader. He said she was,
“A flute, a sweet harmony, peace, praise. She will lead the angels. She is a torch that will light the darkness and shine forth brightly, from bottom to top; she will sing for me; she will protect God’s people with her song; she will bring me into the presence of many.”
To her sister, the pastor’s other daughter, he said she is,
“a darling girl. She will heal. She is soft. She will find herself in me. She has gone through a lot of what Ed went through. She will rest and have peace and joy in me and abundance in me.”
To an older lady in the fellowship he said she,
“will have the desires of her heart. Tell her I know what she wants. I am giving it to her. She will bless and touch many. She is pure. Thank her for opening her house (to home group meetings). I will bless that home for it.” I know later she earned a lot of money in Hong Kong and built a nice mansion in the Philippines! God really blessed her!
Another lady had worked in Mozambique with Heidi Baker for a summer during the bad floods and God had so much to say about her! He called her,
“My love, my joy. I delight in her. She has a baby. (At the time she was trying but could not get pregnant) She has me. She has many, they are all hers. In Africa. She did more than so many mothers. She had babies that call her mother who knew of a mother’s love because of her. She doesn’t know that. She blessed my children. Tell her, she’s the best mother. I will never forget that. She is gold for what she did.”
To the Filipino pastor’s wife,
“You are a mother and I am your father. They have you and you have me. I have with you what you have with them. I will always love you, give you. Take care of these. My people are yours. Be cautious, be mighty. I shall bless the work of your hands.”
To the pastor,
“My gold poured out. Molding, shaping. Trust me, give me. I am yours. I will give you. You are mine. You gave yourself to me and I accepted. Thank you. You will bless Ed, and he will bless you. You will glorify me … in a way, together, but not together. … Angels will sing as you do my will. You are mine and I will make you holy in all places. Rise up and shine, go forth, reach out.”
To the one girl who had the most beautiful heart he said,
“The power of meekness—too many people don’t know the power of meekness. Fools! Wake up and be wise! When will you get it? See the power in humility, in meekness, in love. Love conquers all. Love destroys everything. Why is Love weak? Does that make any sense? How can you fall for that lie!? I AM LOVE. Look what I have done. How can Love be weak? Look at Jesus. Look at how he drew people to him! Strangers! Crowds upon crowds. Why? Humility, meekness, purity, calmness, peace, gentleness. There’s a radiance. What figure in authority can do that? Can anything from Satan do that?
“What draws a crowd of strangers to you? Jesus! People like Jesus. The power of humility. The power of a servant heart. The power to raise the dead because he was humble, because he was a servant, humble, gentle, love. He loved. He loved everyone he spoke to and everyone he spoke to knew and felt that.
“The Power of Love.”
There was 10 pages of personal words like this that first day alone.
Then he went back to talk to us more about Tiara.
“Tiara will bless her Mom and Dad. I gave her to you as much as I gave you to her. See what you got—equal. Three vital parts. We are a team, stuck together.
“There will be a fourth. When he comes … (like a boyfriend) … Tiara can ….” But she could not hear the rest clearly.
Then she understood who was talking was specifically Jesus who said,
“I love little children. I love little Tiara. I want to be with her all the time, tell her stories, put her on my lap and talk to her. We can play the harmonica together. I’ll show you pretty places, flowers that you have never seen before, butterflies that you have never seen before, water that you have never seen before, waterfalls that you have never seen before, beauty that you have never seen before, a dream land. Music that you have never heard before, birds … a beautiful place, and you will write stories about it, ‘The Land of Jesus: where little children play.’ I like your imagination Tiara, write about me. Paint for me.”
Then God said to me about the girl who was drawing Silver, our angel warfare comic,
“Listen to her vision for the magazine, for SILVER. Listen to her sometimes, more often than you do. But it’s you two (me and my wife): I will give you many who will teach you and guide you but you will always lead.”
I still think about this: we were already finished with the comic issue 1 and 2 and had to soon close it all down. We never did any more on it. Not yet anyway! But he told me to listen to the artist more than I did. Am I going to remake it? Make it into a movie? Hmmm …
Concerning the magazines, that yes, we closed down shortly afterwards but he said it was,
“A great and glorious project. Like royalty marching through the desert. Camels laden with silk …. Victory all the way!! Steadfast, loyal, Royal, Regal.” She saw me as a king wearing … Purple! She said it was, “a caravan in a wasteland!”
Now all I wonder if these projects will be revived? Why not?
And a Dialogue about Intimacy:
And this is one of the special early conversations my then-wife had with the Lord that I really cherish and want to share with you:
The Lord: “Ed is my pet, look at him. How can you not like him? I gave you to Ed, because you can love him like I love him.”
My Wife: “But I tell him off sometimes.”
The Lord: “Yuh! Sometimes you get a bit carried away but a lot of times he needs to hear what you have to say.”
My Wife: “He bugs me sometimes though.”
The Lord: “Yup, me too. But you still gotta like him! I made him like that. He bugs me too but I like it!”
The Lord: “You will go places.”
The Lord: “I want to experience my people. I don’t just want them to know me, but to experience me. I want to get personal with them.”
My Wife: “Do we have something to do with this?”
The Lord: “You have everything to do with this.”
My Wife: “Is this what the magazines are for?”
The Lord: “Yes.”
My Wife: “What about our slogan ‘maturity through unity’?”
The Lord: “Important too, but I LOVE my people. I want to get personal with them, like you just now. Baby, this is what I want. I want my people to enjoy me. They respect me, but I want them to enjoy me.”
The Lord: “Tell them Baby, Tell them Ed. I love my people, I am proud of you, I am your father. Come to my open arms. Let me embrace you, you are mine. You are everything to me.”
Ed: “I want to talk to God like this too.”
The Lord: “It’s about Love, not about pride—he needs to hear that. You are MY son, you are MY boy.”
The Lord: “Love, love, love, love. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you—I’ll shout it from the top of the mountain if I have too. Once he gets Me he will never let me go; that’s why you are worth waiting for.”
The Lord: “Ed, you are my everything.”
My Wife: What do you mean by that?”
The Lord: “He will get it. He will understand, discover it.”
The Lord: “Ed is dynamite. Ed is separated for Great Things.”
My wife added: “God likes the word precious, but not like in Lord of the Rings, no funny little man. He likes colors.”
My Wife: “You are an amazing God.”
The Lord: “Yes, thank you.”
My Wife: “You are the God that made these hills, this beautiful greenery, you created all this, how come you are talking to me?”
The Lord: “You need to get this, this is what I like.”
My Wife: “Thank you God. But I mean, there’s sickness, poverty, so much else to take your time, why is something like this, just chatting with me, so important?”
The Lord: “I have sickness and poverty in my control. I can take care of that. But I can’t force people to love me. There are many of my people who are giving themselves to help with sickness and poverty, and I am very blessed by that, but I want you to tell people to love me.”
My Wife: “I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to fellowship with you like this.”
The Lord: “That’s OK, little girl, you’re here now.”
Then my wife asked Jesus again to help save us from my law school loan debt, which really terrified her, and she saw my law school loans as if on a balance sheet—and it suddenly started getting smaller and smaller and then went to zero in a matter of mere seconds! She also heard: “You will buy and sell houses.”
He later said, “A test of faith is a test of character ….” He explained that a lot which I’ll share in a bit. And also said, “A trial about money … is NEVER about the money.” That’s quite interesting! Since most of the trials we endured for 15 years or more … were about not having enough money!
In July He explained a passage in Psalms 2, and said this was how we were created but we’ve been lost so long (meaning humanity) that we think we’ve been made in Satan’s image!
God then said one day, “Eddie will find himself in me.”
Later I reminded him, “I don’t like being called ‘Eddie.’”
He answered, “I know; you will.”
Then he taught us about faith.
How do you Claim a Promise from God?
“Faith is how you claim the promise from God. Take a step out in faith and boldly do something because you know for a fact that the promise exists. He prepares you bit by bit and you practice with smaller things then go bigger and bigger, but you are always called to higher levels of faith—it’s what the secular world calls ‘taking a risk.’ You do it according to God’s leading and the guidance of the Holy Spirit—you can’t pretend it, you can’t pretend your faith exists, you can’t fake it. You can’t have a ‘let’s give it a try, I’ll give it my best shot’ attitude. You pray for it, you ask for it, you dwell on my promise and you allow your faith to just grow and it bubbles over and your heart just overflows with confidence that nothing and no one will shake. And you make a decision and take a step out in faith because you know 100% that you will see the promise come to pass. There is no doubt when you take a step in faith, there is no fear when you take step in faith, most of all, you know with bold confidence that THERE IS NO RISK when you take a step in faith. Again I say you can’t fake faith, you can’t force it, you can’t pretend it—faith just is.
“And it grows in you as you grow in Me, and when you dream big as I ask you, parallel to your dream will be a rise in your faith. Faith is how you claim and faith is how you get the promise—it can’t be taught—it’s a natural consequence of opening your heart to Me.
“A declaration of faith is a declaration of a truth that is in the future. You can’t pretend it’s true—you KNOW it’s true. This kind of faith comes through prayer and asking. I will teach you, I will guide you. All you do is seek it and listen when I teach. It is how all the disciples learnt and eventually operated in the same faith as Jesus.” [End]
God is Telling Us to Dream Big
“Dream big, do it according to the will of God, and then dream the biggest dream, get the biggest vision.”
She explained God was showing her that God works through his people, and His dreams for His people are big and he works through those who are willing, and can be a source that he can use to let His Will come to pass.
So if your dream is of anything according to His Will—like having a good job to provide for your family, to be provided for abundantly over your needs so you can bless others—then dream and have a vision to let your imagination stretch as far as it can.
He uses the word ‘dream’ because to us, it’s like desiring in a fantasy, it’s not based on reality, because mostly, most of us, if we’re thinking of reality in our vision, and build upon reality, we can only go so far in our vision. So he says ‘Dream, unbound by reality.’ And then he can bring it to pass. That’s the seed that you plant, and then he has what he needs to work with and he makes that dream come true; this is the Covenant Promise that he made with you.
Your dream should be based on who your Father is, what he has told you that you can accomplish, and he said that if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can move mountains, regardless of what the world says about you. He said, “The fact is, every believer has this ability. I can use each believer to move mountains but they have to exercise that faith and that comes from believing and knowing in their heart that I am their God!! I am their father!!! AMEN!!”
When we asked about the difficulty we were having printing the magazine first issues he said this:
“Just stand in faith. This is your faith: patience, with the right attitude. You need to understand you failed me in this every time before. You have to go through this test—’yea, though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you shall fear no evil for I am always with you.’ Show me you understand that. Show Satan you have strength in ME; you are doing well, you are doing fine. You’ve never walked this far with me before, keep your aim, keep doing it, faith and patience will see the promise come to pass, that’s my word. I cannot make you do this. But it is my strongest desire for you to walk through this with me. Believe me, I want you to have this promise a lot more than you do.
“Finish the race with me, then help others finish the race with me, I want as many of you taking that extra step that you never took before and you will help me, I know you will.
“All you need to do is get to the finish yourself. Don’t worry about anything else right now. I will give you clear signs—if there is something I want you to do, I will give you a clear sign. Now I want you to believe in the promise—hold on to your faith, with expectancy, joy, confidence, stay determined, do not lose sight of my promise, but know when your actions and decisions are a result of losing sight of my promise—you plant the seed, you give out the magazines, you water the seeds, which is to pray for every person, bless them, pour out every good thing out of your heart into them, pray protection over them, pray for my hand upon them according to their need: judgment if their need is to be free from bondage, and I will destroy Satan in their lives, blessing if their need is freedom and a deeper understanding of me. Your attitude when you pray over the seed must be love—that’s all you do. Then you exercise faith, believing and knowing that I am increasing your seed, I am making it grow and DO NOT, PLEASE DO NOT, PLEASE DO NOT try doing that yourself. Ed said it beautifully the other day, ‘Just let God be God’—that’s all you do, that’s our partnership; you plant a seed, you water it with prayer, and you stand in faith, patiently, and stop there—I will bring the fruit—I always do my bit if you do your bit—we have a healthy vine—This works for every seed—financial, your words, sacrifice, an emotional response (meaning an act of kindness), love, every time you plant such a seed, you then pray over it—also, you do it because of LOVE FOR ME, so pray over it, and call upon Me to bring the increase. And stand in faith—with patience, that’s it.
“Get rid of the weirdness you feel when you tithe [to the church as they were very pushy about it]—you are giving—you’re blessing the church—don’t feel weird—plant every seed in love because you are giving to me and pray over it—remember when you are praying for my hand of judgment on anyone—the feeling in your heart must be love—if it is anything else, you are in sin.
“Jealousy, ego, pride—when the body of Christ attacks each other mostly it’s done in competition, jealousy, fear, ego, pride and it comes out as ‘I am protecting my sheep from false prophets.’ They are saying it right, but the heart behind it must be love—not fear, jealousy, ambition, competition, or having a critical spirit. Remember that at any time, if someone is not accepting you, or is not treating you right, you must understand that they are just like you—maybe in that area you are stronger—but definitely they are just like you. They don’t need criticism, but prayer, just like you don’t need criticism, but prayer.” [End]
About Doing Sales Calls:
“Call with confidence knowing that I am your source, not them. You know anyway that you are not going to listen to the naysayers. You know that you will not take any negative thoughts. All naysayers will get prayed for by you. You need to have just one thought and focus: ‘I am your source!’ That’s your source of expectation—no matter who says no—I say yes!—That is all you need to focus on—even if the entire world says no—if I say ‘Yes,’ my word is above theirs. Your faith, confidence and expectations are from me, not from people. When you talk to people, expect from ME not them. It’s the reason why Joshua, Caleb, David, Joseph kept their joy, their confidence. I am your provider, that’s all you need to care about—How I will provide for you is my job. And if you need to know how I will, who I will use, or whatever, what’s behind those questions is distrust. Remember, I am your source, not people.
“Remember your joy and expectation comes from knowing I am your source—that never changes—so why should what anyone says affect you? They don’t know. YOU know. Walk with your head held high for one reason and only one reason—I am with you. Regardless of whether you achieve something or receive manifestation of the promise, there must be only one reason for your head to be held up high—because I am with you. This will keep you humble in victory and confident when you get any bad report.”
My wife then asked, “Why are you telling me all this? Isn’t this something I should have to figure out myself?”
The Lord replied, “No … I will tell you everything—you don’t need to guess and have a hard time trying to figure things out. Ask me and I will explain everything.”
A Test of Faith is a Test of Character
“When one is standing in faith, it is faith in GOD and not in one’s ability to stand in faith. And the test of knowing it is when there is manifestation, is the reaction going to be ‘God is Good! He delivers. He keeps his promises.’ Or will it be, ‘I was right all along. I did everything right. Everyone else was wrong and I was right.’
“Test as to who your faith is in. In Me or in you? Is it about Me, or is it about you? Seek Me for My kind of faith, My kind of heart, My kind of love. It is all from Me, ask Me for it and I will give it to you. Stay with Me, stay near Me. You can’t learn My ways away from Me. You can’t learn My ways if you don’t spend time with Me. Come first to Me in everything and don’t leave Me until you have your answers. Make time for Me daily.” [End]
And Money got very low and we could not earn any money from the magazines and they were not being distributed and then God said this, primarily to me. In fact when things didn’t work out I fell apart. I could not understand how to stand in faith against the facts around me. This was what God told me through my wife:
I Have Prepared a Beautiful Way Out.
“This is a test of faith that you think you’ve experienced and passed before. You’ve experienced it but have never passed it. I ask one question. What are you doing differently today that you haven’t done before?
“Come to me with an open heart and let us work this out together.
“I love you—all is well.
“This is my year of Judgment but also Overflow. Get out of judgment and come into overflow.
“Cast out fears, cast out doubt. I have prepared a beautiful way out. You must trust me and let me heal you. Come to me my son, my arms are open. Repent over the bad seed Ed. Cast that out.
“You ask what bad seed? Come to me, no one else knows—only you and I. Let us destroy it and take you into overflow.” [End]
A New Paradigm was Dawning
It may seem obvious to you now, and I hope it is, but this God who was revealing himself to us was not the God I had imagined he was. It bore no resemblance to the One I believed was on the other end of the prayer telephone I was talking to all these years.
He was not indifferent, or aloof: he was worried about me. He was not angry or exacting: he was funny and often joked and made silly puns. He wasn’t being a strict taskmaster, he had made beautiful plans for me!
He told me he likes colors, he likes orchids, he likes numbers, he has personal interests, opinions and feelings. It took me many years of healing to embrace this reality, but it was plain for me to look back and see that already at this time He was revealing himself like this to us. God was just not the cruel taskmaster that I imaged all these years him to be.
And I remember later when I was writing the first edition of the book on Communion (hearing God’s voice) and I was trying to explain what it was like talking with him and I was explaining the Holy Spirit is God’s mind, will and … and before I could say ‘emotions’ I stopped because I was about to describe the Holy Spirit the way we often describe a human soul: our mind, will and emotions; and he knew my thoughts and said “Yes, for the purposes of talking with me, the Holy Spirit is my soul.” I said, “No, God you are wrong, you don’t have a soul. The soul is the part of fallen people that is malfunctioning, right? … right?”
But he was silent and I already heard him the first time. So I opened the Bible search program and searched for the word ‘soul’—does the Bible say God has a soul?
God’s Soul
Of course it does, many times in fact! Different version use different words and the NIV is notorious for streamlining the text, taking away key spiritual words and substituting easier common terms that regular people understand more easily they think (but really misunderstand so often). But even the NIV did not erase all the references of God saying things like, ‘My Soul hates the people who do evil,’ and ‘My soul delights in the upright.” Here are 10 verses where God mentions his soul in the KJV:
Leviticus 26:11—And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
Leviticus 26:30—And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
Isaiah 1:14—Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
Jeremiah 5:9—Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Jeremiah 5:29—Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Jeremiah 6:8—Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
Jeremiah 9:9—Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Jeremiah 12:7—I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
Matthew 12:18—Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
Hebrews 10:38—Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
God has a ‘soul’ and he explained to me that we are made in his image, and even our emotions are something like his, only he is not corrupted like we are so we are not functioning emotionally like him exactly. But he gets angry, he gets happy, he’s an emotional God he said, and explained this in more detail a few years later, but all I mean is until we began to talk with him like this I just didn’t know him this way.
Faith is the Key to Fulfilled Promises
The second most profound change of perspective regarding understanding prophecy I had was understanding prophecy is fulfilled by faith—it is not Fate. I’ll try to explain this but I’m not very good at explaining it sometimes. I say with personal prophecy it is not like a statement of FATE that I cannot avoid, but more like an OFFER OF DESTINY that is being proposed to me.
Faith he said is the fight against fear. It’s a natural consequence of opening our heart to Him, a natural result of him speaking to us. And again this is our faith: patience, with the right attitude.
I now see Hebrews where he says in Hebrews 3:7 to 4:3 that faith is needed to enter the promises of God, which section can maybe be summarized with the verse Hebrews 4:2-3a—
“2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest ….”
And so you end up also saying, “Today, if you hear God’s voice, don’t harden your hearts.” That is, when he speaks open your heart to hear his word, soften your heart and believe it!
Really people do hear him speak but they do not receive because of their hard hearts, unbelief and maybe unwillingness to stand in faith.
The big learning here to me was that God’s promises do not just come to pass on their own. God’s promises are on offer but are only claimed, received, laid hold of and enjoyed by the people investing FAITH in them.
Like Isaiah 55, God’s word is like rain AND SNOW that waters the earth. How does snow water anything? It’s frozen! Well, it has to wait until the Spring season and then it MELTS. If God’s word is like rain and snow, then the snow is like a Word of Promise spoken that needs a warm season to melt it in order for it to come to pass. I had seen dreams of snowfall and people acting badly because they had no faith that God had a plan for them. The promises of God had not begun to melt, so they wrongly figured they were void or had failed. No, they just needed to invest faith in them to see them melt so they would come to pass!
OK, someone will say, maybe it wasn’t the right season either. Sure, but notice that for Jesus it was ALWAYS the right season for God’s promises to come to pass, especially for personal promises of healing, comfort and provision. For people of more faith they pray and get answers faster than those of less faith for healing or protection or money, etc. So are you sure things don’t happen for you because it’s not the right ‘time’ to be healthy, pay the rent or stop the chaos? I think maybe, sometimes—but the Kingdom does not advance by ‘time’ but by violence or force. Jesus told me it’s not human violence or force but “the force of a faith that won’t be denied.”
God’s promises have inherent power within them, yet they do not come to pass in our lives … UNLESS someone puts faith in them.
Then someone will say: there are things God says that will happen no matter what and are not conditioned upon anyone’s faith. Yes, but there are so many others, especially personal promises, which are! What is the difference and how do you know? I can’t give a witty reply. There simply is a difference. People may say ‘God spoke it so it has to happen,’ and well, that’s good if it helps a person stop doubting, put the questions away, and still their faith, but actually it’s the Faith that moves the mountains. Personal prophecy is not a spectator’s sport!
Realizing God Could Teach Me
A third realization I began to firmly grasp was that God actually knows what he is doing. It was especially clear that He knew what the Bible actually means and was willing AND ABLE to teach me his views on it.
The effect this had on me was to make me very skeptical and unable to teach with confidence any doctrine or belief that I previously had but which I had not yet heard Jesus confirm to me. This uncertainly lasted many years concerning some of the common modern teachings even I used to preach. Issues of authority, money, faith and deliverance, well, too many areas to list here by name, but when I found out God could explain things to me plainly and brilliantly and his ideas where so different from the things Man had taught me, I just wanted to learn from him alone, and also only wanted to teach what he taught me himself. I never wanted to teach Man’s inaccuracies again! This is actually 1 Corinthians 2:6-13: and allow me to paraphrase:
Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has entered into the hearts of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him … but he has revealed these things to us … by his Spirit. … We have received the Spirit so that we may understand the things God has freely given us … and THIS is what we speak about.
We as teachers and preachers often act as if God did not know, does not reveal and would not teach us his ways, so we must decide what the Bible means on our own, and that means it means anything we want it to mean. People pridefully teach any idea or doctrine or theory they come up with and confidently proclaim it’s the True Gospel, the Full Gospel, the Only Way to Believe, and simply say it’s so because they follow their opinions with a verse.
But the more I heard God speak the more I was able to test what He said against what we taught in church and it was not always the same. More than it being a problem of words, it was often a problem of heart. More than doctrines it was attitudes. More than titles and roles it was relationships. And really more than a text or a book or a doctrine it was about the presence of God, the Spirit of God, the person of God abiding.
Many spiritual things began to clarify themselves and I began to be able to distinguish man’s ideas, man’s motives, man’s ways from the pure motives, pure thoughts and pure ways of the Spirit. The Flesh was coming into focus allowing me to be more aware and avoid it more than I ever could before.
