Prophetic-School: Prophets being rejected

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Prophets being rejected (Michael Gerner)

Originally from:

Originally dated: Sun, 31 Aug 1997 15:01:23 -0400 (EDT)

A recurrent theme I have heard from many prophets is that, "now that I have shared I will be rejected".

Who was it said they would write a bestseller entitled, "Hurting Prophets and Insecure Pastors"?

It's certainly true that sometimes the word of God will be rejected. That happens independent of the means of transmittal, whether by prophetic word, vision, scripture, sermon, dream or whatever. The Holy Spirit can use many means to bring people to conviction and repentance - even an earthquake (Acts 16:29-30)!

But sometimes the rejection of the prophet is caused by the manner of the prophet himself or herself. For example, if I share a prophecy out of a heart of manipulation or control, people will generally sense that and react against it.

I know of one person who left a church to start up another one, but not without sharing a "word from the Lord" to several key people that the Lord wanted them to join him. Knowing the person concerned, I am sure he genuinely felt that the Lord had spoken. Yet his message was (thankfully) rejected by many, although not by all (with tragic consequences).

Alternatively, if I share a message out of pride in my own abilities as a prophet, or out of anything else that is not totally the Lord, then that too will be sensed by the recipients and my message rejected.

John 10:2-5

2
The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep.
3
The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4
When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
5
But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise a stranger's voice." (NIV)

So in summary, if as a prophet my words are rejected, I need to ask the fundamental question:

"To the best of my knowledge, having asked the Holy Spirit to shed His light on my conscience, did I share God's word in God's way at God's time to God's choice of audience?"

If the answer to that question is not a certain "yes", then there is an element of my own responsibility for the rejection of the word. I can't just blame other people "stubbornly" rejecting the word of the Lord.

One of the classic tricks of the enemy is to cause a prophet to feel alienated from the rest of the flock (I King 19:14). There may often even be some justification for the sense of hurt. But at these times it is important for the prophet or prophetess to keep his or her eyes on the Lord. Only He can direct us what to do in these circumstances. Only He can heal the wound (often only after the choice has been made to forgive).

The alternative is that a "wedge" or distance is formed in the prophet's heart between the prophet and the flock. This is not the heart of Jesus, who is intimately and passionately in love with His flock and who fully identifies with us even to the point of taking our sin upon Himself at Calvary. And this difference between the heart of the prophet and the heart of the Good Shepherd will become evident sooner or later to the sheep, who will in turn run away from the prophet.

If we have known rejection, maybe it is time for us to ask the Lord to remove the beam from our own eye before we can see clearly to remove the mote from our brother's eye!

As a sheep of the Lord I have been listening to many words on this list. Some I have witnessed to, some I have not. They "felt" wrong, I can't put it more clearly than that. I would encourage all of us to develop that attitude of listening to the Spirit as we read the words shared on this list.

I personally would feel a lot happier if folks would do that when I am sharing, because I am NOT perfect and I make mistakes. But it would sure help if somebody could say, "Well, that bit was OK but I didn't witness to the other. Perhaps you need to pray more about it, brother!" Would you do that for me, my brothers and sisters? I would really appreciate it.

I'll close with the words of one much wiser than myself on this topic. May the grace of Jesus be on your heart, soul, mind and body!

1 Cor 14:1

1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. (NIV)

Blessings

Michael

Mgerner@aol.com


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