Did I Disqualify Myself From My Word?
(Feb 20, 2002)

Eleanor wrote this question:

In 2001 I was blessed with a prophetic word that included me traveling to minister across the seas. Since that time I've received another prophetic word a litle over a year later which was more laid back than the first one in 2001.

My question is, if I've been disobedient in my walk with God, have I changed the prophetic word or will God keep His Word as His Word dictates?

I have had a similarly "preplexing" situation which I will share shortly. Let me start by giving you four different possible explanations of what happened:

1. One or the other of the prophets heard wrong or made the mistake of giving a grandious word (e.g. a word that was promising more than God was) or an understated word (e.g, leaving out details or promises that God gave them cuz they were not 100% sure it was God). I hope I was not one of the prophets , but even if I was, prophets (even good prophets) are not infallable and can make mistakes.

   I am not 100% accurate myself .. shock of shock. I can only think of 1 time that I have missed it (and know about it) but there could easily be others I am not aware of. Elvi Glass (a friend of mine at that time) was in the early stages of her pregancy and was having difficulties that looked like a possible miscarriage in progress. She was a bit alarmed and we chatted before the trip to the doctor's. I gave her a word that the child would come full term and that it would be healthy and THAT IT WOULD BE A BOY. (I almost never prophecy the sex of an unborn child, but I thought I heard God so clearly on this one.) I also heard the "call of God" on the child's life.. its spiritual destiny. Well, they got through the potential miscarriage, the baby was full term (and then some) .. usually Elvi has her children about 3 weeks before the doctor estimates it is due.. this once came later than the estimate. It was a perfectly healthy baby Girl. They named her Rachel.

   But Rachel is a girl, not a boy. So I clearly missed it on this one. Because of that error, I am not sure whether or not the part of the child's spiritual destiny is correct.. we will see as she grows up. (I am, of course very happy that that part about no miscarriage and the baby being born healthy were accurate). But I definately heard wrong when I predicted that this particular baby would be a little boy.

   Most of the time I am very accurate when it comes to specific details. But that time I missed it. It does happen from time to time, and that is part of why it is so important for each of us to to prayerfully judge all prophetic words that we get.

2. It is possible that our disobedience or willfulness or lack of meeting the conditions of a prophecy will nullify it. Some of the time, the conditions are explicitely stated and other times they are not spelled out in the word. For instance, if God told someone that He would bless their marriage and turn the heart of their spouse towards them over the next year. And say they divorced their spouse a month later. Their behavior of initiating a divorce immedaly after getting the word would usually nullify the prophecy... because they intentionally changed circumstances before God had a chance to work on both of their hearts and restore the relationship.

   Usually if you are in rebellion against God, the Holy Spirit will convict you and make it very clear to you. You will know that you are in trouble with Him and you will know what changes you will have to make to rectify the situation. So the chances of being disqualified from a prophecy because of unknown rebellion is unlikely... usually God will make it very clear to you.

3. God may have something else that He wants to talk to you about. If God gave you a word one time and then talked about something different the next time, that does not nullify the first word. He simply changed subjects and talked about something else this time. That happens frequently. Last time He may have wanted to talk to you about your calling and destiny. This time He may have wanted to talk to you about practical changes in your day to day life. Next time He may want to talk to you about breaking the enemy's power in a certain area of your life. Sometimes God repeats himself in words and other times He breaks new ground instead.

4. The ministry style of the prophet can effect the type of word God will give you throught that prophet. For instance, God may use one prophet to primarily give specifics about situations and directive things about how to respond to them... He may use another prophet to talk about what He is doing in people's hearts, how He is molding and preparing them and what their spiritual gifts are. So when the first prophet gives you a word, God uses them in the ares of specific direction and details, including specifics of future ministry. When the next prophet gives you a word, the tell you about the types of refiner's fire God has been taking you through, what character traits He is working in you and that He is birthing a specifc type of anointing or spiritual gift in you. The two words are both accrate, they are just focusing on different things. The bible says "we see in part, we prophecy in part" -- and sometimes God will use one prophet for certain "parts" and a different prophet for other "parts".

   Let's hyothetically take the case of Moses as a young teen. God may send one prophet to tell him that God has a call and destiny on his life to lead His people and teach them His way. He could send another prophet to tell Moses that he will be exhiled to a foreign land, but fear not because God will bring him home. He could send another prophet to tell him that God would perform signs and wonders through them to the point where his very nation will be shaken. Those prophecies sound very different, don't they? They almost sound in conflict with each other. Any yet they were all real parts of God's plan for Moses.

Now on to my similar experience. I can relate to how you must feel, because I had a similar experience myself. In August of 2001, Bill Hamon came to California to meet with the CI ministers there (including me), and we were promised that each of us would receive prophetic ministry at that meeting. I had never been prophecied to by Bill Hamon before and I was really looking forward to it because I very much respected Bill Hamon as a prophet. I had received words in the past from others about God sending me to the nations, about Him releasing various anointings on me including healing and signs and wonders.

Bill prophecied that sort of thing over most of the ministers there. When he got to me, I expected that sort of word. Instead, he talked about God bringing a lot of changes into my life over the next year... some in the first half of the year but even more in the second half. He told me about how some people are trying to restrict me or tell me I am not qualified and I must not listen to them because God has called me to do it. He talked about God keeping me on the narrow path and that I must hold strictly to what God shows me to do and what I know to be His will when others try to pressure me in other directions. There was also a promise of more responsiblity and more challenge. I was told not to be anxious, to fear not and to keep waiting on God. In fact, the phrase "fear not and fret not" was used multiple times, which did not thrill me. I was basically told to keep on doing what God had already given me to do, and He would give me more opportunities later on. Then there was an aside at the end that God would provide.

That did not feel like a very encouraging word, particularly when others were getting things like, "I am lifting you up, I am enlarging your territory, I am giving you signs and wonders and miraculous healings." And (at the time) it seemed that all I got was dirctions to keep trudging along and a warning that a lot of changes were in the works that would make me want to fret and be anxious. On one level, I was so disappointed. Not one word about God having a call and destiny on my life, not one word about the nations, not one word about signs and wonders.. everyone else was getting them except me. Later than night, I began to feel like all of my previous words were null and void and like I'd somehow disqualified myself. I spent most of the night crying out to God and in the morning I called one of my mentors. He pointed out that this word does not nullify past words, that God not mentioning the power gifts did not mean that He has taken them away from me, etc. (You can read more about this experience in lesson 8 of the Desparate for a Word teaching:

http://www.godspeak.org/ps_lessons/ps18_week8.html

There are times when we feel very disapointed because God decides to speak to us about something other than what we hope He will speak to us about. This does not nullify things He has said to us in the past.