From the desk of Steve Shultz:
This is a great follow up word by John Belt on "the Spirit of Prophecy." We recently posted his first article about God releasing new prophetic voices in this hour (click here to view) and this continues with the testimony of Jesus Christ—which is the spirit of prophecy. If you've wanted to grow in the prophetic, this is a great word and teaching on the subject. And by the way...we've all got room to grow.
I know that many are reporting that there's been an increase in prophetic revelation in just this year alone. God is speaking and is teaching us to hear and obey at the same time. Let's be pressing in for more...it's important!
Here are also a couple of prophetic downloads from John Belt—feel free to download even now:
John Belt:
The Spirit of Prophecy: The Prophetic Voice Breaking Through
The Testimony of Jesus
Revelation 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. We will not get very far pointing people to Christ if we are relying on our own strength to do it. To lean on the spirit of prophecy is to lean on the Lord. When we lean on getting our words from Heaven rather than our own mind, then we are saying that we need the Lord. We need the spirit of revelation. The spirit of revelation is the same spirit of prophecy. To prophesy is to release the spirit of revelation or spirit of prophecy. When we speak of dependency upon God, we cannot do this while at the same time saying that we don't like the prophetic, prophets or any prophetic expression.
John was taken up "in the spirit" on the Lord's day. We should be willing and pursue to be taken up in the Spirit, because this is one of the ways the spirit of prophecy operates—to bring revelation to us any way the Lord pleases. It is not be on our terms but His. He is the one who determines how we will receive revelation, not ourselves. It is He who sets things in motion, sets things in order and sets things in place determining what is best for us.
Daniel 2:20-22 Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him."
We are best suited to yield to His desires regarding how He would desire to speak to us. Therefore, we would do well not to get boxed up in our thinking with preconceived ideas on how the Lord will speak to us.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. This means freedom for God, then freedom for us. He is first. When God is free to do what He wants, then we will most definitely find our freedom. One of the blessings that accompany the spirit of prophecy is persecution. "Blessed are you when men shall revile you." This means to spit out of their mouths. That is a blessing from the Lord.
In the Book of Acts they were blessed being counted worthy to suffer for the Lord. Suffering is not always physical, but in many cases through the words and actions of men taken captive by the devil—speaking evil of us. Just remember, when you are spoken evil of, gossiped about for obeying God, you can only be promoted. We see this in the life of Joseph. All that he experienced only brought about the ultimate purpose and promotion of God in his life.
There is a persecution that comes in some form when we embrace the spirit of prophecy. To not embrace it is to settle for a lukewarm spirit, tolerating Jezebel and religious systems. It is compromise to settle for less than God's best, the spirit of prophecy. To live by the mind of man, which means having to have everything figured out from a natural, intellectual standpoint, is to forfeit the spirit of revelation. God has a way of offending our natural thinking so that we will lean on His.
A Pure Voice of Prophecy
Psalm 19:9-13 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression.
Lord, deliver us from all presumptuous sin. Many times people claim to know more than they do, even speaking untruths in the name of the "prophetic" about people. For us to speak from the Lord's heart we need to understand the peril of mixing our own flesh in prophecy. God is against this mixture. We need to bring things up to a higher standard, realizing WHOSE NAME we are tagging our voice to.
When we can remove all selfishness out of the picture, especially in regards to others who we have preconceived ideas and opinions about, then we can grow up in these areas, sparing people from hurt and misunderstandings. This will help keep people from despising the true prophecy coming from the heart of God to others. The spirit of prophecy is a pure, clear river flowing from the Throne of God. We must clean our filters to keep it that way when it flows through us. May the Lord give us clear eyes to see what He is doing without our own flesh getting in the way. It is in this place that we will have true authority to accomplish what He is concerned about versus our own desires.
Get On the List!
Ezekiel 37:3-4 And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" So I answered, "O Lord God, You know." Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!'"
I'm not much of a movie buff. It's hard for me to see some things, but some of the movies that Mel Gibson plays in have this "wake up" theme that I like. In some of the roles Mel plays, he can take it for only so long, then he is focused to take out the enemy. That's the way we need to respond to the devil! There comes a time to say, "Enough is enough!" We're putting on our Braveheart/Patriot clothes with the armor of God, and we are going to blast the devil to Kingdom come! I believe this is the "wake up" we need in the Body of Christ.
It's time to take the authority that Christ has already given us, get dressed, grab your Holy Ghost tomahawk of the Word of God with the spirit of prophecy, and fling it in the devil's forehead—give him a headache that he won't soon forget! Then we can find our names listed right along with Jesus and Paul.
Acts 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?"
Time to get on the list! God desires to give His people a voice in this hour. No matter what our scope of influence is, God has a plan to give glory to His Son as His voice is found flowing through us as His vessels.
His Blessings and Peace be Yours,
John Belt
Live In His Presence Ministries
Email: admin@liveinhispresence.com
