PURSUING PROPHECIES

Reference text: Jeremiah 28:1-17

Jeremiah the prophet was swayed by the words of Hananiah, the prophet from Gibeon. One would have thought that a Prophet of Jeremiah’s calibre should have been adequately equipped to read between the lines and identify a false prophecy. Instead, we see him respond ‘Amen, may the Lord do so and make the words you have prophesied come true’.

There is something about prophecy, such that whenever it speaks positively to an individual’s situation, it is more likely to be believed and hardly questioned. Like in today’s one, Israel were to become free in two years and receive back the vessels in the Lord’s house taken to Babylon. That was good news.

We are reminded therefore, to keep our discernment up even amidst prophecy that ‘seemingly comes from God’ . Each of us must be adequately placed to weigh when they are told ‘thus says the Lord’ in light of His Word, and very often, the witness of the Spirit in our hearts.

‘Thus says the Lord’ can indeed be a blueprint for moving through life, but that has to be guided by ‘it is written’. Beloved, prophetic words have their place in our journey, but don’t become a slave to prophecies. Otherwise, you may:

• rejoice when you should be wary
• rest when you should war, or
• engage when you should retreat.

We can fall into all kinds of trouble and be steered in very many directions if we make the pursuit of prophecy our only motivation.

#sly