Monday, June 19, 2006
Not to distract from the previous post...since I wrote it. Yes, I am unashamedly calling you delinquent bloggers to comment on the post below. But, I wanted to ask a new question. What do you guys think about current day prophecy and how it plays out in day to day life? Some could say that I was prophesied to the other day at work. It was sorta weird. Thoughts?
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8 comments:
Just be sure to realize that if you are wrong, God has given the community the freedom to take you to the city gates and stone you to death...
I am pretty sure that the airwaves would be less about the future and more about the reconciliation that needs to take place today if that rule was inforced today...
Church discipline? What?! That doesn't really happen. It was always a myth. Relativism is just too good for absolute truth and ultimate consequences to be reality. Whew. I'm glad we cleared that up. My advice, Melanie... just make sure your head is covered, girl. I'm done being sarcastic now.
I'm not just trying to avoid the question, but I agree with our anonymous friend. I think there are bigger things with which we should be concerned. Still, it's an interesting thing to gather opinions on. And what are blogs good for if not that very thing? HMMmmm… I think maybe it's not necessary any longer (prophesying, that is), at least the way we think of it today. (?) I've taken to typing things without really thinking about them. Forgive me if I'm dumb by instinct. :)
I can't say that I'm sure about the question. To be honest, prophesying isn't something I think about too much. And also to be honest, if someone prophesied to me, I'd probably think that they were crazy. Seriously crazy. But on the other hand, God works in mysterious ways and I don't think you could say that anything is impossible. So I guess I come back to "I dunno."
I would, however, like to hear more about this experience.... And I'll try to continue thinking about your last post.
BTW, Laura, you're cute. Hahaha
Okay, to clear things up, from what I've heard and such, prophesying isn't so much about telling the future but more of being a spokesman for God, speaking the words of God in encouragement or admonition, etc. What happenned was this: I was in the break room at work and randomly this other worker whom I have never spoken to as I can recall, asked me if I went to church. He asked me if I had a relationship with Jesus and how it was going. He said that he could see God's hand on my life and that He had a great work for me to do. Also, he said that he could tell I didn't fit in with the other girls at the store, like I didn't fit with the world. He was like, "I don't know if something's going on in your personal life, etc," but was telling me to dig in and seek God. Not just casually but down on my face seeking him. He said what I choose to do is my choice, but that God has a mighty work for me and there are people that only I can reach. Nothing freaky or propositions of the rapture or anything like that, but for someone who I have scarcely ever even seen to say all that was slightly unusual.
Hmm, encouragement. I'm a really firm believer in encouraging others, so I have to say kudos to Mysterious Weird Guy for being able to do something that we all find as socially unacceptable to spread God's love through his own ways. Yeah, I'd be totally freaked out and avoid the guy like the plague despite the fact that I think what he did was completely Biblical and hopefully well-intentioned (is that a word?). It just doesn't fit into our social norms.
I don't believe there is any sense in predicting the future or Norstradamus-type declarations. To me, you can twist anything to suit your purposes. As Sexy pointed out, people who claim to see the future probably need some serious medication . . .
But as far as God having big plans in your life, Mel, I'm sure of it. I don't really reckon that "mighty work" has a definition. Maybe it's curing cancer or making a child smile. Both are equally important. Maybe the child you made laugh is the one who will cure cancer. I'm proud and amazed that the guy challenged you to seek deeper. Of course, I'd really get my back up if someone did that to me with the whole "What!? You're telling me my relationship with God is lacking??" But at the same time, isn't that what the body of Christ is for? Isn't one of the ideas behind Shalom (sorry, non-podders, I'm not really trying to exclude y'all) to help us all grow stronger spiritually, mentally and physically?
I know that I need to work on all those areas of my life. And for the first time ever, I seriously mean ever, I feel like I've got people who love me and can be those encouragers for me. It's amazing how blessed I am.
I know this is way off your original thoughts, Mel, and I'm sorry. The dumb by instinct thing applies to me as well, please. What I'm trying, and likely failing, to express is that I'm gonna try to be open to any admonition and prophesying any of my friends want to do in my life. I think it's Good to remind each other that God is at work through us. I hope that I can be a source of encouragement to all of y'all. But I've rambled long enough . . . sry. :)
Hmmm, some interesting thoughts here. If I remember my Old Testament, the fact that the prophets of old were often sent to strange and foreign lands should tell us something about people in general. It seems that we rarely listen to ourselves and in the same way we hardly ever take those around us very seriously - it is when a total stranger espousing the word of God jolts our attention.
Just like demon possession, prophesy seems to have taken a back seat to those with critical minds in the Western culture. And those who do believe in it in the West are places in the realm of trailer parks, Elvis fans and UFO abducties - if not good dancers and hand raisers on TV. So when something like what happened to Mel the other day occurs, we sort of chuckle and sweep it under the carpet.
I am not saying that the encounter was divinely appointed, but I am not saying that it wasn't. What I will say is that God is always trying to get our attention, so much so that he is constantly has us on his mind and in his sight. it is up to us to realize this and to allow him to enter into our daily lives, so that these God moments we seem to refer to - become eternal points of reference in a life totally submitted to him. Even Moses needed a burning bush and Peter needed a campfire cooking fish to remind them of this.
Just to clear up my previous commentary, I wasn't talking about prophecy in the commonly accepted definition of future-telling. (Commonly accepted meaning what most people think, not what scholars say.) I was assuming, and correctly so, that you meant what you said. But I would also be hesitant to listen to someone who predicted my future. And my first instinct would definitely be to think that they needed serious medication.
What I meant was, I think that kind of affront, while it certainly can be a positive thing in someone's life, is startling and socially unacceptable. So my first instinct would be to think that they were crazy. But I guess I also agree with our anonymous commenter that God works in mysterious ways and that sometimes the only way God can get our attention is by shocking us. So I guess I'm leaning toward the idea that modern day prophecy isn't uncommon because people don't have that gift, but because people won't listen, either to the voice of God or each other. But that's not to say that I wouldn't still have a negative reaction to something like that coming from a total stranger.
And thanks for the story, Melanie.
Just so you all know...I don't really know what happenned or if it was God's message to me, or what. It was just a weird experience. The guy said he had the gift of discernment, well that everyone has it, but not everyone is mature enough in their relationship with God for it to be as developed. So...there you go. And I see no reason to dismiss prophecy as most 'scholars' and a lot of non scholars see it. It is clearly a gift given in the NT and one that Paul puts "higher" up on the list, if I'm not mistaken, which I very well could be, because it is encouraging and edifying to the body for someone to sense a need and fulfill it. Wow that was the run on sentence of the millenium.
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