Prophetic Pitfalls

"In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, "Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die…"

"…When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord."

Chapter nine in The Prophetic Path lists some of the snares, snags and seductions that are baited, set and waiting to take out God's prophets. No surprise there. A gift ministry is a high-value target. The greater the gift, the more deadly and sophisticated the weapons used against it. Fortunately, all God's children, including prophets, are re-born with a Lifetime Warranty.

God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.

Each test. Every trial. No exceptions.

The Holy Spirit doesn't eliminate temptations. He overcomes them for us.

I have survived onslaughts of lies, exaggerations and attacks against my reputation, and all they accomplished was to teach me to press deeper into the Lord.

While the prophetic path leads to the Lord, the path frequently runs through thorns and brambles, veers off here and there or challenges us to go this way or that. When I've made a right choice, I got a hug; if I made a wrong one, I took a beating. When they've made enough wrong choices and suffered enough beatings, some people quit. They don't necessarily turn away from God, but they stop doing what he called them to do, start making excuses and live unfulfilled the rest of their lives.

Nehemiah and his quest to rebuild the wall and gates of Jerusalem faced tremendous opposition from Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem. They fought against him, mocked him and tried in every way to discredit his purpose to restore the city.

Most opposition, if you're anointed as a prophet and begin the journey, comes from those closest to you. Jealous, they despise you for being raised up by the Lord and will use all manner of lies and division to try to dishearten you on your journey.

Flattery, too, can dislodge our faith.

My greatest battles have come from those who have called me brother and sabotaged me at the first opportunity. They've spread lies to wound or discourage me. They've ignored biblical guidelines for dealing with a brother who offends them and made up their own rules.

But the Lord says,

"Do my prophets no harm," and they find themselves opposing the Lord himself.

Of course, we're human. We don't always turn to him.

Sometimes we think we can handle it, we underestimate a sin's power or allow it to become such a familiar habit that it now seems impossible to break. It's a dangerous way to think, yet, we do.

I've been blindsided and bloodied a lot over the years. In my early days as a prophet, one of my mentors regularly warned me that I would be tempted by pennies, petticoats or pride, and my failures always had one of two results. When I had humility, I found myself set down beside the Holy Spirit for a talk. When I didn't, the demons hammered me with guilt, depression and self-loathing.

We need to be aware that there are many holes along our path, but it's counterproductive to stare at them as we walk along and worry about falling into one. That's living a horizontal life. Rather, the prophet needs to continually develop a vertical relationship with the Spirit—eyes off the problem and locked on the loving Solution.

I'm not saying the prophet shouldn't work or care for his family or take everybody to a theme park. Having an ongoing relationship with and awareness of the Holy Spirit is not abandoning life and sitting with him by a stream in the woods from morning to night. It's learning to walk together with him through our fallen world and to relate to him wherever we are and whatever we're doing.

How does it happen? I don't know. I got to know him through Scripture, revelation, experiences, disasters, everything life is made of. And over the years he filled my mind and my heart, until now I can't imagine being apart from him.