CONTENDING FOR THE PROMISES OF GOD IN YOUR LIFE
Every time I return to Brooklyn Park Lutheran, I still get razzed about how I answered a certain altar call. I was sitting in the middle of the row at the 2002 Holy Spirit Conference listening to Francis Frangipane. He had been speaking on the necessity of Christ-likeness and the specific topic was God’s heart for the nations. When the invitation was given, I ran over about 15 people, stepping on toes to get to the front ASAP. Ever since then, my friends encourage me to sit on an aisle seat.What I remember most about that conference was the promises God gave to me. God gave me a number of other important prophetic promises and launched me on a journey that ended with me serving at the International House of Prayer, Kansas City (IHOP-KC). God has fulfilled some of the prophetic promises in a small part, but I am still contending for everything that God has on His heart for me.
Many of you have received promises from God in your quiet time. Perhaps you are waiting for God to save a lost loved one or family member. Perhaps you need a financial miracle. Perhaps you are standing on the promises of God concerning healing. However, it seems like God keeps delaying. There is the emotional pain of watching things apparently go the opposite way. Doubt creeps into our hearts. Did God really promise this to me? Is God really faithful? Hope deferred is making your heart sick.
Sadly, most people give up on God’s promises. What do we do with an unfulfilled promise of God? This article isn’t an attempt to answer all of your questions. Whole books have been written on the subject of personal prophecy and praying God’s promises. From my limited experience, I want to look at two approaches that don’t work and some principles in standing for the promises of God in your life.
Pitfall #1: God is Sovereign and will do what He will do.
This is a liaise-faire approach to God’s personal promises. The reasoning goes, “Since God said it, I don’t need to do anything because He will automatically do it without my help.” Then when it doesn’t come to pass, people blame God for being unfaithful. The problem with this is we don’t understand the difference between personal prophecy and scriptural prophecy.
First, scriptural prophecy is unconditional but all personal prophecy is conditional. When God gives a personal prophecy (either through someone else, or by a personal encounter with God), God is announcing some of His intentions towards us. Personal prophetic promises are always meant to draw us into knowing God deeper. Even if there no conditions are stated in the prophetic word, there are always general conditions such as faithful obedience to Jesus.
Pitfall #2: Trying to “play God” and make the promises happen in my own strength.
The opposite error of the above problem is trying to make everything happen in my own strength. (This is the one I usually fall into). One sad case in my recollection: In August 1995, God gave me a personal promise that he would use me to send revival to Bethel College. In November 1995, I was given word that I was selected to preach in Chapel in January of 1996 because of a speech I had written on reconciliation. Guess what I assumed?
Overjoyed, I told everyone on my dorm house floor and provoked lots of bitter envy. I figured, all I needed to do now was to fast for a few days (my first experience ever with prayer and fasting) and revival would surely come. There was only one problem: God didn’t send a revival at that time and he warned me that He wasn’t going to during the fast. However, it was too late to turn back now.
The result was really bad: Everyone on my floor was mad at me, calling me a false prophet, and I was questioning God after the whole situation. I had fallen into the trap of trying to use my own strength to do what only God could do. In the Bible, Abraham did the same thing and created “Ishmael”. Even as I write this, we are dealing with the consequences of presumption concerning the current conflict in the Middle East between the descendents of Isaac and Ishmael.
Since a liaise-fare approach won’t work and we can’t do God’s part for ourselves, what are we left with? In between the two ditches is a journey in God called “contending”. This involves a “wrestling” or a “struggling” with God (with prayer and fasting) even in difficult situations. Jacob wrestled with God before meeting his brother Esau. Paul charged Timothy to fight the fight of faith according to the prophecies spoken over him. Throughout history, we hear of intercessors “praying through” until God granted the request. Here are some principles I have found helpful:
1.) The Isaac Principle: Is my prophetic promise an idol? God spoke from Mt. Sinai saying, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Idols are not just little statues that people bow down to. Idolatry begins when we begin to esteem anything or anyone above God himself. In Genesis 22, God tested Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice the promised child, Isaac. Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac proved his first loyalty to God as a friend and his enormous faith.
2.) The pure heart principle: Do I want God’s promise primarily for my own honor, pleasure or comfort? James 4 tells us that we do not have because we do not ask. James goes on to tell his readers that when they do ask, they do not receive because they ask with wrong motives so that they can gratify their selfish desires.
3.) The Kingdom of God principle: the fulfillment of God’s promise will primarily bless others and advance the overall Kingdom of God forward in some dimension. We need to make sure that our dream is connected with God’s dream’s overall as described in the scriptures.
4.) The free-will principle: God so esteems us that He will not violate our free-choices. Even the end-time drama is about God bringing the most people possible into the highest level of love for His Son…without violating anyone’s free will. Therefore personal and prophetic promises involving other people (i.e…the salvation of a loved one) also involve their human choice as well as our personal decisions.
5.) The maturity principle: Can I walk in the promise of God without the fulfillment destroying my walk with God? I am very thankful that God has not allowed me to consistently walk in some of my prophetic promises involving widespread signs and wonders yet. In the 1940’s and in other cases, God anointed vessels with real intense miraculous gifts. However, very few people had the wholeness and character to stay steady in the grace of God. As the result, most of them fell into grievous sin, ruined their lives, and left wounds in the Body of Christ that have hindered many.
It’s sort of like training for medical school. We don’t hand the scalpel to a would-be surgeon who is in high school. We also don’t hand the keys to the car to a 10-year old who wants to be a race-car driver someday. There is always the journey of faith and training involved. The more intense the prophetic promise, the more intense (and lengthier) the preparation process will be.
6.) The brokenness principle: Prophetic promises come out of weakness and brokenness redeemed for the glory of God. God used a stuttering servant named Moses to lead Israel out of the wilderness. God used a fearful Gideon to rescue Israel from Midian. God used Abraham who had problems with deception as a pioneer on what it means to walk in faith. Closer to our day, God has used Bob Sorge speaking from his vocal injury to encourage thousands (perhaps millions) of believers to not give up when facing adversity.
7.) The Drama principle: God often fulfills his promises in the most dramatic way possible. There is a divine timing and poetic flow involved. For example, in May of 1999, my senior year in college, I found myself in the middle of a move of God on campus. God did fulfill that promise in 1995 and brought revival to Bethel College
8.) The Kindness of God Principle: It is out of God’s kindness and delight in us that the promises of God fulfilled. Ultimately, God himself is our great reward…forever!
posted by 神的僕人Mak @ 12:00 PM
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