The inadequacies, failures and fears of our lives—whatever our “its” may be—blind us to the possibility of hope. God has clearly evidenced His desire to see every aspect of His design for our lives fulfilled, and in sending and spending Jesus, God lovingly and tenderly was saying, “This is what you are worth in My plan.”
Receive the Holy Spirit’s Prophecy About You
As you face your private circumstances, I want to encourage you to see, in the heartbeat of Paul’s letter to Timothy, a letter written to you:
I urge you to remain where you are; don’t back away. Wage a good warfare, according to the prophecies that were spoken over you. (1 Timothy 1:3, 18, paraphrased)
Prophecy does not only relate to future events forthcoming in the history of our world or to the study of past events in which we see the marvel of God fulfilling what He said He would do. There is another order of prophecy in the Bible in which the Holy Spirit speaks to people about themselves.
You’ve probably experienced it as I have. It may be when you are reading the Bible, and all of a sudden, a verse seems to jump off the page and speak specifically to you. Or you may be facing a given situation and feel uncertain about it, and He will whisper to your soul things that the Bible says but which are not direct quotes.
The Holy Spirit speaks to us by the breath of His Spirit about things that have to do with the Father’s purpose in us. We sense it, way down deep: This is what I’m about. That sense of mission and calling is not idle fancy; it is prophecy from the Creator saying, I made you for that.
There are also prophecies that come from a brother or sister in the Lord as they are speaking with you or praying with you. (I don’t mean bizarre or presumptuous things some oddball person may say—things that have no support in Scripture or clash with the inner witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.) But when “words” or prophetic promptings are aligned with the Word of God, there is reason to permit their comfort and confirmation to deepen our sense of the Father’s purpose, plan and provision for our lives.
Confront the “IT” in Your Life
Paul urged Timothy to “wage a good warfare.” In the Greek text, the single verb for that is strateuo, from which we get our word, strategy. Strategy has to do with recognizing the tactics of the enemy. It has to do with taking the high ground, with thinking clearly in the middle of the flack and holding our ground.
What’s your strategy when “pot shots from hell” are coming at you from every direction? As Paul says by the Spirit of God to Timothy, so the word is to you and me: Don’t let turmoil change your mind about what God has said about you. He’s not going to back away from the investment He has made in you.
God has invested the life of His precious Son, Jesus Christ, in you and me in order that His purpose be fulfilled in us, no matter what “its” we face—no matter what problems, pain or struggles seek to obstruct our confidence in that. So let us receive and affirm the prophecies that have been spoken over our lives and stand our ground as His disciples.
Be urged and encouraged to confront whatever “IT” may be in your life, to recognize the infinite worth, great promise, high hopes and certain future you have in God’s purpose. Hear the Holy Spirit say, as I did that morning on the Oregon coast, “The investment I’ve made in you is assured.”
And remember, loved one … you’re worth more than “IT.”
Copyright © 2005, 2010 Jack W. Hayford, Jack Hayford Ministries, Van Nuys, CA 91405. All rights reserved.