A Prophetic Word for 2009

Below is an article I received regarding "prophetic words." As the article points out, there is a problem with type of prophecy that says good things are just around the corner. Tomorrow is going to be a better day. The emotions get worked up and offerings given in anticipation of a financial return in the immediate future. We want revival, but revival without repentance seems a rarity. Where is the preaching to repent? Yes, there are some that are giving the truth but their number is small compared to the "happy" prophetic preachers. Commit to preach and teach repentance. You may not receive the smile of man, but you will from God. The article follows:

The flood of prophecies for 2009 have begun to come in. They sound
remarkably similar to most I have been hearing for the past 15 years!
"This is the year of revival! This is the year of His power. This is the
year of increase! This is the year of harvest." You mean it really,
really, really is going to happen this time?

I cringe to remember giving "prophetic" words like that! We mistook
emotional fervor and hype for anointing. There was no judgement!
There was no accountability. The only point was the "power" of
the prophetic utterance in that moment. It was paid performance
art pure and simple! Forgive us Lord!

There is a major problem with all of the prophecies about revival to
come. It is a religious problem which Jesus encountered. Religion
will get all excited about the Messiah to come but try to kill Him
when He is standing in their midst (Luke 4:16- 30). Why? The
Messiah in the future does not demand faith and obedience now!

The revival to come does not demand obedience now. We can feel
all warm and fuzzy about the wonderful word and clap at what God
will do while conveniently forgetting that where ever people are
simply obeying Jesus they are seeing the Kingdom multiply now.

The future can be an escape from present responsibility!

Prophecies about revival to come lessen personal responsibility
even further by emphasizing what God WILL do rather than what
God has already done! If Jesus has dealt with all sin on the cross
and if Jesus has all authority, then we are completely, totally and
absolutely without excuse!

The problem is not with God! His work is finished! The problem is
with the laborers! Jesus commanded us to pray for the laborers!
He did not ask us to pray for the harvest. He did not even ask us
to pray against the demons! As a matter of record in Luke 10:18,
Jesus saw "Satan fall like lightning from heaven" AFTER the
disciples went out to befriend, demonstrate and declare the
Kingdom. The gospel of the Kingdom only has power as it is
demonstrated and declared outside the four walls of our comfort
zones! Much of the fervor of the spiritual warfare movement is
simply the avoidance of doing the now work in the fields.

In John 4, the disciples did not want to go through Samaria but
Jesus did. He talked to a woman and had a revival in that town.
Jesus pointed out the difference between Himself and the disciples.
It was a difference of vision!

"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the
harvest?' Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the
fields, for they are already white for harvest", John 4:35.

The disciples saw bare, hard ground. Jesus saw white fields.
Same view, different eyes, different vision! The problem was not
with the harvest but with the laborers!

Harvest fields tend to be poor and difficult places. Harvesting is
hard work where ever the field! You have to get dirty and involved.
Sinners do not give honorariums. Discipleship is about one on one
stuff! Jesus sent away the crowds in order to invest himself in the
twelve. Revival is not about platforms and performances. It is
about relationships, sacrifice and obedience.

I have a prophetic word for 2009. It is a prophetic word which as
been accurate for about 2,000 years and which always will be
accurate! It comes from Paul,

"Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of
salvation." II Corinthians 6:2b

And you are right! This is the same as the "Prophetic Word for 2008"!

That was the most forwarded article of 2008 and I think it deserves a resend.

Be challenged afresh!