Maybe you are far from crying out like the false prophets of Baal who finally believed, “The Lord, He is God!” That’s ok. I understand, I was there. To my absolute and total amazement, I found out about his love for me even though I was so distant from him. I was doing so many things wrong, I never thought he would love me. But He loved me no matter what I did. Jesus just kept pursuing my heart.
Photo by Denys Argyriou
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD–he is God! The LORD–he is God!”
1 Kings 18:39
Just As We Are — God’s Prophet Elijah and the false prophets of Baal
So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing. Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”
1 Kings 18:20-24
1 Kings 18:20-24
Elijah was a man who listened to God and knew his teachings. He was intimate with God. He was prayerful and heard God’s gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:11-13). God made him a prophet and he was obedient to what God told him to do. He carried with him the anointing of God and had his favor. He taught groups of prophets in multiple cities.
King Ahab, who was King at the time, provoked God’s anger. Ahab led Israel to stray from worshipping God, to worshipping Baal and Ashtoreth, which were false gods. Baal worship routinely required child sacrifice by fire.
Elijah then came against 450 prophets of Baal… Yes, there can be false prophets who are workers of evil. This is the counterfeit to Christianity (Matt. 7:15-17). It was time for the great cookoff… Baal vs. God. Baal’s prophets prepared a bull for sacrifice and did their best calling all day on Baal to light their fire. When Baal failed to come through, Elijah was up. He had the Baal worshippers douse his bull and woodpile with a total of 12 jars of water! The fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
When all the people saw this, they fell down prostrate and cried, “The Lord – he is God!” Elijah then proceeded to the top of Mt. Carmel to pray and a heavy rain came after 3 and a half years of drought.
Elijah’s goal was to glorify God and be obedient to him, turning the believers of Baal into believers of God.
James 5:17-18 says Elijah was a human being JUST AS WE ARE. He prayed earnestly that it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again, he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
Elijah was a human being who just did what God asked — and you can too! Jesus wants us to speak with Him. He wants us to spend time with Him. He hears us. He sees our hearts. Most importantly Jesus wants to speak to us! (John 10:27) Why? Because he wants a true relationship with us.
How do I know if it’s prophecy?
A prophecy is a prediction of future events that come true and are inspired by God. Prophecy also encourages, consoles, and exhorts. I’m truly not sure what source the following was from, but I have found this to be a reliable list to test whether something is prophecy, and I keep it in my Bible.
1) Does the revelation edify, exhort, or console?
2) Is it in agreement with the Bible?
3) Does it exalt Jesus Christ?
4) Does it produce good fruit?
5) If predicting the future, does it come true?
6) Does the prediction turn people toward God or away from him?
7) Does it produce liberty or bondage?
8) Does it produce life or death?
9) Does the Holy Spirit bear witness that it is true?
Maybe you have wondered if you have this spiritual gift. The Holy Spirit sometimes wells up inside you and you have prophesied, encouraged, or shared something Jesus has shown you. Or maybe you question how can anyone do that today?
KEY:
But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.
John 16:13-15
Yes, this happens today all over the world.
1) He will guide you into all the truth
2) You will speak his words, not add your own
3) He will tell you what is to come
4) You will glorify God in speaking them
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:2
What he speaks to us are great and unsearchable things.
There are Prophets that are 100% accurate. Some call this the ‘Office of the Prophet.’ Bible prophets like Elijah were always accurate. There are people today who have a high level of intimacy with God like this.
Then there are Prophetic People. I have found, for instance, as I became closer to God and hearing his voice, I don’t always hear correctly. What then do we do? We wait. We do those checks I mentioned above.
We ask God again if something is not quite clear. I know there have been many times when listening that there is more He wanted to say, that I didn’t wait around to hear. Walking with God is a learning process in so many ways.
Here are some examples of the prophetic experiences I have had in my own life.
Just as We Are — Having Faith and Obedience
A friend of mine, myself and two others were in Georgia teaching on prayer. Georgia was in the middle of a severe drought. It had not rained for months. Some farmers were beginning to plow their crops under. Like Elijah, my friend prayed with great faith, “God if you would just cause it to rain, I’ll do the morning prayer walk with no umbrella.” At about 5 a.m. we woke up to giant claps of thunder rolling through the skies and it began to rain! We all had tears rolling down our faces. So beautiful, and so amazing! Why should we be surprised when God answers our prayers? We walked in the rain and let it fall down around us. My friend, Ruth, kept her promise and walked without her umbrella. The Lord, He is God!
Just As We Are — Words of Encouragement
Once I was asked to organize prayer for each one of the pastors that were coming to our church for a retreat. Each prayer person was given a name of a pastor and was asked to really spend time listening to God and then write them a letter.
Later, when the pastors read their letters, many asked our pastor, “Did you speak to these people praying for us? There are things in my letter that only I know.”
“No, of course not,” he replied.
Some of them cried. All the pastors were renewed and encouraged. How did this happen? Listening to God through the Holy Spirit, prophetic words of Knowledge may be given that are unknown to other people except by God. The Lord, He is God!
Just As We Are — Sweet Little Things God Does
One beautiful day Jesus said, “Go outside and pray for (a child) in the hospital.” After praying, I was overcome by the Holy Spirit and began singing the hymn, “Majesty, Worship His Majesty.” I danced around. The next day, I was checking on him; I told her I was praying for her child and I mentioned the song. She said, “You could not know this, but we made up all our lullabies for our children to this tune. We just made up another one for (our child) last night in the hospital.” This child was healed and with many praises they returned home.
How did this happen? Through our loving Abba Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit. The Lord, He is God!
Intimacy With Jesus — The Beginning of The Prophetic and Where to Start
Maybe you are far from crying out like the false prophets of Baal who finally believed, “The Lord, He is God!” That’s ok. I understand, I was there. To my absolute and total amazement, I found out about his love for me even though I was so distant from him. I was doing so many things wrong, I never thought he would love me. But He loved me no matter what I did. Jesus just kept pursuing my heart.
Maybe you are saying to yourself, “I’d really like this kind of relationship with Jesus.” It’s just like when you spend time with a really great best friend. You could recognize your best friend’s voice in a room of people with your eyes closed!
Relationships take time. You didn’t know your friend so well in the beginning. That’s the way it is with Jesus.
It takes some persistence in reading your Bible, being still and listening to learn to recognize his voice and distinguish it from our own or the devil’s. It doesn’t happen overnight. It is slow.
I mean.. being still is hard, right?? We have so many things on our minds, not to mention a pandemic going on. But we need Him. He can bring us so much comfort. And ultimately, he heals us through and through with His radical LOVE for us. He loves us in our ugly times, in our failures, in our sins, and in our mistakes.
Maybe start out by sitting in a quiet place just for 5 or 10 min. Write down all those distractions and little things that come to your mind. Ask Jesus, “How do you feel about me? Do you love me? Jesus, I want to know you more. I want to hear your voice. I am overwhelmed and I want your comfort. I want you to help me, Jesus. Help me now.”
Just pray whatever it is on your heart. Now, watch and see what our Jesus does. He loves to come to His children.
Blessings and love in Jesus Christ,
Pam Bierwagen
Verses for study:
1 Kings 19:11-16
The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lordwas not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire came a GENTLE WHISPER.
Matthew 7:15-17
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit.
John 10:27
My sheep (us) listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.
Matthew 11:28
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
2 Kings 2:11
As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
1 Kings 17:1
Elijah the Tishbite said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”