You might ask, “Can I prophesy with music as a musician?” The answer is undoubtedly, yes. As we saw earlier Moses said He wished all would be inspired or prophesy, that all of Gods people would be filled with the Spirit.
In Joel 2:28 we see God will pour out his spirit on all flesh, people will prophesy, dream and see visions. In Acts 2 we see the beginning of this outpouring on all flesh. It is and is still to come. As believers we have the Spirit. In Romans and Galatians He is called the Spirit of adoption, giving us the ability to call God, our Father. In 1 Corinthians 2 Paul tells us that we have received the Spirit who is from God so that we might know the things of God, the very deep things of God that only the Spirit knows.
Today the Lord is still breathing. He is still inspiring; He is still giving His people, His children impressions and insight into His heart and mind, His emotions and thoughts so that we might know Him better as our Father. But what is on the Lords mind? What is the passion of His heart? The answer is not a “what” but a “who”!
We are told in Revelation 19:10 that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Jesus, He is the subject matter. It’s all about Him. The very essence of Prophecy or inspiration from the Lord is to reveal Jesus, who He is, what He has done and what He will do. This is His testimony, His story. We are telling God’s story through singing and playing music. Sometimes we’ll tell others the Lord’s story by singing what He’s thinking or feeling at that moment for them. Other times we might be telling the Lord’s story back to Him and letting others just listen in.
The other thing we need to remember is that we only speak OUR part. 1 Corinthians 13:9 says, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part.” It is important to remember to only speak or sing our part or what impressions we’ve been given and then stop. But, this is good because others have a part as well. When we put all the team’s pieces together we get a picture or a story we wouldn’t have if it were just one person. Also, we don’t have to feel bad for not having the entire story because we only have our piece and that’s it.
Lastly, we need to remember that this story is to bring exhortation, encouragement and edification (1 Cor. 13:3) or in today’s terms, it should call people to a higher level of love and obedience, it should give them confidence to continue and reinforce or strengthening them. But, what if we get an impression that is seemingly negative? Well, the best thing to do is turn it around into one of the three “E’s”. If you get a “negative” impression ask the Holy Spirit to help you find a way to make it an exhortation to go higher and encouragement to keep the course or an edification that will strengthen and reinforce their inner man. Flip it from something condemning, which would uncover weakness or sin and make a person want to runaway from God, to something that releases grace or divine might on the inside to run to God.
What I’ve seen over the years in the prophetic movement is that there are people who like to call out other people “specks”. (At least that’s what Jesus’ called them in the Sermon on the Mount in Matt. 6.) Following our impressions of what we perceive as sin (what God calls specks) our perception is obscured by a log in our eye. This log in our perception is what keeps us from seeing what God really sees, His child who He’s love more than we could imagine. All we see is a sinner, a dirty, rotten sinner. Why? Because that’s what we are (without the Lord and his great gift of redemption, justification and adoption.) The easiest thing for a fallen human to see or perceive is sin. I’ve given this analogy several times; anyone can see a little red dot in the middle of a big white sheet. But, to see the sheet without the dot and to see the way to remove the dot is a little harder to see or perceive. Our job is to bring reconciliation or make peace between God and man by proclaiming His story, the original intent of creation, where it fell and how it is being redeemed.
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December 21, 2009 at 11:07 AM
Ed Nelson
Nate, Thanks again for an inspiring blog. In ministry it gets real easy to concentrate on those “specks”. Thanks for being a vessel that God can use to talk to cynical old pastors like me.
December 21, 2009 at 2:04 PM
Marc
We’re all sinners and we’re all equally unworthy of God’s saving grace. Once we forget that, we fall into the trap of focusing on the sins of others in order to minimize our own (which I believe is the point of Jesus’ teaching on the specks).
At some point, all believers have to come to terms with their sinfulness. How can we begin to understand the need for a Savior if we don’t understand what we are being saved from? Ultimately, it is God’s responsibility to put that understanding on our hearts – but it’s impossible for a believer to share the Gospel without speaking of our sinful state.
Paul specifically talks about the use of prophesy as a tool God uses to convict people of their sins in 1 Corinthians 14:24 :
“But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”"
We’re instructed to speak the truth in love, and I think that’s what you’re getting at when you talk about the three E’s – but it’s hard to find an example of a person in the Bible who was built up without being torn down a bit first.
December 22, 2009 at 7:50 AM
nathanpanke
Thanks Marc!!! Speak the truth in love. We must speak the truth (We are all sinners) and speak it through the gracious filter of love (There is a redeemer who loves and saves with grace unto glory). It IS the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.