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Supernatural
Biblical Guidance 11
When
the Holy Spirit Prophesies Your Future in the Past Tense
Part
Two
by
Pastor John Hamel
"The thing that
hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which
shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." (Ecclesiastes
1:9)
This
is an extremely profound statement concerning the ability of the all-knowing
God of Creation to reveal the future before it happens and to speak of the
future as if it had already come to pass.
Based
upon this principle we are studying when supernatural prophecy declares the future in the past
tense.
It is possible for individuals, churches or geographic areas
to have a prophetic word spoken over them as if it was already fulfilled at
the time of it being spoken.
I find no less than four examples of
this in the Bible. We are looking at each of them in order to better
understand how and why the Holy Spirit can prophesy your future in the past
tense.
In Part One of this study we saw how this
happened in the life of Abraham and we saw how it happened more than once
in the life of Cyrus. We also saw how the Prophet Isaiah spoke of the
coming future destruction of Babylon as if it had
already occurred.
Let’s continue with our study.
God
Prophesied the Future Salvation of Israel in the Past Tense
The last Biblical
example that we will look at in this study is where the Prophet Isaiah
spoke of the future salvation of Israel as if it
had already happened. Boy, the Prophet Isaiah really had that
“speaking of the future in the past tense” thing happening in his Ministry,
didn’t he?
“But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that
formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I HAVE REDEEMED THEE, I have called
thee by thy name; thou art mine.” (Isaiah 43:1)
The Holy Spirit
speaking again through the Prophet Isaiah makes reference to the future
salvation of Israel as if it were in
the past tense. You do not have to be a Bible scholar to know that Israel has not yet
accepted Christ as their long awaited Messiah. This is an event that
is reserved for the future. (Zechariah 13:1-5) Yet it is spoken
of in the Bible as if it had already occurred. It is possible for
you, too, to receive a prophetic word concerning your future that is
delivered to you as if it had already occurred.
God
Prophesied Our Future in the Past Tense
I once was
prophesied over by a proven Prophet of God and his wife. The
prophetic utterance was as follows. “Now get ready because YOU HAVE
BEEN PROVEN AND YOU HAVE PASSED YOUR TEST. Be blessed from the top of
your head to the bottom of your feet. Things are going to start
changing for you now. Change. Change. Change.
Change. Things are going to get better. Things are going to get
better, better. Oh, I feel that anointing. Stronger.
Stronger in the pulpit. Stronger spiritually in the pulpit. A
magnet for money. A magnet for people. … There is a stepping up in
the realm of the Spirit that I have prepared for you. But you’re
going to have to be aware that there’s a price you’re going to have to pay.
… And entrusted into your hands will be things that haven’t been laid into
your hands before. But they will be now, because I will command them
to come and I will command them to come to your hands. And you will
be a carrier of things that you will need in the future. More
money. More finances. More power. More trust. I
will put these things into your hands for you to care for and to keep. … Increase, increase,
increase, increase in every arena. In every, every arena. Every
single arena, increase. In miracles. In finances.
Numerically. Revelation. Gifts. Increase.”
Now, neither my
wife nor I were aware of any period of proving or testing that we had recently
come through. Little did we realize at the time that we were about to
encounter probably the most extreme period of proving and testing that
either of us had ever endured. Things began to spiral downward
rapidly.
It is not uncommon for a prophetic word to be given to you
where things will get worse before they get better. As a matter of
fact, when a prophetic word is given to you, it frequently means that things
are indeed about to get worse before they get better. The prophecy is given
to encourage you to hold steady through the coming storm because there is a
great blessing for you on the other side of it.
Dr. Kenneth E. Hagin
often said, "When a prophecy is given to you, it is an indication that
things are probably going to get worse before they get better. The prophecy
is given to hold you steady during the coming storm. So just lash yourself
to the mast, ride out the storm and the Word of the Lord will come to
pass."
It seemed as if
all the forces of Hell began to assail us. Persecution and false
accusation seemed to come from every direction. Members of our own
congregation turned on us for absolutely no reason. Trusted family
members yielded to betrayal, behaving as if our lives no longer had any
value. Financial supporters began to withdraw their support without
explanation. We fell thousands of dollars into debt. A Ministry
associate and long time personal friend was caught stealing Ministry tithes
from us. This individual actually tried to justify their corrupt
behavior by paying tithes to us from the tithes they had stolen from us.
Our main computer system broke down. Our automobile broke down.
We found ourselves in the midst of an illegal, unjust lawsuit and evicted
from our housing. Three fellow “Ministers” deceitfully conspired
against us influencing even our own Pastor to withdraw from us. Doors
of utterance and Ministry were suddenly and unexplainably closed to
us. Sickness did its best to come against our physical bodies.
The list of sudden persecution, false accusation and rejection seemed
endless. Never had we experienced such demonic opposition for no
apparent reason in the natural.
We had not changed,
yet it seemed like everyone around us was changing. Darkness and
depression tried to engulf us. It seemed as if God Himself had
abandoned us, refusing to vindicate us, although we knew from His Word that could never be true. (Hebrews
13:5 Amplified Bible; Romans 12:19; Job 34:17,24,25,29,33; 35:24; Psalm
7:8; 16:1; 37:6; 43:1)
Although God was
not doing any of this to us, we soon discovered that this was the proving
and testing that He had spoken of through the Prophet. God was allowing this
for the purpose of seeing experientially what was in our hearts, whether we
would continue to serve Him or not when it was both easy and
difficult. God does indeed test and prove before He promotes.
(Genesis 22:1; Exodus 16:4; 20:20; Deuteronomy 8:2,16; 33:8; Judges 2:22;
3:1,4; 2Chronicles 32:31; Job 23:10; Psalm 11:4; 66:10-12; Zechariah 13:9;
James 1:2,3)
The testing and
proving of the Lord will either make or break the individual. It is
all up to the individual. God intends for His testing and proving to
temper and strengthen individuals and to result in their promotion. (Psalm
75:5-7) God was allowing irritating, disobedient, dishonest people
and injustice to surround us temporarily for the purpose of strengthening
us to difficulty through difficulty. (Isaiah 54:17 Amplified Bible)
This happens to all
true God seekers at some time in their lives so you best be
ready when it comes. It is to make us better, not bitter. Do
not run from God during your time of testing and proving. You
will only prolong things. Stick with the Holy
Spirit. He will personally get you through it and then He will reward
you for allowing Him to do so. (Psalm 57:2)
Calluses must first
be developed before you can comfortably wear those new shoes you want so
desperately. An oyster must endure that irritating piece of sand
inside of itself if that precious pearl is going to be developed.
True God seekers, power seekers, are going to have to endure irritating
people and irritating circumstances in order to be developed into priceless
pearls for God. The life of faith is indeed a life of suffering persecution for the Word’s sake. (2Corinthians 12:10; Philippians 4:12; 2Thessalonians
1:4; 2Timothy 3:11,12; 1Peter
1:7) Although the road of suffering ultimately leads to Heaven where there is no suffering, we must learn to
suffer a little in this life in order to be strengthened to it while we are
here.
We had to make a
mature decision that we were going to stick with God and just get this over
with. God was preparing us through extreme proving and testing for a
promotion that was just ahead of us. A promotion that we would not
have been equipped for had we not been prepared for it by being surrounded
with injustice, irritating people and irritating circumstances. He spoke
to us prophetically of the proving and testing before it had even happened
as if it had already happened. He spoke of our passing the test
before we had even entered the test.
We knew that by
simply hanging on to that prophetic word, we would come through to our
wealthy place. (Psalm 66:8-12) We knew that just as surely as the
Holy Spirit had spoken to us about being proven and tested, He had also
assured us that passing the test was a done deal, if we would just endure. We knew God would pull us through if we
could just stand the pull. We knew that if we just continued to obey God’s Word and walk in love towards our accusers and persecutors, we
would pass the test. (Matthew 5:44)
We were familiar
enough with prophecy to know that a Word such as ours was given because
there was going to be some rough sailing ahead. That prophecy, spoken
in the past tense, was intended to keep us hanging onto God
during the testing and proving. This was one of those times where you
just “lash yourself to the mast and ride out the storm,” so to speak.
It was intended to make better, more competent and more confident spiritual
sailors out of us.
Should a prophecy
be spoken over you as if it had already come to pass, do not let your head,
Satan’s lies or confusion take over and discourage you. Although it
may not be all that common, it is Scriptural for God to speak of your
future in the past tense, declaring the end from the beginning, if He so
desires.
“Remember the
former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and
there is none like me, DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING, and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall
stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” (Isaiah 46:9,10)
“I HAVE EVEN FROM
THE BEGINNING DECLARED IT TO THEE; BEFORE IT CAME TO PASS I SHEWED IT THEE:
lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done
them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I HAVE SHEWED
THEE NEW THINGS FROM THIS TIME, EVEN HIDDEN THINGS, AND THOU DIDST NOT KNOW
THEM.” (Isaiah 48:5,6)
The principle of
God declaring the future as if it were in the past is not only true
concerning prophecies recorded in the Bible. This principle could
also be applied to your very life if the Holy Spirit should will it.
This principle was applied to our lives (my wife and I). The proving and
testing, which the Holy Spirit said we had passed, was actually waiting for
us only after the prophecy was given. As we continue to endure, the
blessings that were decreed over us have begun to come to pass. The
Holy Spirit continues to grant Godly sorrow to our persecutors and
accusers, revealing their sinfulness, holding their feet to the fire that
they had set all around us and bringing them to repentance. He wants to bless them, too.
As we
continue to walk in obedience to God in spite of opposition, the prophecy
will continue to come to pass in greater and greater ways over the rest of
our lives.
If this has
happened to you, hang on to your prophecy. Wage war with it. If there were not going to be a
warfare concerning your prophecy, Paul would not have said there would be.
(1Timothy 1:18)
Thank God continually for its fulfillment.
(1Thessalonians 5:18) Blessings
abound for those who do not bail out when the sledding gets tough.
God is looking for those who can endure hardship like good soldiers.
(2Timothy 2:3,4)
God is looking for those who will continue to hold
steady and stay the course when circumstances dictate running back to the
world and sin. (Exodus 23:33; Deuteronomy 4:40; 7:12-24; 8:3; 11:13-32;
28:1-68; Psalm 4:4; Ezekiel 3:21; Romans 6:16-23; 8:1-13; 1John 2:1,2)
The Holy Spirit
will surely harden us to difficulty by allowing difficulty in our
lives. He will even warn us prophetically that it is coming.
(John 16:13; Acts 11:28-30; 21:10-14) He can even tell us the outcome
before the actual event occurs!
Just hold steady during these times
of testing and proving. It is nothing more than what Joseph suffered
as a result of his future being revealed to him. His vindication and
promotion far exceeded his suffering as his revelation of the future was
fulfilled. (Genesis 37:1-50:26)
If a prophetic word
is given to an individual, a congregation, a city, a region or a nation as
if it has already come to pass, the requirements for its fulfillment are
the same.
Keep walking in obedience to the written Word of God.
Keep walking in love even towards those who refuse to walk in love towards
you.
Keep the sin out of your life no matter how much pressure Satan
puts on you.
Keep speaking the prophecy over yourself.
Keep
thanking God for the fulfillment of the prophecy. It was given to
pull you through and pull you through it will, if you will simply endure
the pull.
It will come to
pass. It’s guaranteed. (1Corinthians 10:13)
Be blessed … John
and Barbara Hamel
How
to Be Born Again (Receive Christ as Your Savior)
How
to Receive The Holy Spirit & Power
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