I am one of those brave (or stupid) souls who claim to be able to hear God speak. Even more so, I admit I believe He can and does speak to everyone. I hold onto this belief despite the broken promises and a stack of WTF moments.

I wish I had better story to write for this post. I wish I could point to a litany of prophetic happenings and glory, but my prophetic reality doesn’t seem to sing that song. And I prefer not to do spiritual and mental jujitsu when it comes to the pain. (Prophetic people love to justify why something didn’t happen.) Therefore, the belief I’ve maintained, since my mid 20′s, is the prophetic is a place of pain. But what if it isn’t? 

It helps to recognize a simple fact: Just because God said it, doesn’t make it automatic. Adam and Eve in the Garden? Remember that one? God supposedly said they’d die if they ate from the Tree of Good and Evil…took nine hundred years. Jonah? He was angry with God. Why? Because God told him to go to Nineveh and proclaim “in 40 days you will be overthrown.” Jonah knew God is a “gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” The city was not destroyed. Jonah did not like playing a fool.

Jonah knew God wasn’t going to destroy the city.

These days, most of us don’t live in the turn-or-burn prophetic reality. We tend to exist an ear-tickling environment full of “suddenlies” and “break through” and “blessing.” And I just might puke if I have to endure another “God sees you as a flower” prophetic word. 

My experience with the prophetic seemed uneven at best (although I do have list of truly fantastic prophetic moments I will eventually share.) Like I said earlier, as time passed I began to loathe the prophetic. I couldn’t hear God, or what I heard wasn’t what was said, or my interpretation always seemed to be off. Which naturally lead to atheistic thoughts. 

However, I see now I am entering a new era in my life. 2020 is my year of moving onward toward my great destiny with Jesus. And for the first time, it’s unconnected to circumstance. I think most if not all of my previous personal prophetic interpretations were linked to circumstance. I can definitively say circumstance is not what Jesus was after, and it’s not a place to define life. 

Some of the happiest and loving people on the planet have nothing. And suicide rates are roughly the same across social economic status- meaning wealth is not a mental/emotional insulator. 

I think if God were to manage me based on circumstance, I’d be a petulant child. My interpretation of His love and care for me would come down to my bank account and “adoring fans.” That’s not His way. Our Father wants a real relationship, not something based on transactions of praise or religious dedication. 

Perhaps I’m about to discover what the prophetic really is. I’m ready to move beyond the immature suffering- the my hurt-based judgement. God is good and speaks to those who listen. 

Lord, let my ears hear with an open mind and unfiltered heart.