is it ok to ask for a prophetic word?

[koshka]

I have seen a place for this on another forum and wondered about whether it was okay to do?

 

[1Prophetess]

What do you need help with?

 

[koshka]

I don't seem to be hearing from God.

 

[jsimms615]

I have seen a place for this on another forum and wondered about whether it was okay to do?

I would focus on what you absolutely know is God's Word in the Bible and if he wants to tell you something else he will when he wants to.

 

[Peripatetic]

That's right... the more you read and spend time in scripture, the more He will speak to you. The Bible has words of wisdom for every situation when you look at the whole of its message.

 

[koshka]

That's right... the more you read and spend time in scripture, the more He will speak to you. The Bible has words of wisdom for every situation when you look at the whole of its message.

I have been trying for more than 11 years now, and I still feel like I am often guessing at where to read in the bible and what it is that the Lord wants to speak to me about. I have trouble concentrating due a past mental illness which I still am taking some medication for and i find it hard to remember scripture and in fact lots of things.

I feel like I'm losing the will to try. Maybe I have got the wrong idea about what it means to have a personal relationship with God.

 

[Peripatetic]

Have you tried a study Bible or Bible study devotionals? They can be very helpful in learning how to interpret God's word and see what it means in your life today.

 

[koshka]

I have got a study bible. I find it hard to have the discipline to stick to a set of devotional studies on a regular basis. I guess I thought that a relationship with God meant that you would hear from God individually. I know that some people say that they do, and sometimes I have had words guiding me to certain scriptures in the past, but I often yearn for more especially as I seem to have lost my way in life.

 

[day time]

I have got a study bible. I find it hard to have the discipline to stick to a set of devotional studies on a regular basis. I guess I thought that a relationship with God meant that you would hear from God individually. I know that some people say that they do, and sometimes I have had words guiding me to certain scriptures in the past, but I often yearn for more especially as I seem to have lost my way in life.

Can you describe what "yearn for more" means to you ? Specifically, if you could reach some kind of point *right now* in relationship with God ... what would you want that point to look like ?

 

[koshka]

That's quite personal to me, so i'm not sure about answering - I would like to ask why you want to know?

 

[day time]

That's quite personal to me, so i'm not sure about answering - I would like to ask why you want to know?

Because in my own life I've experienced "God" in the following manner:

I have a desire and a yearning for "something", and it's linked to "God". Maybe it's hearing His voice, or seeing Him in person, or meeting an entity of His realm. Maybe it's "knowing" that who I meet is actually Him, and not some other entity. Maybe faith is no longer enough for me, and I want *fact*. I am no longer content to guess, I want to *know*. Or maybe I just want to know how something works and why it is the way it is ... be it a religion, a faith, a passage in someone's sacred book, etc and so forth. What about those dinosaurs ? Why was I abused ? What does "God" want me to do for Him ? How can I be saved from Hell ? Is there a Hell ?

In other words .... at different times in my life, some of those questions and desires have burned within me ... to where I wasn't content to read about it in a book, or simply hear a voice spoken out of the aether .... I wanted to see it with my own eyes, know it by experiencing it directly, etc and so forth. I "yearned for more" ....

These are all rather simple examples.

Whenever I had those yearnings, I could call wherever I was in life at that very moment, with that yearning, "point A" .... and that yearning often represented a goal, or gave me a goal that I could look at in the future .... sometimes hazy, sometimes clear as crystal ..... I could call that a "point C" .... are you following me ? Where I was at the time, with that yearning ... was obviously wherever I was in life, simply put. Point A .... that yearning, was like a dream, a goal, a desire that wouldn't leave but stayed with me .... and as a result, it became it's own "thing" that I was either going to attain, or I wasn't going to attain ... a point C.

The path to get from point A to point C is what you might call point B .... and quite often, it gets unpredictable, it can turn into a rabbit hole you chase down which at some points seem to lead to nowhere .... the first step is often either a very simple one, or an extremely risky one that doesn't really make sense whatsoever .... and there are multiple times upon that path you want to turn around, quit, run .... you hope for it to be a rainbow with a pot of gold at the end, but sometimes it isn't ..... it's a cross where you die and bleed out in front of everyone, only to meet your demise, and then after that .... you even go to hell. You journey to prison, where you meet the most confused and lost souls of them all. And from there .... you trust in your ressurection, after questioning it a million and one times.

I asked what "yearn for more" meant to you .... because in my experience, if you want more, it might be there for you, or it might not .... and whether or not you choose to go down a rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland is up to you as well perhaps. But that "yearning for more" .... I have always got what I yearned for. Really. But that point B .... I've seen many people turn back. They said, "I want more ! " .... and they start down that path, and the price is too high, or the risk is too great .... or sometimes, it's the opposite. "This is it ? Really ? Wow. What a waste of time." And even more so ... some never seen anything on the path. Why one person sees, hears, and understands and another doesn't ? You really want to know ?

See ?

It's very much the difference between being content to "know" or "have faith". And in my experience, it's symbiotic .... there is you, there is the path, and there is what is at the end, all working together.

You said you wanted to know about asking for a prophetic word .... but then you said you haven't been hearing from God. I see those as two different things. There was a time when I saw them as one and the same. Now I don't. A perfect example of how you go to the end of one rabbit hole, and you end up "knowing". You go to the end of another rabbit hole that one produced, and you "know" something else. :~)

What "yearning for more" means to you .... this is why I asked. To see if you, yourself, can see your own future ....

 

[ChrisHolland619]

You hear God through reading the Holy Bible. He will then reveal Himself to you through the Holy Spirit as you read.

I see absolutely nothing biblical about asking someone else about a prophetic "word".

 

[jimfish]

Is it okay to ask for a prophetic word?

Generally speaking, no. As another posted, there's nothing in God's Word that indicates we as NT Christian should seek a prophetic word from an individual. In fact in can be dangerous.

When God by His Providence (as HE wills) DOES send us a prophetic word through a person, and this is rare in our Western church today, it is usually to confirm something He already told us via some other avenue. Most prophetic personal words that I've known of in others' lives, and I have witnessed several, have almost always been damaging to their Christian walk, for they came from someone's heart and not God's Spirit.

I have been trying for more than 11 years now, and I still feel like I am often guessing at where to read in the bible

We don't need for God to specifically show us where in His Word to read. Sometimes He will do that of course, but just start in Matthew and keep reading through the New Testament, over and over, using different translation if need be (best are KJV, NKJV, NASB, Amplified, Dake's).

and what it is that the Lord wants to speak to me about.

I, too, and about the same 10 years or so into my walk, was not hearing from God, and my life in the natural realm was worse than when I committed to Christ as Lord a decade before. I lost the best job I ever had, had to move back in with parents, etc., etc. I was determined for God to tell me what I was doing wrong, and what if anything I needed to do. I NEEDED to hear from God.

So I began to sit in my parked car each night, night after night, for hours each night, praying at times, but mostly just waiting for God to talk to me. It took a few weeks at first, but eventually God manifested His Presence in that car and spoke to me. He gave me what I needed to hear and know.

I have trouble concentrating due a past mental illness which I still am taking some medication for and i find it hard to remember scripture and in fact lots of things.

Me too (memory and concentration problem). ADD. But not only does God work around that, it has been to His and my advantage in my walk.

I feel like I'm losing the will to try.

All of us as Christians have felt at times like giving up. The Christian life can be VERY frustrating at times. It is very difficult to wait for the Lord. But even the writers of the New Testament were not given those writings until DECADES after they walked with Jesus, for they too had to wait for their heart to be made more pure so that they would not twist and pervert, to justify their remaining evils, what was dictated by God.

Maybe I have got the wrong idea about what it means to have a personal relationship with God.

What it means is black and white, Evangelically speaking. It means to first be born-again, that moment in time when God supernaturally and instantaneously puts a new spirit in us, begins a new heart in us, and begins to write His Truth in that heart. And it means to then come back to God again and again, for Grace upon Grace, so He can take us from glory to glory by delivering our heart from all its remaining evil (including past hurts and its selfish motives); and those hindrances replaced with His Peace, Love, Joy, etc., etc. And each time that happens we will get closer to God, and as we get closer we will hear Him more clearly and more often.

There is no standing still in God's Kingdom. If we try, we will move backwards.

God bless you koshka, jim

 

[Phillipi419]

Ask, seek and knock earnestly for the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will do atleast 3 things that will help you out in your search for God. #1: He won't speak of Himself, He will testify of Jesus... even in your reading of the Word of God #2: He will help you and teach you all things #3: He will remind you of ALL things that Jesus Himself has spoken to you through His Word...

God promised that you WILL find Him... if you seek after Him with ALL your heart <3 God must CONSUME your mind, will, thinking... everything... Seek after Him as after hid treasure.

Hope this helps. God bless <3

 

[koshka]

Because in my own life I've experienced "God" in the following manner:

I have a desire and a yearning for "something", and it's linked to "God". Maybe it's hearing His voice, or seeing Him in person, or meeting an entity of His realm. Maybe it's "knowing" that who I meet is actually Him, and not some other entity. Maybe faith is no longer enough for me, and I want *fact*. I am no longer content to guess, I want to *know*. Or maybe I just want to know how something works and why it is the way it is ... be it a religion, a faith, a passage in someone's sacred book, etc and so forth. What about those dinosaurs ? Why was I abused ? What does "God" want me to do for Him ? How can I be saved from Hell ? Is there a Hell ?

In other words .... at different times in my life, some of those questions and desires have burned within me ... to where I wasn't content to read about it in a book, or simply hear a voice spoken out of the aether .... I wanted to see it with my own eyes, know it by experiencing it directly, etc and so forth. I "yearned for more" ....

These are all rather simple examples.

Whenever I had those yearnings, I could call wherever I was in life at that very moment, with that yearning, "point A" .... and that yearning often represented a goal, or gave me a goal that I could look at in the future .... sometimes hazy, sometimes clear as crystal ..... I could call that a "point C" .... are you following me ? Where I was at the time, with that yearning ... was obviously wherever I was in life, simply put. Point A .... that yearning, was like a dream, a goal, a desire that wouldn't leave but stayed with me .... and as a result, it became it's own "thing" that I was either going to attain, or I wasn't going to attain ... a point C.

The path to get from point A to point C is what you might call point B .... and quite often, it gets unpredictable, it can turn into a rabbit hole you chase down which at some points seem to lead to nowhere .... the first step is often either a very simple one, or an extremely risky one that doesn't really make sense whatsoever .... and there are multiple times upon that path you want to turn around, quit, run .... you hope for it to be a rainbow with a pot of gold at the end, but sometimes it isn't ..... it's a cross where you die and bleed out in front of everyone, only to meet your demise, and then after that .... you even go to hell. You journey to prison, where you meet the most confused and lost souls of them all. And from there .... you trust in your ressurection, after questioning it a million and one times.

I asked what "yearn for more" meant to you .... because in my experience, if you want more, it might be there for you, or it might not .... and whether or not you choose to go down a rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland is up to you as well perhaps. But that "yearning for more" .... I have always got what I yearned for. Really. But that point B .... I've seen many people turn back. They said, "I want more ! " .... and they start down that path, and the price is too high, or the risk is too great .... or sometimes, it's the opposite. "This is it ? Really ? Wow. What a waste of time." And even more so ... some never seen anything on the path. Why one person sees, hears, and understands and another doesn't ? You really want to know ?

See ?

It's very much the difference between being content to "know" or "have faith". And in my experience, it's symbiotic .... there is you, there is the path, and there is what is at the end, all working together.

You said you wanted to know about asking for a prophetic word .... but then you said you haven't been hearing from God. I see those as two different things. There was a time when I saw them as one and the same. Now I don't. A perfect example of how you go to the end of one rabbit hole, and you end up "knowing". You go to the end of another rabbit hole that one produced, and you "know" something else. :~)

What "yearning for more" means to you .... this is why I asked. To see if you, yourself, can see your own future ....

Thanks for your post - i'm afraid I got a bit confused reading it - one of the reasons I want to hear from God is because i want to see a different future from the one i seem to have been heading towards.

 

[koshka]

Generally speaking, no. As another posted, there's nothing in God's Word that indicates we as NT Christian should seek a prophetic word from an individual. In fact in can be dangerous.

When God by His Providence (as HE wills) DOES send us a prophetic word through a person, and this is rare in our Western church today, it is usually to confirm something He already told us via some other avenue. Most prophetic personal words that I've known of in others' lives, and I have witnessed several, have almost always been damaging to their Christian walk, for they came from someone's heart and not God's Spirit.


We don't need for God to specifically show us where in His Word to read. Sometimes He will do that of course, but just start in Matthew and keep reading through the New Testament, over and over, using different translation if need be (best are KJV, NKJV, NASB, Amplified, Dake's).



I, too, and about the same 10 years or so into my walk, was not hearing from God, and my life in the natural realm was worse than when I committed to Christ as Lord a decade before. I lost the best job I ever had, had to move back in with parents, etc., etc. I was determined for God to tell me what I was doing wrong, and what if anything I needed to do. I NEEDED to hear from God.

So I began to sit in my parked car each night, night after night, for hours each night, praying at times, but mostly just waiting for God to talk to me. It took a few weeks at first, but eventually God manifested His Presence in that car and spoke to me. He gave me what I needed to hear and know.



Me too (memory and concentration problem). ADD. But not only does God work around that, it has been to His and my advantage in my walk.



All of us as Christians have felt at times like giving up. The Christian life can be VERY frustrating at times. It is very difficult to wait for the Lord. But even the writers of the New Testament were not given those writings until DECADES after they walked with Jesus, for they too had to wait for their heart to be made more pure so that they would not twist and pervert, to justify their remaining evils, what was dictated by God.



What it means is black and white, Evangelically speaking. It means to first be born-again, that moment in time when God supernaturally and instantaneously puts a new spirit in us, begins a new heart in us, and begins to write His Truth in that heart. And it means to then come back to God again and again, for Grace upon Grace, so He can take us from glory to glory by delivering our heart from all its remaining evil (including past hurts and its selfish motives); and those hindrances replaced with His Peace, Love, Joy, etc., etc. And each time that happens we will get closer to God, and as we get closer we will hear Him more clearly and more often.

There is no standing still in God's Kingdom. If we try, we will move backwards.

God bless you koshka, jim

Thank you for your reply jim - I found it helpful to read and will be thinking about what i can take and apply. To be honest I think i have moved backwards.

 

[koshka]

Ask, seek and knock earnestly for the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will do atleast 3 things that will help you out in your search for God. #1: He won't speak of Himself, He will testify of Jesus... even in your reading of the Word of God #2: He will help you and teach you all things #3: He will remind you of ALL things that Jesus Himself has spoken to you through His Word...

God promised that you WILL find Him... if you seek after Him with ALL your heart <3 God must CONSUME your mind, will, thinking... everything... Seek after Him as after hid treasure.

Hope this helps. God bless <3

Thank you for your reply and this reminder from scripture. God bless.

 

[briareos]

Koshka,

You should commit yourself to prayer and bible study and ask God to be with you, if you pursue him you will find him. You do have to be faithful in prayer and in his word in order to stay close to him spiritually.

 

[koshka]

Koshka,

You should commit yourself to prayer and bible study and ask God to be with you, if you pursue him you will find him. You do have to be faithful in prayer and in his word in order to stay close to him spiritually.

As being faithful most likely means praying and reading the bible regularly and often, this is an area where I struggle. I tend to be full on for a period of time and then do very little or nothing at all - its as if i get blocked. I didn't grow up learning to be disciplined and I have found it very difficult to stick at or finish most things including employment.

 

[briareos]

I understand completely, it isn't easy. I am not giving you laws or rules that say "you have to read and pray 20 times a week and then you'll hear from God" that's not it. But if you plan on hearing him you have to spend enough time with him so he can talk to you and so you can hear him. It isn't a method... there's no fix, it actually requires love and faithfulness you have to love God enough and be faithful enough to say "stop" everything else and go spend time with him so that he can talk to you.

Jesus didn't teach his disciples prayer until they said "John teaches his disciples to pray, why don't you teach us?" he didn't want to give them recipes and methods... rather he modeled a praying life, it isn't about the words, it's about time spent seeking him.