God works through the Gifts of the Spirit to build up the body of Christ. These include teaching, leadership, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, prophesy, tongues, mercy, exortation, discernment, etc. (Romans 12:5-8, I Corinthians 12:4-14, 27-28; Ephesians 4:11-16). I am always in awe when someone operates in the prophetic gifting and intently listen how God speaks to others to better understand His character.
Here is a little background on the word I received in the video below. Some years back the Lord was teaching me not to fear man and rest in Him alone. During this time I had a heartbreaking experience in my profession. The Lord had positioned me in a leadership role and I received it with deep humility and served with all my might as unto Him. After a time of great joy and blessing there were some rocky crags I had to traverse. We have all experienced or know someone who has experienced the positioning of leaders in an organization that are not what they ought to be and can cause much harm. All of the negative corporate culture manifestations were present in this organization – gossip, back door meetings, manipulation, kingdom building, self-exaltation, and other works of the flesh that did not reflect the beauty of Christ. The hardest part of this situation was that many of these leaders were church goers and professed to knowing Him, yet many causalities were left in their tumultuous wake. I talk in detail about what several colleagues and I stood against in the first chapter of the book, “You’re Not Crazy, You are Called.”
As believers, we are to stand and shed His beauty in all situations, for He has made us to be more than conquerors by operating in His powerful love. After a long season of standing, I stepped down from the position I held, for I lost heart. Since then I always questioned deep down if I could have done something else to bring about a different outcome. My tendency was to blame myself even if I was not at fault. Through all of this the Lord was teaching me the importance of identity in Him, for when we know who He is we can confidently cry out to Him and take heart that He hears our cries.
Psalm 34:17
“The righteous cry, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.”
When we know Him we can manifest the Fruits of the Spirit in the midst of great suffering, come out unscathed, and illuminate the darkness of even our accusers. When facing diverse issues in an organization or in our own hearts, even if we stumble or fall in His grace and mercy He restores us to continue our transformation into His image so that we can bring light in the darkness and manifest His glory both now and throughout eternity.
We can learn so much about how God deals with us by listening to prophetic words, even they are not toward us – His truths remain and He is not a respecter of persons. Pastor Orr delivered the following word of knowledge and prophesy to a me. He knew nothing of my situation from years earlier, and faithfully allowed the Holy Spirit to pour through him to set my heart free and heal deep wounds. May the truth of God’s great love and redeeming power inspire you to let go of how people or circumstances have tried to define you so that you can realize your great worth to Him.