I grew up believing that prophecy and prophets were for biblical times, long ago, and didn't speak today. In November 2020 a video of a prophet appeared in my Facebook feed in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. I was curious, so I watched and was encouraged. Knowing that prophets are to be tested, and according to the Bible, the real ones are to be respected, I started an experiment observing multiple prophets. I expected that they would have consistency in their messages. I was surprised by what I learned in the first year of my research project:
- I realized I had some bias issues to overcome. I associated southern accents and "hallelujah's" with disgraced TV evangelists. It is still work for me to take some people seriously, but I have to remind myself, they are the messenger, the message is from God.
- I did not relate to all of the prophets, but I value the messages they share even when the delivery is not my style. Over time, some that I initially thought were going to get crossed off my list have become favorites. I did not "write anyone off" based on one or two experiences.
- You know how God often communicates in stories and parables? He is the same yesterday, today (and forever). If you need to brush up on your Old Testament knowledge, listen to prophecy for a year. You will have to look up more phrases, prophets, and events than you knew existed.
- I am impressed that many of the prophets have a mentor they work with, and often don't release a word from the Lord until they have prayed on it, spent time seeking God about it and discussed it with others that also have a prophetic gifting. Sometimes they are told by the Lord not to release certain things or to wait or to only release things to certain people. Most of them don't listen to, or watch the news media so they aren't influenced. They also don't listen to messages from other prophets for the same reason. I like this. They have plenty of people that tell them when something has been fulfilled.
I was encouraged as many prophecies have already come to pass. It's sobering, one of the prophecies I listened to was given two years before I was born, and it is just now coming to pass. I'm learning that what sounds like it is happening next week, might take years. God doesn't work on our timeline. He works on His, and His desire to see people repent can stretch things out a bit. A day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day.
I started to keep track of the fulfillments. It is encouraging, but after thousands of fulfillments, it could be a full time job to track down everything.
