Why Didn't it Work Out? God Gave Me a Word.

Stinging tears clouded Nora's vision as she clicked on Phil's Facebook photo album marked, "Our Wedding." How handsome he was in his suit. Just as she imagined he would be. How he beamed in the next shot of him watching his bride, arm in arm with her father, floating towards him.

Only his bride happened to be that striking redhead he met last year.

NOT Nora. A perplexing reality, even two years after their break up.

It wasn't that she hadn't dated since then. She had. And she's sure she'd broken the soul ties forged during their several years long relationship. Forgiven him. Wished him well from her heart and prayed that God would bless him. She was "over him."

What she wasn't over was the confusion surrounding the fact that she believed that God had told her he was THE ONE. 

It was a similar story for Elle. Only she DID marry Greg, the man of her dreams. The one she believed God had promised was for her. But here he was, telling her for the twentieth time that he was done and will she just please sign the papers so that he can marry someone else today?

How could this happen if God had confirmed to Elle on multiple occasions that Greg was THE ONE?

Understandably, it rocked Nora and Elle that things hadn't worked out the way they were supposed to. All those fleeces they'd put out. All the words from other prophetic people they knew. The Scriptures and the confirmations of Scriptures. Nora and Elle were both recognized as having prophetic gifting and regularly heard God's voice clearly, but had they just been smoking crack the whole time?

It was only natural that each began to mistrust her own abilities to hear God accurately, even to shy away from listening to Him. What if they "heard wrong" again? And if they DID hear God's voice correctly, then how is it that Nora's miles away as Phil marries someone else and Elle is sending Greg off to start a new life with a new love in about an hour from now?

The easiest answer is to just say you missed it somehow. It happens. That we're each on a journey of learning to discern God's voice among the the other voices of good-intentioned people, not to mention the voice of our own desires. And, well, maybe you just got it wrong.

And if you recognize that you did get it wrong - it's OK; the rest of this post probably doesn't apply to your situation.

But what if you didn't? What then?

*According to Mike Bickle at Kansas City IHOP:

  "Personal prophecy is given to strengthen our resolve to obey God, to be faithful in prayer . . . Prophecy is not a guarantee, but an invitation from God to participate with Him in prayer, faith, and obedience."

I think I may have been absent the day they taught that. I wouldn't have been so hard on myself when my own "Nora and Phil" story came to a drawn out, excruciating close. All that blame and guilt that I must've done something to "chase away" God's promise for me. Somehow, I wasn't faithful with it and now God's taking His word back.

But at times, I also felt betrayed by Him. I had prayed. I did fast. I stuck in there when things seemed impossible. I believed.

Prophecy is an invitation to participate with God, not a guarantee . . .

If you received a word that some day you would have an international ministry of healing, you still have options. If, instead of taking steps of faith by studying what the Bible says about healing and praying for those who are sick or injured around you, you sat around waiting for someone to show up at your door with a plane ticket and an itinerary for your ministry trip, you'll probably be waiting til . . . never.

Prophecy is an invitation to participate with God, not a guarantee . . .

Then this means that everyone involved has a choice. That whole "free will" thing.

If you're still in the midst of waiting for the other person to exercise their free will in a way reflective of what you believe God is saying about the two of you, relax your grip.

Yes, you.

You're holding on too tightly. Don't turn that person, or your desire for your happily ever after with them, into an idol. Accept God's invitation to partner with Him in "prayer, faith and obedience." But for Heaven's sake, don't tell them, "God said . . . " Rather, let the experience draw you into deeper intimacy with Him as you learn to trust Him ever more deeply, whatever the outcome.

Now if you've held on to the last teeniest, tiniest, invisible threads of hope with every fibre of your being, but it's clear the other person isn't having a bar of it (isn't remotely interested, for all you non-New Zealanders) and is obviously happy living a life without you as the main earthly attraction, then you have a couple of choices.

You can keep hanging in there. Pray. Hope. Believe that nothing is final until one of you is dead.

Or you can ask God to show you when to say "when." Because if you guys keep breaking up or if the other person's even told you, straight out, that they're not interested in a future together, then . . . maybe it's time to let this go. And that's OK.

Your heart will heal. You will love again. God WILL restore you. And all the time you look back on as wasted? He'll restore that, too. I promise. And He'll bring you someone even more amazing. After all, since this person was pretty amazing themselves, that HAS to be something to look forward to, right?

*From the transcript of Encountering Jesus: Visions, Revelations, and Angelic Activity from IHOP-KC’s Prophetic History – MIKE BICKLE