Prophets of hope — Marian Fitz-Gibbon

For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29.11)

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. — Isaiah 55:8-9

We all have destinations the Lord has planned for us – a dream God has placed in our hearts and a future to live out.

Rebuild prophets
In this chaotic period, we find ourselves as prophets placed in the very best season to speak into the rebuild. All around there is the opportunity for the voice of the Lord, the wisdom of the Lord and the revelation of the Lord to break out.  New systems, new thinking, new ideas and new methodologies are just waiting to be installed.   Isaiah 60 — Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Pathway to destiny
When God speaks to us, we often forget that there is a pathway that we must travel in order to reach that destination.  It may be filled with challenges and character sharpening times.  We may feel that we might want to give up or reach the destiny so much sooner.  We cry out ‘Lord teach me your ways` and along comes Covid, or the dreadful looting fiasco South Africa faced. I’m not suggesting that the Lord sent Covid or the crazy lawlessness at all, but what the devil intended for evil the Lord uses for good.

Genesis 50.20 — You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

During this time a lot of people’s dreams were placed on the line. Deep questions were asked as to when they would fulfil the prophetic call of God on their lives, if at all.  It seems that adversity has the opportunity of fuelling the call or destroying it.

A well-known scenario is found with the Israelites facing the Red Sea as they were being chased by the Egyptian army.  It’s easy to sit and listen to a sermon on it, but when you see a grown man cry when he faces crossing over to confront his future and trusting the Lord or sinking under the pressure of financial performance, it makes the whole story come alive.  Which King do you serve?  If that illustration doesn’t do it for you then take two business partners who had set out to do good and now stand at a point in time. At the top of the hill, they see where they should go but an onslaught of fear grips them when they hear of the massive obstacles they are to face. Will obstacles be their destruction or their food? Then one of them gets into the presence of the Lord and his fear of failure is addressed.  Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. == Joshua 1:9 The battle is not removed, the giant is not removed, but the fervour to win, the strategy to win is given and that my friend is where we are.  It becomes the testimony of Jesus that we so willingly share with each other as He displays His might and skill in battle, and He gets the glory over and over again.

We need to understand that Jesus warned us that we would encounter trials and tribulations as we go through life. However, He also told us to be courageous (see John 16:33). While many of us know the portion of the verse that talks about trials and tribulations, we tend to forget the second half of the verse where Jesus tells us to take courage because He has already overcome. What would change if we placed more emphasis on the last part of that verse? I believe that hope would thrive amidst trials, and we would not break because our focus would be on the Lord.

Communication
Look at the element of communication and prayer where we learned to connect in totally different ways during our earlier part of the Covid battle. Some of us established networks across the globe and saw people getting healed of diverse illnesses, not just Covid.  In a prayer group which consisted of people from India, Russia, Israel, USA, Mozambique, Poland and South Africa and many more nations, people were reporting how the Lord was healing people in the most remarkable ways via virtual media.  We pray for people virtually only to discover that Jesus is the Lord of the universe, and He broke our paradigms. We realize that our perspectives were limited but He is so unlimited, and He is totally all-encompassing. We must not lose this territory we have gained.  When we were in the thick of the looting, the people from other parts of the world brought different Godly perspectives.  Likewise, when India got hit so badly with the Covid variant the South Africans could pray with authority.  Connection, perspective and revelation give us victory. 

Often people say trials can’t be from the Lord but when you look at Psalm 27.11 in which the writer says Teach me your way O Lord and lead me on a level path because of my enemies (who lie in wait), it’s the last part that has the clues. It’s because of my enemies that we have need of understanding and wisdom. We circle back to the concept that the Lord’s thoughts are so much higher than our limited earthly thoughts.   We cry out for revelation which only comes by wrestling and asking deep questions.  This of course can upset the status quo when you ask uncomfortable questions, but deep cries unto deep. Ultimately this is the revealing of more of Jesus Christ which is the spirit of prophecy, see Rev 19.10.

We are in a season of rebuild and we can’t rely on the previous answers to build better.  Just look at the example we face with science/medicine – we’re forced to find greater, bigger and better answers to kill off the viruses or we´re going to have to build up our resistance in our bodies or the church is going to have to intervene with the Word of God and a move of the Spirit the world has never seen.  Perhaps it’s a bit of it all. The debate is out on the table. If souls come in, I won’t debate.

Relationships
Let’s face it, many of us have had relationships shift with this Covid pandemic, let alone the uprising. More than ever before we’ll need to check our relational foundations.

Having healthy prophetic relationships is crucial, valuable and probably one of the most meaningful experiences you can have.  When we are prophesying into re-structuring, re-establishing situations, you need other prophets to chat and pray through to make sure you have heard the heartbeat of the Lord.   

Taking on new projects or new assignments requires support, there’s no doubt about it, one must look around and see who the Lord puts in your corner to help get the job done.