Between Christmas and New Year’s this year, our family revived a tradition that we kept when our sons were small. We bought a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle and worked on it together most evenings. It was great fun, and it gave us an easy way to open up lots of conversations. Maybe you have this kind of tradition too.
The activity of hunting for the exactly right puzzle piece and setting them in place seems like an apt metaphor for something else that has become a tradition in prophetic circles around this time of year. It’s the trend of giving prophetic words for the New Year, either in January or September (as those who feel the Hebraic calendar is more spiritual sometimes do). This has become very popular, it’s even grown to such an extent that giving a word of prediction for the coming year is now an expected indicator of one being “in the office of the prophet”. Each one trying to find the exact right puzzle piece of revelation that will set us up to understand the year before us. The year of the gate, the year of the voice, the year of breakthrough… you’ve likely heard all of these and more.
IS GOD IN THIS PRACTICE?
More recently, there has been some critique of this trend as the specific, detailed, year-end prophecies have rarely come true, and the general, vague ones are always true for someone, somewhere. So why do we do this, and is it a practice we should continue? Is God in this practice or is it a Christian form of horoscope?
In order to answer these questions, we need to ask some more fundamental ones.
First, does God do different things in different times?
If we turn to the biblical record, we might immediately say, “Yes!” as we consider the story of Israel, Abraham’s call, the captivity in Egypt, the exodus, then the fullness of time when was Jesus born, the time for his ministry to begin, the time for the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the pouring out of the Spirit. All these events were unique and on God’s timeline.
But now that the Spirit has come and the Church is being built all over the world in response to the Great Commission, are there still times or seasons when God is doing markedly different things? Or, are we in an era where, while there are some ebbs and flows, predominately all the activity of God has continued on, the same as it was from the day the Church was born? (Mt 11:12)
Hmm…
THE NATURE OF THE KINGDOM IS CONSTANT
Maybe we were too quick to respond with our enthusiastic “Yes!”, after all, the nature of the kingdom of God is the same as it was from the beginning of the Church, we are still called to the same mission and vision, we are still being formed into the image of Christ, we are still commanded to love God and neighbour. We still worship, pray, partake of the sacraments, read and study the scriptures, give, care for the poor, and fellowship. The gifts of the Spirit are still with us. These are not seasonal activities. And God is still extending mercy, pouring out His love, revealing Jesus to the lost and the Church, convicting of sin, renewing the weary, even resurrecting things (and at times people) who were dead. So a better answer to our question about God doing different things in different times is … “Yes, and no”.
He does increase His unique activity in certain places and at certain times, but He is also constant and in this age between the coming of the Spirit and the return of Christ, He is building His Church. His grand telos is to bring all things in heaven and earth into union with Christ.
“…making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Eph 1:9,10).
SECOND QUESTION
Ok, first question answered. Let’s consider a second fundamental question before we go on to try to understand the value (if any) of year-end prophecies.
Why do we feel the need to have these prophecies?
What is it in us that craves what they offer?
I’m asking this question because I think we need to discern what is coming from the world’s influence and what is actually a God-given orientation to understand the seasons we live in.
You can probably catch what I think just by the way I’ve framed the question, so rather than being coy, I’ll jump right in and give you my perspective.
The more I’ve engaged with the Church calendar, or as some call it, the liturgical calendar, the more I realize how deeply we are wired for defined seasons, and not just independent, personal seasons, but corporate ones. We need, as communities, to mark holy-days and we need different types of activities or focuses at different times of the year. This gives us balance, rest, and pushes us into growth. The natural seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter are not just for the health of the natural world, they are also for our mental and emotional health. What we see revealed in the creation is also a feature of how we are wired spiritually. We need constancy (day and night), and we need change (seasons).
However, all good things that God builds into us are vulnerable to distortion and defilement by the world, our flesh, and the devil. This desire to bring definition to a season, to give it a name, notice its boundaries, and discern its uniqueness, when disconnected from surrendered communion with God, becomes a disordered desire that can tempt us into taking things in our own hands. This is where we stumble into divination, numerology, or making horoscope-like prophecies. We shift from the godly place of receiving revelation and wisdom from the Lord —when and if He grants it— with a submitted, trusting heart, to grasping for supernatural knowledge, (like the knowledge of good and evil) for our personal independence and power.
So, let’s be aware that there is always a temptation to step into the flesh, and the demonic spirit of divination is poised, ready to be accessed if we aggressively try to “pull down a word from the heavenlies”. These are the realities that we navigate when we prophesy, we must do so by the leading of the Spirit. And we must do so with surrender, meekness, and the fear of the Lord.
SEEING THE GLIMPSES OF GLORY
Another reason that we are drawn to these season-defining prophetic words is that we can see glimpses of the activity of God in the world around us, both in the Church and the nations, like the sun playing peek-a-boo through heavy cloud cover. We long for someone to help us interpret what we are noticing, we are eager for someone with sharper vision to discern the shapes that we can’t quite make out so that we can confidently act, build, and pray. We earnestly want to get on board with what God is doing and ride the wave of the Spirit by “seeing what God is doing and blessing it” (as John Wimber would say), but that seems to require the guidance of prophetic revelation.
On the other side of the coin, we are often distressed by the confusion and chaos we inhabit, and long for someone to help us make sense out of it all. Prophetic words can ease that tension that comes from not understanding what’s going on, and even if the word is not true, it can still comfort.1
WE ALL WANT EARS TO HEAR
So the really godly desire of wanting to have “ears to hear” can get distorted by the flesh if we move into the place of demanding more than God is revealing. We hate the mysteriousness of God’s hand moving, the tension of not knowing fully. We want everything laid out plainly, preferably with timelines, specific locations, and all the accompanying details. This is not a new frustration, Jesus encountered it as well:
“So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’” (Jn 10:24).
The result is that we clamour at prophets to come up with the goods. We flock to the prophets who will give us more, impressing everyone with their dramatic, grandiose words that promise us breakthroughs and instant relief from the pressure of our struggle and suffering. But sadly, the words that go beyond what God is actually revealing, all to please man, end up turning sour and hollow.
YEAR-END PROPHECIES
What then of year-end prophecies?
I still think there is a place for them. I still think they are valuable if handled rightly.
We often take time around the beginning of a new year to wait on God and listen to Him. In these times, He speaks. We naturally take stock, look back, look forward, and inquire. Maybe while walking the dog, or maybe as we chip away at that big jigsaw puzzle, maybe in mornings or days set aside for just being alone with the Father, we become still and this positions us to hear clearly. So let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater, we always want to honour the voice of God. However, let’s remember, that the normal place for prophecy is in the local church, it’s prophesying in the midst of a community where we are known, loved, and accountable (1 Cor 14:3,4). Prophecy is a manifestation of the Spirit primarily to build the church, never to build our platforms or careers as “powerful prophetic voices”.
With this in mind, the year-end videos that so many well-known prophets post to the internet as a “word for the body of Christ”, or a word for “whoever feels it applies to them”, seem to have little value. They by-in-large, model an unbiblical use of prophecy and feed the celebrity-prophet culture that has been so problematic. Perhaps we should give these less attention and instead, simply listen, staying open to God speaking and showing us the unique things that He’s doing in this season.
Let’s lean in to hearing God here at the beginning of this year (and of course at any other time!) and be confident that He has things to say and to reveal to us. What He says may not contain as much information or detail as we would like, so let’s resist the temptation to add to His words to resolve the tension of not fully knowing. We can live with some mystery, it’s ok if we don’t know as much as we’d like yet— we can trust. The day is coming, and soon will be here, when we will see with unveiled faces and all will be made plain.
Of course this is a false comfort and ends up eventually leading to disillusionment and more confusion. But even false words do, for a short time, comfort.
Good 'word' Sara. I have gotten in the habit of listening to Remnant Radio's annual review of prophetic words. I think a big problem is what you identified, seeking a platform. I just received an email last week from a well known prophetic voice. Once you drilled down it was an invitation to purchase a product to aid in praying through this individuals prophecies. Yet a major one for this year has already clearly been wrong and a major one for last year was the same. They both had international implications and if people made decisions based on them being true they could have run into problems. I don't know if there has been any acknowledgement of these major errors, there certainly wasn't in the product promotion. We need to get out of this mindset in terms of His body think globally and act loyally in our prayer and fellowship while still honouring authentic prophetic gifts. PS I think the word for you this year is.....oh, never mind:-)
Thanks Ron. :)