First published by Pastor Johnny Enlow on September 25, 2014 on Facebook.

 

It has been challenging for many this year to have to process the stark contradictions between the various prophetic voices. Are we in a day of great breakthrough and kingdom advancement or is this a very perilous day where we need to gear ourselves up for great judgments and difficulties? It seems that never have we seen more discrepancy between the established prophetic voices.

Caught in the middle are all those who respect and heed prophetic words trying to discern who is right and what is the appropriate response. Do we prepare ourselves for severe difficulties or do we prepare ourselves for intense joys and breakthroughs? Exactly which is the narrative or story line we should embrace?

Confusing the Casualties of the Age with the Age Itself

I believe that there is a tremendous responsibility on the prophetic scouts among us to properly discern what is being observed and to wisely release God’s narrative of the hour to His people. Many are confusing the casualties of the age we are in with the age itself. Many are listing as today’s main story line the collateral damage taking place on the battlefield when those are only the casualties of the war and not the story line itself.

The age, is the age of restoration of all things spoken of in Acts 3:21.

“…whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”

This is an unprecedented age of kingdom advancement and kingdom breakthrough. It is not the age of loss and devastation. ISIS is momentarily in this age of restoration, but it is not the age of ISIS. Ebola is presently making a show in this breakthrough age of restoration but it is not the age of ebola. Keeping the main narrative the main narrative is of utmost importance today as our hope and faith get empowered or zapped depending on our confusion regarding the central story line.

“Arise, Shine your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen on you. Behold darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people but the Lord will arise on you and His glory will be seen on you. Nations will come to your brightness and Kings to your shining” Isaiah 60:1-3.

These verses cover the bases in what all the prophets are seeing. Everyone is seeing either the darkness or the light and glory. Some are seeing primarily the darkness and some are seeing primarily the glory. Obviously, there are also some prophets who are totally missing it in what they think they are seeing. This can happen and will always happen from time to time as what a prophet can see will always be subject to the contamination that is in his own spirit and the gloom in his own soul. However, what is of utmost importance is that what is being seen be framed in it’s proper narrative. This is where I believe God’s people are being done a disservice by the contradictory prophetic perspectives.

The Narrative is “Arise Shine” and not “Behold Darkness”

In Isaiah 60, it is very clear that the narrative or story line is encouraging and hopeful. The era is one of arising and shining and of carrying the light and the glory of God to such a degree that nations respond to it and world governmental leaders look to it. This reality is the working framework for both Isaiah 60 as well as today. “Gross darkness” creates the casualties of this age of great shining but it is not that which defines the day and age we are in.

Whatever You Look For You Will Find

The challenge for prophetic voices called to lead the Body of Christ is that your prophetic gifting can literally see whatever you focus on. When surveying a battlefield your eyes can either see that the battle is going well and we are advancing and winning or those same eyes can be diverted to gazing at the casualties of the battle. A General always has a primary responsibility of protecting troop morale.

When you are the predetermined guaranteed winner in battle it would always be foolish to bring any kind of attention to battlefield losses or momentary enemy gains. Any mention of those losses or challenges would only be done in the context of an overwhelming hopeful and encouraging address to the troops. No General would last as General – should he consistently speak to the overall troops from a fearful or concerned tone of voice – ever pointing out enemy advances or gains.

If there was an enemy ambush in a particular part of the battlefield he would deal with that with the troops in that specific region of the battle zone and not expose the whole army to the casualties or challenges of the incidence.

In our own fight for freedom General George Washington was losing almost every battle that took place towards American independence. Yet you would not hear that coming from his mouth as his resolve and encouragement energized a greatly under sized and under weaponized army. He sold a “we are winning and we will not be defeated narrative” to his troops and it was THE difference maker in whether we gained independence or not. Without his perspective and voice establishing the battlefield narrative we would not have gained our national independence.

The irony of today, is that we are not as General Washington was back then when everything was in doubt. Today, we fight with overwhelming fire power on our side. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. We have an enormous host of angels that out number Satan’s host by 2 to 1 as well as much greater firepower.

Additionally the Bible lays out the script before us and we know that we win this great battle. Furthermore, our natural numbers of 2.4 billion followers of Jesus, of which 700 million are filled with the Holy Spirit – and increasing by thousands a day – are very encouraging and invigorating.

We don’t have to be as brave as General Washington was, but at least we should not promote a defeatist narrative to the winning army. Whether ISIS or Russia or Iran or whomever – ever manages to inflict serious casualties on the United States of America, that would still not be the greater story line. Whether the ebola plague ever makes it into our population or not that matter is still just an adjunct to the central narrative playing out. Whether we ever do have a devastating earthquake and/or tsunami even that would not define us or our hour. The era is the era of renaissance in the knowledge of God and the age is the age of the restoration of all things. When you shift out of that narrative you are now in the wrong script and you will no longer be able to hear the spirit-lifting soundtrack of hope that accompanies our story.

My Appeal to Prophetic Voices

My appeal to the prophetic voices out there is to please make sure you are scouting what the Lord is giving you to scout. I believe you are called to scout that which encourages and invigorates. The people don’t need the “reality check” of the giants in the land. The ten spies also – thought their scouting of the giants of the Promised Land valuable. They saw it as helpful to dutifully “warn” the people.

They saw what they were wired in their soul to see. Caleb and Joshua, being of a different spirit, saw the fruit and beauty in a land that had no believers, no prayer meetings, no churches – and only giants.

The solemn responsibility of prophetic spies is to report back to the people that which harmonizes with the Father’s declared storyline and that which allows the soundtrack of hope to continue playing as background.

Listen to the Soundtrack

In closing, my word to the general Body of Christ that is open to the prophetic, is that you let your own spirit discern every prophetic word by the “soundtrack” that accompanies every message you hear.

If you find that a prophetic message is causing your fear and anxiety level to go up, while putting out your fire of hope, then maybe push that word aside no matter how much you respect that particular prophet.

If the prophetic word releases a new breath of fresh hope and joy into you then it tells you that you are getting the Original Soundtrack designed by our Father for us to operate from. The Kingdom of God can never advance to a soundtrack of fear and consternation and will always advance to the background music of hope.

Chose today what movie script and what soundtrack your are willing to expose yourself to. It could make the difference of you making it to your Promised Land or not.

 

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Johnny Enlow

 

 

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