Deborah  

Discerning the Times

By Deborah

Excerpt taken from Deborah's book,

America, Can You Hear God Calling?

Discerning the Times

When God speaks He confirms His words through prophets, but we still need to take everything we hear to the Lord for ourselves and not rely completely on others to tell us what God is saying.  There seems to be a prophetic buzz in the atmosphere now concerning judgment and coming disaster, and people I know are being inundated with these prophetic words.  They have asked me why some of these words seem to conflict with others, and some say it’s immediate while others say it will happen later.

My response is this.  First of all, I believe that judgment is conditional on our response.  Some prophets might see the judgment while others see what will happen if we respond to God correctly.  They see two different sides of the same picture.

A friend that asked me if I believed we would be hit with a major attack on the fourth of July this year.  Apparently it had been prophesied and there were quite a few people who prepared for disaster that they believed would come that day.  We all know nothing happened.  Does that mean that whoever heard this was not hearing God?  Possibly, but not necessarily.  God often speaks words of warning and if we respond in prayer the disaster could be averted altogether.  I believe we have experienced many of those times, where warnings were given, the people responded in prayer and God stopped it from happening.

Others are prophesying an earthquake on the Madrid fault sometime this fall.  Yet others are seeing invasion into our cities and believe it will happen very soon.  I have not personally seen these things, but I make a habit of asking the Lord when I hear something like that because we all prophesy in part.  I don’t know it all and neither does anyone else.  When God started showing me some of these things 22 years ago, I thought surely I would see these things come to pass within a year or so, but God wanted me to pray and prepare for this season.  I believe that many of the things God is warning us about could be stopped if we have a mighty move of repentance.

So how do we discern the times?  When we are in close relationship with Him we come to know His ways as well as His word and His voice.  One way of discerning if a word is from God is to compare it to what you already know God has said to you about other things.  If the timing doesn’t line up, then there is a good possibility it’s not going to happen at that time.

For instance, in 1988 there was a book out titled, “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Happen in 1988.  Everyone was buzzing about it, but I started thinking about all of the things the Lord had shown me that I would be doing and it didn’t line up with the timing that the book was prophesying.  1988 passed and no rapture.  Then during the Y2K scare everyone was stocking up on things, preparing their houses etc. getting ready for hard times.  Again I compared it to what I had heard from the Lord concerning what my own future and again it didn’t line up. 

There are promises that God has spoken to individuals, churches and ministries that have not yet come to pass.  Now, if you have been faithful to your call and have prepared for that promise, would God abort that promise because He decided to do something else that would pre-empt it?  No, I do not believe so.

God commanded me to write this book warning His people to come to repentance, warning them of coming disaster and wooing them back to Him.  If I am obedient to Him in my timing, would He cause the disaster to strike before the book was ready for people to read?  That wouldn’t make sense for Him to cause the alarm to be sounded after disaster strikes.  It would be like turning on your fire alarm after the house burned down. 

He is warning us so that we will have time to prepare for whatever is coming.  He is going to give us time to hear His words of warning so that we can respond to Him and so that we can warn others.  Please understand the time may be very short so we can’t waste a moment; but He will give His faithful remnant time to get ready for the harvest.

One more thing that I feel is very important for us to understand.  I remember when God told Moses that He would destroy the whole nation of Israel because of their rebellion and Moses interceded for them, causing God to change His heart.  I can’t emphasize enough the importance of this.  Judgment is something that happens as a result of sin.  When we repent of our sin, there may still be reaping for that sin, but the severity of His judgment will be held back.  Therefore, if the body of Christ in America were to heed His warnings and turn back to Him, it’s very possible that most of the frightening things that are being prophesied will not come to pass.

Every January I ask the Lord for a prophetic message for the coming season.  This year the message He gave me was that we are in a time of preparation for hard times ahead.  He used the story of Joseph as an analogy of all that we have been through leading up to this time, and how Joseph kept his heart towards God when his brothers betrayed him, when he was forced into slavery, when he was unjustly thrown into prison and all of those years while he was in prison.  God has allowed us to be in some very difficult circumstances for a while to purify us and allow us to judge our own hearts.  We have been misunderstood or betrayed, rejected or passed over, financially challenged, etc.  But God had a plan to prepare Joseph to one day be the channel of blessing for all of Egypt and surrounding areas, and to save the lives of the very 'brethren' who hurt him so much.

If we have been like Joseph, keeping our heart set on the Lord no matter what has come our way, He will cause us to rise up in this season to not only inherit our place in the kingdom but to become a channel of blessing and hope in the very dark hour ahead.  He has been preparing us spiritually, and now He will give us the means to prepare financially.  We have all heard that the wealth of the wicked is set aside for the righteous.  This is that season.  We will have whatever measure we need for what He has called us to.  He will provide for us during lean times and some will be so financially blessed that they will have plenty to share with those in desperate need.

He has been impressing upon me that it’s time to complete whatever He has told us to do.  We sometimes procrastinate the things we most need to accomplish, but now we don’t have time to do it ‘someday’.  If He told you to write a book, write it.  If you are supposed to record a CD, go back to school, start a business or anything else, do not put it off any longer.  What He tells you to do He will also empower you to complete.

He will use these things to prosper us.  Just like Joseph had the word of the Lord about preparing for drought, we have the word of the Lord about these tremendously difficult times ahead but God is going to give us a brief season to store up for that time.  Do I mean stocking food and water in your house so you won’t starve?  No.  Not unless He has specifically told you to do that.  He will deal with each of us in whichever way He sees fit, and our obedience is what will carry us. The treasures we will be storing up are treasures that come from above.