You are leaving your house and you have a sudden feeling
that you forgot something. You stop to think about and realize your cell-phone is still in your bedroom. Then you are talking
to your friend later that day and you say what they are thinking before they mouth it themselves. It shocks them. Lastly,
you are trying to sleep when you get the feeling that someone is watching you. You find out that a child has been hiding in
your room. Do these things indicate that you are hearing from God?
Not necessarily.
Often people are able to perceive things without having a clear understanding of how they are doing so, but this does not
mean they are receiving this revelation through spiritual means. There is a difference between prophetic and psychic revelation.
The word
“psychic” basically means “soulish,” and it relates to information our minds or emotions pick up on.
Often this information is gathered subconsciously, and it does not have a recognizable source. It is a natural process nonetheless,
rather than a supernatural one.
For instance,
a repressed memory of the things we need to carry with us can leave us sensing that we are forgetting something at times.
Likewise, a very slight change of the temperature in a room may alert us to the presence of another individual. Neither of
these occurrences mean that the Lord is speaking directly to us, though it is often wise to heed our impressions in such moments.
There is a danger in viewing these feelings as some miraculous gift however, because our fleshly perceptions do not always
guide us into God's will for our lives. Sometimes is okay to just ignore such sensations.
Another form
of psychic revelation is when Christians focus on the negative situations existing in their environment without looking deeper
to see what God is doing behind the scenes. For instance, someone might see the terrible moral state of our land and be overwhelmed
with fear, losing all hope for the hardened sinners they care for. Or a believer may look at his friends and see that they
are not raising their hands in worship and start to “prophesy” to them about it, saying they need to stir up a
passion for the Lord in their hearts. Neither of these revelations were discovered by spiritual means, but were limited to
a basic observation of the earthly realm. As a result, they only breed discouragement in the Body of Christ.
A truly prophetic
perspective of the world takes into account all the glorious ways that God is helping and improving our lives, working to
make His Kingdom come. Also, it does not judge our hearts based on the way things look, but it brings out the root issues
that are bothering us and shows us how to find freedom. In other words, the prophetic is about loving people and bringing
change with strategic words of affirmation. It is so much more than just sharing what it obviously going on.
Paul told
the Ephesians that he was praying for them to have “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation,” and that God would open
“the eyes of their heart” (Ephesians 1:17-18). We desperately need these blessings as well if we are going to
overcome all the darkness that is so apparent around us. We cannot manage alone with our carnal instincts and mental deductions.
