Prophet Blessing #5: Forgiveness and Restoration

Beloved, I call your spirit to attention, and I invite the Prophet portion to come explore God’s gifts to you.

Prophet, did you know that one of your finest characteristics wars against part of the essence of God to nearly destroy you?

Let’s start with who you are. Embedded in you is a keen sense of justice. You are deeply offended by injustice in the community even when it does not affect you at all. You at times seem to be a guardian of justice in a global sense, not merely for your own affairs.

Think of all the times you have been fully occupied in something important, but a discussion floated by you which involved injustice. It has been almost impossible for you to ignore the injustice. Time and again, you have vigorously shared a higher standard with those around you who didn’t ask for it.

Your sense of justice is a treasure to our human culture. You were designed by God to judge the hard cases and to adjudicate wisely. We welcome that great strength of yours.

As magnificent as it is, your keen sense of justice can, on occasion, block the generosity of God in an unhealthy way. At issue is whether your sense of justice or God’s innate generosity should be primary when they clash.

You see, Prophet, you know and I know that you play hard and sometimes it is too hard. You don’t always think things through before you begin. You are passionate, intense and at times you go off course.

When you are wrong, you hurt people. At times you violate God’s principles. Other times you misrepresent God. No matter how badly you want to serve God with the white hot zeal and perfect holiness, your track record falls far short of your desires.

Prophet, when that happens for a season and then you come to your senses, you immediately sit in judgment on yourself.

You unflinchingly apply your passion for justice to your own life and declare emphatically that you have sinned, you have failed to live a holy life and that you are deserving of discipline from God.

And this is true.

But the fact that you do not DESERVE treasures from God does not mean that He ceases to try to give them. In fact, many times when you are in your most unworthy mode, Father is trying to give you some of His best gifts. He values deep repentance, and because you repent so intensely, He rejoices in showering you with restoration.

This causes the clash between you and God. Your justice says you should not be receiving good things from God because of your sin. God’s essence says He does much of His best work in the gutter of your life, therefore He continues to offer amazing gifts to you.

Prophet, if you insist that your fine sense of justice remain dominant over God’s essence, you will never recover.

If you allow God’s essence to be primary and your sense of justice to be secondary, you will have an uncommonly dynamic life.

You see, two of the gifts God most wants to give a repentant Prophet are forgiveness and restoration. Do you deserve them? No! Not at all. You have been unholy and your justice proclaims that you do not deserve them, and you are absolutely right.

But while you do not deserve them, you need them.

At the end of the day, you need to allow God to be supreme. You must allow the incomparable extravagance of God to transcend your deeply rooted passion for justice.

We, the Body of Christ, beg you to receive the full measure of God’s forgiveness and restoration.

We desperately need you to be strong, especially after you have fallen. We urge you to subordinate your nature to God’s essence and to allow Him to rebuild you as only He can.

Do you deserve to be restored to a place of honor in the community of the saints after you have fallen? No, of course not. But we, the Body, know the extraordinary treasure that you will be in our midst when you receive the abundant gifts of the Father to rebuild you into the fullness of your design.

Welcome in our midst, restored Prophet. You are most welcome among us recipient of the extravagance of God. We bless you in the name of our King, Jesus Christ.

At home
Fullerton, CA
September 23, 2008

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