This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Running with Horses, a podcast devoted to inspire you, concerning a relationship with Almighty God that empowers you to accomplish things you never thought possible. Shirley Weaver wants to take you there. And now here's today's episode. Hey, welcome to our podcast today.
My name is Shirley Weaver. We love that you take this time to spend here and believe with you for big, bold prayers of yours to be answered. Our magnificent Almighty Father loves you.
He loves you. That's a message right there, isn't it? You know, I just get going with that and I could just keep going with that. But what I want to share with you today specifically has to do with a condition the prophets warned, actually Jesus warned, would happen at the end of the age, that there would be a falling away. And my words today, being believers being lulled to sleep, lulled to sleep. What I mean by that, in order to be drawn away, to be lulled to sleep about the things of the Lord, His kingdom, God's Word, you really have to get past two groups of people. There are two people in the local congregation that you've got to get beyond if you're going to be drawn, taken into captivity and you're thinking on any level by the enemy.
And that's my point today. Those two people are the prophets and those with prophetic giftings and the elders. And by elder, I don't mean the position or the office of elder, really the one who by reason of age is older, you know, so someone 60 or older. And by prophet, I mean, you know, every believer has the prophet Jesus living on the inside of them. So all born again believers are prophetically gifted. But then there are also those that are specifically called, they have a specific anointing of the prophet. And we see this throughout the word.
Matthew 24, 10, many will be led away, they will be lulled to sleep. And you've got to get past these two people. And believe me, they're there, they're positioned around you. If you know God, if you're born again, you can be sure these people are around you. You just may need to pay a little closer attention. So first of all, the prophet, where the Jezebel spirit is, the prophet will speak up. Sometimes that's how you know who they are.
You know, they just are not having it. Revelation 2 20, which is a study for another time, but suffice it to say that the writer there is pointing us to the seduction of God's people away from, away from him, away from his presence, his word, the truth of his word, the specifics of his word, you know, the orthodoxy of his word, because you know, there are trends now that sound really good. They can lull us to sleep regarding those things. But a believer's prophetic gifting is discerning. Like the example of Jesus' ministry, you know, he often confronted, he was not shy to speak when something was out of order, when someone was teaching falsely, people, issues, anything misleading are outright corrupt or evil. Matthew 23 34 said at a specific instance of his upset with the religious status quo, he said, listen, I am sending you prophets, wise men or sages and teachers or instructors, and he says, you will kill them.
You know, on some level you will dismiss them, ignore them. So this is not a new thought that this can happen, that there are prophets in our midst, there are elders in our lives, and yes, the enemy's intention is to provoke you, entice you, to seduce you, to ignore the wisdom that's coming from these two sources. So in the same spirit as Jesus' ministry, the person gifted by God with a prophetic eye will not be shy and will speak, which is why I say that's a great test of the prophetic people in your midst to say wake up for them as well, because the prophet's discernment can be lulled as much as anyone else's, as much as the teacher or evangelist. The evangelist can cease evangelizing, the teacher can grow quiet, just dig into the status quo. The same is true of for the prophet.
They can be lulled as well. So there's a test here, you might say a litmus test going on, and so wow, I think the line is being drawn, because in many places, prophets and those prophetically gifted are speaking, speaking up, again, like Jesus did. They are saying, do not tolerate these Jezebelic messages. Again, Revelation 2-20, don't tolerate this deception, don't open yourself to it, don't take it in. And these with prophetic giftings, with prophetic anointings, they are calling these things out. And I say more and more. More and more, we are hearing the voice of the prophet, and in a minute, we're going to just look at the voice of the elder.
They extend to you a wake up call, because they have received a wake up call, as it were, from the Spirit of God. Wake up. Wake up. Those of you who are sleeping, you've got to wake up. This is a time you and I cannot afford to be dull.
We can't miss this. So quickly, the elder. So first of all, the prophet.
Secondly, the elder. Another place where we find this valuable, valuable wisdom and discernment is in the lives of those in their 60s and older, and you know, hey, by this time, it's built in. It is ingrained. It is engraved on the heart of the person that has lived long enough to see some things and learn some things. The way things happen in families, though, as the person who has been the prophet, the voice, the stable one, the anchor, the one who disciples the younger members, that person no longer is in their 20s or 30s or 40s, but by now, they've arrived at an older age, 60 or something, we'll just say, you know, that's not a hard line, but we'll just say 60 or something, we find that they know truth intuitively, because life is a teacher.
We all can attest to that. Unfortunately, at this point, too often, at this point, the attitude of the coming, the next generation, and the next and the next, their attitude changes in the way that they view this person, the way that they interact, the way they acknowledge them or in many cases, do not acknowledge them. In other words, they're done with this. You know, the younger person says, I don't really need this anymore.
I have arrived at a point, I no longer need them, this wisdom, this voice. So it's a tendency. You might even say it's natural. But don't be moved by that. You serve a supernatural God. You want supernatural answers to your big prayers. So don't allow yourself to succumb to what is the average, the natural. You know, that person who in their 40s or 50s thinks now they've arrived.
And so maybe the expression would be sort of roll their eyes, just roll their eyes when wisdom speaks through the voice of the elder, when the one who is older speaks and say something like this, like, for example, listen, you need to pay attention to your history, to our history, to the history of our nation, the history of our family. Do not forget the liberties that my generation has fought and died for on physical battlegrounds and also on spiritual battlegrounds so that you can even be here, you little whippersnapper. You need to get a life, in other words.
You need to wake up. The Lord is clear here. The person with an experience is not at the mercy of the person with an argument. The person possessing wisdom is not at the mercy of the one who is the new kid on the block or new on the scene, who basically does not have wisdom on the level that the elder has perfected. And what's worse, don't even realize they don't have it. But it's the anointing sea of the elder who is even right now saving the day for those who are following.
You have no idea. You have no idea how intricately the Lord has woven this principle until you open your eyes and see it for yourself. See it in those that have gone before us. See it in those who are carrying right now an older age and with it they are gifted. They are so profoundly gifted.
So that's the point. If what we're describing here fits you, either as the younger person or as the elder, remember who's holding the trumpet. The elder is holding the trumpet. And I want to say to you, challenge you as the elder in your family, don't stop. Continue to prophesy. Continue to release your wisdom. Just because someone younger is too silly or too shallow to hear, don't stop. Keep speaking.
You know, I guess we can all identify with that point in our life where we may think we've arrived at a place we may not have actually arrived at just yet. So don't claim to be distant from or not a person who needs the wisdom of the elder. Don't be quick to feel that way. And if you are the elder, don't be silent.
You've got the word. You step up. Do not stop. So what's our takeaway today? It is to say to all of us on every level, whatever your age, do not be fooled. Listen for wisdom coming from prophets, coming from elders. Jesus said, I'm sending them to you. I'm sending prophets and I'm sending wise men to you.
And I love like the connection here that you could draw. I don't think that this is misplaced. First Peter 1 9, receive the end of your faith for the saving of your soul. So in other words, trust God to speak through the person He chooses, whomever He chooses, those He plants, those prophets He sends, those wise men He sends, wise men and women that He releases into your path, those that He speaks to and through. This just might equate to the very saving of your soul that you're so longing for, that you're praying those big prayers for. Or another word that would fit here is deliverance, for your own deliverance. Receive the end of your faith, the trust in God in this way, for your own deliverance.
Listen for your good. So prayerfully just say, Father, put the prophet in my life, the elder in my life, send them, daily send them. Right now we pray over the wisdom that has been built into the generation of the elders in my life, those around me.
I refuse to be awkward or to be reluctant or to be shy to receive from them. I refuse to be dwarfed by my own self-interest or to back down from the wisdom coming from the elder, from the prophet. I receive their voice. And for those of you who are at this place in your life as elder and for those appointed as prophets, prayerfully, Father, I realize your hand on me.
I am determined to use my voice boldly. And I ask you, Father, to release your wisdom through me. I ask you, Father, to remove restraints so that it flows freely, so that it moves freely from your heart to my heart, from my lips to the ear of the hearer. In the powerful name of Jesus, we pray both prayers.
Listen, if you know this is true, if you realize that there is a voice crying, there's one crying out in the wilderness right now, getting my attention, your attention, a bold voice, we just believe that God will release that wisdom, right? And we say, Lord, let it fly. Let it fly. Let it go. Rip it open. Take off the Band-Aid.
Rip off the Band-Aid. Remove the restraints and the hesitations and the reluctance that has been created by being cool and being trendy, savvy, and worst of all, worst of all, being woke. Hey, don't be woke. Don't do that. Don't do that because you have the mind of Christ. That means you have the thought life of the Lord Jesus. You do. So get on with it. Let's get with it.
Let's get with the program, The Mind of Christ, The Thought Life of the King. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support this podcast, please share it with others. Post about it on social media or leave a rating and review. Don't forget to check out the show notes or visit acleartrumpet.org, where you can subscribe to Shirley's email list. Download the ministry app and purchase your very own copy of Shirley's 365-Day Devotional, Running with Horses. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time.
Whisper: medium.en / 2022-12-15 17:13:45 / 2022-12-15 17:19:23 / 6