The power of prophetic word 3
by Ivan Ho 11 Sept 2022
3. Prophetic proclamation of victory
God speaks by His Spirit to an assigned prophet
Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation;
And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.
2 Chronicles 20:14-17 KJV
In face of attacks from the enemies, prophetic word came to Jahaziel. The word did not come to any random person but to an assigned prophet by the Spirit of God. Jehosaphat did not seek advice from men but seek God Himself, and God delivered His word through His prophet. The scripture goes to great details to describe the genealogy of Jahaziel to reveal who his father was, who his great grandfather was and so on. The significance of this is that Jahaziel is connected to his father and to his forefathers. He wasn’t any random person having no connection with anyone. Even Esther, who lost her father and mother, was connected to Mordecai who adopted her as his daughter. In Genesis, God is described as the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. The chronology of Jesus is described in great details in the book of Matthew because generational history and connections is important in God’s eyes. It is dangerous to seek carpark prophesies from anyone who isn’t connected and to whom God has not spoken.
The battle belongs to the Lord
The prophetic word declares: “Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s“. The battle against the enemy is not yours or mine, it belongs to God! We are dealing with spiritual warfares and unless God fights on our behalf, we cannot win against our enemies. Our victory is assured when God is on our side fighting on our behalf !
This is the power of prophetic word from God: we know God’s words never fails and He has never lost any battle against demonic powers of darkness. Jesus has completely defeated and disarmed the devil 2000 years ago. We need to realise that Jesus is the commander in general before we enter into any battle.
God reveals the plot of the enemies
Jahaziel prophesied: Tomorrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.”
God already knows the next moves of our enemies ahead of time and He reveals it to us by His prophetic words. That’s why prophetic words are so powerful and people ignore God’s words at their costs. God knows what the devil is doing before he does it and through His prophets, He reveals the enemies’ plots to us.
God reveals the strategies how to defeat the enemies
Not only does God reveal the enemies’ plans, He also speaks to us the strategies how we will defeat the attacks that come upon us. He tells us what we should do and sometimes, God just tells us to do nothing, as in Jehoshaphat’s case. “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you” .
Prophetic words are proclamations of victory against our enemies, even before we fight them. No matter what our enemies are planning against us, we need not fear, for God has already defeated our foes!
“Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you”.
Praise God for the victory
Having heard the prophetic word delivered to them, what did the people do? They believed the word and praised God, that’s all they did. There was no strife, no struggles, for God has already told them they would triumph over the enemies without having to do anything. All they did was praise God and thank Him for the victory. It’s like going to a football game and you know in advance you just need to turn up and victory is assured.
And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.
2 Chronicles 20:21-25 KJV
4. Believe in the prophets and you shall prosper
God still speaks to us today through His assigned prophets. There are many so called prophets nowadays who claim that God has spoken to them. I am not talking about people who call themselves prophets but true prophets who are called by God. The bible tells us that ” Believe in the prophets and you shall prosper“. The prophets who speak on God’s behalf deliver words from the heart of God which, if we believe and follow, will prosper us, not just materialistically but prosper us in the kingdom of God. When people of God believe in the prophets of God, our enemies are defeated and the kingdom of God advances on earth.
And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
2 Chronicles 20:20 KJV
Notice Jehoshaphat said: “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established; believe HIS prophets, so shall you prosper“. Our focus is not on the prophetic words but on the One who is actually speaking. The bible was written by the hands of man, but the real author is God who inspired the writers by the Spirit of God. The bible is the prophetic word of God.
5. God speaks through His Son in the last days
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Hebrews 1:1-4 KJV
In times past, God spoke to the fathers through His prophets, has now spoken to us by His Son. It doesn’t mean that God no longer speaks to us through prophets, but prophets are here to confirm what Jesus has spoken, not to add to nor to subtract from His words. If the words of any prophets don’t align with the word of God, we need to reject it straightaway.
The word of God takes precedence over any prophetic word we receive.