The nature of a prophetic life.

Thoughts on what it means to be prophetic run like water - some shallow, some deep, and generally all directions. That said, I'm hesitant to add my cup to that which is already spilled by others, except that I sensed a phrase from the Lord this morning that echoed in my spirit like a cannon.

"Sensed a phrase" may seem like an odd description, but saying "heard" throws up all sorts of red flags in some peoples' literal minds. Heard. Sensed. Felt. Call it what you want - I only have a rudimentary understanding of what it means, but I know where it came from.

"All prophecy is a violent act."

I'm not given to violence. In grade school, when you're one of the smaller 2 or 3 kids in your class, you don't go down that road very often. I'm given to conciliatory statements that let me keep my lunch money to eat another day.

Living a prophetic life messes with my conciliatory nature...because the intention of a prophetic word in regards to the kingdom of darkness is to invade, take over and set up government. It's truth encountering a lie, really....and all the chaos that ensues when that happens. It's been likened to shining a light into a dark room, but it's never that simple. There are people in that dark room, and some of them close to the prophetic word cast shadows behind them - pockets of darkness, even if only in shades of grey...yet light doesn't compromise. It shines.

Almost nothing about being a prayer missionary is easy. It's rewarding. It's pleasurable, even, but not easy. It's misunderstood and financially challenging. I sometimes feel at odds with everything from the economy to the law of gravity. Once in a while I tell myself that I'll figure this out eventually and it will get easier. I probably tell myself other lies too.

Know this (he said, preaching to himself....): It won't get easier. It's the nature of representing an invasion force. Even though destiny is on your side, the enemy fails to read the memo or believe the battle plan. You fight him on the beaches, you fight him on the landing grounds, you fight him in the fields and in the streets, you fight him in the hills, and you never surrender.(1)

Such is the nature of a prophetic life.

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(1) This is a paraphrase of a speech by Winston Churchill as he described the coming battle with Nazi Germany. You can feel the weight of D Day in these words, even though he spoke them four years and two days before the invasion. Check out his incredibly conclusion....

"and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."