When God speaks by His Spirit through a sanctioned vessel, He says what He means, and He means what He says. Often He reminds me of this understanding when I am questioning Him about the delay of a time-sensitive word that He has had me to release to someone.
There is a particular incident that God has used to answer me numerous times over the years. An Evangelist of a very prestigious Church of a powerful Pentecostal denomination sought me out in my hometown to ask me to petition Heaven with her for a much desired promotion/transfer in her company from her state to another state. I agreed and prayed for her while we were on that call. She admitted that in all of her years of serving God that she could not say for sure that she had ever heard Him speak to her.
Well, our good and loving Father told me to tell her to take herself out to dinner, and to take a notepad and pen and that He would speak to her. He also said for her to take a yellow flower ( either a rose or a carnation) and that He would secure the promotion that she desired. I didn't hear from her again until a year later, and she was in the same dilemma. Holy Spirit told me to ask her if she had followed through with the instructions from a year earlier. She said that she did, but Holy Spirit told me to ask her about the yellow flower. She said that she couldn't find a yellow one, but Holy Spirit told me that she didn't look for one, and that she decided that it was an insignificant detail.
Well, guess what? Holy Spirit told me to give her the same instructions again. When she followed through she called me back in two months, and she had received the promotion. Everything was expedited for her. Even her house sold right away. Holy Spirit revealed to me His people's lack of obedience and follow-through with words from the Lord, but that we expect Him to deliver anyway. He told her one other very unusual sign that would occur after she received her promotion, but that it would have nothing to do with her. It all came to pass.
If we aren't going to obey God, why pray because the answer could involve our participation? And why approach a true Prophet to get in God's Face for you and then decide what you will and will not do with the answer?
It is important to understand that there is victory in hearing and obeying the Logos AND Rhema word of God. We can confirm this through many stories in the Bible. Somehow, Jacob's story just came to mind when God revealed to him what to do to increase his wealth after being entrapped by His uncle, Laban, for fourteen years. Joseph worked the plan and prospered. "And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and thy kindred; and I will be with thee" Genesis 31:3. Then Jacob was able to tell Leah and Rachel, "Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me" Genesis 31:9. (Read Jacob's story in Genesis 27-33).
Lord, if we have missed something please bring it to us again that we may obey and prosper. Thank You, Lord!
