How to Be God’s Response to Our Times

Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. Those who are in Christ are a prophetic people. If you are in Christ, you are a prophetic person! What does that mean? It does not mean that you prophesy, tell the future, or say things that sound profound to some people. Prophetic people don’t just say, “Yea, and again I say Yea!” Prophetic people and preachers don’t just say and do things in the moment. Prophetic people are God’s response to their times and to their generation. The Scriptures state that we were created in God's image and likeness. That statement carries the full creative purpose and power of God. Have you thought, "Why was I born?" The better question to ask is "Why did God create me in His image and likeness." I define “prophetic” as: God accomplishing His purposes by declaring his will and purpose in advances and then performing His will through willing people and ordered circumstances. There is a great difference between the propheticness God and the doctrine of fatalism which says that all events are determined by fate and are therefore inevitable and unalterable. In God’s scheme of things, He does not exclude the human will. He gives us the ability to accept or reject His plan for our lives (Deut. 30:19). Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; The ability of choice also includes the responsibility to accept the consequences of every decision. We cannot blame God for our failure to walk in His revealed will. Again, if you are born again, you are a prophetic person. The fact that you have a “testimony of Jesus” proves that you are a prophetic person (the spirit of prophecy). John 1:13 says that we were born again “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Jesus said in John 8:44 that no one can come to Him except the Father “draws him.” The point is this: The events that led to your repentance and acceptance of Jesus as your Lord and Savior were all prophetic in nature. Those were events prescribed by God from the foundation of the world. Though our names do not appear in the Bible, we do prophetically appear in promises such as, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:12). You became that “whoever” when the Holy Spirit convicted you of sin and you believed the Gospel of Jesus. God had you in mind when “whoever” became a part of the Word. We do not fully understand the reality of predestination, the simplicity is when we become aware of a prophetic call of God, we must choose to respond.