Quest - Prophecy

More on Sharing My Heart

This awesome photo was taken by my wife, Denise!

In a previous blog post, I said I would work harder to share my heart. So, in keeping with that, here's another attempt.

I believe that God created each of the 8+ billion people who ever lived or will live as unique individuals. I believe it will take all of the Christians to make up the complete Bride of Christ. If any of these Christians are not being and doing according to God's design, then the Body is missing a piece.

For most of my life, I have been running away from the person God created. Like most people, I spent most of my life trying to fit in and be like everyone else. I now feel that was sin for me to think and act that way. I have confessed this sin to my Creator and I believe He has forgiven me. But like any behavior that is not God honoring, I need to turn away (repent) from what I had been doing. I need to BE the man He designed and DO the things He created me to do.

An example of how I failed in the past was at Navy Test Pilot school. The 11-month school is among the most intense and difficult schools in the world. To graduate, a student has to excel in academics, flight test and report writing. The academics focused on aerospace engineering topics, none of which I had taken in college. Despite that, I often had the highest grade on each of the tests. Because I didn't want to call attention to my good grade, I would immediately hide my exam so others wouldn't see how I scored. As a result, most of the other students assumed I was failing. In one respect I was failing. I missed a great opportunity to help my other classmates! So, to my classmates in Class 90, I apologize for being selfish and not helping those who were struggling.

So what? BTW, the "so what?" is probably the most important thing in flight test report writing and arguably in life! If this post is getting tl;dr, jump to the bottom for the "so what."

Over the last decade+, I have begun to embrace God's design instead of my poor modifications. Specifically, there are two design characteristics I want to talk about in this post.

First, My mind seems to work different that the way most other's work. Most people don't think like I think. Most people don't process information like I do. Therefore most people don't come to the same conclusions I do. I need to accept how God designed me and serve Him as He designed. I need to share the things God has shown me and help others learn the skill of "critical thinking."

Second, I believe God is asking me to serve as a "prophet". Please hear me out before you think I have gone completely nuts. Based on my understanding, there are two major ways a prophet functions. One of those functions is probably the one most people think of: foretelling or predicting the future. If you look at the trades I have made in the stock market, you would quickly realize I stink at predicting the future. On the other hand, the other way a prophet functions is "forthtelling."

Prophecy in the form of forthtelling is about speaking the truth. It is about sharing the mind / heart of God with others. According to the Bible, the purpose of forthtelling prophecy is edification, encouragement, and comfort. [1 Corinthians 14.3]

Here's the "so what?"...

In this season of life:

• I believe God is calling me to speak truth about Jesus' return. I believe He wants me to encourage / challenge people to "be ready" as Jesus commanded.

• I also believe God wants me to challenge people to develop the skill of "critical thinking." In a future post on the Shema (not our dog, but the Great Commandment), I will discuss the basis for that last statement.