Demons are real, and they are there trying to foul up whatever they possibly can. Paul taught in Ephesians 6 that demons are the principalities and powers in the invisible realm attempting to undo whatever God is trying to do. This is why Paul taught that we must wear and use the full armor of God. Demons will fling all manner of temptations and thoughts your way, doing anything they possibly can to trip you up, hold you pack, and pin you down.
Insecurity is also a real problem among too many believers. No matter how mature a believer is, he or she has the ability to hear from God and prophesy. But when a believer is not maturing in their sense and enjoyment of security in Christ, attempts to hear from God and prophesy what He reveals can and will often get fouled up. Like demons, insecurity will also trip you up, hold you back, and pin you down from being able to prophesy successfully.
When demons and insecurity are working hard against you in the moments you are receiving revelation from God, or in the moments you are about to deliver your word to those who are anchoring, or when you are waiting on the anchors to decide whether or not to have you share your word, you'll more than likely find the following things happening to you. If and when these things do happen to you, just know that the devil's demons and your own insecurities are partnering up to throw your prophetic moment out of bounds by making it all about you. Here are the big three that have happened to me more times than I can possibly count!
1. When you believe you've received a word, and when you wonder whether or not to share it, do you grow anxious about sharing the word by becoming too focused on how the other people might receive it? Do you experience inner stress about whether it will fall flat and have any impact at all on anyone at all? By allowing anxiety about other people's perceptions to come over you, the focus suddenly shifts to you. And the process of sharing that word suddenly becomes filtered through your insecurities.
2. Do you grow anxious about wondering whether the ones who are weighing prophecy during worship will "like" your word? By allowing anxiety to come over you about the decision of the anchors, your decision on whether to share it is immediately and negatively impacted. In other words, you're less likely to share it because you're scared they'll tell you it's not for that time. So you decide not to share anything at all, which then means that sharing that prophetic word becomes about your anxieties, and therefore about you personally.
3. Have you ever been confident that you've heard from the Spirit, but then became afraid that your word might not sound as "good" as someone else's? Have you ever compared the word you want to bring to the words others have brought in the past, concluding that your words are not as a "quality" as everyone else's? Have you ever attempted to overcome all of this by imagining other things to "pad" your word, adding other details to "fill it out" a little more? Becoming anxious about whether your word will measure up to others automatically makes your word become all about you, instead of others.
Remember that God is interested in using YOU to deliver a prophetic word to someone else. The YOU part means that God has uniquely gifted and wired you. And when he gives a prophetic word to YOU, He sovereignly desires to use YOU to share that word....no matter what you think about yourself or what others think about yourself. To NOT share the word, or to hesitate to bring it, because of what you think about yourself, or because of what other people think about you, is to NOT trust God. After all, HE is the one who gave the word to you.
The way God has made you and wired you is a filter through which He desires to deliver His word of encouragement or comfort or strengthening to someone else. There's something about you that causes God to want to reveal something to someone else specifically through YOU. You're special to Him. The message He wants to give through you is special. Refuse to be a victim any longer of demons and insecurities, thereby fouling up the special moment by worrying about yourself. The greatest cure to the pathway of self in prophecy is God and others. When it comes to prophecy, it's all about the two greatest commandments: loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and loving others like you love yourself.
About the Author: Rob is a follower of Jesus at Jubilee Church. From there he pursues Jesus' mission at Revive Consignment as the Business & Operations Development Director, as well as at Jubilee Church of Atlanta, in Woodstock, GA. From there he envisions and pursues missional-shaped business for the kingdom. He and his wife Sherri have been married for 20 years and together have three sons and a daughter. Rob believes the mission of the gospel is summed up in four simple phrases: know God, obey Jesus, make disciples, and plant churches. This is the pursuit of his life, as well as the point of his blog.
