Receiving the One God Sends
I witnessed the ministry of Allen Arrowood and Leland Davis
on many occasions. Both of these men moved in a very wonderful prophetic gift,
and both of them usually gave supernatural words from the Lord to many
individuals in the churches where they spoke. In keeping with their particular
ministry, both of these men of God made it a point to tell their host pastors
not to share personal information with them about the church or individuals in
the church. Too much personal information tended to hinder their ability to
objectively hear the voice of the Holy Spirit when prophetic words were being
given.
On one particular occasion Allen Arrowood was guest speaker
for a congregation in which a group of people had turned sour toward the pastor
and had been pressuring him to resign and leave. Leading up to this meeting the
pastor told Allen nothing of the current distress and did not update him on the
condition of the congregation. Allen, therefore, entered the meeting without
any prejudice or priming and simply flowed with the leading of the Holy Spirit
as he spoke to the church that evening. He gave words to only a few individuals,
but gave a powerful message to the entire congregation. He did not realize at
the time that his whole sermon was a prophetic word to the church.
Allen’s scripture text for that evening was taken from the
following verses:
“And whoever will not
receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake
off the dust from your feet.” Matthew
10: 14
“He who receives you,
receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a
prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. …” Matthew 10:40
“O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!
How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood
under her wings, but you were not willing! Behold! Your house is left to you
desolate, and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time
comes when you say, ‘Blessed is HE who comes in the name of the Lord!” Luke 13: 34-35
The pastor, upon hearing these verses, knew immediately this was a word straight from God to his congregation. He was amazed how it so accurately described the current condition of the church. He also knew that the disgruntled people in the crowd would not hear it, but would think the pastor had primed Allen ahead of time by informing him of attitudes that had recently developed within the congregation. The prophet, however, had been told nothing. And without realizing it, he was simply giving a word from the Holy Spirit that was tailor-made for this particular church.
When the service was
over, Allen went to the pastor and expressed his disappointment at not
ministering to individuals as he was normally accustomed to do. The pastor
however expressed his own amazement at the sermon and confirmed that the
message, powerfully inspired by the Holy Spirit, was the very word that needed
to be spoken.
I was in that meeting.
I knew the people, and I heard the message. It was from the Lord for that
church, and reminded me of the examples in the first three chapters of
Revelation in which Jesus gives specific words to each of the seven churches of
Asia Minor. To each one He said, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit says to the churches.” But sadly, not all have ears to hear.
The main points of the word given that night were as
follows:
We must receive (welcome)
the one God sends to us, and say,“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord.”
If you receive the messenger, you receive the Lord. To
reject the messenger is to reject the Lord.
Stoning God’s messengers brings desolation. Your house is
left desolate until you can bless the one God sends.
If you reject the messenger, you won’t see the Lord in your
situation.
When God sends His servants, there is a reward upon them to
leave with you. It can be a blessing or it can be judgment. You’ve got the
power to shut up heaven against yourself or open heaven to yourself. You have
the power to choose.
It is up to you,
based on how you receive the messenger. Don’t be quick to turn a deaf ear.
Some final thoughts:
The message is clear.
We must receive and listen to sincere and genuine servants of God sent by Him
to minister to us. But also, we know there are immature leaders who lack wisdom
and corrupt leaders who lack integrity. How do we respond to them? How do we
recognize and protect ourselves from them? The rebellious person will use
corrupt leadership as an excuse to flout all leadership. The humble child of
God will conduct himself graciously toward good leaders and will speak the
truth in love with a humble spirit when dealing with bad leadership. I would like
to share more about this in the days ahead. ----Billy Long
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