How To Tell The Future (Part 1)

"Only I can tell you the future before it even happens..." Isaiah 46:10 (NLT)

 "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come." John 16:13

            In 2013, I was preaching at Victory Iglesia in Oklahoma City when the following words popped out of my mouth, "Two years from now, you will no longer be in this building, but in another larger building."

            I was shocked when those words came out of my mouth so then I added (just in case), "And two years from now, we will find out if that was really God speaking or just me."

            Two years later, Victory Iglesia moved into a much larger building.

            In March of 2016, I walked up to a man in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma I did not know and told him that I felt that God was going to give him his own business. He thought to himself, "There is no way that is going to happen."

            In October I visited that church and he told me that it really happened. He owns his own business because his boss suddenly decided to sell his business to him.

            I am elated when this happens and I am more than willing to share the secret of how to foretell the future. It actually has nothing at all to do with knowing the future, but it has everything to do with knowing the one who knows the future: God.

            In Psalm 105:18, 19 we can see how this principle worked in the life of Joseph. "Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm...he sent a man before them-- Joseph, sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true.

            Joseph could foretell the future because he simply said what he heard God say.

            Jesus said that he could do nothing himself. He only said what he heard the Father saying and did what he heard the father doing (John 5:19; 12:49, 50). Prophets often know very little about a person or situation and much of what they may know is only a part of the whole picture (1 Cor. 13:9). They only know what God reveals to them.  However God's says that he does nothing without revealing his plans or his secrets to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). God loves to reveal his secrets to his friends and many times he does that by whispering his secrets to them when they learn to be quiet (1 Kings 19:12).

            One of the most important scriptures that I am still trying to apply to my life is Psalm 46:10 which says, "Be still and know that I am God."

            I remember one day I was facing a crisis because, due to the economic crisis in Holland, my old house would not selling and I was facing the prospect of having to pay two mortgages. I remember telling God repeatedly, " God, tell me what to do!"

            "Trust me," was his response.

            "No really God, you need to tell me what to do. Just tell me what to do, now!" I responded repeatedly.

            "Trust me," was all he said kept repeating back to me. I decided to trust him.

            During this crisis, I called my mentor, Prophet Bruce Foster and asked him to pray for me. As I did, he said, "God says the second buyer will buy your house."

            I was not happy. I didn't want a second buyer, I wanted one buyer and that house to sell ASAP!

            The day that we moved into our new house, the first buyers backed out of the deal and informed us that they did not want to buy the house anymore.

            I went into crisis mode. I went and spent two hours in my (new) attic prayerfully and tearfully yelling at God, "GOD, PLEASE SELL THAT HOUSE!!"

            Four days later, at 10:00 in the morning, the old house was sold to the second buyer.

            This entire experience was a huge lesson for me that caused my prayer life to increase significantly. I realized that it had taken a crisis for me to spend significant time in prayer because I needed something from God. At that point, I decided that I was going to spend at least one hour a day simply praying. Through this crisis, I got to know God even better. It is unfortunate that sometimes it may take a crisis for us to seek God.

            Even in my devotional time of prayer I recall saying to God, "Please, reveal something awesome to me. Speak to me powerfully God. I want to know something from you."

            To this I felt like he answered me by saying, "Calm down. I just want to be with you. Just be with me and don't worry about me telling you everything about the future. Just be with me."

            Our goal is not to foretell the future, but to know God who says, "Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. (Isaiah 46:10:NLT).