1 Kings 13:16-26 “No, I cannot,” he replied. “I am not allowed to eat or drink anything here in this place. 17 For the Lord gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’ ” 18 But the old prophet answered, “I am a prophet, too, just as you are. And an angel gave me this command from the Lord: ‘Bring him home with you so he can have something to eat and drink.’ ” But the old man was lying to him. 19 So they went back together, and the man of God ate and drank at the prophet’s home. 20 Then while they were sitting at the table, a command from the Lord came to the old prophet. 21 He cried out to the man of God from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: You have defied the word of the Lord and have disobeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. 22 You came back to this place and ate and drank where he told you not to eat or drink. Because of this, your body will not be buried in the grave of your ancestors.”
23 After the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet saddled his own donkey for him, 24 and the man of God started off again. But as he was traveling along, a lion came out and killed him. His body lay there on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. 25 People who passed by saw the body lying in the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported it in Bethel, where the old prophet lived. 26 When the prophet heard the report, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the Lord’s command. The Lord has fulfilled his word by causing the lion to attack and kill him.”
This story illustrates what happens when we live by prophecy and not intimacy. The young prophet had a word from God and he had fulfilled his commission and was returning home as the Lord had commanded him. Then the old prophet comes after him and speaks lies in the name of the Lord and because the young prophet abandoned the intimate word he had received out of his relationship with God and followed what he thought was a prophetic word, he died. It cost him his life and future ministry.
As New Testament Christians, we all are capable of hearing and knowing the voice of God. Jesus said my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. So what part does the prophetic play in our lives. The prophetic word is confirmation, it confirms what you have already sensed or heard God saying to you. When God gives you a prophetic word and let me just interject that if you are not in a place where the prophetic word is in operation then you need to find a Church where the reality of the prophetic word is at work. Because the confirmation of the prophetic word launches you into the will of God for your life. We have all had those times where we felt like God was leading us to do something but because of fear, worry or just a uncertainty we held back waiting for that confirmation, so that we would know that it was God. And that is where the prophetic comes in. God uses someone to speak into your life and what they say confirms what God has already spoken into your heart and because of the prophetic word you now have the boldness to step out and obey God.
Understand the divine order, first you receive an intimate word from God that flows out of your relationship with him. Then someone gives you prophetic word, if that that word agrees with what God has already told you then receive it and launch out in faith. But if the prophetic word doesn't agree or maybe even contradicts what you have heard God tell you, then wait. Set it upon your spiritual shelf and go back to God. Don't allow the prophetic word to over ride the intimate word, the young prophet made that mistake and it cost him everything.
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