- Beware those who teach the impartation and exercise of kingdom power without the necessity of walking in the character of the Father and the Son. This leads to abuse, foolish actions, bad prophecies and inflated egos. When power and glory rest upon a foundation built of insecurities, fleshly ambitions, bitterness and judgments, destruction results. Witness the tragedy of King Saul, whose broken foundation resulted first in disobedience, then in jealousy of David and finally in the loss of his sanity when the weight of destiny came to rest upon him.
In recent years, we have seen a long list of national and international Christian leaders fall to immorality and other failures for the same reasons that took Saul down. This must stop. Let this be a season of the broken spirit and the broken and contrite heart that God accepts as a true sacrifice (see Ps. 51:17). Too many godly approaches to inner transformation in the Father’s love have been sown into the body of Christ for us not to use them.
- Beware the adoption of absolute statements put forth by those who teach the transfer of the power and sovereignty of God to human hands as if these were under our control to wield at will. Not even Jesus wielded power by His own volition, but said instead, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:10, NKJV).
The use of the present tense in the Greek word “does” indicates ongoing action in the present. As the Father moves, Jesus moves. Heaven’s power does not flow at our beck and call. The Holy Spirit does not obey us. We must rather obey Him. We must move as He moves—when He is moving.
- Beware ever more popular teachings that deny the sovereignty and foreknowledge of God and place the future in the hands of human beings. This may flatter our egos and fill us with a sense of power, but it reduces God to a being as bound by time as we are.
Time is a created thing. God is not. He knows the end from the beginning because He spoke time into existence. As the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, He contains all of time—though He can be contained by nothing.
In this we can rest while continuing to take responsibility for our own decisions. We can believe in the sovereignty and foreknowledge of God while holding to the freedom of man to choose. We will never understand it, but God cannot be limited to our finite human understanding.
I see danger of shipwreck for the renewal movement in all these areas. Let us hold to the course of humility and truth and seek the depths of the Father’s heart.
About the author: R. Loren Sandford is the founder and senior pastor of New Song Fellowship in Denver, Colorado (newsongfellowship.org). He is also the author of several books, including Understanding Prophetic People, The Prophetic Church and his latest, Renewal for the Wounded Warrior (all published by Chosen), which are available, along with other resources, on the church’s Web site. The material reprinted here is adapted from a recent Prophetic Moments bulletin and is used by permission of the author.
