7 commands for Christians: Keep hold of the good prophecies

Packed into a few sentences Paul manages to give 7 treasured finds of what he believes God wants for our lives.

How should I live? It is in these 7 points.

They are straight to the point, no in-depth explanation and certainly no negotiation.

“Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good,” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 20-21)

“If you build for me then I will build for you”. That was the prophetic message that my church that I was pastoring held on to for several years. We were seeking after a bigger building and all our thoughts were on that when presented to us was a particular need in Zambia. The year was 2001 and the challenge put to us was to partner with another organisation in the UK and to buy a building for a church in Ndola, the 3^rd largest city of Zambia. But was this wise? We needed our own building so was this a distraction? In a prayer service the prophecy came. If you build for me then I will build for you. God was going to look after us as we looked after His people in Ndola. So we did. We raised the funds and we gave sacrificially despite needing our own place. But we had the prophecy you see and it was a good one! I went to open the building in Zambia holding on to ‘what is good’ knowing that God would do what He said He would do. It would be 10 years later but He did it and the prophecy came true. During those 10 years we held on and the church grew and we saw the most amazing moves of God. It was the best of times. There were moments when I thought would we ever get the building (but we persevered because we had a prophecy. It was a good one and we were holding on to it until the came when we had our grand opening of the new building for the church. God had done it just like He said He would.

And what about you?

There have been lots of prophecies that I have heard in my life so far. But Paul commands us to hold on to what is good. It is because prophecy keeps you on the right path, encourages you when struggling and gives you a cause to passionately work towards.

Hold on to the good prophecies of your church and life! Write them down, talk about them, let them shape your life, pray over them, what God said He will do He will do!