THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PROPHECY AND SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE

Have you ever come up against a problem that leaves you racking your brain for a solution? Maybe you’ve even found yourself lying awake at night counting all the possible ways to come to a resolution. In a world where we face problems on a regular basis, whether simple and subtle or loud and large, we are all familiar with the sense of dread when they come our way. However, what if instead of dread being the first emotion that we face, we were met with excitement as we anticipated the solution from Heaven that we would receive? 

I’d propose that when the challenges of life come your way, you have a divine advantage! Through the redemptive power of the cross, you have not only the strength of a redeemed mind, but, you also have access to the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2). When we simply live with a redeemed mind, we disregard and disempower the ability we have to grasp solutions from Heaven and bring them to earth. What I am getting at is for a long time the Church has been really good at teaching and training Believers to think like God (Romans 12). But, we have lacked in teaching and training Believers to think God’s thoughts, also known as spiritual intelligence. What does this look like? 

Imagine you are walking past your grumpy neighbor that is always rude to you. With a transformed mind, you feel compassion and love for this person as the Bible is clear, “Above all, love each other deeply.” (1 Peter 4:8). However, when you move beyond thinking how God thinks, you can begin to access what He is thinking. In this example, you can ask the Holy Spirit to show you why your neighbor is always rude. You may begin to understand and sympathize with his disposition as the Lord shares with you: “His father was a pastor that preached one thing and lived a completely different way at home. He was abused by his father, and when he sees you, he’s reminded of his father.” Now, you can ask the Lord for a strategy for how you can not just help your relationship with your neighbor, but also help your neighbor heal from his past hurts.

There are unique and powerful ways that the Lord speaks to each one of us, giving us access to His thoughts. I felt led to share this conversation I had with Ben Armstrong a year ago. Ben is the Director of Prophetic Ministry at Bethel Church who is powerfully transforming culture as he equips and trains Believers to understand the prophetic and the ways God uniquely communicates with us. Ben shares how our dreams are an incredible avenue in which the Lord can speak, share solutions, and strategies with us. This is also a way that we can experience and develop our spiritual intelligence.