God Told Me to Watch the Waterways. "A Sinister Plot" Prophecy.

Hey y'all, this is Troy. I've got a word from the Lord to share with you today, and I see in the chat people are talking about the idea of hearing from the Lord often or every day, and even like how we hear from God. And so I want to address that real quick because I think that's important, and I do want to be transparent about the way I'm hearing from the Lord. There are times where I've had very strong encounters, very crazy, visions or angelic experiences, that kind of stuff. I don't need to go into great detail about those things because, number one, they don't happen all the time. Those are more rare, but also it's not the level of encounter that should matter when it comes to who we listen to or what ministers we trust or what testimony is valid. But instead, there's two main things, and the first thing is, does the teaching and preaching that they're promoting, does it line up with the scripture? If it doesn't, I don't care how extreme their encounter sounds, I'm not going to listen to them, right? If their teaching does not line up with what the Word teaches. And number two, what is the witness of the Holy Spirit inside of me as a believer saying about what they're saying? So that should be the second test. And if the Holy Spirit is not okay with what they're saying, we as believers, Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice, we can all hear from the Spirit. And whether that be in phrases, whether that be with specific words in our spirit that we're hearing, or even just discernment in general or wisdom in general, the Holy Spirit can lead us as Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice, as a sheep we can be led by the Good Shepherd. So most of the time when I'm sharing these words of knowledge, typically what it is is I will feel the presence of the Lord come over me, and then I'll hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit inside my spirit. It's not an audible voice, that's usually how I hear from the Lord. There have been times where I've had more intense encounters and more audible times that I've heard from Him than that, but it's not all the time, right? So I think that's important to distinguish and clarify. There are times where I've had visions that were so clear that I saw it with my eyes shut, opened my eyes and still could see it. There are other times where it's a very slight impression of an image that the Lord just puts in my mind, right? And so there's a large variety of ways the Lord can speak, and we've got to be willing to test everything that we're hearing, and everything that other people are hearing as well, and we test it with the Word, and then also with the testimony of the Holy Spirit, and who God has given to believers. So I think that's going to play into what the Lord has been speaking to me about today as well. I want to get into how we have a water crisis here in the church today, especially here in the states. Now I believe it's also going to apply other places around the world as well. I'm going to share what I mean by that in a few minutes, but this is something I heard on March 30th. This has to do with things that are happening in Africa. I know Africa is a very large place. It's a continent, not a country. There's many countries there, and I believe this is being shared in the context of there are many disputes and many different views between one country and another country in Africa, and so I know there's a lot of conflict that is happening even now, and disputes happening between nations, between people groups. This is what I heard March 30th. The Lord said, I got this impression it has something to do with the east side, and then I heard waterways, a water dispute, a water crisis, a time of intense battle and conflict to resolve an issue. Then I heard, I'm saying this ahead of time so you will know how to pray, and then I heard, I care about all people, the least to the greatest. It doesn't matter what continent, tribe, or tongue, and then I heard, I long for all to be saved and redeemed to know and walk in the truth. So I think sometimes, I don't live in Africa. I've never been to Africa. I know people that have been to Africa. I know people that live in Africa, the continent, and I think sometimes we can get so focused on what's happening in our own nation or the continent we live in or our own town or whatever that we start to think that what God is doing here is more important than what God is doing there, and that's not true because God loves all people the same. Now, we are limited in our ability to impact the world in that we are mainly meant to be focused where we're located. That's typically where God will call us to reach people for the kingdom, is where we're at. Sometimes He'll call us out of that space to go somewhere else, right? But we can't do everything, but we can pray when the Holy Spirit leads us to. So this is one of those times where the Lord has led me to pray for these disputes that are taking place and that I believe are going to be ramping up and to pray against it, to pray against the evil that's taking place and to pray for a peaceful solution to come about. Then I heard this, and the Lord said, a humbling must happen, my bride. And now He's talking to us as His people, and then He got back to the African conflict in a second, but He said, right now she is still in many ways, talking about His bride, talking about the church, in many ways considering her own needs over the needs of another. And He said, this is happening in many ways, yet the time is coming when a shining light is going to echo across the globe. And I believe the Lord's talking about their true believers who are stepping into the highest form of their calling, which is not signs and wonders, it's not the gifts of the Spirit, it's the character and the nature of Jesus Christ. It's our flesh dying and our spirits being made alive in Christ to the full, right? It's stepping into a walking by the Spirit kind of lifestyle, and where we reflect the heart of the Father and the nature of Christ, the love of Christ to the world. And yes, we're all in process, and none of us are going to be able to do that perfectly, but continuing to get nearer to Jesus means we're going to look more and more like Him. And so this is, it's a charge for all of us, right? And the good news is we don't have to do this in our own efforts. In fact, we can't. It's based on the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, but we do have to surrender to what He's doing, and we do have to be honest about where we are and where we are with the Lord as well. And then I heard the Lord say this, He said, talking about Africa, He said, this is going to end. It isn't going to last for ages like some of the wars and disputes. He's talking about this new thing that's going to be cropping up. He said, however, it will be disastrous while it lasts for a time. He said, I want you to pray. And then I heard, I want you to pray for my people in Africa as well. They need it. Talking about Christians, right? And then I heard this, and I believe this may be unrelated, but I heard this a little while as I was waiting upon Lord. I heard this a little later. I think this may be a separate issue, but I heard a West Nigerian conflict resolved overnight after this takes place, a sudden shift, a resolution incoming, a spectacular call on the part of a leader. And so I believe this word right here is potentially an answer to a lot of prayers that have been going out for the people in Nigeria, especially Christians there. And so this is what the Lord's been showing me today, though, is that as the church, we're facing a water crisis as well. And the Lord pointed me to the woman at the well. In fact, that's what I heard earlier when I was praying. So I want to pull this up. And the Lord connected some things that I've never seen connected before for me while I was just waiting upon the Lord. And he started in John 4, where it says, so the Samaritan woman said to him, this is the woman, the Samaritan woman that came to the well late in the day, in the heat of the day to draw water because she was a social outcast because of her lifestyle at the time and because of her history. And the other women did not want to associate with her or she did not want to go through the embarrassment of being around them. And so Jesus comes to the well at that specific time to talk to her and to love on her, to share the love of God with her and to save her. He literally comes and her life is redeemed. And she becomes a witness of the Messiah who's come, not just to the Jews, but for the sake of the world. And this is what it says. So the Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, though you are a Jew, are asking me for a drink, though I am a Samaritan woman? For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. And this is just showing that divide and the dispute between these two people groups, right? These Jews and half Jews at that time. And she's very aware of this, and yet Jesus does not operate within the kingdom of the world. He comes operating in another kingdom, a heavenly one, and he's looking at her through the lens of love in the eyes of a good father, you know, his heavenly father who sent him to this woman to talk to her, right? Look at verse 14. This is Jesus's response to when he asks her for a drink of water because he's starting a conversation. She's responding to that, and then he says, whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life. So I believe it's John chapter 7 that talks about how Jesus says, whoever believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from his innermost being. And by this, he's talking about the Holy Spirit living inside of us. So we have received the Holy Spirit of God inside of us by faith, by grace through faith, by believing what Jesus did for us at the cross. And not one of us have earned that or deserved it, and none of us deserve it anymore, no matter how long we've been saved, no matter what we've done, no matter what we've seen God do, no matter what revivals we were a part of, it's all because of his grace. And we have constant access, the word says, based on what Jesus did for us. And we receive the Spirit based on what Jesus did, just believing in what he did for us. And that's very scriptural, right? And yet here's what can happen, is look at verse 27, right? These are the disciples. Now they were Jews, and they believed the Messiah was coming to save the Jews. They didn't realize he was also coming to save the world through the gospel message and through that spiritual reality of forgiveness of our sins and being positioned in God's family when we believe in Christ. They didn't realize that at the time, and it took the Holy Spirit revealing that to them later, right? And even Peter has a trance and a vision where the Lord reveals to him that the gospel came for the Gentiles too, right? And look at verse 27, this is their response when they see Jesus talking to this woman. At this point, his disciples came and they were amazed that he had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, what are you seeking or why are you speaking with her? And so they were amazed, meaning they were actually shocked that Jesus was talking not just with a woman, but a Samaritan woman, right? A Samaritan. And there was this divide and there was this cultural difference that they were unable to get over without the help of Christ coming in and revealing his love in a greater way to them. See, it wasn't just about what Jesus came to reveal to the woman at the well, it was about what Jesus came to reveal to his disciples that day through his interaction with the woman at the well. And Christ has a very similar revelation for us as the church in his today. And it is that there is no partiality with God, but that he loves all people the same. And God does not judge people's sin based on our standard. He judges people's sin based on his standard and he offers them redemption and hope through his blood. And see, this is where we get surprised where we go, well, God, why would you forgive them? Or God, why would you reach out to them? Why would you, right? Because we have these disputes, whether disputes in the body of Christ, one believer to another, well, we're this denomination and y'all are that denomination, right? Or will you follow them and I follow this person? Or we have disputes with people in the world and we say, well, you sinned a whole lot more than I ever did. So there's no way God's going to redeem you. And what if God wants to use that person more than he even wants to use us, right? What if he has a higher calling for them than he has for us in the sense of how we judge people's callings? Obviously, to God, he has a good plan for every person, right? If they're willing to walk into that. But the temptation is to live as if we've drawn our own water from the well and to say, well, I got this, right? And we didn't. The Holy Spirit, the living water inside of us is based on a gift that was given to us that was given through Christ's sacrifice. So not one of us have drawn our own water from the well. Look at this. This is Matthew 10, 42. This is what Jesus says. He says, whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. Jesus is potentially talking about children standing around him, but there is also, scholars have also agreed he could be talking about, I'm going to pull this up, a footnote here when it says one of these little ones, possibly someone of low social standing. He could literally be saying somebody that you think is less than you are, right? That is one of the potential interpretations for one of these little ones. And so he's saying, when you look at them, do you see me in their eyes? This is the same book, but it's a later chapter, Matthew 25. And the king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me. So what is Jesus saying here? We would judge people based on our standard. We're like, well, you don't deserve for me to treat you with love because you've not done as good at this as I have, right? Or you're not living as righteously, as holy as I am. But what is Jesus saying? He's saying, no, you ought not to treat them based on what they deserve. You ought to treat them based on what I deserve. Him, that's what I hear the Holy Spirit saying. What does Christ deserve? What does Christ deserve? How does He deserve to be treated? That's what Jesus is saying in Matthew 25, is to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me. So you're not doing it for them. You're doing it for Jesus. And they don't have to deserve it. Guess what? You didn't deserve it either. But we are sent and we're called to walk in the same manner that Jesus walked and to deliver the same love that He delivered to everybody that came into contact with Him. Now, does that mean, I feel led to say this, and I know it's based on what is happening currently with the exposure in the Charismatic Church and some of the leaders and all that stuff, okay? Some people might take this and try to interpret it to say, well, this means I would always want to be forgiven, so we always have to forgive every person. Yes, I believe we always should forgive, but this is not an excuse to overlook sin. See, I'm not saying that we don't judge sin. That's not what I'm saying. That's not what the Scripture says either. Even Jesus, He came with the love of the Father for all people, right? But who did He have public conflict with? It was the Pharisees, the religious leaders. It was those who had unrepentant hearts and who thought they knew better and they were walking in their own righteousness, right? And they were supposed to be held to a higher standard because spiritual leaders are. And so when Jesus confronted them, He was confronting them because that was the only way that they were ever going to have an opportunity to hear the truth and believe it. He was confronting them actually with anger. Yes, but it was righteous anger. And in the end, it was with love. It was for their good. It was for their good. Look at Romans 2, 3-4. But do you suppose this, you foolish person who passes judgment on those who practice such things and yet does them as well? So when we pass judgment on somebody, are we passing judgment based on... Here's the difference. It's not saying you can't judge sin, but it's saying don't judge one person compared to your righteousness because you don't have any. Don't say, well, at least I'm not doing what they're doing. Don't say, well, they deserve to be punished because they did that, but I've never done that. And the Bible's saying, yes, you have. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And so we all deserve punishment, and Jesus took our punishment on the cross. That's what it's pointing out here. It says that you will escape the judgment of God, or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the And so what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees was actually, in God's eyes, the kindest thing He could have said, because it was the only way that some of them were ever going to wake up. So there does come a time, just like Paul rebukes Peter to his face by the leading of the Holy Spirit because he was distorting the gospel message, and guess what? He wakes up and repents. At least we can infer that based on the Scripture and how the story goes. So there is a moment of conflict or confronting someone, absolutely, and that's based on the Scripture and the leading of the Holy Spirit. That's not being unloving, but it is being unloving when we think, I deserved God's patience and His restraint and His kindness, but they don't deserve it. I deserved a second chance, but they don't deserve it. I deserved His grace, but they don't deserve it. Jesus talks about how we ought to love one another the same way that we would love ourselves, right? It's the golden rule, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love others as yourself. It's this idea of, I wouldn't want you to give me a pass if I was living in sin. I would want you to tell me the truth. That is the most loving thing to do. So we don't excuse sin, but we also don't make ourselves the standard. We make the Word the standard, and what that allows us to do is it allows us to come with a humble heart that's looking for restoration, redemption, grace, that's willing to love somebody, whether they're being really good or really evil in that moment. We can love them with the love of Christ. We can point them back to Jesus. That's what we all need. It's like drawing that water up from the well. We're all thirsty. We're all dying of dehydration spiritually until we meet Jesus, and for some, unfortunately, in the church, they've refused to drink from the well, and they are dehydrated, right? And they're still trying to pour out, still trying to minister, and that's not a good place to be. It's going to hurt a lot of people, but what is the answer? It's Jesus coming back to the, it's the living water. It's coming back to Him. It's humbling ourselves again and saying, Lord, without you, I wouldn't even be here. I would not even be here. Same chapter says, for there is no partiality with God. In the same context, look at 1 John 2. This is what Jesus said. He Himself is the propitiation for our sins. That phrase there means of reconciliation with God by atoning for sins or sin offering. It means He paid the price so that we could be friends with God again. That's what it means, reconciliation, coming back into friendship, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. So Jesus already paid the price for their sin, that the person that, if there's hate in my heart for somebody, Jesus already paid the price for their sin, and God has determined that they are just as valuable as I am, and I needed His grace and His forgiveness just as much as they did, and so we want to bring one thing, right? We want to bring the judgment and the wrath of God sometimes, and God is saying, no, I told you to carry the message of the gospel to the nations, right? I told you to go tell them the good news, and so yes, we do hold up a standard in the church for believers of living right and say, nope, this is what the Word says, you know, and I'm going to say this to you in love, and we do all the things that the New Testament tells us to do as far as being a new covenant church, right? We do all those things, absolutely, but this is a heart issue, I believe, more than anything else. When we get to a place where we start saying, I deserve that living water, but you don't, when none of us deserve it, but when we stay in a place of humility, I believe God is able to use us even to a greater extent than ever before, and I'm learning this, y'all. I mean, this is what the Lord's teaching me today, so I'm not perfect to this. I want to get better at it. I want to be able to balance what the Word says about God's holy standard and, you know, the high expectations for leaders in the church, all these different things, and even just for elders and just for Christians in general. We ought to live in a manner, walk in a manner worthy of the calling that we've received. It doesn't matter if we're serving in, you know, in a church position or serving at our job, like, we are all called to be servants of Christ in the world, but also to balance that with the love of Christ and loving one another the way that I would want to be loved, right? And realizing I'm not giving a cup of cold water to somebody who doesn't deserve it. I'm actually giving a cup of cold water to Jesus, and He does deserve it, and that's what He's asked for. So I hope this is encouraging. I know this can be a little bit of a heavy topic, potentially, but I just, I sense the love of Christ on this. You know, I just sense the love of the Holy Spirit, and I think that's where, that's the best place to land, is to understand, well, I can't do this on my own. Like, I fail at loving people every single day, but the love of Christ surpasses knowledge, and the worst is God is love, and so if I'm lacking in my ability to love someone, all I need is more of His love poured out into my heart, into my life, and then it becomes easier. You know, it's like that water, the overflow of a fountain, right? It's living water springing up from within a well, right? If there's too much, it's gonna go somewhere, you know, and that's what it's meant to be. It's we love because He first loved us, and so if I'm struggling with loving somebody for one reason or another, then I need more of His love. You know, I need to bask in His love. I need to receive His love. I need to just spend time with Him and receive that by faith, you know, because He has it available for us. So that's all I've got for y'all today. I hope that's okay. I hope that's at least somewhat encouraging, and yep, that's it. I hope y'all have a wonderful rest of your day, wonderful weekend, and I'll see you next time.