It's Both!

In the past few weeks, I have seen something coming up again and again on social media in “Christian circles.” I tried to ignore it or at least not actively engage in it. But then, the Holy Spirit prompted me that this IS one of the things that needs to be addressed.

This conflict/argument/face-off between two sides in the prophetic world. And let me just say before I go any further, this applies to the WHOLE Body of Christ, not just those involved in the prophetic. So, don’t stop reading even if you don’t consider prophecy “your thing.”

This “conflict” that I’ve seen brewing among believers is between those in the “God is all loving and all merciful” camp and those in the “God is coming for justice and you need to repent” camp. They both attack the other as being false. The first group saying that the second group misses the whole point of Jesus and is “stuck in the Old Testament.” And the second group saying the first group is just a bunch of ear-ticklers who are focused on nothing but the “prosperity Gospel” and signs and wonders, while ignorant to repentance.

Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit is booming inside of me saying, “IT’S BOTH!!”

I’m not sure when we as God’s children forgot this very important part of His personality - but He is a God of BOTH. He is a God of paradoxes. He is a multi-tasker and is always doing more than one thing at a time. That is who He is!

He is a mighty God who requires repentance and delivers justice. But, He is also a loving Father who wants to restore the original design with His children.

We must be sure that we never leave out one side or the other, or try to confine God to just one thing. Because that is not His heart.

We need to know ALL of Him. We need to understand ALL of Him. And we need to receive ALL of Him.

Not just what fits our particular narrative or personal beliefs. But, what’s so crazy to me about this whole “argument” is that it’s between believers, all of whom claim to “know” Him! Except, that you can’t truly “know” Him and not know both sides of Him. Because again… that’s who He is.

The Lord does not change (Malachi 3:6) and Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), so that means He is the same God that He’s always been! Which means, you can’t dismiss the “Old Testament stuff.” But, you also can’t dismiss the “Jesus stuff!”

In fact, as always, the way that I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to write about this is to share my own experience/testimony. Two parts of it, actually.

First, in the way He has freed me. He reminded me how when He “found” me, I was in rebellion, doing all sorts of things and a million miles away from Him. But, He patiently and lovingly not only led me back to Him, but has also worked me through each part of my bondage/sin.

With the awesome care and delicate kindness that only Jesus has, He would reveal something to me - pride, disbelief, rebellion, double-mindedness, unforgiveness, religion, etc. which would require me to confess and repent. But THEN, immediately after, He would walk me through deliverance and healing around it and free me. And not only that, but lead me into His loving care and abundant provision in that area.

It was literally an example or “pattern” of what He is doing or wants to do with all of His children. Yes, He is exposing our hearts. And yes, He does require confession and repentance. But, immediately upon doing that, He wants to return us to His original relationship with us. He wants to bring us back into the Father-child design that He had in the very beginning. In fact, He is bringing us into repentance SO we can walk in that abundant life that Jesus DID die for us to have!

I won’t get into too much detail here because I am going to do a separate post/teaching on returning to the Garden of Eden. But, the short version is - that is what God’s plan has been all along! That’s why He sent Jesus! He was the “second Adam” that came to right what went wrong in the Garden. Through Christ, we were meant not only to be made right with God, but to be brought back into the loving relationship He had with us in creation.

As descendants of Abraham and co-heirs with Christ (not later, right NOW), we are recipients of His blessings, His covenant and an abundant life. So, why would we choose not to receive it? Why would we actively and almost aggressively deny it? Why would we choose to ignore the very truth of who Jesus is and why He came?

Yes, the Lord requires repentance and change. But, it is wrapped in an unfathomable, undeniable, unfailing love!

Which brings me to the second thing I felt Him wanting me to share about my own experience/testimony.

When the Lord called me to be a prophet, I wanted to run the other way. (Sound familiar… Elijah?) First of all, I didn’t even know how I felt about all that cuz I grew up in religion and Catholics didn’t talk about that kind of stuff. But even as an adult, I didn’t know anything about the giftings of the Holy Spirit. So, things like prophecy, healing and speaking in tongues sounded a bit “woo-woo” to me.

And now, here was God telling me I needed to operate in it. He definitely has a sense of humor.

Thankfully though, as He took me on a journey of being prepared and equipped, I became more familiar not only with the gifting (which I realized I had anyway, I just didn’t know that’s what it was called), but also with God’s heart and who He is on a personal level.

Prophecy became a whole lot less “weird” when I realized it was literally just a way of God the Father communicating with His children. Because even though Jesus came to make a way for everyone to have a personal relationship with Him, not everyone does. Plus, we all need a little help from time to time. So, He still uses people to speak words of encouragement, direction, confirmation AND correction.

But again, having gone through this process myself, I also went through a period where I was unsure how these two “parts” of my calling were supposed to “fit” together. On one hand, He’s telling me I’m going to share the testimonies of my life to demonstrate what a very real and active and loving Father He is. And then on the other hand, He’s telling me I’m going to deliver some pretty sharp, salty words of correction to His Church in these times of “shaking.”

Even I was like, “How is this going to work, Lord? How am I going to do both?”

Thankfully, He answered me very simply (the way He always does) and told me it’s basically Elijah + Jesus. It’s BOTH. It’s the correction of the “Old Testament prophets” PLUS the love of Jesus. It’s BOTH!

It’s the very heart of who He is. And it’s time for His children (and those who don’t know Him) to remember that! Like I’ve said multiple times in other posts… unfortunately, this may not be what we are used to or how we’ve come to view God because of tainting by truly false doctrine. You may have been taught that God is a mean, old dictator that sits light years away from you and your life and is just waiting to smite you. Or on the flip side, you may have been led to skip right over the repentance part and just fast-forward to the “good stuff.”

But, you can’t leave out one part or the other. I know, because I tried.

As I’ve walked my own faith journey with the Lord, I like to say, He had to “take me up one side and down the other” (about a lot of things, actually). Meaning, as humans, we tend to be curiously black-and-white creatures when it comes to things. It’s either this or it’s that. All or nothing. One or the other.

But, God’s ways are not like our ways and His thoughts not like our thoughts.

I noticed it particularly in how I was praying for others - both those I know personally and people in the “public eye” that the Holy Spirit had laid on my heart.

So, where I (like many people, I would venture to guess) wanted to either skip right over the repentance part and just pray “forgive them and bless them Lord!” without “them” even having any active part in repenting or changing… OR I would focus too much on repentance and not enough on His love for them… He basically was like, “Hey! It’s both!!”

And THANK GOD for us that it is!

We wouldn’t actually want it any other way, would we? When we really think about it?

True confession and repentance is what frees us from bondage and brings us back into alignment with the Lord. But, He created us to be loved and taken care of by Him too. He’s not just our God, He’s our Father too! So, why wouldn’t we want both?

As I mentioned earlier, I have walked this out in my own life and I know personally, I am extremely grateful that He is about both. Even though my healing/refining/consecrating process was painful to say the least, it was also tremendously freeing! I was released from so many unhealthy habits, beliefs, mindsets and patterns. And because of that, I was then able to then step fully into His blessings, love and grace!

When we leave out one part or the other, we leave out a major part of God’s plan. We leave out a major part of God’s heart.

He is like any good father is with their children - He is a disciplinarian and a loving parent. He corrects and protects. He provides and takes away when necessary. He blesses you and lavishes you with His love, but He also will not condone you doing things that He knows will hurt you or others.

He’s both.

Don’t restrict who He is and how He loves His children to one extreme or the other.

It’s both.

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” (Acts 3:19 NIV)

“…for the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him." (2 Chron 30:9b NIV)

“Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” (Joel 2:13 NIV)

“For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” (Ezek 18:32 NIV)

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b ESV)