Sometimes a Prophetic Word Is the Last Thing You Need
On the journey with Jesus, don’t let the need for certainty rob you of the promise.
As charismatics, we crave the voice of God. We want clarity. We long for prophetic words, divine visions, and unmistakable signs that show us exactly what God is doing in our lives. We are taught that by the power of the Holy Ghost we can have such communion with God that we don't know where our thoughts begin and His thoughts end.
But the truth is, that’s not reality. Believing this can make it hard to distinguish His direction from our desires.
I know the famous teaching, Jesus said, “I only do what I see the Father doing” as an example of only doing what God is doing. Charismatics often quote this, and it preaches real good.
But here’s the truth: Jesus said that and you aren’t Jesus, and neither am I.

We don’t see the Father through the sinless eyes of Jesus, who spent eternity past in His presence. Jesus had perfect understanding of the Father’s will, but we navigate in the midst of the divine mystery. This often means trusting God when we don’t fully see Him or grasp His plan.
This false teaching, that we can do everything based on divine revelation of what the Father is doing right now, is not only arrogant, it sets us up for disappointment and deception. If these super apostles really only did what the Father was doing, they would spend long periods of time being quiet. But that doesn't pay the bills.
The Longing for Certainty Robs Us of Faith
We want quick answers and immediate change. We think if we pray enough, faith enough, declare enough, we can make it happen. But so many times we have no idea what "it" is.
We all believe, "My ways higher than your ways," yet we are falsely taught the opposite of the rest of the verse, "My thoughts (are higher) than your thoughts.” We somehow are led to believe our thoughts are the thoughts of God. They rarely are.
Jesus knew the disciples weren’t ready to fully understand the plan. Instead of giving them the clarity they craved, He gave them something better: a promise.
He said that they would be baptized in the Spirit.
There is no way you can convince me that the disciples had any idea what that meant. Their only idea for that purpose was to overthrow Rome. "Are we going to take over now?" You can't really blame them. That's what anointed people did in the past. But Jesus had to make it clear essentially saying, "Give up trying to guess when God is going to do what."
He was telling them to surrender to divine mystery.
The Disciples Expected Clarity but Encountered Mystery
The disciples thought they had everything figured out. They had walked with Jesus, witnessed His miracles, and seen Him rise from the dead. To them, this seemed like the perfect time for the restoration of Israel’s kingdom. They even interrupted Jesus telling them about the sending of Holy Spirit to ask about their ascendancy to leadership.
But instead of the clarity they wanted, Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem.
Remember, this was the same city in which Jesus was falsely accused and sentenced to death. Their master, who they saw crucified, was telling them to go to the city of his brutal fate without Him. They were being sent to a city filled with painful memories, surrounded by uncertainty and the mystery of God’s timing.
When Preparation Feels Like Abandonment
In the seasons of waiting for the promise it is easy to feel abandoned. But God's quietness is not God's abandonment. He is leaving you alone with your doubts, and fears. He wants you to revisit the city of your pain. He is letting you sit in the midst of your disappointments and false expectations so that you can compare them to the beauty of Christ's promises.
This wasn’t just preparation for the disciples; it’s preparation for every believer. Seasons of silence and uncertainty don’t mean God has left. They are often the spaces where God is preparing something far greater than what we expect. Just as the disciples had to wait in Jerusalem, sometimes we must wait on God’s timing, trusting that He is working behind the scenes.
Even when that means we have to wait in our pain.
No prophetic word or faith declaration can speed that up. They can only slow the process.
Faith Thrives in the Mystery of Waiting
The disciples didn’t know how long they would wait. They didn’t know what the Holy Spirit’s arrival would look like or how it would change their lives. But they waited together, trusting God’s promise.
This is the challenge of faith. It isn’t built on having constant prophetic insight or knowing every detail of God’s plan. Faith grows when we trust that God is good, even when life feels uncertain. It grows when we accept that we may not understand His plan, but we can be confident that He is working.
The waiting isn’t a pause in God’s plan; it is His plan. As the disciples discovered, God’s promises often exceed our understanding, but they never fail. In the mystery of waiting, we learn to lean not on our own understanding, but on the God who knows the end from the beginning.
This is more valuable than any prophetic word or faith declaration.
So if you find yourself in a season where God seems quiet, take heart. The waiting is as anointed as the fulfillment. His promises remain true, and His Spirit is always present. Trust Him, He’s working, even when you can’t see it.
And please, don't make up a prophetic word to explain it all. God will tell you when you are ready to bear it.
Sir!!!!! I would sit at my desk every morning, open up my bible, and seek the holy spirit on the prophetic words he gave me. Not to mention i’m prophetic and charismatic myself. This would drive me crazy when God didn’t speak to me about what he had promised. It also drove me crazy when I began to lose things in the midst of what he told me would happen. This whole article just blessed me! It’s a constant reminder to let patience do its work on the inside of me and to not crave a prophetic word in order to believe and as a substitute for exercising my faith 😩🙌🏾
This is good news. Showing how great of a Father God is.