Translation from Spanish
May the Lord bless you, beloved people of God. On this occasion, the Lord has shown me that I am to speak about this passage.
[Jeremiah 42:20-21] For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it. And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.
I encourage you to read, meditate on, and study the entire chapter 42, and to ask the Lord about what took place that day. Johanan and the other leaders of the remnant of Judah approached the prophet Jeremiah to ask him to seek God on their behalf, saying that they would obey everything the Lord told them. But when the prophet responded, after seeking God’s guidance, they chose not to obey.
The Lord wants to address this matter, because there are consequences in a person’s life when they consult a prophet and then disregard what God says through him—perhaps because it’s not what that person wanted or expected to hear, even though it’s what God wanted to say and what that person needs.
My beloved, says God, I see that you have come to this gathering very happy. I see that many of you have already taken your seats and are listening to what I have to say to you today. I see that some of you have even brought a notebook and pen to take notes on what I am about to tell you.
But what I want to ask you is: “What did you come seeking? What do you want to hear? What are your expectations about what I have to say?” Because from everything I tell you, says God, many of you pick out what you want to receive and discard the rest, when everything I tell you comes from the same source, which is Me.
Little ones, says God, many times you come eagerly, waiting for Me to give you the precise, exact answer to the problems you have in your lives, but when you realize that the solution I give you to those problems is not the size, shape, or color you expected, you dismiss it.
Many of you spend days, weeks, months, and even years waiting for a prophet to respond to your requests and give you a prophetic word. Yet there are times when you do not receive what you expect to hear; instead, I intend to speak to you about other things.
Then you feel disappointed, you feel let down, and you think in your hearts: “So much time waiting for this prophet to speak to me, so much time searching, so much time fishing, and when I finally catch this fish I’ve wanted to eat for so long, it turns out it’s not the one I like.”
Noelia: The Lord invites all of you to search your hearts and recognize what it is you seek when you come to hear God’s voice.
What do you want from Me? says the Lord. What do you want Me to answer? Why do you think I am seated on My throne? What are your expectations regarding what I say, what I reveal, and the guidance I give you?
Children, says God, I am the Father, and a father always knows better what his child needs than the child does. The mistake many of you make is believing you know more than I do. You are mistaken, but I am not, says the Lord. You make mistakes, but I do not. You are not yet perfect, but I am. I don’t need to correct My ways, but you often do.
You need to understand that when I speak to you, I will give you exactly the food you need for the moment you are living in. You need to understand that when you go to a doctor because you are sick, you cannot instruct the doctor or tell him or demand that he give you the medicines you think you need.
The doctor will say, “I am the doctor, and you are the patient. You need to let me heal you, because that’s what I studied for, and you didn’t. That’s what I trained for, and you didn’t. That’s why I have My diploma hanging on the wall, and you don’t. If you come to consult Me and pay for My services, it’s because I am sitting here treating you, backed by qualifications you don’t have.”
If you rebel against that doctor, trying to override his authority, if you go to see him with an arrogant attitude, most likely the doctor will say to you, “If you don’t like the answer I have for you, why do you come to consult me?”
Noelia: The Lord says that many times His children act this way. They ask Him for things they don’t truly need. They ask Him questions, and when He gives them certain answers, they reject them, because they were not prepared to accept that kind of answer.
At some point, you must realize that I am God and you are not, says the Lord, that I know everything and you do not, that I have full knowledge of all that has existed, exists, and will exist, while your knowledge is only partial and extremely limited, not even close to what I possess.
You need to understand that I am the Lord of the master keys, says God, and if anyone has the solution to your problems, it is not you, but only Me. So if you want to receive counsel from the One who truly has the solutions to your problems, you must change your attitude: stop being arrogant and become humble, step down from the position of teacher and become students before the One in authority, which is Me.
Little ones, says God, you do not realize what you are doing, but if you repent, I will forgive you, because I know you act out of ignorance, because I know that sometimes you can’t look in the mirror and truly see yourselves as you are. And because I love you, I want you to understand certain things so you don’t have to go through even more hardship than you are already experiencing.
Many times, from the food I want to give you, you choose only what you like, what you feel like eating, what you think is good for you, what you decide is good for your spirits, your souls, and your bodies. You pick and choose what seems good and healthy to you, and you throw out the rest, without listening to the whole word I have for you; and by doing this, you lose much of the blessing I want to give you.
You need to learn to receive the holy word that comes from My mouth, says the Lord. You need to learn to ask for prophecy, and if you are not going to ask with the intention of obeying it, then it’s better not to ask at all. When you ask for a prophetic word, you must understand that I will answer you with what I know you need, not what you think you need, because man can make mistakes, but the God of Israel does not sin, does not make mistakes, and is never wrong.
Little ones, says God, My people need to mature. My people need to understand that when they consult a prophet, they are consulting Me. So, it is as if you were having a conversation with Me, not with him.
If the prophet is faithful to deliver the words I put in his spirit, then that word that comes from his mouth, which is not his but Mine and comes from My perfect source, will bless you, will heal you, will give you the keys you need to move forward, will reveal what is hidden, will set you free from chains that bind you, and much more.
Noelia: The Lord says again that He is the God of solutions, the Lord of the keys, the One who holds all the master keys to open every closed door. And many times, the prophetic words He speaks through His prophets are master keys that untie knots, that open doors that otherwise could not be opened, that provide solutions to problems that otherwise would be impossible to solve.
My people must learn to consult the prophets, says the Lord, My people must learn to receive the word I give them, and My people must begin to value what I speak, because when you reject that answer—if it truly comes from Me—you are rejecting Me, not the prophet. If you reject the prophet, you are above all rejecting Me, because the prophet represents Me. He is My ambassador, he is the mouth through which I reveal My will.
Noelia: This passage comes to mind:
[Ezekiel 3:7] But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
Therefore, before seeking counsel, you must pray, says the Lord. Before deciding to seek out a prophetic vessel, you must ask Me if you are ready to receive and willing to obey the answer I give you, because after you have received an answer through a prophetic voice, your obedience will be weighed on the scales of My justice, and that will have consequences.
Little ones, says God, do not be deceived, because I cannot be mocked. I know what you are coming to ask Me when you seek out a prophet, and even before you open your mouths, I already have the answer ready on My lips.
You forget that I am not a man, nor a son of man, says God the Father. You forget that the past, the present, and the future are in Me, and that I already know what you are about to ask Me before you have even thought it in your heart, for all things are in Me.
You cannot deceive Me, you cannot trick Me, says the Lord. I know the intentions of your hearts; I know what you come seeking when you consult a prophetic voice, but that does not mean I will always answer according to what you are looking for, because only I—and I alone—know what food you need to eat in that moment.
What often happens is that when you consult a prophetic voice and the answer has nothing to do with what you asked, or is not what you expected, you think the prophet withheld the word from you or was mistaken, and you look down on him in your heart, not understanding that the answer that person gives you is the answer I want to give you.
Noelia: It reminds me of those passages in the New Testament where the disciples would ask Jesus a question, and instead of answering them directly, Jesus would turn the conversation around and reply with another question or something else entirely.
I speak about what I want, not about what you want, says God. I will put before you the food I want you to eat, not the food you are asking Me for, because otherwise it would be as if you gave your little children all the candy they ask for all day long, even knowing it could give them indigestion, upset their stomachs, or even make them sick.
Sometimes you are like those children who come asking for sweets when what they need is vegetables, says the Lord, or who come asking for hamburgers when what they need is lean meats. If sometimes you do not even know what food is good for your own bodies, how much less will you know what you need to hear from Me.
Noelia: The Lord says this is a call to find your place and to understand what it means when the Bible says we are to be not only hearers but also doers of the Word, to understand what it means to be hearers and what it means to be doers.
[James 1:22] But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Do not come to consult Me if you do not want to hear My answer, says God. Do not come to ask Me if you are not willing to do what I am telling you to do so that your problems can be solved. Do not ask Me if, when I answer, you will reject Me.
Be responsible not only for what you hear, but also for what you will do after you have heard what I have to say. Because many times you are not aware of what you do, and you don’t realize that you are stubborn, that your foreheads are as hard as diamond. You are like mules that dig in their heels and refuse to move from where they are until they get the answer they want.
Many times you don’t understand that if I answer differently from what you were expecting to hear, it is because that is the solution that will open many closed doors in your lives, that will accelerate stalled processes, that will bring healing to your bodies, your minds, and your souls, and that will remove barriers that were acting as obstacles in things that were not flowing as they should.
You throw away the answer I give you when it is not what you wanted to hear, says the Lord, not realizing that you are discarding the key that opened the door.
If I speak to you as I do, it is because it is what you need to hear. If I give you a directive that is difficult for you to respond to or obey, it is not because I want to complicate your life or make it harder; it is because, if you obey and respond to the call I place before you in those moments, you will see changes around you—sometimes without understanding why or how these things work, or how it can be that by obeying something you thought had nothing to do with what you were going through, unimaginable things are resolved in your lives.
If you obey by faith what I tell you to do, the way will open, says the Lord. Understand that I, and only I, am God, and no one else possesses the wisdom that I have.
Repent of having consulted prophets and not obeyed, says the Lord. Repent of having heard the prophetic word and discarded it. Repent of being stubborn like mules, of being hard-headed and resisting Me, for many times you are like those who were in the wilderness, who resisted the voice of the Holy Spirit and hardened their hearts so as not to hear His voice.
Do not be like them, says the Lord. If you are going to come and speak with Me, come with a humble attitude, ready and willing to receive whatever answer comes from My mouth, whatever it may be, with no expectations, not hoping that I will say what you want to hear, not demanding or instructing Me on what I should say.
Noelia: The Lord shows me that some of you have received prophetic guidance, but because you didn’t like the message you received, you put it away in a drawer and failed to act on it. And the Lord says that if that’s your case, you must take those envelopes out of the drawers, open them, and obey the word the Lord gave you, and repent of the hardness of your heart.
I hear the word “stubbornness,” and the Lord shows me that when a person is stubborn in heart, they only want to hear what they want to hear and are unwilling to accept any answer different from what they expected. It’s like when someone says to another, “I won’t take no for an answer. I’ll insist until you say yes,” trying to pressure and manipulate them.
The Lord says that many times His people are stubborn, hard as rock, and are not willing to receive anything else from Him unless it is what they were expecting to hear.
Change your attitude and come to Me with your ears open, says the Lord, knowing that perhaps what I have to say to you will be hard to hear and not always sweet as honey, but trusting in My love as a Father, trusting that what I will say to you is for your good and not your harm. And if you put into practice what I tell you to do, it will be like choosing the path of blessing.
Noelia: The passage from Deuteronomy 28 comes to mind, which speaks of the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience.
When you put into practice a prophetic instruction I have given you, you will see the fruit of that obedience, even if you don’t understand why I told you what I told you. You are called to walk by faith and not by sight, says the Lord, and there are many things you will not understand and that I will not explain to you so that you will not become prideful.
But if, in those moments when you are called to walk as if blind, you learn to walk that way—not seeing and not knowing, but believing and trusting in Me—you will see the fruit of that obedience and will enjoy eating from that fruit.
Listen to Me carefully, says the Lord, and once you have listened, obey Me and do what I tell you to do. Then you will see restoration in your family, you will see your situation at work change, and you will receive the answer to what you came to seek in the first place.
But if you don’t do what I tell you and then seek to inquire even further, that will lead you into greater trouble. First, respond to the first thing I instruct you, says God. First, obey and put into practice what I set before you, trusting in My omniscience, and then I will give you the bread you desired.
Noelia: The Lord says you must be aware of the responsibility that comes with having received a word from Him. There is a before and after when you receive a prophetic word: God will test your response once you have received that word, and how you respond will have consequences, for good or for bad, as we see in Jeremiah 42.
The Lord says that you must be responsible, and He warns once again that if you are not willing to obey what He answers to your questions, it’s better not to consult Him at all. First, prepare your heart; first, plow the ground; first, surrender yourselves to His will, and only then consult God.
[Isaiah 55:11] so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
The Lord says that when a person receives an instruction through a prophetic word and doesn’t put it into practice, but instead sets it aside or even despises it in their heart, there will be consequences, because everything changes once an answer from God has been received.
The Lord’s people must be aware of this, because the Bible says:
[Luke 12:47] And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
The Lord wants to protect you from those terrible consequences in your life, so don’t pretend you didn’t hear what God told you. Don’t be negligent with what God commanded you to do. Don’t harden your heart against the voice of the Holy Spirit. Be responsible, be mature, and search your heart to see if you are truly prepared for God to speak to you and willing to listen to whatever He says, whether it’s sweet words or sharp words, gentle words or harsh words; whether what He says is easy or difficult to hear.
You must search your heart, prepare yourself, and understand that He is good and that He loves you, and that everything He says—whether it’s correction, exhortation, motivation, encouragement, whether it’s to tell you that you are on the right path or to show you that you need to change something—is for your good and not for your harm.
Now I see a child who receives a piece of cake but eats only what he likes and throws the rest away. And the Lord says that His children are often like this: they eat the portions they want, but not what they need—the food He gives them.
Do not be like that. Eat the whole Bible, says the Lord, word by word, book by book, passage by passage, whether it’s easy or hard to digest. Do not discard the Scriptures; take them in completely.
Noelia: Treasure the prophetic words, the dreams, and the revelations that God gives you. Respond to them, and don’t discard them. Meditate on what God is saying. Pray until He answers you as to whether it was truly Him who spoke, but don’t simply throw prophecies aside, because the Lord shows me that you may be binding your own feet.
Be responsible in everything that is prophetic. Don’t seek it for entertainment, and don’t listen merely for fun. Keep in mind that there is a before and an after to having heard a prophetic word that truly came from God.