“We are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are His lovers who have been called to fulfill His designed purpose” (Rom. 8:28, TPT).
It is important to have a prophetic perspective for every aspect of your life—your family, ministry, relationships, work, finances and so on. There is nothing too small for God’s attention.
Have you been listening to what the Lord is saying to you about all these things and how they belong to the designed purposes of God for your life? Furthermore, what prophetic promises have you received from the Lord in previous seasons that have been determined by God to manifest this year?
A prophetic perspective is more than intuition. It is seeing events and circumstances as God has purposed them and not through our own or our cultural distortions. A prophetic perspective prevents us from developing hopeless and distorted perceptions of our future. It gives us faith. Therefore, have faith that God has designed a good future for you. He has determined that you will prosper in every area of life.
Having a prophetic perspective helps to set the trajectory of our lives. It also helps us focus on things God has revealed to us. The onslaught of media presence in our lives constantly works to shape our perceptions through the lens of current culture.
As believers, our frame of reference is to be shaped by God, not by the world. This is why we must develop and maintain a prophetic perspective. While we endure the power of ever-present media (including social media), developing and maintaining a prophetic perspective requires a strong and consistent commitment to seeing ourselves and the world differently.
It demands that we see how past, present and even unknown future events are working to bring us into God’s designed purposes. It is understanding God’s “why” so that we don’t miss strategic moments in our lives. A prophetic perspective helps us to understand how all things are working for our good according to the plans and purposes of God.
A few suggestions:
- Establish a consistent prayer dialogue with the Lord. Prayer is one of the most important disciplines in the life of believers. Prayer is more than pouring out our requests to the Lord. Prayer is including time for the Lord to pour out His heart to you. Prayer is a conversation with God.
There are things in the heart of God that He is longing to share with you. Establishing a consistent prayer dialogue with God creates the opportunity to engage with God in powerful ways. When we do this faithfully on a regular basis, we begin to share God’s perspective about everything in our lives, now and in the future.
- Develop the practice of “deep listening.” We live in a culture filled with distractions and outside noises, with everything screaming for our attention. Life’s concerns fill us in ways that narrow our focus and we cannot hear anything other than the demands of the moment. Learning to silence the noise is essential to the prophetic perspective.
Deep listening is the practice of silencing every voice except the voice of the Lord. It takes intentional practice, but it is worth it. Listening to the voice of the Lord on a daily basis, hearing His opinion on matters that concern us, our family, business, ministries and so on will help us to not only understand God’s perspective, but will also help us to embrace it.
- Keep a journal. Choose a consistent journal style. My journal of preference is an actual book where I write daily entries. Others might choose an electronic journal, in which they create a text document and folder. Both methods are effective. Choose the method that best suits your needs and style. The important thing is to keep your journal faithfully.
Write it down. One of my spiritual practices is to keep a journal where I write down instructions or directives spoken to me by God during times of prayer. It is literally a written record of my conversations with God. I include revelatory thoughts and impressions I might hear during the course of my day or in the middle of the night as well as messages that come from the Lord in the form of dreams.
Assign a date. I am careful to assign a date or even time to each journal entry. When answers to my prayers manifest, I include them in my journal. Thus, my journal holds a chronological timeline and history of answered prayers. In future seasons when I am waiting for God to respond to my prayers, I can look back to my journal and see how God has answered them before. This helps me to remain in faith.
- Review your journal entries periodically. From time to time throughout the year, and especially at the end of the year, I review my journal entries. This allows me to see consistent themes and directives from the Lord that I might have overlooked. In other words, it helps me to keep God’s perspective in the forefront of my mind.
Reviewing your journal can serve as your reminder of your conversations with God. It recalls the things God spoke to you during your prayer times or the ones God said to you unexpectedly, while you were in the middle of some other activity. You don’t want to forget what you heard, so reviewing what God has said to you keeps it fresh in your mind.
- Speak words of faith. Speaking words of faith helps to shape our perspective from God’s point of view. As we speak words of faith, we overcome doubt and unbelief. Words of faith are powerful, like a hammer, striking blows that shatter doubt and unbelief each time we speak.
“Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen” (Heb. 11:1).
- Study the Word of God. The Bible is the voice of God on earth. In our human language, the Bible makes known God’s plans and purposes for us. The Bible reveals God’s loving pursuit of mankind from the creation of Adam and Eve through all the future generations. Make daily time for studying God’s Word.
Meditate upon it, and prayerfully seek its meaning and how it applies to your life. Developing a prophetic perspective must include an understanding of God’s Word, since there is no disagreement between God’s voice heard in prayer and God’s voice recorded in Scripture.
Developing a prophetic perspective is a challenging, yet attainable goal. If you will apply these suggestions daily, you will find your perspective coming into alignment with God’s. Remember, having a prophetic perspective will help you see your future from God’s eternal perspective, not one based on the empty noise around you.
Whatever your current circumstances may be, no matter how difficult they are, gaining a prophetic perspective will help you to see beyond them. It will build faith in you to believe that God has planned a good future for you. Let’s begin the process. {eoa}
Venner Alston is the author of Next Level Spiritual Warfare: Advance Strategies for Defeating the Enemy. To purchase your copy or to learn more about VJ Alston Ministries, contact drvjalston.org.
For the original article, visit drvjalston.org.
Ron Allen 
Charisma Media Staff 
Abby Trivett 
