Even the dogs have the crumbs that fall from the masters table…

“Then Jesus left Galilee and went North to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.” But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.” But she came and worshipped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!” Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.” “Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.” (Matthew 15: 21-27)

Like all the stories in the gospels, there are many lessons we can learn from this account. I just want to look at a couple that apply specifically to prophesy.

Firstly, it’s always good to be asking God for what can one take from prophecies that are given to other people. I  apply this in my walk of wanting to hear from God, not turning off or thinking either: “that’s nice for them,” or “why doesn’t God ever have a word for me,” but asking the Lord if there are any crumbs for me under the table.

This can also  be  applied this to messages  brought at meetings: if we ask the lord what He wants to say to us, there may well be something which might not be the speaker’s main point, or even something he is speaking about, but which is prompted by part of the message.

The second is the woman’s persistence. I believe we have to be persistent in our desire to hear from God. He wants to know that we are serious. We look at persistence again in the next article in this series.

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.  (Matthew 11v12)

Again, this scripture is open to a number of interpretations, but one is that the “forceful” the push into the kingdom of Heaven to take hold of it in their lives. I believe is not only about those newly brought to the kingdom of God, but also those fervently and earnestly seeking to take hold of spiritual gifts:

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians   2 v10)

We are saved by grace not by works, so this is not in any way suggesting that salvation is something that we earn; but  I believe it is to do with pressing into our gifts ( both spiritual and natural).  We must remember that we have an enemy who is trying to halt our growth and maturity in the Lord, so we must soberly keep in mind our weaknesses and keep our armour on.

God has great works planned for us to do, with Him and not for Him, where we will need  to use our giftings to complete them and bring glory to God. If we work with Him, He will continually give us the strength and abilities that we need; but if we try and work for Him we will generally be doing it in our own strength and determination, often trying to earn favour with  the Lord, forgetting that we were saved by grace and that these works were already planned for us to accomplish with Him before the beginning of time.

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal,  but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me.” (Philippians 3: 12-13)

Again here we see the picture of something that not given to us when we become a Christian but for which we must contend spiritually as we take the Kingdom by force. He has already planned what gifts and assignments He has for us that will bring Him glory, but as the apostle Paul puts it we are to press in to them. So in all this there is a battle, and battles are not won by  being passive  or hesitant, or by just waiting around for the victory to happen. We need to press in or take by force everything that God has for us and that has been prophesied over us, no matter what  the cost. As we battle to grow further into our Kingdom calling God will start to give us a hunger for more.

To conclude this section on “picking up all the crumbs under the table,” on a practical point, I find that speaking in tongues is a key to hearing more from God :

“For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.” (1 Corinthians 14: 2)

I believe these mysteries that we speak in our heavenly language actually impart the mysteries of Heaven to our spirits. Any crumb from Heaven is a whole loaf of bread here on Earth.