Prophetic rebuke from the Lord

Prophetic rebuke from the Lord
Zephaniah the Prophet
There are a lot of people who prophesy or rebuke in the
Name of the Lord. Sometimes it is difficult to
identify if they are doing it in Spirit or are doing so in
the flesh (according to their own understanding) .
In my previous mails I specified that since the Word of God
is complete, therefore the prophesying which we do,
are basically application of the Word [promises] into our
lives.
Also what is called by most as 'word of knowledge' is
nothing but the prompting of the Holy Spirit. This
ability is giving to every believer who is in tune with the
Holy Spirit.
One thing that the Lord wants to tell us today through the
book of Zephaniah is how to discern prophetic rebuke.
Zephaniah was from the royal bloodline of Judah and yet he
was like a junior Jeremiah. Two third of his book is full
of rebukes but being a true prophetic rebuke his last
chapter is full of encouragement and hope.
Corrections are very essential for growth. If you have
people around you who always praise you and tell you
how good you are, then pity on you. You are very likely to
have a disaster in your life for will never know one day if
there is a pit in front of you and you being blinded
by praises will fall in it. So call yourself blessed if the
Lord has put someone close to you to point out your faults.
But if a person who points only to your faults is
very likely doing it in the flesh. For any rebuke
from the Lord comes with a purpose of growth. It will have hope,
encouragement or comforting words also at the end of the
rebuke.
If God can give Satan thousand years to repent, whom He
knows will never do so, would not the same Lord be
merciful with us?
With every challenging situation the Lord opens a window of
escape and this is visible only when our eyes are
focused on Him and we do not harden our hearts. Understand
the Lord has created us to prosper us and if we get this
written into our hearts, our faith in the Lord will
increase and it will become easy to walk on His path and
discern it from the paths of the world and of Satan.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You are a loving and merciful God. You made us and
are aware of our weaknesses. You gave us all that we
need to strengthen us in body mind and spirit. Your Word,
the Sacrifice of your Son and your Spirit are all that we
need to overcome sin and death. Lord, help us
circumcise our hearts and direct our path unto your path so
that we not only reach our purpose in You but also receive
it in fullness...
This payer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Romans 15:3-4
3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is
written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on
me.
4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were
written for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Romans 16:26
26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures
of the prophets, according to the commandment of the
everlasting God, made known to all nations for the
obedience of faith:
Ecclesiastes 7:5
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than
for a man to hear the song of fools.
Proverbs 9:8
8 Reprove not a scorner [boastful / arrogant], lest
he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
R. DSouza.
website http://www.savedbyfaith.info/index.html