Many Christians struggle with unfulfilled prophecies in their lives. Personally, I have gone through seasons when I have also been confused with what I consider to be a genuine prophetic word. Here are ten reasons for unfulfilled personal prophecy I have come across either in my personal life of ministry.
1. It was a false prophecy
Many prophecies will never be fulfilled for the simple reason that they were false prophecies. Not all prophecy spoken over your life is from God, and God is not responsible to deliver something He has not promised.Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21, "Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good." You need to test the prophetic words in prayer before you put the full weight of your life on them.
I get regular personal, prophetic words sent to me from people from all around the world, but when I look at them, many of them seem to use use flattery to try to manipulate me into having a level of control over my life. So many people use "prophetic" blessings to get into your life.
These “good wishes” use prophetic language to make it look as if these people had prayed for me intensively, when in reality, they haven’t. But many Christians accept flattery as prophecy, as it often promises them a great future.
2. Prophecy was not for you
Many prophecies are delivered in public meetings, and many Christians claim ownership for a prophetic word that doesn’t really belong to them. This is why I prefer, if possible, to give any prophetic words to individuals personally, so that everyone is clear about the address.3. Prophecy was teaching in camouflage
Many people we call prophets repackage biblical teaching and principles as prophecy, and they travel the earth by sharing the same words about revivals, etc. These words have a limited effectiveness simply because if you apply these teachings, they will always deliver something because God’s Word never returns to Him void (Isaiah 55:11). But they might not be the special prophetic word for you at this precise time.This makes these people look like prophets when they really are teachers in the camouflage of a prophet. But biblical principles and dynamics have a slightly different function than personal prophecy, and it can be misleading to receive teaching as personal prophecy.
4. Prophecy was really a word of knowledge
Many people confuse the word of knowledge with prophecy, and they project the word of knowledge into future. But what is true about God’s will for you today might not be true about His will for your life tomorrow. Holding on to a word of knowledge from yesterday today as prophecy will limit you tomorrow.5. Prophecy was really a word of faith
There are situations where people respond to a specific need with faith. For example, someone is sick, and we feel that we have faith for their healing, and we can easily “prophesy” their healing. But the word of faith is not always that precise, and we can easily promise something specific to someone when all we have is faith that all will be well. In words of Julian of Norwich, we have faith that “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”We need some faith to prophesy and to receive a prophecy, but we prophesy revelation that releases faith rather than try to stretch our faith and make the end result of that stretched into a revelation.
6. You are off season
Some prophetic words only get activated when you enter the right season. With Joseph and David, there were great promises over their lives, but Joseph would remain a slave and a prisoner until the appointed time, and David would remain a vagabond rebel and "traitor" in the eyes of many in Israel until the appointed time of his kingship.7. You have tried to make it happen
Many Christians try to make a prophetic word come to pass through their “faith” action when the right response should be to submit to God’s will and His guidance through extensive times of prayer."But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)
Personal prophecy belongs to “the things of the Spirit of God”, and it must be received with the help of the Holy Spirit – not through trying to make it happen.
8. You have done nothing about it
Some people think that God should do it all, and they never do anything at all about it. I know people who complain about the fact that the many prophecies spoken over their lives have never come to pass, but when I ask if they have ever prayed for those prophecies to come to pass, for clarity or for any practical steps, they say that they have never done anything.Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:18, This “charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare”.
There comes a time when you will have to fight for and with the prophecies God has given to you, if you really believe in them. Otherwise, you will never be ready for the works God has prepared for you.
9. You are not focused on following Him
Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."Often, we are consumed by the external outcomes, but God is focused in making us ready for these external outcomes. God releases the outcomes when you will be ready for them, and you will only become ready by following Him.
10. It has been fulfilled but you don’t know it
There are times when I haves asked God why He hasn’t fulfilled His promise to me for Him to respond that He already has. This happens usually when you have a rigid understanding regarding how the fulfillment of the prophecy would look like when it would come to pass. But in reality you had no idea how the fulfillment of the prophecy might look like in distant future; only you are still stuck in the frozen interpretative framework you built in the past.I don't think that Joseph had any idea that his prophetic dreams would be applicable in Egypt but not in Israel.
You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mpjoensuu/ or by visiting markojoensuu.com.
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