“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6-7)

From time to time, someone will ask those of us who are used by God in prophetic ministry: “Why are you not saying anything negative to those receiving prophecy? Why are you not offering too many correctional words? After all, isn’t that how God spoke through prophets, according to the Bible?”

Yes, it is true that many prophetic utterances recorded in Scripture do indeed contain words of judgment, particularly in the Old Testament. However, the primary purpose of prophecy, according to the revelation received by the apostle Paul is threefold: “To build up, encourage and comfort.” (I Corinthians 14:3)

This morning, as Sulojana and I were relaxing on lounge chairs at a beach on the shores of Lake Huron, the Lord gave me a revelation of why He chooses to release more words that are “positive” in content than not.

It is all a matter of perspective, He said. To illustrate, He took me in a vision and placed me in front of a person who was a bona fide rebel who had willfully chosen to disregard the warnings he had received from others to repent.

Just as my eyes were glued on his sinful ways and my mind started making a list of all his violations, I suddenly felt myself being yanked out of my chair and going upward very slowly, until it seemed as though I had reached a cloud that was in the sky directly above the spot where we were lounging.

He said to me: “Look at him now and tell me what you see.”

Needless to say, from this lofty perch, he was barely visible and the details of his life were definitely not discernible. Indeed, all I could see was how he was cloaked by a shaft of sunlight.

The Lord said: “Now you are seeing him as I do.” He went on to say: “Jeeva, it is so easy for you to see him as he is in reality…but I see him as I created him to be. Your perspective is earthly, mine is heavenly. When you see him, you can easily stop with condemnation. When I see him, all I feel is compassion. That is why I give my prophets a picture of who he can be that they can release to him. Then Holy Spirit takes over and brings about conviction in his heart.”

At that point, I started to come back to earth. Funny thing, but when I looked at him after this encounter, all I could see was how he was clothed in the brilliance of righteousness.  The Lord had graciously masked his filthy rags from my eyes, so that I would prophesy from heaven’s perspective and release a vision of how the Father saw him.

It reminded me of the time when Peter was so full of guilt and shame over denying that he ever knew Jesus. Yet, when Jesus took him aside after He had risen from the dead, He said nothing about Peter’s failure. All he said was: “Feed my lambs…Tend my sheep…Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17)

Jesus did not dwell on his sin of commission. Instead he dealt him a new commission. He prophesied destiny over Peter.

If we are indeed “seated with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6), could we do anything else?