There have been many times in my years as a prophet when God has given me visions. I even once had a vision of the Rapture and Jesus ascending on the clouds. While that may or may not actually happen in my lifetime, it doesn’t change God’s choice to use me as His prophet.

The apostle Paul believed that the return of Christ was imminent. That belief did not cause Paul to be a false apostle even though it did not take place in his lifetime. God often works with His apostles and prophets vastly different than He does with other Christian leaders. There are times when He wants us to have an urgency to deliver the message. At times, He wants us to inspect our standing with Him and how it affects the current generation. While visions can be very clearly seen, their meaning is often meant to spur the apostle or prophet forward more than to predict the future.

The book of Revelation was a vision delivered through John. He saw things that would actually come to pass but not in his lifetime. Some of those things were happenings in the spiritual realm rather than the physical realm. That those things didn’t happen in his lifetime, did not disqualify the message as being from God. Isaiah’s prophecies about the coming Christ were hundreds of years before Jesus appeared in flesh. It did not invalidate Isaiah’s standing as a prophet that Christ did not appear in his lifetime.

God often talks to me about President Trump, not because I will effect the outcomes of what Trump will do or ever even speak to the man. God wants me to be aware of what He is doing through the president of our country. Many of the prophets of old did deliver messages to the kings of Israel. And God has had me deliver a few messages to President Trump in the form of letters, emails, and workbooks that I created. Whether or not Trump ever actually saw those things doesn’t have anything to do with what God was doing through me. He told me to do something specific and I did it. That’s where my responsibility ends until God tells me to pursue it further or to do something additional. (I have received a few short typed letters with Trump’s signature, but that doesn’t mean anything necessarily.) One email from me with a message from God warned Trump of a betrayal that was coming … and it did happen.

When God asks you to do something, it’s often more about you learning to obey God, to be right where He wants you, or to demonstrate an ability that He has given you. God saw everything about your life before He even created you to live it. He knows the beginning from the end.

A prophet never really knows at the time if God is giving future insight or checking the heart of His prophet. God has told me that Trump will not serve for his entire second term and it haunts me because I have grown to highly respect and even love the man. That may not be a future prediction. It may be about causing my heart to stay involved in what Trump is accomplishing. That’s what I hope it is. Either way God chooses what He tells His prophet and how He tells the prophet to deliver the message. Whether it is a warning that comes to pass or not isn’t what is important to God. We can assess in hindsight some of the behind the scenes things that could have been going on. Read about Jonah. Jonah delivered a message that was meant to change hearts, not to predict the future.