Don’t expect everyone to believe everything you share regarding an experience with God, especially when that experience is outside the realm of human logic and reasoning. In their inability to personally process these experiences, they choose to become a critic.

There are many reasons why criticism takes place. Maybe a supernatural experience is outside the realm of a critic’s spiritual experience. In other instances, a supernatural encounter might scare some people because of what they have been taught to believe, or expect. Some critics think it is their assignment in the Church to be a critic of all things mystical. Others want an audience so they use your social media platform to express their disdain or express a correction. A small percentage are simply emotionally or mentally challenged.

Don’t allow a critic to silence your voice. If you let the Spirit speak through you or use you in ways that shake up the slumbering status quo, don’t be surprised when critics come out of the religious woodwork to voice their opinion. It goes with the territory.

There’s another side to the critical coin. Some of our critics are used by God to check the status of our hearts. When criticism arrives, we can become bitter and look for ways to pay back a critic with criticism of our own. It never works. Love takes another path. Jan and I gave a financial gift to the ministry of one of my critics who, during the height of the pandemic, became a vocal critic of mine on several occasions regarding the prophetic words I shared. Those words have come to pass but at the time they seemed out of step with the current herd mentality. We gave to their ministry as a tangible way to allow God to massage our bruised emotions and to keep our hearts tender and not throw the person away.

Some critics are seasonal. Something like the recent pandemic or the deepening global financial crisis or the upcoming emotionally charged election cycle can turn decent people into mean-spirited critics when fear is in the air. Seasons of increased criticism are often affirmations that the Lord is up to something that will shake up the Church revealing uncomfortable spiritual realities we don’t want to hear. 

Keep your heart teachable in the seasons when the critics arise, and you will be in a place to see the reason why the Lord had you share something that riled your critics. You will be able to see those things because you chose to be unoffendable.