Prophetic Evangelism

We defined the prophetic in our next lesson. Now we want to talk about how to start to release the prophetic flow in our own lives. We do this by filling ourselves with God (lessons 1 and 2) and then drawing near to Him in worship.

Worship Releases The Presence And Glory Of God

"Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in" (Psalms 24:7).

Worship is like a vapor that ascends into the heavenlies. When it goes up, it causes the Spirit of God to move like lightning to release His Words (prophecy) which blows away (His Wind) all lies and deceptions of the enemy. It also breaks down any strongholds in our lives, that God might remove them and build His own stronghold of worship and His presence in us. When we worship, God comes and meets with us. Worship draws us into the very presence of God.

"He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries" (Psalms 135:7. "You inhabit the praises of Your people." (Ps 22:3).

As We Worship, Prophecy Flows

"And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, 'Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.' And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, 'Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' And he said to me, 'These are the true sayings of God.' And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, 'See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy'" (Revelation 19:6-10).

Here John hears many people in heaven, worshipping God. There are many words of prophecy throughout this chapter. In verse 10, John falls at this man's feet who prophesies, "Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb," and he said unto me, "these are the true sayings of God."

What we have in this chapter is a man who was worshipping God then prophesying; and John thought he was Jesus, because he fell at his feet to worship him. The man says, "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!"

Do you see the dynamic of what happened here? The man was worshiipping God and He was drawing into God's very presence as he worshipped. And as He worshipped and was filled with God, prophetic began to burst out of him. He spoke the words of Jesus with such authority that for a short while John got confused and thought this was the literal Jesus talking, rather than someone prophesying at His direction. Worship releases the prophetic. As we become more and more full of God through worship, the prophetic ripens in us and we are able to flow with great power and authority, because we are reflecting the glory of God. The closer we get to Him in worship, the more brightly we shine with His glory. Do you remember what happened to Moses? Moses was in God's presence, talking to God. When Moses left God's presence, his face still radiated God's glory and literally glowed. But when he had been out of God's presence for a while, then the glow in his face began to fade.

It is like that with us in the prophetic as well. You have probably heard this prophet or that prophet make a reference to a time when they were dry or "empty" and it was harder for them to flow in the prophetic. How does the empty prophet get filled up with God's glory and His words so that he (or she) can flow again? It's easy. They come into God's presence and worship Him. When they tarry in His presence, they tarry in His glory and that glory began to fill them and overflow out of them in the prophetic.

The Testimony of Jesus Is The Spirit of Prophecy

Let's go back to our story in Revelation 19. This man who had been prophesying also said that the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit Of Prophecy. If you have been born again, the true Spirit Of God is within you and you hold the Spirit Of Prophecy. You say, "hold?", yes hold. Lots of people do not want to let the Spirit Of Prophecy out. They hold it in. They quench the Spirit, and it is the very life and breath of Almighty God flowing out to accomplish that which it is sent to do.

Zechariah, John the Baptist's Father, worships God when John is born. The next thing you know, he prophesies over his son. Luke 1:67-69 records, "Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: 'Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David..." The prophesy continues for the next several verses. Throughout these verses, we can see worship and prophetic coming forth.

As we worship God, we put our focus on Him. He, the Spirit of truth in us, opens our eyes to behold "the King of Glory. The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle" (Psalms 24). It is when we come into that place of intimacy, that Our Father floods us with more light and truth. He overwhelms us with His love and joy begins to bubble up within us. "In His presence there is fullness of joy..." Christ in us. We begin to experience the anointing, or the Anointed One in us, just like Elizabeth did. "And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb." (That was John in the womb praising God, swimming in the river.. glory!!) "And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she spoke out with a loud voice, and said, 'blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believed; for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.'" (Luke 1:41-45). Again we see worship, and then the spirit of prophecy.

Again in the book of Acts we see worship and prophesying... "When Paul laid his hands on them to receive the Holy Ghost, they spoke in tongues (worship) and prophesied..." (Acts 19:6). "When we speak in tongues we are not speaking unto men but unto God." (I Corinthians 14:2).

In our local assembly our experience is that that when we come together in corporate praise and worship, we almost always receive prophetic words in our midst. Those words that He gave us were often "a forthcoming word," telling us what circumstances would happen in the week and how God wanted us to live in response to those circumstances. Jesus said "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). The word "proceeds" means to "go forth out." It is a Rhema word, a "God breathed spoken word" or prophesying.

The Old Testament Pattern -- Worship And Prophetic

Look at 1 Chronicles 25:1-2: "Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph [worship leaders] and Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals, and the number of the workmen according to their service was of the sons of Asaph, Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king."

In this passage, God assembled praisers and worshipers to worship with instruments, which in turn opened the door to prophecy. Glory to God!! We have had a similar experience in my church, where we experienced the "prophesying of instruments" that caused the flow of the prophetic to move so easily. We must be prepared to move and change our form to God's. God's desire is to move in our midst, especially as we are seeking His will.

Following God's Pattern

One time in particular we were gathered in a home meeting, we had no instruments. The Holy Spirit directed us to go into the kitchen and look for items we could use to praise the Lord with. We gathered cups, spoons, boxes of macaroni and cheese, pots, and other items that made noise. We offered our instruments up to God, and yielded ourselves unto Him. As I led in song, the instruments followed, the sound was incredible. It sounded like an African beat. We praised and worshipped for a long time. Spontaneous songs flowed out of our hearts. Praise and worship to Our King Jesus would overwhelming us as different ones began to magnify the Lord. Joy flooded the place, His glory flooded the place, prophecy sprang forth. We were like little children, and felt the wonderful presence of Our Lord. It was as though He were saying to us, "I receive such praise and worship My children, I am pleased.." Various people shared that they never experienced such a thing before. We came out of natural form into the unknown. How glorious it was!!!! How glorious it is when it comes from our hearts!!!

We have been asking ourselves, "What is wrong with our present-day churches? Why can't we seem to get a breakthrough in our assemblies? Why does dryness come?" God has given us a pattern to follow. His name is Jesus. He's given us a way to assemble: In the unity of praising and worshipping Our Jesus. I believe that as we will lay everything else aside and praise and worship Jesus, we will see His Glory!

God has created us for His Glory!!