In this weeks activation, we are going to stretch our faith a bit more and practice moving in the spirit of prophecy. Week 5 targeted the word of knowledge. In our written instructions, we relaxed the boundaries somewhat and allowed for this "word" to either be a word of knowledge or a prophetic word. Some of you, according to the activation instructions, received a simple word of knowledge for the group while some may have gone into more detail and actually delivered a complete prophetic word. Regardless of your experience in Week 5, this week we are going to stretch our faith and believe the Lord for a prophetic word (not just a word of knowledge) for the corporate setting.
God speaks personally as well as corporately. Just as we have been learning to share thoughts from the Lord with other individuals, ourselves, and others within a group, this time we will again address the entire group.
As you enter the time of "listening" for the Voice of the Lord this week, ask Him to speak whatever He would speak for the benefit of the whole group for the sake of strengthening, encouragement and comfort according to 1 Cor. 14:3. Since this is a "safe environment" for practice and learning, we remind all of this basic admonition again since this is not a time for any corrective or judgmental words. As we have said in past lessons, if you feel you hear something that is corrective or judgmental, please go back to the Lord and ask Him for another word.
If you were one who received a word of knowledge in Week 5, you will need to stretch your faith on this weeks exercise. For those of you who actually prophesied last time, your proficiency will grow by reason of use (Heb. 5:14) so this activation will serve to increase your ability to prophecy. No matter what type of group you are part of - live group, email, IRC or AOL, you will prophesy to the entire group this week.
Again, reflecting on Week 5, we gained a basic exposure to the experience of sharing a word for our local church body during a service. This week, we will deepen our exposure to that experience by giving a complete prophetic word to the church body. As we did in Week 5, the "practice church body" you are directing your prophetic word to is your activation group. The word you give should be from the Holy Spirit to the WHOLE GROUP collectively, and will offer you additional practice in delivering a prophetic word to a corporate setting.
As you receive a word from the Lord this week and your opportunity to share comes, simply "see" yourself standing before the "church" and sharing the thought the Lord has given you for the benefit and blessing of the whole body of believers with which you are associated.
The purpose of this weeks activation is to give you an opportunity to begin to move in the spirit of prophecy. Stop for a moment and review 1 Cor. 14:31: "For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged". The scripture is our foundation, right? Note that it says we ALL can do this. Allow this scripture to be your foundation for faith in this weeks activation.
This is our second experience thus far with giving a corporate word. You will find that this is just as easy as receiving a word for an individual. God is the one who will be faithful to speak what He wants you to share with the group. All you have to do is continue to be a vessel for receiving - as you have been doing all along. We do not want to place limits on what the Holy Spirit may say but rather encourage you to simply listen to whatever He says and then be faithful to speak this to the group.
In this exercise, we feel you will discover that receiving a Word from the Lord is quite easy once you just relax and rest in the faith that God is faithful to communicate and that He usually wants to speak to you more than you want to hear. He will then be faithful to minister to the needs that are on His heart and you will be used as a conduit for His power.
Note for local group leaders: You might want to consider taping these words as they are given in the group and then transcribe them and make the transcription or tape available to your local pastor.
Since we are all saved, we have Christ living within us. Let's allow Him to minister to us, through us, and to and through our brother or sister in Christ. 1 Peter 4:10 says "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms". We want to be good stewards of God's grace so let's be willing to share Christ within us with our brother or sister.
How do we stir ourselves up?
Pray this prayer with your group as you begin:
Dear Lord, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, I come before your throne. I believe that Christ lives within me, and that I am washed by the blood. Not in part, but in my whole being. I now bring every thought of my mind and soul into captivity to the mind of Christ within. I will be open to be led by the Holy Spirit to receive a prophetic word from You for this group, my "corporate Church". I will gladly share just what you show me, without adding my own interpretation to it. I will not doubt it nor question it, I'll just be willing to give it. I am a believer, and I expect to receive. I thank You for giving me a word from the throne. Amen.
This prayer releases people from any guilt, fear, condemnation and sense of unworthiness. Since fear and feeling unworthy are the two most hindering factors to people moving in the mind of Christ, this brings a release.
The purpose of this short and specific prayer is to bind any hindering or religious spirits, and to release faith and anointing. Use whatever words you desire, but it does not have to be long and involved.
One of the members of the group should agree to be the lead off person and go first. Now relax because this is going to be fun and it will continue to help you "tune in" to the Holy Spirit. Once you go silent, give yourself about 45 - 60 seconds and during this time, look and see what pictures form in your minds eye (the eyes of your heart), listen to what you may "hear" in your Spirit and pay attention to what sense you may have in your "knower".
Again, here is an explanation of these different modes.
NOTE: We have modified these explanations slightly to accommodate a "prophetic flow" and no longer just a thought or word of knowledge so please read these again this time through:
This is the doing part for which we have prepared ourselves. Now is the time, one person at a time, to speak specifically what you receive from the Holy Spirit being cautious not to add any of your own personal interpretation. (If you are a seer, ask the Lord to help you with this from now on in these activations since there will be a need to interpret somewhat the "flow" of mental pictures.)
We also want to re-state our caution from before: "God does not usually give us judgmental, negative, harsh, corrective, or directive words when we are just learning to move in the prophetic. For the scope of these exercises, these types of words will be STRICTLY OFF LIMITS. If you believe you receive one of these types of words during the activation exercise, assume you have heard wrong and go back to the Lord and ask Him for a different word.
From our original purpose paragraph, you will be looking for a prophetic word that will connect with the whole group corporately. This activation will allow the Lord to speak to more broad-ranging issues since the focus of the word is corporate rather than individual.
Continue to rotate and do this as long as you wish but at minimum until each person has had the opportunity to share what they received at least once. In most cases, many in the group will receive both individual as well as corporate ministry.
As the members of your group share what they receive, you might want to write down the things which speak to you individually as well as the things you strongly identify with in the corporate setting and discuss them after all have had an opportunity to share what they received. The group can then take the opportunity to pray over these things and see the Lord minister to the needs that were identified corporately.
Imagine yourself in the worship portion of a meeting in your local church. You feel you hear the Lord quickening something in your spirit for the church body as a whole. Will you have the faith to believe that you can hear accurately enough to be willing to share what you hear with the congregation? Will fear become a deterrent to your being willing to be a vessel for delivering a corporate word? Review the scripture in 1 Cor. 14:26, "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church." Do you see yourself fitting into this pattern as the scripture directs? How much more alive in the Spirit would our meetings and gatherings be if instead of coming together to get spiritually what we can from others, we all came together to share what the Lord had already given us for the benefit (overall strengthening) of the Body?
One word of caution on giving corporate words - if any of us are still harboring wounds that "need" to draw attention to ourselves, the enemy will try to work through our wounding to use this type of setting to draw to us instead of pointing toward the Lord and giving Him glory. The safeguard to this is to always be willing to submit anything you receive for the corporate body to the church leadership and allow them to make the determination as to how the word fits into the flow of the service. Always resist using this type of word to direct the flow of the service or groups in the church unless the church leadership gives you release to publicly speak such a word (provided you received this type of word from the Lord to begin with).