Desperate For A Word

As we have mentioned in earlier lessons, sometimes people get so anxious about wanting to receive a prophecy that they behave in ways they would not normally behave. Most people are reasonable most of the time. But there are always a few who are so frustrated that the proverbial straw has broken their camel's back and they find themselves "exploding." This can manifest as being pushy, rude, demanding, hostile, or childish.

And there are always a few who have not matured emotionally (for whatever reason). These tend to be the hardest to deal with because they are often so wounded they don't realize how they are coming across. In their mind, they are simply requesting help or stating a situation. But the way they interact -- they may come across as hostile, attacking, rude, arrogant or even obnoxious -- without intending to be that way. It is easy to become offended when people treat you this way, especially when you are giving a great deal of yourself to minister to others. It is so easy to put them down, write them off or even embarrass them publicly. But these are the very wounded ones, and if you reply in the manner they are addressing you, they will be terribly wounded. A sharp reply (even a well-deserved one) may set them back for months in their healing process and relationship with God. These people are the bruised reed that Jesus would not break, from Is 42:3 and Matt 12:20. God does not want to "snuff out their smothering wick." Rather He wants them to put their hope in Him (Matt 12:21) and He wants to bring healing and maturity to them.

It is easy to be compassionate to them in theory (like when you are reading this teaching). But it is not so easy when upset people are "in your face." So it helps to be aware of the things motivating them (Lessons 1 to 4) and to know in advance there will be ones like this who pop up from time to time. That way it won't catch you by surprise. You can set strategies of how to interact with them.

In some cases, reasonable people are operating on a misconception that leaves them feeling cheated or mistreated. If you can identify and deal with that misconception, they often become very reasonable. Let me share an example. We offer a monthly online prophetic ministry session in a drop-in chat room on a first-come-first-served basis. We have a few guidelines. People can't wait in that room (to be first in line) until an hour before ministry starts. The people have to be members of the prophetic school email list and they are allowed to receive this ministry only once a year. We are extremely careful to enforce our rules. We never make exceptions for personal friends, etc. We treat everyone the same and everyone has an equal opportunity. One woman had a misunderstanding of how AIM works. She arrived in the room about 30 minutes after it opened and did some sort of query where she deduced that almost everyone else had been in the room for hours, even though the room had been open for only 30 minutes. She thought we were ministering to people who broke the rules by coming hours early. And she felt cheated since she had obeyed the rules and had not received ministry. So she wrote me a very irate email accusing me of unfair practices. I wrote back and explained that what she had queried was how long they had been connected to AIM, not how long they were in the drop-in chat room. I shared how we had been in the room and had asked people to leave and come back when the room opens, even as late as 5 minutes before it opened. I did not respond hastily, I answered and corrected her misconception. I also gave her a bit more information about the ministry, sharing how many hours we put in behind the scenes to offer it because our heart is to offer quality prophetic ministry to others. I also shared how badly we feel that we have to turn people away each month because more come each time than we can logistically handle in a single session. She wrote back and was very reasonable. She apologized for the accusations she had made due to her technical misconceptions. Then she offered to hold us in prayer when we were doing the prophetic ministry sessions since there was so much work on multiple people's part to make that happen.

She was a nice and reasonable person, but her first email did not look that way. She was frustrated because she had not received a word and she reacted "out of character" and immaturely. If I had sent her back a hostile reply, I would have probably made an enemy, or at least alienated her. But by simply dealing with her misconception and presenting the facts, I gained someone who will be praying for us as we minister :)

Sometimes those who are desperate for a word can get incredibly demanding. It seems that one of their favorite strategies is to tell you that "God told me to ask you for a word." There may occasionally be times when that is true. However, most of the time, that is not the case. They strongly desire a word, and their own desires are what led them to request a word. They may have deceived themselves into thinking it was God's direction.

In most cases, God does not send people to specific prophets to request words. He is more likely to tell the prophet, who can usually hear Him very clearly, if He has a word for someone, and send the prophet to them. In most cases the reason the person wants a word is because they don't think they can hear God speak to them directly. So if they are unable to hear God speak directly to them, how is it that they are about to hear God tell them to go ask so-and-so for a word? Something doesn't add up here. I usually do a really quick check with God if someone says God sent them to me. In most cases the conversation goes like this:

Me: "God, did you?"
God: "No."

I used to just tell them, "Well, God hasn't told me to give you a word." In some cases, the person would get mad or try to argue with me. Over time I began to realize that in many cases God wants to speak directly to the person. So I have another short conversation with God:

Me: "Should I send them to You, Lord? You want to speak to them?"

If God says "Yes," then I give them a word that goes something like this, "There are some things God wants to speak directly to your heart. He wants you to hear Him for yourself instead of having someone else tell you. He will give you confirmations after you have heard Him. But you have to go to Him, wait on Him and listen to the things He desires to share with you." I usually throw in one or two prophetic details about the process God wants to take them through in hearing. When we send them back to God (because He wants them to hear directly from Him) in a prophetic way, then they have been ministered to enough to go seek God for themselves. Sometimes they will contact me later and tell me the awesome things God said to them.

So if you find people coming to you because God "sent" them to you for a word, you might try to prophetically send them back to God to hear for themselves. (Of course, do check in with God first and make sure that is what He wants you to do. In many cases you will find that is His will for this person. And while He might not quickly or easily give you a general word for them, you will find the prophetic flow in how to lovingly send them back to the God who wants to speak to them directly.)