The following is a little talk I do for people who are about to receive
personal prophetic ministry from trained teams at our spirit-filled
Southern Baptist Church. It sets a context for them, and gives them a
grid for processing the words they receive. I am sharing it with you
because I hope that you will find it helpful...
What To Expect
1 Cor 14:3-5 says, "But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their
strengthening, encouragement and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue
edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I would like
every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you
prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in
tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified."
You will notice, from that passage, that God's main agenda for New
Testament prophecy is to build up and encourage. As a result, in our
ministry time, we don't tend to see much of the Old Testament prophecy
in the areas of:
- Secret Sins Being Laid Bare - If you are in secret sin, we will not
confront them here, but that is not a carte blanche to remain in it.
That type of revealing is outside of the scope of the ministry we do
here. This is not a place for you to be afraid or embarrassed.
- Correction And Rebuke - Our teams will not be giving these types
of words. There may be areas that you need to correct. This type of
correction will usually come more from pastoral relationship, than
from the prophetic. Thus, if you have an area you need to work on,
do not be afraid of being pounced on for it here. Conversely, if we
don't mention an area you need to work on, don't assume God is
giving you permission to walk in an area of sin or unhealthiness.
- Direction - Directive prophetic words are very valid, when given
by highly experienced and trained prophets. However, many on our
team are relatively new at prophetic ministry. I think they hear
good, or I would not let them minister. But I have asked them not to
give prophetic direction (sell your house, quit your job, move, etc)
in the scope of this ministry. (From time to time, the Lord may
impress a direction on them strongly enough that they will share it
with you. We expect that you will judge any directive words before
acting on them.)
Does that mean that God won't address areas where you need to hear
from Him? Of course not. But He may address it by giving you an
understanding of His overall plan and strategy in your situation. Let
me give you an example.
Sue (not her real name) was purchasing a home and suddenly
there were unanticipated problems with the bank loan. It
should have been approved ages ago, but for some reason the
approval kept being put off until the seller was about to
give the house to someone else instead, if the approval did
not come in 24 hours. Sue came to me seeking prophetic
direction...should she stay with this loan company or should
she switch to a different one?
The Lord did not give me direction (do this) or prediction
(this loan will come through), but He did give me the nature
of the test (faith building and walking in God's peace despite
the circumstances). It helped her immensely once she understood
how everything fit together. She was able to walk in peace and
make the right decisions.
- Easy Fixes - God often works through processes. The prophetic can be
key in giving you breakthroughs in certain areas. But one prophetic
ministry is NOT going to fix all problems. Our goal is to help you
connect more with God and to be encouraged to walk out His plans
for you and to help you be able to hear Him more clearly yourself.
Also, much of what happens here will be confirmation rather of
things God has been speaking to you, rather than new revelation.
What To Do If The Word Doesn't Seem To Fit You
If you find yourself struggling with a word that someone gives to you,
here are a few things you might want to consider:
- If you get a word that does not sit right, you are free to take it
to your home group leader, a pastor, or elder, prayer partner, etc.
The word may be addressing a blind spot. In that case, those that
know you will be able to help you see that blind spot. On the other
hand, if the word truly does not fit you, they will be able to assist
you in rejecting that word.
- Be aware some times words don't feel right at the time, but make
sense later. Let me give you an example. One time, in New York, I
prophesied to a lady. Much of what I said was a real encouragement
to her. But then the Lord began to address her sorrow over her family
rejecting her because of her walk with God and His promise that He
would restore these relationships. She stopped me, saying that she
was the only saved person in her family, but that she had a wonderful
relationship with them, so she could not accept this portion of the
word.
The next day, she was back at the meetings, but in tears. Her family
(mother, sisters) had told her not to come to a family event and
that they never wanted to see her again while she was involved in
Christianity. She was devastated and in shock and disbelief. But
the Lord reminded her of the word the night before, where she was
promised the relationships would be restored. Suddenly this word,
which seemed wrong at the time, was a source of great comfort to her.
The Lord gave her the word just in advance of the "event" so that
she would not be overwhelmed when the event happened.
- It is possible that the person giving the word made a mistake. We
won't have a lot of that on our teams, but it could happen
occasionally. So if it does, please feel free to "simply set it
aside" until God either confirms it for you or confirms it is not
of Him. Or you may want to choose to reject it--especially if it
makes you uncomfortable. If it really is a God-word, then He will
probably bring it around again later through another source.
Please look at the guidelines, enclosed below, for judging and
processing prophetic words.
- Some words will be figurative. You will get into trouble if you
take them literally. For instance, a prophet gave someone a word
about big boulder blocking their path as they climbed a mountain
trail. They had tried and tried to get around this boulder, but
could not. The word then promised that God Himself was going to
remove the boulder from their path. The person receiving the word
had been struggling with a besetting sin, and had great shame
because of this struggle. He had been crying out to God to help
him with this. This man immediately recognized the boulder
represented a besetting sin. He was grateful the Lord had addressed
this figuratively, rather than telling everyone in the room about
his struggle with besetting sin. Thus he was encouraged rather
than embarrassed.
Judging Personal Prophetic Words
Please be aware that all prophetic words are to be prayerfully judged.
If you have any questions or discomfort about judging a word, I
strongly recommend you take the word to your pastor or spiritual
overseer, and have them pray it through and evaluate it with you.
But I'd like to share some guidelines to help you judge a word.
- Be sure to bounce it against Scripture...the bible is the final
authority and anything that contradicts Scripture must be rejected.
- Look for the inner witness of the Holy Spirit to your spirit. Also
look for a witness of His peace with the word (Col 3:15).
- Pray it through. Take the word back to the Lord and discuss it
with Him. Ask Him to show you if there are any conditions He wants
you to meet, any changes He wants you to make in your life or
thinking. Ask Him to show you if any parts of the word are not
from Him and to confirm the parts that are from Him.
- Compare the word against other things God has spoken into your life
through prior prophecies, personal devotions, pastoral counsel, etc.
- If you have any question/alarm/fear/discomfort about a particular
word, run it by your pastor or a leader from your church.
- Do NOT act on any predictive, directive or calling/gifting
definition words unless you get confirmation from other sources.
If this is a word from God, He will be happy to confirm it to you.
- Do not "read into" the word what you want it to say. Here are
examples of what to avoid:
- A woman was given a word that she would meet the man
she was to marry in 5 years and he would be a musician.
She was in fact engaged to another man, who was not a
musician, and she married him a few weeks after receiving
the word. She redefined the word to meet her circumstances,
changing its meeting to: "her fiancee would become a
musician in 5 years."
The marriage did not go well and they separated three
years later...it was invalid to use this word as a basis
for marrying this man because she twisted the meaning to
fit her circumstances.
- A woman was given a word that had a figurative portion about
her standing at a light airy window overlooking a green
valley. She went home and noticed that her house did not
overlook a valley and did not have any light airy windows.
So she interpreted the word as "sell your house," and she
did so without seeking any sort of confirmation from the
Lord from any other sources.
- A minister was involved in a building project and began to
encounter financial difficulty; the money stopped coming in
and they were about to default on the loan. About that time,
the minister received a word that God would "protect that
which was most precious to him and not allow it to be lost
or destroyed." He took that to mean God would supply the
needed money for the building project, since that was the
circumstance that was prevalent in his mind, and since his
ministry and this building project were very precious to
him. However, the money did not come in and the bank
foreclosed on the property. He lost it all.
He felt devastated that God did not keep His word and, to
make matters worse, his daughter ended up in a life-
threatening situation. He had to spend months nursing her
back to health. Finally he confronted God as to why God had
not kept His word to him regarding the property. Then God
replied the word was never about the property...it was about
his daughter who had nearly died.
When he got the word, the circumstance it applied to was
not yet in his life, so he assumed it applied to his current
circumstance.
Processing Prophetic Words
- If you decide it is a valid word after judging it, then print it out
and review it often and pray regarding it. Invite God to work in
your life to bring it to pass and ask Him to show you any conditions
in it that He wants you to meet to fulfill it.
- Ask the Lord to reveal any prerequisites that must be accomplished
before the word can be fulfilled. For instance, if the Lord gives
you a word that you will be used to bring revival to the nation of
Mexico, He may require that you learn to speak Spanish first.
Sometimes the prerequisites are spelled out explicitly in the
prophecy. Other times they are not. Ask God to show you what (if
anything) your part is and then ask Him to empower you to do it.
- Ask the Lord what His time frame is for the word. So often people
have jumped the gun and tried to fulfill a prophecy in their own
strength (or by their own resources) before it was God's timing.
This often creates messes to clean up. An example of this is Sarah's
attempts to have a child through her maid...she had a true word of
God (that Abraham would have a son), but she tried to fulfill it
in her own time and through her own resources. It is important to
know (and follow) God's timetable and His strategy for fulfilling
His word.
- Once you are sure it is a word from the Lord, stand in faith for
your word to be fulfilled. This is "warring" over your word, as
per 1 Tim 1:18, which says, "This charge I commit to you ...
according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that
by them you may wage the good warfare."