Judging Prophecy; 2nd Edition

We have spent the last 3 lessons looking at "What do we do when we receive a prophetic word.' First, we looked at the difference between Old and New Testament prophecy. We saw that in the New Testament, prophecy is almost entirely within the church where there is a great emphasis on the need to discern the prophetic word. Then in our last lesson, we looked at the whole process of discernment. We learned to ask ourselves the following three questions:

1. Is it from God? [And we learned three checks to try and sort that out: A) Is it Scriptural? B) Is God giving us an inner witness to this word? C) Does it line up with (or confirm) things that God has previously spoken to us?]
2. What does it mean? (Interpretation)
3. What do we do with it? (Application)

In "real life" situations, prophetic words, circumstances and inner senses frequently all come together. I'd like to share an example from my own life to illustrate this.

A Personal Story

I want to share the story of how we came to leave a small Northumbrian village in England, and come to minister in Ithaca NY. Of course, space necessitates leaving out many details and just giving a brief outline. As you read it be aware of the different confirmations of direction.

We were planting a new small network of communities in Hexham, Northumberland, and at the same time we were very involved in the nightly renewal meetings in Sunderland. Due to the generosity of our previous church we were still living in the church manse in a village some ten miles from Hexham. We wanted to buy a new home. I think this was one of the first circumstances that gave us a clue that God was releasing us from the area. We made serious offers for over seventeen houses. Even though it was a depressed market, none of our offers were accepted. Even the estate agent (US realtor) offered to take us on staff. She said we only had to look towards a house and it miraculously sold! God was certainly closing the doors to us buying a house in Hexham and surrounding districts.

Of course, we were meeting regularly with a group to pray for God's direction. Many words were given and we had a growing inner sense that it was time to move on. A final confirming word was given during a meeting in Sunderland when Lois Gott called us out with a word that 'the cloud was moving and we had to run to catch up with it. And that the valley was too small.' The area we lived in was actually called locally the Tyne Valley, a fact that was unknown to Lois.

So we knew the Lord was moving us, but no doors were opening. We had no idea in which direction to move. More fasting, praying, interceding and sharing with spiritual advisors followed. Another significant prophecy was that we were in 'an amber time, and soon it would turn to green.' Friends offered two different interpretations, one that as with a traffic light, amber meant get ready and wait; the other that it may be connected to the amber fields that were ablaze in the whole area.

Shortly afterwards, Andy was ministering in Ithaca in upstate NY. During one of the meetings a prophetic word was given to him that the person believed God was asking us all to go to Ithaca and minister there. It seemed impossible. However further words, prayers and again the inner witness confirmed that it was a right word.

Being mere mortals we sought yet a clearer confirmation! It was not naturally a good time to move, two of the children were at the worst possible stage in their education to change schools; we both had very good part-time careers as well as setting up the new church and we were foster parents. We had a conference at Sunderland; speakers were Randy Clark and Jim Paul. Due to another God-ordained circumstance we ended up picking Jim Paul up at his hotel and tentatively mentioned we might be moving to the US. Jim immediately said he had received a word about the area we were going to. Briefly that God had slapped USA and left his hand print in the shape of the Finger Lakes region and that he was digging a well of renewal and we were to be part of it. As he spoke he held out his hand into the shape of the Finger Lakes and pointed to the end of one of his fingers and said 'here'. It was the exact location of Ithaca!

Six weeks later, having given away most of what we owned we took off from Newcastle airport, significantly as we looked down all the amber fields had turned, almost overnight, to green. That is, of course, only the beginning of the story, but we will leave it there. It would not have been sufficient or complete if we had just acted on one prophetic word, there was an interaction between many words, circumstances, counsel and senses.

When God Gives Us A Word For Someone Else

Now, let's switch gears and look at the issue of prophecy from a different perspective. We want to look, practically, at what to do when we receive a prophetic word from God for someone else. It may be a word for another individual or it may be a word for the church, perhaps we are not even sure for whom the word is... just a strong sense that God is speaking to us.

We may wonder, is this really from God? Am I hearing correctly? As in the last lesson, the first test has to be against Scripture. God will not give a word that contradicts scriptural principles. There are no exceptions!

TO SPEAK OR NOT TO SPEAK... THAT IS THE QUESTION:

Sometimes this is not hard, we may be standing in front of someone and the Lord gives us a word of encouragement for them. We can go ahead and speak the word and, hopefully, the person will be blessed. However, the prophetic word may reveal something to us of a more delicate nature about someone or some situation. It may be a word about our church or our nation. Is the word revelation for us? Is it for now, or perhaps, a later time? Is it for intercession?

PROPHETIC JOURNALING:

It is worthwhile to keep a record of all the prophetic words that are received. It is interesting, and beneficial, to be able to look back and see a developing pattern in God's communication to us. It may be that we do this daily, that it becomes our secret place with God, where we reveal our deepest thoughts. Or, it may be that we journal for a season, that for a specific period we record all that God is saying to us. It should become not just a plain record of prophetic words, but a place of fearless moral inventory where we deal with God as He deals with us.

It can also be helpful to jot down the essence of the word while we determine whether or not God wants us to deliver it. As I said earlier, not all prophetic revelation is to be shared with the person (or group) that the revelation is about. There are many times when God gives you a word for you to share it, so that they might be encouraged. But there are also times when God gives you prophetic revelation because He is calling you to pray and intercede rather than to share. So you need to determine which it is before you speak it out.

We will look at both of those topics (prophetic intercession and actually giving a prophecy) in our next lesson.