Prophetic Ministry
Rightly Related To The Body Of Christ,
2nd Edition

"What's Stopping You?"

At times prophets (and prophetic people) can become very upset and even a bit perturbed when they are not allowed to "minister" at will in the local assembly. What we need to remember, or maybe even learn for the first time, is that there is a large world, and a "Great Commission" that awaits all who call themselves by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Years ago a wonderful prophetic psalmist, Keith Green, put it perhaps best of all. He said: "The question is not, 'Lord, should I go?' Rather it should be, 'Lord, should I stay?'" More plainly put, we each are to be ministers to a lost and dying world and what better place to minister the word of the Lord or share the heart of the Lord to others than on the streets and in our own personal "marketplace". So, I have a question for those of us who sometimes feel there is no more room or place given to us in the church to 'prophesy.' It is: "With a world of people dying to hear the word of the Lord, what are you waiting for?"

A survey of Jesus' ministry reveals most of His ministry of signs and wonders, words of knowledge, and prophetic ministry occurred outside the religious settings of his day. One of the most dramatic stories of the prophetic in the marketplace is told in John 4:6-30, when Jesus was resting by a well and asked the Samaritan woman for a drink of water.

"...Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." ...

He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" They came out of the town and made their way toward him."

In this story, He got this woman's attention with simply one word of knowledge and an entire village came out to see the Messiah as a result.

Prophetic Evangelism is using the gifts of the Spirit--prophecy in particular--to capture the attention of unbelievers. It is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling ministries available to the believer.

I (Jim) have had many marvelous experiences with asking God for a word of knowledge, an exhortation, or word of wisdom for the waiter or waitress in a restaurant, or a cashier in the store, a passenger next to me in an airplane, etc. I remember speaking to a young man who was my waiter in a restaurant one time and feeling the Lord prompting me to tell the man that the experiences he had with God in his earlier years were just a foretaste of what God intended for him and that God was calling him back. In tears the young man then admitted he was the son of missionaries, who had been running from God and was ready to return to Him.

A common component of effective evangelism in the Bible has to do with demonstrating the power of God. It was Paul who said "My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power God" (1Cor.2:4,5). While many are familiar with "service evangelism" and of course, "proclamation evangelism", a third area of effective ministry can be described as "demonstration evangelism"--that is, demonstrating the supernatural power of God to a lost and dying world around us.

I, (Carolyn) would like to share with you one of many stories I have treasured in my heart regarding prophetic evangelism. I was on my way to a prophetic training conference in a community near our town one morning. As I was traveling, I suddenly "felt/heard" an impression in my heart from the Lord. I heard the Lord tell me to stop and give a message from the Father's heart to the owner of a business as I passed it. I knew that I was to stop and tell the owner that the Lord loved him and that He had plans to prosper his business. To be honest, the business looked like it could use some prospering. I immediately came face to face with both my fear and my desire to take the prophetic ministry to the marketplace and the streets. I wanted to so badly, but battled the fear that I might be wrong or rejected or, or, or... You know what I mean! Being the great woman of faith and power that I am, I told the Lord that I couldn't do that as I was "on my way to a prophetic conference"...duh!

All through the conference I was growing in my conviction that the Lord indeed wanted me to stop on the way home and obey Him. I sort of 'ignored' the inevitable 'knowing' and honestly battled with fear of rejection. Now I am not the sort of person that is generally afraid to speak to strangers, open conversations out of the blue or care about a stranger. This was just one of the first times that it was so direct from the Lord to "go and deliver My message to this businessman." It was not even a "big" word! How wrong could one be to go and declare the love of God and His desire to bless.

All the way home I knew that I would have to pass by that business, as there was other way home. As a approached the business, my stomach tensed, the heat was on and the eyes of my Father in heaven was watching to see if I would obey Him. And I passed right on by the business!! H-e-l-l-o? But... good news! I stopped my car and turned around. I have learned that you just do it. Do it afraid if you have to, but just obey the Lord. I parked, walked in and determined to the Lord that I would obey. Although I was wrestling inside at the intensity of a "category 2 hurricane", I composed myself externally and approached the receptionist confidently and matter-of-factly.

I said to the lady, "Hello, my name is Carolyn and I would like to know if I might speak to the owner."

"Why do you want to talk to him?" (This wasn't going to be as easy as I had hoped!)

"Well, I am a Christian and I was passing by this morning, I felt I was to stop and encourage the owner of this business."

"Well, I am his wife." (Whew, I could tell her and go home! Still the woman of great faith and power that I am!)

"Oh, well I can tell you. I am a Christian and every day I ask the Lord that if there is anyone that He would like to minister to or encourage that I want Him to use me to do that. As I was driving by this morning I felt the Lord say He wanted me to stop and tell the owner that He loved him and had plans to prosper his business."

"Oh really! Well, I find that interesting."

"You do? Why?"

"Well, two weeks ago there was a man came through our town and came in and told us that he was a preacher who had been in South Florida preaching. And he was trying to get home and was out of money and wanted my husband to give him a job. My husband told him that he didn't have any work for him. Then the man told my husband that the Lord was mad at him and that He was going to curse his business for not helping him!"

Needless to say I became very interested in this wonderful prophetic word and that I had stopped to obey.

I replied, "I find that very interesting then that the Lord would ask me to stop to tell you that that was not from Him and that He, instead, has plans to prosper your husband."

She agreed and asked me to wait while she got her husband. This woman who was initially very cold and hard toward me suddenly became very warm and sincere. Her husband came out and the wife said to me, "Tell him what you told me!"

I recounted the story to him and tears welled up in his eyes. I asked them both if I could pray with them for a minute to break the power of that word curse and forgive that man for misrepresenting the heart of God. They agreed. As we were praying I suddenly got a word or knowledge or impression of a word of knowledge about the man's heart. I asked the man if he was having any problems with this heart. His wife spoke up with great enthusiasm and said in her southern drawl. "He shore does. We're goin' tomorrow to see the doctor." I asked if I could pray for healing and they agreed. I ended by thanking them for allowing me to come in and to share with them God's great heart for them. They thanked me for coming. I called several weeks later to check up on them and she said they were doing very well and that the doctor's report was good. I watched that business over the next several months and watched it Prosper...fresh paint, new fences, new sign, expansion, etc.

I really wonder what may have happened had I chosen to disobey believing the spirit of fear that I would be rejected or might be wrong. Would that couple have had the confidence to go forward, or would those powerful words spoken by an alleged "man of the cloth" have gone deep into their own heart and somehow would have caused them to believe they were cursed for not helping? I don't know all the answers, but I know that I left that business asking the Lord who else He wanted to bless! OBEDIENCE BUILDS FAITH AND CONFIDENCE. Confidence that God is faithful and He won't fail us as we are moving in obedience to His voice and His heart to minister to the saints and the lost.

I encourage you to believe the Lord and His precious word. There is a hungry world that is longing for the supernatural intervention of God in their lives. He truly delights to use us to speak for Him, love for Him, and catch the remainder of the harvest for whom He died.

A Demonstration of Power

The Kingdom of God is a supernatural Kingdom into which we were supernaturally birthed, and for which we were given supernatural "tools" for the restoration of individuals and the building of His church. We are told to "earnestly desire spiritual gifts" (1 Cor. 12:31 & 14:1). and that we are to employ our gifts "in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4:10).

Jesus said; "Truly, truly, I say unto you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do because I go to My Father" (John 14:12). God has called the church to be a supernatural expression of His supernatural Kingdom. As a supernatural church, God has called us to minister "...in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God" (1 Cor. 2:4,5). "For the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power" (1 Cor. 4:20). Jesus demonstrated the will of the Father when He exhibited signs and wonders, going about pardoning sin, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead (Luke 7:21-23). He then trained His disciples to do likewise (Matt. 10:7,8), and told them to train their disciples to do likewise (Matt. 28:18-20). If that weren't enough, He said we would do even greater works than He did (see also Mark 16:17,18).

God has called the church to more than just religious rote and ritual; that we be more than simply a "Christian" social club. In 2 Timothy 3:1-5 we are warned that in the last days men will hold to a form of godliness but deny its power. God has called us into splendid demonstrations of love and power as He builds His church and confirms His word with signs following (Mark 16:20). He is much more concerned with the harvest of the lost than we would ever imagine. We can trust Him to back us up with his power, revelation and grace when we venture out into the marketplace with a desire to minister to those we come in contact with.

Practical Considerations

There are, of course, a few things you need to have settled and in place before you go stand on a street corner some place and start raising your voice and getting all bug-eyed and shouting at people. There are "some" boundaries and guidelines we should have in place before delving into prophetic ministry on the streets. For example, are you in love with the lost and want to win them to Jesus? Are you delivered of religious ideas of what will and will not reach people? Are you willing to be very sensitive to the Lord and other people and avoid "Christianeze"--that is, recognizing that many of the 'unchurched' people in our culture today do not understand some of our well worn religious terminologies and jargon? With those things in mind, we can, nevertheless, move into the use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit out in the marketplace where people need to hear and see demonstrations of the supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit more than ever.

If we have experienced the mercy and grace of God; if we've tasted of the joy of sins forgiven and hope of a home in heaven; if we've been saved, healed, delivered and blessed, then surely we ought to share the good news with others we come in contact with.