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Basic Materials With Which To Work
"I have heard some people teach on the concept of "stirring up the gift". Now I understand that this comes from 2 Timothy 1:6. But I really would like to stay away from some vague, "Christianese" answer and get down to some practical ways to do this."
This series is designed to provide some answers to that question in jargon free language and to provide practical help for people walking at various different levels of prophetic gifting who want to "stir up the gift" within them i.e. increase the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit inspired gift of prophecy in their lives.
The series is split into four sections. While the division into sections is in some ways arbitrary, the sections are intended to follow a progression similar to the stages involved in building a house. Thus we started at Section (1), which dealt with the foundations which need to be in place for effective prophetic ministry. Section (2) (this section) covers the choice of basic materials with which to work. Section (3) covers rules of construction. Section (4) covers the finishing stages. All are important if we want a house that stands firm, won't collapse due to inferior materials, has been built efficiently and is attractive!
I'd like to clarify a couple of things before we go any further.
First, God isn't just interested in making us "better prophets". He wants to transform us to be more like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18) and to set us free in heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30) to worship Him. The things that we consider in this series are only a part of that process.
Second, remember that developing prophecy is not a logical progression of tasks to be performed. It is based on relationship. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are involved as well as fallible humans! This is not a "ten steps" prescription to a sure-fire powerful prophetic ministry. So as you read this series, ask the Lord to highlight the relevant bits deep into your personality. Don't worry about the rest - its time will come!
In the last teaching we concentrated on some foundational matters to be considered when stirring up the prophetic.
We saw that all prophecy flows from relationship with Jesus. Making that relationship a priority is the key to everything in Christianity, not just prophecy.
We saw that the core value in prophecy is love, both for Jesus and for others. Unless that core value is there, the ministry will at best be ineffective and at worst destructive.
We saw that you need a gift from God before it can be fanned into flame and listed some of the ways that gift comes from the Lord. The list was pretty all inclusive because, according to His will, God can distribute these gifts to whomever He chooses.
Finally, we looked at the need to have a servant heart and what that means in practice.
Moving on from the last point in the previous teaching, we are going to look at some of the attitudes of heart which help to promote ("stir up") the prophetic. (By the way, by "heart" we mean the deep inner motivations of a person, not the physical organ in his or her chest).
So when God is evaluating to whom He is going to give a prophetic gifting, it seems logical that an important part of His evaluation lies in examining the heart of the person:
"I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." (Jer 17:10 NIV)
Indeed it is from the heart that our conduct in life comes:
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Prov 4:23 NIV) - see also Matthew 12:34
This leaves us with two questions. Question (1) is, "What attitudes do we need in our heart in order to 'stir up the gift'?" We're hopefully going to provide some answers to that question in the remaining paragraphs of this teaching.
Question (2) is, "How do we change our heart to have these attitudes?"
The Bible makes it clear that ultimately it is God who changes hearts:
The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. (Prov 21:1 NIV) - see also Psalm 33:15, Psalm 51:10
So the most important step is to ask the Lord to change us - and then cooperate with whatever process He uses to do so! (Psalm 26:2-3)
Here are just some of the other important steps the Christian can take to change his or her heart:
A prophetic friend of mine has publicly testified how God had her doing "obedience training" where she would get impulses from the Holy Spirit to do seemingly illogical things but in private. Since these actions had no effect on anybody else she questioned the need for them, however the Lord showed her that He was helping her learn obedience so that when public words came along she'd be able to flow with them. Makes sense to me!
God thinks that obedience is so important that He even had His own Son learn it here on earth. "Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered" (Heb 5:8 NIV).
The desire to obey the Lord is a safeguard for the prophet. It helps keep him or her from falling into the trap of fear of man (Proverbs 29:25). So often in a given situation the prophet can be under tremendous emotional or even spiritual pressure to manufacture a word according to the people's liking. To be an effective prophet of the Lord, one's desire to obey the Lord must be stronger than one's fear of what people will say.
An important key to our Lord's prophetic ministry is found here: "Jesus gave them this answer: 'I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.'" (John 5:19 NIV)
It's comforting to know that even Jesus had to learn such obedience (Heb 5:8)!
The Bible teaches us that it's actually OK to want spiritual gifts: "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy." (1 Cor 14:1 NIV)
Here is Thayer's definition of that Greek word translated "eagerly desire". It gives us a clearer picture of the extent of longing involved.
2206 "zeloo" - to burn with zeal
When asking the Lord for an increased prophetic ministry, He's likely to want to know just how much you want it. Be prepared therefore for some testing and trying. In God's kingdom, the more you really want something the more likely it is that you will get it. Conversely, the less you really want something the less likely it is that you will get it (less likely but not impossible). Also, as a general rule, the more powerful the ministry the higher the cost. Jesus had (has) the most powerful ministry the world had ever seen, but He had to give up His heavenly position to achieve it.
Phil 2:5-8 says:
This is another key ingredient in effective prophetic ministry. "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith." (Rom 12:6 NIV)
In other words, as your faith is increased then the extent to which you can credibly prophesy is also increased.
How can we increase our faith, especially in relation to prophecy? Here are some practical measures.
Finally, especially in prophecy, note the need for childlike faith in God (Luke 11:11-13, Matt 18:2-4, 1 Cor 1:25, 27-29).
To "adult" thinking, the ways of God in prophecy often seem foolish. Only by adopting a child-like attitude of trusting Him can we persuade ourselves to go along with them!
To prophesy effectively means to receive and to minister the grace of God.
1 Pet 5:5 "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (NIV)
Thus to receive and minister in prophecy requires humility.
Moses was a man who received amazing face-to-face revelations. A key factor in his remarkable prophetic ministry is found in Numbers 12, particularly verse 3:
Num 12:3,5-8
The essence of prophecy is receiving guidance from the Lord (Ps 25:9). Humility goes hand in hand with receiving God's word with the proper awe (Isa 66:2).
Rick Joyner speaks of the "cloak of humility" as being an essential part of the equipment of the servant of God. Without it, especially when one is moving in prophecy and revelation gifts, it is all too easy to fall into the snare of pride and become puffed up. (See Col 2:18-19)
Pride (which is the opposite of humility) is probably the fastest way I know for a prophet to go wrong. It causes the prophet to lose connection with the Head (Christ Jesus) often without even realizing it. It is often only when one is aware of God's opposition that one has the chance to realize one's pride and repent. I'll give you a tip: when arguing with God, He's always right!
Why is pride such a danger to prophets? I think there are several reasons.
(a) Very often people are called to be prophets who have a very low self image. In other words, God chooses the weak and foolish things (1 Corinthian 1:27) to speak forth His wisdom and hence confound the wise. When such a person starts getting a bit successful they have a tendency to go overboard to the other extreme. Remembering that God probably chose you to prophesy precisely because you are weak and foolish will probably help avoid this danger.
(b) People are hungry to hear God's word. Once they discover that you can do this, they may well flock to you and hang onto your every word. This can be very gratifying to your flesh i.e. pride. Realizing that they have come to hear God, not you, can help minimize this danger. Also, try to be in a body of people (see the later section about body ministry) preferably several of whom move in the prophetic. This will help keep your own gifting in perspective.
(c) Knowledge is power and power corrupts (ask Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 5:18-21). Knowing some of the things of God brings one into danger of being corrupted. Asking the Lord to keep you humble will probably help! Having a good wife (or husband or friend) who will be honest with you and can laugh at you a bit will also help!
(d) The "God's Gang" syndrome. When/if you were a member of a gang at school, the sense of belonging and importance was gained by the sharing of secrets and knowledge. When the most popular guy (or gal) confided stuff in you, that made you feel important and recognized. So it is with prophecy: when special knowledge is given to you, you can end up feeling important and recognized not because God loves you but because of the knowledge He has shared with you. Seeing other people with the eyes of God's love and actively being involved in communicating that love are just two of the ways of avoiding the worst of this danger.
In summary humility, or the seeing of others as more important than oneself, is an essential attitude to cultivate when ministering in prophecy. I believe that this is one of the reasons why the Lord allows us to make mistakes as prophets, in order to help us realize that we are limited and that we are totally dependent on Him. The apostle Paul received such great revelations from the Lord that out of mercy the Lord allowed him to experience tremendous struggles and difficulties from an evil angel (Greek "angelos") in order to keep Paul from becoming puffed up. (2 Cor 12:7-10)
The most common mark of deep prophetic ministry that I have seen is a passionate desire to see Jesus honored at the expense of one's own reputation.
All prophecy that is God-inspired will exalt Jesus. The true prophet knows few higher joys than to know that Jesus' name has been exalted. Prophets will go to extraordinary lengths to make sure this is so. I know of one prophet who insisted that the name of Jesus must always be in larger typeface on publicity materials than his own name. I know of others who will not share testimonies of what they have done or prophesied, instead they will say "the Lord did this" or "the Lord gave such-and-such a message".
The servant is pleased when the Master's name is exalted. The path to prophetic maturity is summed up in John the Baptist's words:
To stir up the prophetic gift one must be willing to take risks. Ministering in the prophetic is not a safe option. In particular, one must run
Every time you share a prophecy you run these risks.
Every time you receive a prophecy and don't share it you also run a risk - that a person who needs to hear that word will miss out and/or that God will hold you accountable for not sharing it. To balance that last statement, please note that the kingdom of God has grace for prophets who make mistakes as well as for any other type of ministry! Also, sometimes the Lord will give you a word about something which is NOT for sharing (or else for sharing at a later time) but which is for prayer right now.
So, in essence, the prophetic lifestyle is one of taking risks. There are no safe options except casting oneself on the mercy of God.
I think that this is the most common failing in prophetic ministries: the lack of ability to relate properly to the body. Perhaps because the prophetic ministry concentrates so much on the vertical relationship (hearing from God), the horizontal relationships (with other people) are missed out.
Prophets need to remember that the following verses were written for prophets as well as non prophets:
1 Cor 12:12,20-21
Also, please note that the prophetic ministry is in you FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE BODY OF CHRIST i.e. the Church (Ephesians 4:11-13).
One of the most common problems for prophets is realizing that somebody who does not receive visions from the Lord or prophecies or words of knowledge or tongues with interpretations etc. can actually bring a valid word from the Lord into a given situation. Yet God has given a governmental anointing to many in the body to do precisely that (1 Tim 5:17). Even if a word or teaching does not come with a "Thus says the Lord" package around it, IT CAN STILL BE GOD SPEAKING!
Forgive me for shouting, but experience has shown that shouting is the only way to get us to listen sometimes!
When the prophet discerns his or her proper place in the body, and the other members likewise discern the prophet's proper place in the body, then I predict the prophet will see massive multiplication ("stirring up") of his or her ministry (Ephesians 4:15-16).
Oh, and by the way, having a gift of prophecy does not absolve you from politeness, consideration, gentleness, deferring to others and generally being a good Christian! (1 Corinthians 14:29-32, Galatians 5:22-23).
In this teaching we have covered some of the attitudes of heart which help "stir up" the prophetic gift within us. We have seen that God places a high value on our heart attitudes and we looked at some of the ways we can cooperate with the Lord in changing our heart.
We then covered some desirable heart attitudes. First we looked at obedience and saw how important a strong desire to obey the Lord is to the prophet. Even Jesus had to learn such obedience!
We then saw the need to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts such that this is a passionate flame within you.
We saw the need to exercise faith and grow in faith. We covered some practical means by which you can do this.
We covered the importance of humility and the very particular danger faced by the prophet in this area if that attitude is not maintained. Pride is one of the fastest ways for a prophet to "go wrong" (which is far more fundamental than just "being wrong" in a particular prophecy) and is a particularly strong temptation for the prophet. We looked at some of the reasons for that and some of the things that we can do (or have done to us!) to help us gain humility.
A strong desire to see Jesus glorified is another important way to "stir up" the prophetic gift.
One must be willing to take risks to grow in the prophetic.
Finally, by relating properly to the rest of the body of Christ and having them relate to you, a major "stirring up" of the gift can occur.
In the next section of teaching we will examine some of the rules of construction i.e. the basic disciplines which play an important part in "stirring up the gift". We'll look at how things like spending time with God, meditating on the Bible, receiving impartation, fasting and praying in the Spirit can help this whole process.
Q1. What are some the ways the Lord has used to change your heart?
Q2. Why do you desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
Q3. How has God humbled you in the past?
Q4. What was the riskiest prophecy you ever received? Did you share it? What happened?
Q5. Do you think the body of Christ in the church today is ready for prophetic ministry? In what areas? Why do you think this? What needs to happen for the prophetic to function properly in the body?
Q6. Do you normally associate prophets with being disciplined people? Is that a valid issue for prophets to pursue? (Hint: 1 Corinthians 9:27, 2 Timothy 2:3-6). What area(s) of discipline do you believe the Lord is inspiring you about?
(1) OK, so "break spiritual strongholds" is Christian jargon. I confess. But this is a big concept and in this case jargon encapsulates it neatly without quadrupling the size of this study to explain it. Briefly, if you - or the people whom you are serving by prophesying - have been subjected to teaching against prophecy (such as 'prophecy is not for today', or 'prophecy ceased with the writing of the Bible', or 'prophecy is of the devil', etc.) then you likely have a problem which limits the amount of faith you can exercise in this area. I recommend you do the following: (a) repent of that teaching (b) renounce and reject it and (c) pray in authority over it to destroy its hold on your thinking (2 Corinthians 10:5) - preferably with the active agreement of at least one other mature Christian (Matthew 18:19).