Growing your Spirit

Thirty years ago, hubby and I drove into an Australian town well known for its New Age and witchcraft practices. We glanced around the place for a gift shop and for somewhere to eat, but before we had time to find anywhere, I asked hubby if we could drive on to the next town. I sensed something ‘awful’ in the atmosphere, and it felt like a fear descended on me. Fast forward twenty years, and hubby, the kids, and I drove back into that same town, and it ‘felt’ completely different. We loved the place so much that we hung around that place for several days.

                   What was the difference?

A Christian church had a massive impact in the town ministering to the New Age community, but the New Age and witchcraft presence was still ‘thick’. The major difference, though, lay within me. I had grown and matured as a Christian, but I now knew my identity as a daughter of the Most-High King. I was also aware of ‘brushing’ off negative atmospheres (see here). My spirit had grown enormously and could now ‘defend’ itself instead of being intimidated.

How do you ‘grow’ your spirit?

Just as your physical body needs nutrition to grow, your soul needs love, safety, and care to grow, and your mind needs intellectual stimulation to grow, your spirit also needs to grow.

The top five ways to grow your spirit:

  1. Intimacy with God through worship, relationship, obedience, decreasing sin, and open communication with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus.
  2. Grow your identity in God. Go after your inner healing. Have prayer ministry regularly to deal with issues.
  3. Speak/pray the Bible over yourself.
  4. Pray in tongues often, i.e. daily. 1 Corinthians 14:4 says, “anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies (or builds) themselves up”. One of the most effective methods is to pray in tongues each day.
  5. Bless your spirit.

How do I ‘bless my spirit’?

I first realized the enormous impact of calling one spirit to attention and blessing it after I found some teaching from Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunther and started practising on my family. Our son is a spiritual thermostat. He quickly and automatically ‘picks up’ the spiritual atmosphere of a room, place, or land region. This caused numerous hassles earlier in his life until we became more fully aware of what was happening. (A particular city in Australia has the ruling spirit of rebellion over it, and when we stayed there, our son became very rebellious. We tried disciplining him with no effect and began to doubt our parenting until I ‘connected the dots’ and realised what was happening. As soon as I identified it, our son’s behaviour immediately normalised.)

Thus, when I began calling my family’s spirits to attention and reading a blessing over them of a night, this son loved it. Each night he would ask me to ‘do that thing that makes me feel good’.

As a side note, I used to call people’s spirit forth eg “Jane, I call your spirit forth”, but a Pastor’s wife became quite anxious about that, as if I was trying to make people’s spirit travel. Thus, I now call them to attention. Look at it as if you are asking them to stand up on the inside and take notice. Eg “Jane, I call your spirit to attention” or “Jane, I call your spirit to take notice of what I am about to say”.

Over time, I have noticed a massive effect on people whenever I bless people’s spirit. I use this all the time in our Church’s Healing Rooms at the end of each person’s ministry time. It is uncommon for me not to use it when praying for someone.

I have several friends who will call their spirit to attention each night and bless their spirit and their spouse with a blessing. There is no magic formula for what to say. Go with what you feel Father God is saying to you. With my kids, I will often bless their spirit with their identity, their prophetic words, the giftings they have, their dreams and their sleeping, and their relationship with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus.

David Tensen has an excellent course on this. He bases his blessing on 4 D’s – delight, design, destiny and dominion. I can never remember the 4 D’s, so I ask Father God to show or tell me how to bless each person.

I have crafted a short blessing for you, my readers. Please feel free to try it and speak it over yourself, inserting your name into it.

Blessing:

“(Your name), I call your spirit to attention and bless you with knowing that Father God loves you so much. There is nothing you could do to make Him love you any more or any less. (Your name), Father God had you in mind before He created the world. He ordained your parents, time in history and birth date. I bless you with knowing how precious and valuable you are to God, your family, friends and community. I bless you with knowing that Father God delights in you and loves being with you. I bless you with an ever-increasing intimacy with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus.

I bless your spirit with knowing that God has gifted you with unique gifts and has created you with your personality. He so loves you and has incredible plans and purposes for you.

(Your name), I bless your spirit with realising more deeply today the reality of God’s love in your life. I bless you with experiencing today Father God romancing you in a fresh novel way, with you seeing, hearing, and experiencing his extravagant and generous nature and goodness and kindness. I bless you with receiving His kisses of joy and delight in you today. I bless you as you walk out the next few days and weeks and months ahead that you will see the hand of Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus on your life clearly. I bless you with incredible insight and discernment from God, with hearing Him at a deeper level and seeing what He is up to in the spiritual world.

(Your name), I bless you that wherever you walk, you carry the peace of God and change atmospheres; that people will know that a child of the Most-High God has been there. I bless you with leaving a lingering fragrance of the presence of God wherever you step. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation:  Ask God to share with each of you a present He would like to give another family member at the moment. Write down or draw what you feel God is showing, telling or giving you for that person. Then share with that person, putting it into a blessing to pray over them eg ‘Jane, I bless you with peace.’

2. Group Activation: Partner up and spend a few moments listening to God as to what He would like to give your partner. Pray a blessing over them, calling their spirit to attention.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time worshipping God. Then spend time listening to God, focusing on Him and soaking (meditating) on Him and His goodness. Write down, draw or capture what you feel God saying, showing or giving you.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you a Pastor in your local area who needs encouragement. Visit them or send a letter to purely pray for them, bless and prophesy over them.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you someone in a significant position of power who desperately needs encouragement. Find a way to encourage them by blessing and prophesying over them.

My Prayer for You

As we go into this New Year, I am praying this blessing over you, my blog readers.

(I encourage you to put your name in the space and say this blessing over you out aloud. There is power in not only reading a blessing but speaking it out aloud over you and calling your spirit to attention first. It helps grow your spirit on the inside.)

“…(your name)…” I call your spirit to attention and bless you with fresh eyes to see and ears to hear that which God is doing around you and what He is calling you to. I bless you with seeing God in the small things and the big. I bless you with experiencing ‘God kisses’ each day where God shows you something that is personal for you or something that you can delight in.

I bless you ……….. with joy. I bless you with being able to experience true joy and freedom and being able to laugh. Laugh at yourself, laugh in the face of adversity, laugh with others. Like the woman in Proverbs 31:25, I bless you with being able to laugh without fear of the future.

I bless you ………… with being able to rest. Able to rest in God and with God. I bless you with being able to operate from a place of rest and not needing to strive or attain perfection. I bless you with being comfortable being you, the amazing person God created you to be. I bless you with peace.

I bless you ……….. with wrestling with God in the hard times and when you don’t understand or like what is happening. I bless you with being totally honest with God and laying everything out before Him. I bless you with working with God to come to a place of peace and knowing that God is truly a God who cares for you and loves you and is there for you no matter what.

I bless you ……….. with relationships that are deep and meaningful and sustainable. I bless you with the courage to form new friendships and to see those who need a special human touch and someone to just notice them. I bless you with partnering every day with God in communicating with others how God loves them. I bless you with receiving a special touch from someone in those times when you need a human interaction.

I bless you ……….. with knowing how valuable and unique you are. I bless you with knowing how important you are to your family and friends and to this world.

I bless you ……..… with an increased awareness of God, Holy Spirit and Jesus. I bless you with feeling and seeing and hearing a whole lot of new things about Jesus. I bless you with going deeper in intimacy with Father God. I bless you with allowing the Holy Spirit to have His way in your life and to flow in and through you. I bless you with a love for reading the Word of God.

I bless you ………… with hearing and seeing and knowing God’s goodness and desires and plans for you and I bless you as you seek Him and realise them for yourself. I bless you with Jeremiah 29:11 for knowing the plans that God has for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. I bless you in experiencing this come to fruition.

I bless you ……….. with the courage to step out and prophesy over people, to see healings occur and to operate in a whole new area of supernatural miracles and provision.

I bless you …….…. with being able to create space in your calendar and time schedule so as to be able to implement those things and actions that God is calling you to.

I bless you …..…… with being able to create space in your life and daily activities so that you can hear, see and feel God afresh and in more intimate ways. I bless you with being able to enjoy this year and to have fun, laugh aloud and see the good in every situation. Most of all, I bless you with experiencing how God is present with you at all times.

In Jesus’ name, Amen

 

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to practice to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Spend time with God as a family and ask God to show you one thing He would like you to do as a family this year. List what every person says. Create a vision board or picture from what was said or write these things down and put them in a place where family members can see it.

2. Group Activation: Break into pairs. Spend five minutes listening to God as to what He would like to communicate to your partner. Then turn that into a blessing and pray that blessing over your partner. (Instead of saying “I pray …” say “I bless you with …”)

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God and ask Him what He would like you to focus on this year. Try and narrow it down to one word if you can.

4. Intermediate Activation: Choose a group or an activity that you are involved with. Ask God to show you His heart for this group this coming year. If appropriate, write this down and share with the leader of the group.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God hearing His heart for world events for this coming year. Write down what you are sensing, hearing, seeing. Keep this confidential. At the end of the year, look at what you have written and see what has unfolded for the year and how accurate you were in what you were sensing.

Growing your spirit – Living from a Place of Victory (part 10)

Twenty eight years ago, hubby and I drove into an Australian town well know for its New Age and witchcraft practices. We briefly looked around the town for a gift shop and for somewhere to eat but before we had time to find anywhere, I asked hubby if we could drive on to the next town. I sensed something ‘awful’ in the atmosphere and something like a fear descended on me. Fast forward twenty years and hubby, the kids and I drove back into that same town and it ‘felt’ completely different. We loved the place so much that we decided to revisit it again on that holiday.

 

                        What was the difference?

 

As far as I could tell, there was a Christian church that was having a massive impact in the town ministering to the New Age community. But the New Age and witchcraft presence was still ‘thick’. I believe that the main difference lay within me. I had grown and matured as a Christian, but more importantly, I now knew my identity as a daughter of the Most High King. I was also aware of ‘brushing’ off negative atmospheres (https://www.unlockingthegold.com/spiritual-hygiene-living-from-a-place-of-victory-part-8/). Most of all though, I believe the greatest difference was that my spirit had grown enormously and could now ‘defend’ itself instead of being intimidated.

 

How do you ‘grow’ your spirit?

Just as your physical body needs nutrition to grow and your soul needs love and care and intellectual stimulation to grow, so too does your spirit needs things to help it grow.

 

I have identified the top five things I have done to grow my spirit.

  1. Worship God regularly.
  2. Grow your identity in God. Go after your inner healing.
  3. Speak/pray the Bible over yourself.
  4. Pray in tongues often ie on a daily basis. 1 Corinthians 14:4 says “anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies (or builds) themselves up”. One of the most effective methods is to pray in tongues each day.
  5. Bless your spirit.

 

How do I ‘bless my spirit’?

I first became aware of the huge impact of calling one spirit to attention and blessing it after I found some teaching from Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunther (www.theslg.com) and started practicing on my family. I immediately noticed a difference in our son and how he loved his spirit being blessed. Our son is a spiritual thermostat. He easily and automatically ‘picks up’ the spiritual atmosphere of a room, place or land region and acts this out. This caused numerous hassles earlier in his life until we became more fully aware of what was happening. (A particular city in Australia has the ruling spirit of rebellion over it and when we stayed there, our son became very rebellious. We tried disciplining him without any effect and began to doubt our parenting until I ‘connected the dots’ and realised what was happening. As soon as I identified it, our son’s behaviour immediately normalised.)

Thus, when I began calling my family’s spirits to attention and reading a blessing over them of a night, this son loved it. Each night he would ask me to ‘do that thing that makes me feel good’.

As a side note, I used to call people’s spirit forth eg “Jane I call your spirit forth” but a Pastor’s wife became quite anxious about that as if I was trying to make people’s spirit travel. Thus, I now call their spirit to attention. Look at it as if you are asking them to stand up on the inside and take notice. Eg “Jane, I call your spirit to attention” or “Jane, I call your spirit to take notice of what I am about to say”.

Over time, I have noticed a huge effect on people whenever I bless people’s spirit. I use this all the time in our Church’s Healing Rooms at the end of each person’s time of ministry. In fact, it is uncommon for me to not use it when praying for someone.

David Tensen has a great course on this (www.davidtensen.com). He bases his blessing on 4 D’s – delight, design, destiny and dominion. I can never seem to remember the 4 D’s so I just ask Father God to show or tell me what to bless each individual person with.

I have crafted a short blessing for you, my readers. Please feel free to try it and speak it over yourself, inserting your name into it. I have several friends who each night will call their spirit to attention and bless their own spirit (& their spouse’s if they are married) with a blessing. There is no magic formula for what to say. Go with what you feel Father God is saying to you. With my kids, I will often bless their spirit along the lines of their prophetic words, the giftings they have, their dreams and their sleeping and relationship with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus.

I also find that if people have their eyes open and look into mine whilst I am blessing them, there seems to be a greater impact on the person. Try it and see.

 

Blessing:

“(Your name), I call your spirit to attention and bless you with knowing that Father God loves you so much. There is nothing you could do to make Him love you any more or any less. (Your name), Father God had you in mind before He created the world. He ordained your parents, time in history and birth date. I bless you with knowing how precious and valuable you are to God, your family, friends and community. I bless your spirit with knowing that God has gifted you with special gifts and has created you with your personality. He so loves you.

(Your name), I bless your spirit with realising in a deeper way today the reality of God’s love in your life. I bless you with experiencing today Father God romancing you in a fresh new way, with you seeing, hearing and experiencing his extravagant and generous nature and goodness and kindness. I bless you with receiving His kisses of joy today. I bless you as you walk out the next few days and weeks and months ahead that you will see the hand of Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus on your life in a new way. I bless you with amazing insight and discernment from God, with hearing Him at a deeper level and seeing what He is up to in the spiritual world.

(Your name), I bless you that wherever you walk, you carry the peace of God and change atmospheres. That people will know that a child of the Most High God has been there with you. I bless you with leaving a lingering fragrance of the presence of God wherever you step. In Jesus name, Amen.”

Please feel free to forward this blog post to any of your friends and encourage them to subscribe to receive my blog posts on a weekly basis. Thank you.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Chat about what ‘blessing’ is. Have a time of focusing on each individual person and ask God to show, tell or give to everyone else some words to bless that person with. Then all say it over that person. Then move on to the next person. At the end, feel free to share how it felt.

2. Group Activation: Pair up and spend a few minutes asking God what He would have you bless your partner with in regards to the 4D’s – delight, design, destiny and dominion. Then release the blessing over your partner.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time this week intentionally calling your spirit to attention and blessing it with hearing God’s voice clearly. Also ask God each time what else to bless your spirit with.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you someone to bless today. Make or buy a gift for that person that represents the essence of what you are blessing in them and give that to them during the time of releasing the blessing over them.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to reveal to you an unreached people group. Spend time with God crafting a blessing for that people group. Ask God to then show you how often He would like you to say that blessing, speaking as if over that people group.

Easter Blessing

I have written a blessing down for you to read aloud over yourself as you prepare for Easter. Just as the disciples walked to Bethany, ate with Jesus in the Upper Room, tried to stay alert all night, felt the pain of betrayal, experienced brokenness, saw dreams die, waited in the period of the unknown, confronted with forgiveness and then experienced a new season of hope and life, may you be blessed as you journey through similar periods in your life.

I encourage you to put your name in the space and say this blessing over yourself out aloud. There is power in not only reading a blessing but speaking it out aloud over you and calling your spirit to attention first. Calling your spirit to attention first just helps your spirit to stand up and take special notice. It helps grow your spirit on the inside. I am discovering tremendous power, growth, comfort, encouragement and healing coming from being blessed and saying blessings over my spirit and growing my spirit. I encourage you to do the same. I especially love to bless my children as you can almost see the visible difference in them as their spirits are encouraged and blossom in response.

Blessing at Easter:

“……(your own name)…., I call your spirit to attention and I bless you with knowing how valuable, precious, unique and beautiful you are. I bless you with knowing how important you are to God, your family and friends and to this world. I bless you….(your name)… with an increased awareness of God, Holy Spirit and Jesus in this sacred season of preparation for Easter.

I bless you ….(your own name)…. with living out a lifestyle of integrity as your internal beliefs match your external behaviour and actions. I bless you as you walk out your journey, your individual path that you are called to walk and where you intersect with others along this path. I bless you with beautifully touching everyone you relate to and leaving behind you a refreshing fragrance of Christ’s presence. I bless you as you lay down your life for Christ.

I bless you ….(your own name)…. with a gift of hospitality, generosity and acceptance of all and to all. I bless you as you give generously and extravagantly to God. I bless you with a deep connection with Jesus. I bless you as you share your life with others, with deep and intimate connections emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically. I bless you with laughing and crying and feeling the full range of emotions.

I bless you ….(your own name)…. as you wait on Jesus and as you wait for Jesus. I bless you in the waiting time. I bless you as you try with all your might and realise that it isn’t enough. I bless you in being you, in being all you were created to be.

I bless you ….(your own name)…. when you go through betrayal and experience brokenness. I bless you when the outcome looks less than favourable that you will be able to see from heaven’s perspective. I bless you when your dreams appear to die and have no apparent future, when hope is lost, that you will get a glimmer of heaven’s view and experience hope restored and justice in the midst of injustice. I bless you as you resist peer pressure. I bless you as you choose joy over despair.

I bless you ….(your own name)…. as you deal with faith and doubt and questions and the ensuing struggle, that you feel a peace in the struggle and a willingness to be totally honest and open with the Father, Son and Comforter about your thoughts and feelings. I bless you as you journey through pain and doubt and things that appear not as they should and the ensuring heartache. I bless you with peace and comfort at this time and of experiencing true comfort through the Holy Spirit.

I bless you ….(your own name)…. as you wait in the period of the unknown, that you will experience the Father’s love afresh. I bless you with experiencing peace in the chaos of life, a moment of ‘all is well with my soul’. I bless you with ‘hanging in there’ when the going gets tough. I bless you with courage as you walk the narrow path. I bless you with being able to forgive when all is screaming out no. I bless you with experiencing the light that comes after the darkness.

I bless you ….(your own name)…. with New Life, the promise of something better. I bless you with feeling and knowing that God is romancing you and pursuing you with a relentless love.

I bless you ….(your own name)…. as you rediscover life, joy, colour and your hope being restored. I bless you in having many new beginnings, of experiencing promises fulfilled. I bless you in this new season of grace, joy and thanksgiving. I bless you as you enjoy the banquet of faith, and experience the promise that everyone who comes to the Father will not hunger or thirst.

I bless you ….(your own name)…. as you experience the resurrection power of Jesus and the impact of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and His willingness to go to the cross for you is fully realised in your life. I bless you as you live a life full of intimacy with the Holy Spirit. I bless you with living a life of pointing others to Jesus Christ.

I bless you ….(your own name)…. with spiritual eyes and spiritual ears to see and hear whom you can encourage in this season and whom to release blessings to. In Jesus’ name, Amen

 

If you have found this helpful, please take a moment to consider whom you can either contact and pray this blessing over or to email a copy of this to for their benefit and also encourage them to subscribe to my blog. Thank you.

 

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: As a family, practice blessing each other. Take time after a meal to start with the adults saying a blessing over each other and over each individual child. Then ask each child to bless each other and you. Remember it can be very simple and short eg I bless you Sarah with being kind and having great friends.

2. Group Activation: Get into pairs. Spend a few minutes asking God to reveal which aspects of your partner’s life to bless and how. Then take it in turns to call your partner’s spirit to attention and bless them. When you have both blessed each other, share with your partner how it felt for you.

3. Beginner Activation: Practice calling your spirit to attention and blessing yourself. Ask God to reveal to you that which is hidden that would be great to be brought into the open and blessed eg unmet desires and dreams etc.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to reveal to you someone who needs encouragement and how. Contact that person and pray a blessing over them.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him what He would have you bless your country with and how. Then do it.

Transforming a person’s spirit

iStock_000001483815SmallSeveral weeks ago, hubby received a phone call from a mental health worker. This worker had previously rung all the churches in the local area and they had all refused her request. She simply wanted a Christian to spiritually cleanse a house for a client of hers who was an inpatient in a psychiatric ward. Hubby asked her a few questions to clarify what it was exactly she was after. This lady had no idea really except she didn’t want anything weird. Her client was a Christian, currently a psych inpatient and about to return home but refused to go into his house before it had been spiritually cleansed. This lady didn’t know who else to turn to to ask for help as all the churches had refused. An outreach worker at one of the churches would have willingly done this but she was going away on holidays. A fellow worker in the same office as the lady had said he knew us and reckoned that we would help. Hubby admitted to the lady it was probably more his wife’s thing and yes, we would help.

The day that this man was being released from hospital was a day that we had prior engagements that couldn’t be broken so we arranged to meet the lady, and her client ‘Bill’ at Bill’s house. Since we couldn’t be there until 4pm, Bill was staying in hospital until then as he refused to enter his house before we had ‘cleansed’ it. Once the lady received a phone call from us that we were outside the house, she brought him from the hospital.

Bill, the lady and a friend of Bill’s met us on the footpath. We introduced ourselves. Bill stated very firmly that there was no way he would enter the house until we had finished and cleared all the evil spirits out. Bill’s friend and the lady went into the house to assess it for any damage as the key had been loaned by Bill to another friend. I turned to Bill and asked him what he wanted us to do. After he had explained, I asked him if he could see in the spirit eg demons etc. He said he did and he looked as though he relaxed slightly because we were taking him seriously and validating what he had experienced. I then asked him if, before we started, we could pray for him. It was a very simple prayer. We didn’t touch him but just quietly I called his spirit to attention and prayed a blessing over him for sound mind, peace, sanity etc. As soon as I had finished praying for him, he stated that he was ready now to go into the house. I was quite taken aback and a bit shocked seeing how he had adamantly refused to before. I stressed how we were planning to use some oil to anoint every door and window etc and he gave permission to still go ahead and do that, but also stated that he felt it was okay to now go in.

20 minutes later we had walked right through the house, praying, blessing it and had finished and were leaving. He asked if he could give us an offering and we stated ‘no’. We didn’t want anything in return. The lady had also asked us previously what we charged as in a prior case she had been charged an exorbitant amount for someone to do something similar.

As we left, I couldn’t help but reflect on how calling this man’s spirit to attention and blessing it had resulted in a major difference for him. The key was calling his spirit to attention and blessing his spirit. It had far greater impact than simply praying a blessing over him. Speaking to his spirit, after calling it to attention, makes sure that it goes deep into his spirit. Imagine how the world could change if we began calling to attention people’s spirits and blessing them. The change in this man was literally amazing.

I encourage you to begin to try this week. As you pray for your kids or each other or even yourself, call their/your spirit to attention and pray a blessing over it. Our son loves it when we do it over him. Most nights as I am tucking him into bed, he will ask me to ‘do that thing you do’ where I call his spirit to attention and then bless his spirit.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy!

Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3)

1. Children / Families Activation: Practice calling each other’s spirit to attention and praying a blessing over each other’s spirit. You, as the adult, go first so that they can see what to do. Example: “Joshua, I call your spirit to attention and I bless you with knowing who you are and how God sees you. I bless you with knowing that you are fully loved by your Heavenly Father and by daddy and me. I bless you with favour and friends, with knowing how to be a good friend and having great friends around you. I bless you with wisdom and the ability to choose wisely and make great decisions. Joshua, I bless your spirit with knowing that God created you as you are. He completely loves you and how He created you, with your gifts and abilities. I bless you with joy and hope and peace. I bless you with great sleep and an ability to dream with God.”

2. Group Activation: Pair up and then spend 3 minutes each taking it in turn to pray a blessing over your partner. Remember to firstly call your partner’s spirit to attention by name. Concentrate on blessing your partner’s identity, design and destiny.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time asking God to show you what He loves about you and listening to His response. Write down what you hear God say about you.  Turn these into a blessing that you can say aloud over yourself when you call your spirit to attention. If you have difficulty with this, begin by asking God to show you how He sees you being dressed ie what outfit/clothes you are wearing.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you whose spirit needs blessing. Write them a letter, blessing them with as much fullness as you can. Then, pray it aloud where you are ie you can be at home and that person not near you. Call their spirit to attention and speak it over them, realising that in the spiritual realm you don’t need to be near each other to hear in the spirit.

5. Advanced Activation: Think of a specific child who struggles with autism or behavioural issues. Ask God to show you a picture of them in the spiritual. Call their spirit to attention and pray this over them. Pray over them the opposite of any negative behaviour or attitudes. I have done this many times lately with children and they haven’t heard me physically as I have been in another room or I have whispered it quietly whilst in the same children’s ministry class etc but I didn’t want the children to know what was happening. The physical change in the children was amazing.