Tag Archives: what do I do with a prophetic word

Recording Prophetic Words

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Part of the prophetic protocols at our church (Stairway) is that prophetic words are recorded. It is common and usual to hear someone ask a person for permission if they can share with them something that they sense God is showing/telling them about that person. The other common and usual protocol is to then see that person about to receive the prophetic word pulling out their smartphone to record what is about to be said.

During prophetic presbytery’s when people come forward for a prophetic word, I will ask people if they have a recording device ready to record what I am about to say.

If I am prophesying over complete strangers in a shop, I don’t ask them if they want to record it as I couch the prophetic word in complete non Christian terms and don’t want to presume that they will value it or want to work with the prophecy. During those times, I want to communicate the heart of God. That He sees them, that He knows them, that He understands what they are going through and that there is a future for them.

Why record a prophetic word?

  1. Accountability

Recording a prophetic word keeps both the receiver and the deliverer accountable. When I give a prophetic word, I am accountable for what I am sharing. If it is wrong, negative, discouraging, totally inaccurate, etc then I need to be held accountable and spoken to, and then receive training in how to deliver a prophetic word. The receiver also is then accountable for what they do with the prophetic word. Hopefully this is to listen to it again several times, pray through it, type it out etc.

Six years ago, I gave a prophetic word to a team member about her ability and future leadership. Several months later, I was asked by the leadership of the group if I could remember what I actually said. This person had challenged the current leadership and communicated that I had prophesied that they would be the overall leader of the group the following year. Thankfully, for my sake, there was a record of what was actually communicated.

  1. Accuracy

Our memory is not 100% perfect. We all have selective memory. How many times have you thought or believed someone said something, when in fact, if you had an opportunity to play back what was actually said, it was slightly different? Not only hearing what we think versus what was actually communicated but also the lens through which we interpret.

When we returned from Mozambique seven years ago, I can remember saying that the prophetic word we had received said ‘the real reason we went to Mozambique was because of our daughter’. A close friend read the actual prophetic word and challenged me as it said, ‘going to Mozambique had a lot to do with our daughter’s future’. Slight difference in wording but a massive difference in meaning.

  1. Personal responsibility

Please do not come up to someone who has prophesied over you and apologise for not recording the prophecy but ask them if they can write down what they said to you. It is your responsibility to record any prophetic prophecies over you. Once the person has prophesied over you, they are no longer responsible for that prophetic word. It has been delivered to you.

I have lost count of the number of times someone has come to me and asked it I can remember what I said to them as they didn’t record it. I’m sorry but usually as soon as I give the prophetic word, I forget most of it. I may remember the exciting part or a sense or picture of something I said but not the actual wording or tone or feel. I feel o’kay about that since I have fulfilled my part. It was their part/responsibility to record it and then deal with it. Thus, now days, usually before I give a prophetic word to someone, I ask if they have a recording device handy.

  1. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelations 19:10)

When two or more people prophecy the same thing over you, then you definitely know that there is an accuracy there that you can rely on as truth and use as a prophetic weapon for your life. One of the benefits of recording your prophetic word is that you can write it out and see the accuracy of it lining up with other prophetic words you have received.

  1. Growth in giving prophetic words

Every so often I find it helpful for me, as someone prophesying over someone else, to ask their permission if I can record what I am about to say so that I can learn from it and use it as a tool for growth. Listening to what I have prophesied afterwards, I can hear if I have rambled on, excessively repeated myself, hit the target and been definitive and accurate or massaged the message to allow leeway etc.

  1. Prophesying over children

We always record prophetic words spoken over children (under 16 years of age) and make sure that an adult (parent or guardian or children’s leader) is also present. We then give the recording to the parent of the child. This helps to keep us accountable in our ministry to children and keep all children safe from emotional harm.

Conclusion:

For those people giving Prophetic words, please encourage the person to record it. For both your sakes. Accountability and accuracy for yourself. For encouragement and accuracy for them.

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 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: Write the names of everyone present on individual slips of paper. Fold each slip of paper and slide it into a separate balloon. Everyone then has fun blowing up a balloon, tying it and then bursting it. Unwrap the piece of paper and find whose name is on your slip of paper. Ask God what He wants to tell that person. Communicate that to that person.

2. Group Activation: Play musical chairs. Place enough chairs (or if space limited, place coloured pieces of paper) in the middle of the room for everyone playing minus 2 people. Play music and ask everyone to move clockwise around the chairs. When the music stops, everyone runs to sit on a chair. The 2 people without chairs are out. Whilst the music plays for the next round and you remove two more chairs, have those 2 people just out prophesy over each other. The next two people out then prophesy over each other until the remaining two people are the only ones left in the game. They then give each other a prophetic word.

3. Beginner Activation: Take a $50 note out of your wallet (or the highest value note in your wallet) and spend some time prophesying over the people whose hands it will pass through. Place it back in your wallet and try and use that note next time you are shopping.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to give you a name of a book to buy and who to buy it for. Ask God for a prophetic word to write on a slip of paper to put inside the book before you give the book to that person.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you someone struggling with purity in their life. Spend time crafting a prophetic word for them about how God sees them, remembering to keep it encouraging, comforting and edifying.

Prophesies – what do I do with mine? (part 1)

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Just because you have a prophetic word, it doesn’t mean that it will come true. A prophetic word is conditional. It is a ‘working document’. You need to become the person you need to be so that the prophetic word ‘fits’. This blogpost is the second in a series of blogs about “What do I do with my prophetic word?”. In this one, we will address what to do to begin with, the first steps to take after receiving a prophetic word.

Habakkuk 2:1-3 says, “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time”.

1. “Look to God to see what He will say to you”.

Do the hard work by chasing God and spending time with God in the quiet place. Draw close to God. I find that prophetic words confirm an answer to me of what God is already showing me. Prophetic words are not just ‘out of the blue’, completely random words given to you. It is God showing you through yet another way or yet another person the answer to a question you have been asking or a solution you have been looking for. Your relationship with God must come first and seek Him, not a prophetic word. God will come through and show you the answer or give you a prophetic word through someone but seek God, not a prophetic word.

2. Whenever you can, try and record your prophetic word.

If you have a digital device, use that. Otherwise, try and write down as much as you can as soon as possible after you have received it. Please write it down yourself and do the hard work. Don’t automatically assume that the person who gave you the prophetic word will remember it all. I know from the times that I have given prophetic words, I can remember some of the really huge stuff, but I quickly forget what I have just said, especially if I am given a number of prophetic words to different people one after the other. I also know from chatting with other prophetic people that they are the same. If you completely do not remember any of it and the person who prophesied over you doesn’t either and you didn’t record it, God is a good God. He will bring it to you another way and take comfort that your spirit will not forget it. Ask God to bring it back to you. Spend time soaking/ meditating on God and also ask Him to reveal it to you in your dreams.

Listen to it over and over. The more we hear our prophesy and read it, the more it becomes part of us. Listen to the language and the manner it was imparted to you as that also forms part of the prophetic word. A prophetic word is what the Fathers heart has for you. It is from the heart of God to you for you.

In my last blog post that I wrote about how I used a prophetic word over my daughter when she was critically ill in hospital as an 8 year old. That prophetic word came to my mind because I had read and re-read that prophetic word. It had become part of me as I had intentionally read it and prayed over it every day for several months. I took that prophetic word with me in my handbag and whenever I had a few minutes spare, I would grab it out and read over it and pray it through. With your prophetic word, go through each sentence and pray it through. Thank God. An example is if it said that “Jane, the Lord has given you a heart for healing. A heart for restoration and reconciliation.” I would then pray and declare, “Thank you Father that you have given me a heart for healing, restoration and reconciliation. I decree and declare that I am a healer, that I bring healing from the Lord and will also bring restoration and reconciliation to people.”

3. “Write down the prophetic word”.

Transcribe your prophesy. You are then able to visually see it. I find it helpful to type it on my computer so that I have a copy I can print off at any time. I then double space it so that I can begin to work with it more easily and make notations above and below words. Your prophetic word is a working document. When someone prophesies over you, that is just the beginning. You still have to do the work and get the most out of it to benefit from it. Read it and re-read it. Keep it with you and whenever you have a few moments, get it out and read over it again. Let it soak into you and become part of you. Read it every day. If you have more than one prophetic word, try and put them together in a document so that you can read them all through regularly.

4. “Make it plain on tablets.”

This is where you begin to work on it.

  • You need to test it. Does it ‘feel’ right and does it witness to your spirit.
  • All prophesy needs to be weighed against the nature of God. Does the prophesy bear witness to the nature of God & what God says in the Bible?
  • Do you go “yes” that’s right or put it up on the shelf for awhile or discard it? I have found from the many people I have chatted with that while they may have thought that a particular prophetic word was totally wrong and not for them, they shelved it and looked at it again several years later and were shocked at how accurate it was. Just be careful to not discard it too quickly!! I am yet to come across someone with whom the prophetic word given to them was completely wrong. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but usually it may not apply to them at that moment but wait a few years and it may well be very applicable. I have had a number of people come to me recently and say that they thought a prophetic word I had given them 5-6 years ago was off but they recently have pulled it out and see that it is very relevant and most have come true.
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all, hold on to what is good.”
  • Remember the purpose of prophesy is to encourage, build-up and comfort us from God’s heart. 1 Corinthians 14:3 “But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort”.
  • A great question to ask is, “Will responding to this prophesy bear good fruit in my life?”

5. “So that a herald may run with it.”

Is there any sense of timing in your prophetic word? Is it a ‘now’ word for today or perhaps a word for several years time. Read through your prophetic word again and look for any clues as to timing or what will be fulfilled, or who you will become identity wise, before the prophetic word is fulfilled.

My next blogpost will highlight various questions it is great to ask about your prophetic word as you begin to dissect your prophesy.

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: Ask everyone present to close their eyes for a minute and imagine Jesus walking through the door into the room. What does He say to them? Share.

2. Group Activation: Get into small groups of four or six. Have a leader in the room who gives the instruction. Number the people 1-4 or 6. Start with number 1. When the leader issues an instruction, eg person opposite, the number one person asks Jesus “What do you want to say to this person opposite me?” and then they share it. Be careful not to say, “Jesus says” but more “I sense Jesus saying….”. Then for number 2 person, the leader may say “the person second on your right”. They ask Jesus what He wants to say to that person etc

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to highlight different tastes to you this week. As it comes to mind, and you savor a taste, ask God to show you something about Himself that relates to that taste. Delight in the various taste sensations and the new things you learn about God.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight a business person to you and to give you a prophetic word for them about their business. Arrange a time to deliver it to them.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you something significant for your local member of Parliament. Either arrange a time to go and share this with them or write it in an email or letter and send to them. Please keep the language appropriate and no church jargon.