Monthly Archives: September 2019

What if my mind goes blank when I go to prophesy?

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Has your mind ever gone blank when you have been faced with having to immediately give a prophetic word to someone?

Mine has.

Often.

I am on our church’s prophetic team and we are often involved in a prophetic presbytery. Our church sets it up with a number of teams comprising of 2 people who prophesy over a person for a maximum of 5-6 minutes. We have a line of people waiting to receive a prophetic word. As soon as you & your partner have finished prophesying over a person, that person leaves and the next person in line moves forward to come to an available team. We begin by introducing our names and ask if they have a recording device if they don’t already have it in front of them ready to go. I usually get a sense of something from God immediately for the person and, as I speak it out, more comes. I am also learning to wait for a minute before I speak so as to try to get more of the detail and a greater depth to it. There are some occasions, though, when I don’t get anything and my mind is blank.

I used to be often teemed up with different people who wouldn’t speak first but liked to wait for me to go first. This gave them confidence plus they were sometimes seers and saw pictures and they tended to like several minutes to ask God more about those pictures before they spoke. The last few years I have usually been teemed up with a person who is relatively new to giving prophetic words and wants to hear what I have to say first or who is not 100% confident in giving prophetic words to people. Unfortunately, since we are usually limited time-wise, we don’t have the luxury of having a long pause before we start speaking the prophetic word.

What do I do in those circumstances if my mind is blank and I don’t have ‘anything’ for them?

The first thing I do is to turn my heart and affections to Jesus. I silently worship God. Praise shifts the atmosphere. Psalm 100:4 says “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise”. If I want to enter into His presence and see what He is seeing and hear what He is saying, praise and thanks will do that.

I then ask God how He sees this person and how He wants to show love to them right now? If I’m still finding it hard to connect, I ask God how He sees this person dressed, what their strengths are, if the person was a tree what sort of tree they would be and what sort of fruit they would be producing etc. I also ask God what this person’s identity in Heaven is ie how is this person known in Heaven?

If I’m still finding it hard to get a prophetic word for this person, I then picture them standing under a Holy Spirit waterfall. I imagine them standing there with the Holy Spirit flowing down over them and I ask the Holy Spirit what it is that the Holy Spirit is showering upon them.

Bear in mind, this usually occurs within 10-30 seconds. If I was at home writing a prophetic word out for someone, I take a lot longer. Thus, in situations like the Prophetic Presbytery’s, I find it invaluable to have a list of questions to ask God in my mind, ready to ‘pull on’ and get God’s perspective for the person.

To summarise and put it in a list format, the questions I have ready to ask God include:

  • How does God see this person?
  • How does God want to show love to them right now?
  • How does God see this person dressed?
  • What are their strengths?
  • If the person was a tree what sort of tree they would be and what sort of fruit they would be producing?
  • What this person’s identity is in Heaven ie how is this person known in Heaven?
  • If this person was standing under a Holy Spirit waterfall, what is it Holy Spirit that you are pouring over them and filling them with and why?

Upon reflection, the times I find hard, I need to take a further moment to not rush things. I also need to look at my preparation. How have I prepared and what have I done in the preparation for giving prophetic words? These questions challenge me and help me be ‘switched on’ immediately to release God’s word out of my mouth for these folk.

I know from past experience that when I have feasted on God’s Word in the lead up to giving prophetic words to people, parts of Scripture will come back to me as I prophesy and will be relevant to that person. There is definitely a key in the preparation process to be spending time with God and nurturing my intimacy with Him.

What do you find helps you when you have a ‘blank’ mind when you go to give someone a prophetic word?

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: Have pre-prepared sheets of paper with an outline of a person drawn on them and some crayons etc. Ask everyone to select someone they are sitting opposite to and to then ask God how God sees this person dressed in God’s Kingdom. Then encourage everyone to draw what they see, hear or sense on the outline of the person. Encourage everyone to give the sheet to their partner and explain what it is about.

2. Group Activation: Break into groups of 6-8 people. Ask everyone to place something from their pocket or handbag in the centre of their group.  Ask everyone to try not to look at what people are placing in the centre. Then ask everyone to pick up an item from the centre and then take it in turns to prophesy over the object and the person whom the object belongs to.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend some time with God on your own and ask God to highlight to you your life as a fruit tree. Then ask God some questions in relation to this – what does the tree look like? Which sort of fruit? How much fruit? How deep are the roots? What does the tree need at the moment? What season is the fruit tree in at the moment? Spend time asking God further questions and seeking clarification.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight to you someone who lives on their own. Spend time with God asking Him to show you that person’s future. Try and formulate with God a song title that would emulate that person’s future as God has shown you.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight to you a certain person or people who are currently in a war zone. Ask God to give you a prophetic declaration and decree that you can pray out aloud for these people.

What if I get it wrong when I Prophesy?

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I have seen a number of people almost paralysed with fear when it comes to prophecy. The fear of getting it wrong or mishearing what God is communicating can be paralysing to some people and is enough to prevent them from stepping out and having a go.

One of the most common questions I get asked is “What if I get it wrong when I prophesy?”

Personally I don’t think it is the right question to ask. This question makes it all about me. What if  “I”  get it wrong?

Prophesy is not a performance. It is not about us. We are the conduit that is acting for that brief period of time between God and the person being prophesied over. It’s like helping someone unwrap a present from God for themself.

Sure, our ‘conduit’ can be mucky with sin or not hearing, seeing, sensing God correctly or to the fullest, but we can still be a conduit to the best of our ability. This also means that we need to represent Father God correctly – in our manner, the way the prophecy is conveyed plus the words we use. When we prophesy, we also convey the heart of God.

It is a great practice to never say “God told me….”. Instead, it is far more effective, more correct and less spiritually abusive to say “I have a sense that ….” No matter who we are, we are not perfect and we are not God. Thus, we need to be careful to not communicate that we are God, that we are a perfect ‘filter’ and the word we have released is a perfect representation of what Father God wants that person to know.

If you are scared that you may get the prophetic word wrong, stop looking at yourself and start looking to God. Get your eyes on God and your thoughts on God. Shift your thinking.

1 Corinthians 14:3 says that prophecy is always encouraging, comforting and strengthening. If what you communicate to someone else is encouraging, comforting and strengthening, then if perhaps you mis-hear God slightly, you have still encouraged and comforted the person.

I find that when I ask God for His heart for the person, He always shows or tells me something for them.

 

The starting point is always God, not yourself.

 

It is a privilege to be part of the process of releasing a prophetic word. In the Bible in Numbers 22-23, God used a donkey. If we don’t step up to the occasion, God will still get the message to the person but will use someone else or another means, even a donkey!!

 

How can I be the cleanest or purist conduit I possibly can be:

  1. Decrease the amount of ‘junk’ in my life.

Be careful with what I see, what I read, what I listen to, who I am around. What goes in to our mind and heart, will come out.

  1. Keep short accounts with God

Run from sin. Deal with sin quickly. Confess sin. Repent. Make restitution. Forgive quickly and completely. Then change my behaviour, my attitudes, my thoughts, my patterns.

Ultimately, God can easily bypass us and go straight to the person and this is what we need to encourage – people hearing from God for themselves. People spending time with God, reading His Word, chatting with God, listening to Him for themselves.

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: Have a present pre-wrapped and place in the middle of the table. Hand out paper and crayons, pens etc. Let everyone choose someone whom they think God would like to give a present to. Then ask them to imagine from God what is in that present to the person they selected. Draw or write on your sheet of paper what that is. Then give the paper to the person concerned, explaining what it is.

2. Group Activation: Ask people to get into pairs. Have a large bag in the middle of the room. Ask everyone to imagine themselves putting their hand into the bag and pulling something out of the bag from God for their partner. Encourage people to ask God further questions about what they pulled out of the bag and why. Allow people a few minutes then ask them to share with their partner what they pulled out and anything else God showed them about it.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to show you three books in your imagination. The three books represent your past, your present and your future. Ask God to show you the title of each book. Ask God any further questions you may have about those book titles.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you someone who is angry. Ask God to then show you His heart for them and what He would have you pray or communicate to this person.

5. Advanced Activation: Identify a local area where crime is a huge issue. Begin to seek God for His heart for that area. Begin to bless that area. Ask God to give you a prophetic word for that area. Even go to that area and begin to bless it, talk to people there, prophesy over the people you meet there. Decree and declare God’s heart for that area. Release joy over the area.

Our Responsibility when Prophesying

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DiggingI was tired. We had had a late night the night before. I had had an extremely busy week. I was on the team prophesying in pairs to individuals after the church service. I love prophesying and seeing people get a taste of what God thinks of them and His heart for them and how it can impact them greatly. I love helping to ‘unlock the gold’ within each person. This morning, we had prophesied well. The words had been accurate, encouraging, comforting. Many had tears as they listened and tried to take it all in. Most of the other teams had finished and left. My partner and I were still there, plus another team comprising my hubby and another team member. I glanced at my watch and realised that we had to get going as we had a luncheon appointment to be at. Plus, I was exhausted. The adrenaline was ‘running out’.

We finished with the lady we were prophesying over and then I saw someone else approach the front. My heart sank. This lady turned up every month for a prophetic word. I had given her several over the last six months and I could feel an ‘injustice’ (& a judgemental spirit) rise within me. Why was this person so ‘needy’? She should really chase after God for herself and not continually try and receive a prophetic word from others for herself. My judgemental attitude really kicked in. She approached for a prophetic word and my mouth opened and asked her about what she had done with all the other prophetic words she had received from us over the last 12 months. It was totally inappropriate of me. I was reacting out of my tiredness and frustration with people who chase after prophetic words and don’t do the hard yards putting in time with their own relationship with God. This lady responded by saying that she hadn’t received any prophetic words from us before. I was flabbergasted as I was sure that she had as I could clearly remember prophesying over her several times. My response did not communicate God’s heart as I turned and whispered to my partner that I needed to go. I called over the team leader and shared my response and my team leader kindly stepped in to give a prophetic word with my partner to this lady.

It’s fantastic that we can hear, see or feel God and what He wants to communicate to us and through us, but if we are not aware of the responsibility that comes with this, then we can hurt people. Plus, we can fall in to the trap of not representing God’s heart well. The goal of prophesying is 1 Corinthians 14:3 – to encourage, comfort and strengthen. Our role is to represent Father God well. To communicate his truth, love and heart for others in a manner that befits Him well.

On the day I was prophesying as described above, I did not represent the Father’s heart well. Sure, there was an identity issue with the lady concerned as she was always chasing after a prophetic word instead of listening to God for herself, but that doesn’t justify my response.

Below I have listed some of our responsibilities we need to incorporate when we are prophesying over other people.

  1. Be Prepared

Make sure you are on top of your game by having an early night the night before. Check your heart and confess sin. Keep short accounts with people and forgive quickly. What you take in affects your heart and mind so be careful what you watch and hear. Live a pure life. Devour the Bible. Keep your relationship with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus as number one in your life.

  1. Treat each person with dignity. Respect and honour the person.

They are a child of God. We need to see them through the Father’s eyes and have compassion on them and share the Father’s heart for them. They are a child of God. When we prophesy, it is not just about what we say but about what we communicate as a whole and how the person felt loved. We are communicating God’s heart to them.

This becomes evident with

  • how we speak ie the tone of our voice, the volume, intonations etc
  • what we say,
  • our body language and what that is communicating,
  • who is around when we share and how ‘public’ we say it ie the volume we use and how many others can hear what is personal for this individual especially if it is something they would not want others to hear.
  1. The prophetic word and how we communicate it must be encouraging, strengthening and comforting.

Thus we don’t prophesy anything negative. If we receive a ‘word of knowledge’ that is negative, we turn it around 180o and prophesy the positive.

  1. Ask permission first.

Do not just presume that because you think you have a prophetic word for someone, that they want to hear it. You need to ask their permission to share it with them. They may say no and you need to respect that. Also, please do not touch the person eg on the arm, shoulder etc without first asking permission to put your hand there.

  1. Stop when God stops.

When you stop hearing from God, stop. Do not add any extra. Do not add your spin (or hobby horse/pet topic) on it or try to expand or explain it. On the other hand, God loves questions, so ask God if there is anything more He wants you to communicate.

  1. They have a choice whether or not they accept it or do anything about it.

It is their choice. We cannot dictate what they do or not. If they choose not to do anything about what you have shared that you sense God’s communicating to them, that is totally their choice. You have not failed. You also cannot make them do something about it. We also are not fully aware of their whole situation. Instead, exude grace.

  1. Accountability

We do not have free reign to go up to everyone we have a prophetic word for and share. We need to come under the authority of our church plus any ministry group we are operating under. We also need to make sure that a ‘third person’ is present or that the person records what is said. That is the beauty of mobile phones these days as you can easily record a prophetic word. This is so important for accountability and being above reproach.

  1. We need to use clean language

We don’t say ‘God told me’. Instead, use language that gives the person a ‘way out’ eg ‘I have a sense that…’ Communicating that ‘God told you’ about another person borders on spiritual abuse. It implies that the person needs to do whatever you say otherwise they are not obeying God. That is not fair or correct.

  1. Remember that we prophesy in part.

We do not have full access to everything that God thinks, says, sees and knows. Therefore, there is always more to the story. 1 Corinthians 13:9 says “For we know in part and we prophesy in part.” We never have the full and total picture. That is also why it is helpful to have someone else prophesy with you eg in pairs as that can help spur you on and you can see and hear more of the picture.

  1. Be humble.

We are not God’s gift to mankind. No matter how skilled and accurate we may think we are, humility is important. We are not God. We represent God when we prophesy but we are not God.

  1. We want to make God look great, not the prophet look great.

A great question to ponder on is “Why am I wanting to give a prophetic word to that person?” Is it because I want to ‘look’ good?

12.Timing

Is it the right timing to tell the person what you are feeling, sensing, hearing, seeing? Is this God’s timing to release it to that person now? Am I meant to share it with them or is it for me to pray about and intercede for them about this?

 

Prophesying over people is exciting and rewarding to be a part of but it also carries with it the weight of responsibility. Keeping in mind these points means that you will be able to release the Father’s heart in a way that reflects who God is more accurately.

 

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: Make or buy the cardboard cut-out shapes of a person’s body. Ask everyone to write a person’s name on each ‘person’ and then a word that God uses to describes that person. Then pray over each person and give the cut-outs to the appropriate people.

2. Group Activation: Pair up and make 2 circles one inside the other and facing towards each other ie one of each pair on the inside circle facing outwards and the other on the outside circle facing inwards. Give everyone 30 seconds to hear, see, or sense one word for the person opposite them and then share that one word with their partner. Then ask the outer circle to move 3 people to the right. Everyone has 30 seconds again to get one word for the person opposite them and to share it with them. Then ask the inner circle to move 3 people to the right. Repeat the process.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God and quieten your heart and mind. Ask God what He would want to give you or if there is something He would like to place in your right hand at the moment. Ask Father God more questions about this eg why that object, what is it for, what does it look like etc

4. Intermediate Activation: Prophesy over yourself. Focus on God and imagine yourself somewhere with Him. Start your recording device and begin to prophesy over yourself what Father God thinks of you and feels for you and His plans for your life.

5. Advanced Activation: Record yourself the next time you prophesy over someone. Ask them permission first. When you have finished, spend some time later re-listening to what you said. Ask God if there was anything else He would have liked you to add. Listen and pay attention to how you prophesied and how you communicated God’s heart for the person.