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

Mine has.

I am on our church’s prophetic team, and we are often involved in a prophetic presbytery. Our church sets it up with multiple pairs 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 and 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 their recording device is ready to record. Usually, I immediately get a sense of something from God for the person, and more comes as I speak it out. I am also learning to wait a minute before speaking to get more detail and greater depth. There are some occasions, though, when I get nothing, and my mind is blank.

I used to be paired with different people who wouldn’t speak first but liked to wait for me to go first. My prophesying first gave them confidence; they were sometimes seers and saw pictures. They spent several minutes asking God more about those pictures before speaking. In the last few years, I am usually teamed 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 speak the prophetic word.

Practically, these are the things I do when my mind goes ‘blank’ in these situations:

The first thing I do is to turn my heart and affections to Jesus. I get the focus off myself and my thoughts of ‘oh no’ and turn my thoughts to God. 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 His presence and see what He is seeing and hear what He is saying, praise and thanks will do that. I have learnt to do this in my preparation for prophesying before I even arrive at church. But this has been useful for me when I am in the community and feel like giving an impromptu prophetic word to a stranger.

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 a question about the person, eg

• How He sees this person dressed
• Their strengths
• What this person’s identity in Heaven is, i.e. how is this person known in Heaven?

If I’m still finding it hard to get a prophetic word for this person, I 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 He is showering upon them.

The above questions focus on identity words. Identity always precedes destiny. If our identity in God is not solid, how can we do what He requires of us? I also like to give destiny words. If I am struggling to get a destiny word, I try to imagine a blank canvas or a blank jigsaw puzzle. I then ask God what is the next piece of the puzzle this person needs to know, or what will this canvas become?

Remember, this usually occurs within 10-30 seconds. It would take longer if I were at home writing a prophetic word out for someone. Thus, in situations like the Prophetic Presbytery, 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.

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?
• What fruit of the spirit does God want to grow in their life?
• If the person was a tree, what would they be, and what fruit would they produce?
• What is this person’s identity in Heaven, i.e. how is this person known in Heaven?
• What are God’s plans for this person’s future?
• 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?
• What is the next piece of the puzzle this person needs to know?
• What will the blank canvas of their future become?

Upon reflection, the times I find it hard, I need to take a further moment not to rush things. I also need to look at my preparation. How have I prepared for giving prophetic words, and how could I prepare more effectively? For instance, my husband often asks God for random words. He writes these words in his notebook, and for the next few people he meets, he releases a prophetic word to that person using the following random word on his list. When you have a starting word, thought, or image, it can help the flow begin.

In asking myself how I can more effectively prepare for prophesying, the question challenges me and helps me be ‘switched on’ immediately to release God’s heart out of my mouth for these folks.

I know from experience that when I feast 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 apply to that person. A key in the preparation process is spending time with God and nurturing my intimacy with Him.

Three principles from Scripture:

1. Grab the ‘quiet’ thought. In 1 Kings 19:11-13, we see Elijah waiting until the storm passed before hearing God’s still, quiet (gentle) voice. I wonder if sometimes we don’t recognise what God is already telling us because it is not in the manner we are looking for? If they are in a good relationship with God, I encourage people to grab the first thing that comes through their mind when they ask God what He would like to say to the person they are prophesying over. Often it can be so obvious, but we disregard it because it is so obvious. At those times, we need to wait for the quiet prompting of the Holy Spirit. To lean into what we are sensing, feeling, smelling, hearing, tasting, and knowing.
2. Take captive every thought. 2 Corinthians 10:5. Deliberately choose to throw away any unhelpful thinking (e.g. on no, my mind’s gone blank) and thank God for His thoughts for this person.
3. Don’t be anxious or go to a place of fear. Philippians 4:6-8. Quietly refocus on God, thanking Him, waiting for His prompting.

As a last resort, you can be honest and admit that your mind is blank and that you have nothing for them. If you still want to give them a prophetic word, you can tell them you will pray and seek God and get back to them, taking their contact details so you can pass on the prophetic word later.

What do you find helpful when you have a ‘blank’ mind when you give someone a prophetic word? I would love to know, so please feel free to comment below.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

Every blog post 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: Gather foods that are sour, bitter, or have an unpleasant taste. Ask everyone to taste one and while tasting them to ask God who or what the taste reminds them of. Ask God to reveal to them a solution or encouraging word for the person/place.

2. Group Activation: Buy a variety of chocolate/candy bars and display them. Ask people to get into pairs and select a bar for their partner. Give that chocolate/candy bar to their partner and prophesy over them using the name of the chocolate/candy bar.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God asking Him what season of life you are in at the moment. Ask God more questions around this eg Is there something God would like you to be doing at the moment, what is His perspective on the season you are in, etc.

4. Intermediate Activation: Find an area in your town where there is a lot of vandalism or crime. Visit that area and ask God to show you His perspective on that area and to give you the words to prophesy into that area’s future and the people who congregate there – into their future.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God what His heart is for abortion clinics in your state or country and the women attending them and for the other options. Prophesy over the alternatives that need to become available for these women. Declare these into being. Ask God what your role is in the process.