Identity part 2

Seeing little children revel whilst they play, occasionally glancing towards their parents, warms my heart. These children are safe and secure in their identity. They freely play, unaware of any danger or insecurity. Subconsciously they realize they are part of a ‘bigger’ picture, they belong to others and their security comes from that. They are safe and secure to explore and ‘be’, play, and do because they are connected to their source of security and identity.

On a mission experience overseas, we witnessed time and time again a young, adopted boy wandering off from his parents and the safe compound we lived in. He seemed to have no fear and was often found being cuddled by strangers. Many folks incorrectly commented on how this boy was so secure in his identity. This was a concern for me as that is not security in identity. Instead, it showed a lack of attachment.

When we have children, we name them and give them an identity, both through their name and being in our family. As our children grow, they take on our family values and lifestyle. Our identity is not in isolation. It always comes from being in relationship.

In my last blog post, I challenged readers to look at the starting place of identity by looking at who God is. When we are in relationship with God, we obtain our identity from Him. Thus, we need to know who God is and revel in Him with awe and wonder to then understand who we are, how God made us, and our identity.

A great starting place is in the Bible. In Exodus 34:6-7, God explains who He is. He is compassionate, gracious, patient, loyal, faithful, love, just, forgiving. The Bible is full of who God is.

Once we realize who God is, we receive our inheritance and generational blessings of identity. It is through our identity that we become those attributes of who God is. We can then become compassionate, full of grace and patience, loyal, faithful, just, forgiving, full of love.

Our identity is in who God says we are.

An easy way to discover whom your God is, is to look at who or what determines who you are and what you are worth.

I encourage you this week to spend time with God, gazing in awe at Him and His Majesty. Search your Bible for how God describes Himself and revel in who He is.

Next week, I will further explore identity and who God says we are.

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:  Gather craft supplies and cut-out cardboard human bodies. Ask everyone to receive from God a picture of who God says they are, then decorate their cardboard cut-outs accordingly.

2. Group Activation: Have blank pieces of paper with each group member’s name at the top. Fold over the name so it is not visible. Pass the sheets around so everyone has one piece of paper each. Ask group member’s to ask God for a statement/sentence of identity for the person whose name is on the paper. Once written on the paper, fold the paper again so the writing isn’t visible and pass the paper to the person on their left. Repeat several times. Then ask everyone to unfold the paper and read out the identity statements over the person at the top of the paper they are holding.

3. Beginner Activation: Gather writing and drawing supplies and sheets of paper. Spend time with God, reading His Word, documenting His character attributes, revelling in Him with awe and wonder. Then ask God to show you who He says you are. Listen, watch and sense as to who He says your identity is.

4. Intermediate Activation: Spend time revelling in God and His majesty with awe and wonder. Ask God to highlight someone to you who is struggling with their identity. Ask God to show you how He sees them. Communicate this appropriately to the person.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you a ruling family (whether constitutional or governmental) who are struggling with their identity. Spend time with God, seeking His heart for this family and its leaders and their true identity. Proclaim their true identity and ask God if He wants you to communicate this to them and how.

Identity part 1

People can become infatuated with being called a prophet.

I regularly get contacted by people who want to explore their prophetic identity or say they are a prophet. Just because you call yourself a prophet, or have that title, does not make you a prophet.

Being a prophet is not your identity. It is purely a function.

My response is to encourage them to explore their identity as a child of God first. Your identity is not in being a prophet. Prophetic identity is living out the essence of who God has called you to be. It is vital we don’t get caught up in wanting to be recognized as having a prophetic gifting, or even worse, as a prophet. This is similar for anyone who has a gifting and allows that gifting to become their identity, e.g. evangelist, Pastor, etc.

Unfortunately, our world looks at the exterior and titles and thinks it is fabulous. What you, or others, call you does not enamour God. He is enamoured with you and who He made you to be.

We don’t prophesy to become someone special or a so-called prophet. We prophesy from a place of knowing who we are and whose we are.

We prophesy out of our identity, not to build our identity.

People can easily become caught up in their gifting as their identity and see people through the lens of their gifting instead of purely loving them.

We need to get caught up in being a child of God. In living our lives for God and allowing everything to flow from that.

The Oxford Dictionary defines identity as “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.”.

Who you believe you are is so foundational. Similarly, who you are becoming.

Our identity answers the question, “Who has God created me to be?”. Our identity does not answer the question, “What am I to do?”. That is a destiny question that follows from identity, but our doing is not our being (identity). When we get our sense of identity from what we do, then the very essence of who we are, our core being, becomes vulnerable and unstable. When an unexpected event occurs with what we do e.g. lose our job, fail a course, our identity and self-worth can fracture.

This past fortnight has been a significant time in our family. One of our children was on a challenging promotional course for thirteen days. On the morning of graduation, they found out they had failed one small section, which meant they had not passed the course. After the graduation ceremony, this child’s identity shone through as they declared that even though they were disappointed, it wasn’t final; they would try again next time. This child realized they were no less a person because of that failure. This child showed resilience and security in who they were as a child of God with how they handled the disappointment.

So often, when we look at our identity, we start with ourselves. We examine what the Bible says about us eg Psalm 139:13-18 and how we were created.

Imagine, though, if we began with looking at God and taking our identity from God and how He sees us. When we start with God and look at our identity through God’s eyes, we have a solid base.

Over the next few weeks, I will unpack what it looks like having a solid identity in God.

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:  Gather craft supplies eg stickers, glue, textas, and cardboard crowns. Ask each person to decorate a crown for themself, writing on the crown a word that God gives them that describes how He sees them. Orchestrate a special time of placing each person’s crown on their head, declaring over them the identity God has bestowed on them.

2. Group Activation: Spend time as a group hearing from God about your identity as a group. Craft a group identity statement.

3. Beginner Activation: Go to your food supply and ask God to highlight an item of food. Select that item of food and look at it carefully, asking Him to show you how that item of food relates to your identity. Spend time with God asking Him to reveal more about your identity.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you a local street/place that has a high rate of crime. Ask God to show you His heart for that street/place and what He would love your response to that street to be.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to show you your nation’s physical and spiritual identity. Ask God to show you how He would love you to respond.

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.

Growing your Faith part 2

In 1 Corinthians 12: 9, we read some people receive a gift of faith. This is different to the ‘saving’ faith each of us has when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour. The gift of faith is extraordinary confidence in God’s promises, power and presence. It is a strong and unshakeable confidence in God, His Word and His promises. It is a fearless and zealous reliance on God and His ability to advance the Kingdom.

You can ask God for the gift of faith. Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Other ways to grow your faith include:

1. Surround yourself with people of great faith

After we returned from three months in Mozambique at the Iris Harvest Mission School, many friends commented on how my faith had enlarged. They would often comment that they could see a massive difference in my faith level pre and post-trip.

It puzzled me. As I reflected on our (exhaustive) trip with two little kids, the growth in my faith didn’t register. Instead, I focused on the tough aspects, the challenging aspects, friendships made and the highlights.

Maybe I didn’t see that my faith had enlarged because it seemed ‘natural’ what I believed after being around people who also had a ‘big’ faith.

The words ‘we become who we surround ourselves with’ are true. Surround yourself with people of great faith, and it ‘rubs off on you’. When I spend time with godly men and women who love God, have seen God work mightily in their lives, often through trauma or difficult circumstances, I am inspired. As Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (NIV) or as it is written in The Passion Translation, “so one person sharpens the character of another”. When I am around those of great faith, I am inspired to believe bigger, to grow my view of God and what He is capable of, and to realize my true identity as His royal daughter and all that encompasses. I am also challenged with any faulty thinking or being judgemental. This calls me up into purer thinking, beliefs and actions.

Thus, in wanting to grow your faith, surround yourself with men and women of great faith. You may say, ‘but Jane, I don’t know anyone like that where I live’. Then find someone somewhere or start reading biographies of people with great faith.

When we returned from Mozambique, my husband encouraged me to buy the entire set of “YWAM Christian Heroes Then and Now” books for us as a family to read. These books contain nuggets of gold. Written about missionaries who had sacrificed a lot, they all had one thing in common – that of their incredible love for God and their great faith in God.

An excerpt taken from ‘George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans YWAM Christian Heroes Then & Now’ by Janet & Geoff Benge is: One morning, George Muller had 300 orphans in his care but no food or money for their breakfast. The children were all seated at the dining tables with a plate, mug, and cutlery in front of each child. George shared with the children that God would supply their breakfast, having no idea where it would come from. He prayed and thanked God for the food that God was going to give to them. George knew without a doubt that God would not fail the children. Instantly there was a knock on the door. A local baker entered carrying a huge tray of delicious smelling bread. He shared how God had woken him up at 2 am that morning to bake bread for them. Another knock followed, with the milkman entering, asking for help. His wagon wheel had broken right outside the door, and he needed to lighten the load, so he had ten full cans of milk to give to them.

Reading numerous accounts like this, where people trusted God and took God at His Word, enlarges your faith.

Surround yourself with people who believe that “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37) and live accordingly.

Folks, this is why testimonies are so crucial. Hearing testimonies grow your spirit. Revelations 12:11 “They triumphed over by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony”.

Testimonies release power.

Testimonies release hope.

Testimonies release faith.

Surround yourself with people who strengthen your view of God.

2. Inner healing

Regularly ask God to reveal any false beliefs or lies you believe about Him or yourself. It’s easy to incorporate faulty or incorrect thinking into your life. Have prayer ministry and address issues in your life.

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We are required to keep renewing our mind to that of Christ’s.

2 Corinthians 10:5 “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Only keep those thoughts in your mind which God would keep in His mind and aligns with His Kingdom.

3. Obey immediately

The quicker you obey God and His promptings, the quicker you grow and become more Christ-like. The more God will trust you when He sees you are eager to grow and be faithful.

4. Minimise sin

When God highlights an area of sin or shortcoming to you, immediately deal with it. Don’t play with sin. Run fast from it. This applies to what you watch, read, and do.

5. Take risks

A significant part of growing your faith is trying, practising, and doing. If you will never step out and take risks in the supernatural, then you can’t expect to grow. If you see someone sick or injured, immediately ask God, “What do you want me to do?” or “Do you want me to pray for healing for them?” Then do it!! Do not expect to pray and see people raised from the dead if you have never prayed for a dead person before to come back to life. Take every opportunity.

6. Identity

Realizing your identity as a royal child and all that entails grows your faith. Know your identity – who you are in Christ. Know what the Bible says about you and who you are.

For your identity to be true and solid, you need to let go of any false beliefs. Receive prayer ministry/inner healing to align your heart and mind with God’s perspective of you. Healing inner wounds, especially from childhood or from your experiences, is a great place to start. No parent is perfect. No matter how great your parents are, there will be some wounding. I believe it helps to have some prayer ministry regularly (i.e. annually or every second year) just to make sure that no faulty thinking sticks and causes any issues. There are numerous types of inner prayer ministry available.

7. Authority

John 14:12 records Jesus saying, “whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these”.  Once you have the revelation in your life of your true identity, you can then walk in the authority that Christ has given you. When you read the Bible and see what Jesus did and realise that Jesus said that we would do even greater things, you start to walk in that authority. The authority of seeing healings, miracles, living a pure lifestyle. This is the life you were created for and are called to be walking in every single day. As you experience this lifestyle, your faith will grow. As you experience God answering prayer and see miracles, your faith grows.

8. Worship God.

As you worship and meditate on God, His goodness, His greatness, His ability, His promises, His power, and His presence, your spirit grows. As your spirit grows, your faith grows.

As you worship God and give Him His worth, your view of God and His magnificence enlarges as well. Decree God’s goodness and greatness. Psalm 71:15-16 Psalm 89:15-17 (TPT).

As stated last week in part 1, take God at His Word. Get into the Bible. Read the Bible and know what His Word says. Then believe it.

I would love to hear your thoughts on how you are growing your faith in God.

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 a few moments each asking God what He loves about them. Then share, draw or write it down.

2. Group Activation: Pair up and ask each other what area of their life they need a breakthrough in. Spend a few moments hearing from God, then ask everyone to prophesy over their partner.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God asking Him how you can specifically grow your faith.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight a Pastor in your area that is not from the church you attend. Spend time with God hearing His heart for this Pastor. Write an encouragement card to this Pastor, expressing God’s heart for Him/Her.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to reveal His heart about the Covid vaccine. Prophesy and decree the future of the vaccine.

Growing my Faith part 1

“If I want to have a big faith in God, then I need to have a big God.”

I believe everyone can grow their faith in God. I also believe that if we expand our awareness and ‘bigness’ of God and realize His true character, nature, and ability, then our faith will automatically grow. The larger our view of God is, the greater the faith we have in God.

I believed God healed, but I also had not seen that in my life until I experienced a defining moment with my kids’ healing. I had desperately prayed for my mum to be healed of cancer, and she died. I had desperately prayed for a close friend and fellow youth minister, aged 27, to be healed of a brain aneurysm, and she died. I had desperately prayed for us to have children, and we had to wait over ten long years. Thus, I had incorporated a false belief that God healed but not what it came to the ‘big’ things.

Then, my children were healed of anaphylaxis and allergies – anaphylaxis to eggs, nuts, soy, cottonseed oil, intolerant to dairy, sulphurs, salicylates, and fructose, and coeliac. That dramatically changed one day in 2010 when they experienced healing through prayer. That was the day I realized I needed to change my beliefs about God and fully believe all the promises in the Bible and confess all my ‘false’ beliefs I had incorporated through my experience.

We find a definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Faith is not believing what we can see but what we can’t yet see.

Do you have a cultural value of believing that anything is possible with God, not just believing it but actively pursuing it? “God can and will do anything, and that anything is possible with God” needs to be a core value whenever we want to see the supernatural become our natural lifestyle. Where are you currently at in believing for the impossible? Believing with such certainty, a total belief that God can and will do anything.

It is having an unshakeable belief in God and the promises of God that we read about in the Bible.

Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

This is one reason it is vital to be consistently in the Word of God, reading and devouring His promises and learning more about God’s character, nature and abilities. The more we know about aspects of God, the greater our ‘picture’ of God and His capabilities.

If you need help in this area, I encourage you to choose a Bible verse from the list below and begin meditating on it. If you believe the Bible is the Word of God, then meditating on the Bible and verses from it will help align your mind to what God wants to do.

Bible verses:

  • Job 42:1- 2 “Then Job replied to the Lord, ‘I know that you can do all things, no purpose of yours can be thwarted.’”
  • Jeremiah 32:17 ‘Ah Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and your outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.’
  • Matthew 17:20 “Jesus replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’”
  • Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible.’”
  • Mark 10:27 “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’”
  • Mark 11:22-24 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
  • Luke 1:37 “For nothing is impossible with God.”
  • Ephesians 3:20 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

Turn these verses into a declaration that you can regularly declare eg “Thank you God that nothing is impossible for you. Thank you, God, that you say in your Word that whatever I ask for in prayer and believe that I have received, it will be mine. Father God, I now thank you for giving me (answer to my prayer) and believe that You will give it to me because nothing is impossible for you, Father God. Thank you, God.”

Hebrews 11:6 sheds light on the important of faith to God. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” God expects us to have faith, to seek Him and to grow in our faith.

Thus, if you want to grow your faith:

1. Ask God for more faith.

2. Get into the Bible and align your mind with the mind of Christ. Meditate on the promises of God and use them as weapons for declaring God’s truth into your situation.

3. Obey God’s Word.

4. Ask God to show you if you have any ‘false’ beliefs about Him. If He reveals any to you, confess them and ask God to show you the truth.

Next week I will share further ways of helping you to grow your faith in God.

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 kids to ask God to show, tell or give them a sense of where God would be in a playground and also where they would be. Ask further questions such as why, what else is happening, what the weather’s like, anyone else around etc.

2. Group Activation: Get into pairs. Ask God to show you a book of the Bible that relates to your partner. Ask God further questions such as why that particular book, which verses in particular, is there a character that relates and why etc. Share this with your partner.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to show you a picture/character of Himself that is not common to your view of God. Ask Him how this attribute relates to you. Spend time with God meditating on that attribute/character/picture of God and seek a new revelation from God about Himself.

4. Intermediate Activation: Choose a service provider eg mailman or garbage collector. Ask God to show you a present you could buy for this person. Write a note about how the present prophetically relates to that person and ask God to show you a way to give it to that person.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to reveal to you an issue with something in the community planning department of your local council/shire/area. Pray and prophesy into that issue. Ask God if He requires you to do anything further about that issue.

Visual Reminders for the Prophetic

This week I am teaching on the prophetic at our Church’s College. Whenever I teach, I love to vary my style as I realize that not everyone learns the same way. Home-schooling two children, now teenagers, one auditory and kinetic and the other visual, has helped me realize that my role as a teacher is to help people learn in the style which resonates with them.

Visual cues help reinforce our teaching point so much more effectively.

Thus, I have created some ‘party bags’ for each student to help solidify the purpose and aims of prophesying to others,

Each bag contains:

  • Heart-shaped sunglasses

Love is the basis for communicating God’s heart to others.

  • Key attached to a (photocopied) computer ESC key

The key to prophesy is found in 1 Corinthians 14:3, “But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort”. E.S.C. If it is not encouraging, comforting, or strengthening, then we shouldn’t communicate it.

  • Packet of extremely sour and sweet lollies

When we communicate God’s heart to others, we want to leave a ‘sweet’ taste in their mouth. We do not want a lingering sour taste.

  • Water pistol

When we prophesy, we are called to hit the target that God has placed on their life. We need to be specific and not vague when we communicate precisely that which God has shown us for that person.

  • Party bubbles

When we prophesy, we create an atmosphere of heaven for that person. Are we communicating with love, acceptance, joy?

  • Party poppers

God delights in every person. Communicating God’s amazing heart to each person and His delight in them is essential.

  • Gold coin

Each person is of intense value to God and how we communicate this to them helps them discover their true identity.

  • Australian tattoo

We are Australian. That is who we are. An Australian tattoo symbolises our identity. Part of prophesying is calling people into their full identity as sons and daughters of God.

  • Ring

Assisting people to realise their full authority as a child of the most High God is so vital. The ring symbolises that which the Father placed on the Prodigal Son’s finger, signifying full identity and authority as the Father’s child.

  • Wand / sceptre

Part of prophesying is identifying each person’s calling and destiny, encouraging them in their God-given authority and purpose.

  • Candle

As we prophesy, we release God’s heart for that person’s future. We desire to light a fire, or fan the flame brighter for their destiny.

  • Trophy

Each person has their race to run. The trophy symbolises enabling them to see, through our prophesying, the race they are called to run and finish.

There was one piece missing as I couldn’t find any in our local shops; that of a party favour parachute soldier. The prophetic, whether words, pictures, songs, can be like a soldier parachuting into enemy territory. It can get into places where we can’t naturally get to and change a person’s (especially a non-Christian’s) thoughts about themselves and God.

What are your thoughts?

What other items may you have included to help them remember what prophecy is about?

I would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment or let me know.

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:  Buy a selection of party favours and ask each person present to select one. Then ask them to ask God to show or tell them why they selected that object and how it relates to them.

2. Group Activation: Get into pairs and ask God “If my partner was immortalised in a museum, what would the blurb say about them?” Then share with your partner.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God and ask Him what does He most love about you right at this instant? What is on His heart for you at the moment?

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God which missionary does He want you to encourage and either write, draw or give a prophetic gift to.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to put you in touch with either a member of the armed forces or a returned soldier and prophesy over their life.

Praying BIG

Six years ago, when our daughter was 12-years-old, she had an amazing year of opportunities being opened up for her to speak to people she wouldn’t usually be able to speak to. She was awarded the Shire Young Citizen of the Year and spoke at least a dozen times to several thousand people at Shire events. She also had afternoon tea with the then Australian Prime Minister, Mr Tony Abbott, and gave him a prophetic picture and prophetic word.

This started during a family devotional time at the beginning of the year where we were asking God some questions and listening to Him speak to us. Our daughter felt God was going to create opportunities for her to speak to people from all over the world. (Mind you, she didn’t enjoy speaking at that time and it is amazing to see her speaking in front of people now when 12 years ago she refused to go on stage in the end-of-year dance concert because she didn’t want people looking at her.) Since she had heard this from God, we then prayed into it and asked God to create those opportunities, and we started declaring this. That year she spoke at all the shire citizenship ceremonies where people were becoming citizens from hundreds of countries, many secondary schools, and gave a ‘TED’ to several hundred senior high school students just after the YWAM Founder spoke at YWAM GoFest.

What has this got to do with Praying BIG? This was something that started with her hearing from God, and we then started praying into it. I would never have thought to pray for her to speak and share her story to so many people and have tremendous opportunities of speaking in front of some of the world’s influential people.

What are the possibilities if we asked God what big prayer should we be praying and declaring for ourselves and our families this year?

I encourage you to take a few moments, either by yourself or with your family, put on some quiet worship music and ask God to show or tell you what BIG prayers you could start praying for yourself and your family. Ask God to literally ‘blow you out of the water’ with these prayers that He fills your mind with. Then go ahead, write them down and declare them out aloud.

Boldly asking God for opportunities and then declaring what God shows and tells you is ‘normal’ in the Bible. Faith is “the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. (Hebrews 11:1) Read through the Bible, and you will see countless examples of people being stretched and grown and then affecting nations, usually starting from hearing or sensing from God and believing what God said. For example, in Genesis 6, Noah took God at His Word and began building a boat when there was no likelihood of rain. This would have seemed ludicrous to those around him. Did that stop him? No.

Our daughter heard from God, then we believed her and began boldly declaring that God would create opportunities for her to speak and make an impact. Within several weeks, she had received an invitation to have afternoon tea with the then Australian Prime Minister. Upon opening the official envelope, we laughed and then rejoiced. God was opening doors we couldn’t open. We then ‘walked through that door. One of the first thoughts was that it was a fabulous opportunity to give him a prophecy. Thus, we all wrote prophetic words and drew prophetic pictures, and our daughter gave them to the Prime Minister. Many friends later commented that they would never have thought of doing that. Perhaps that is why God chose our daughter to meet with the Prime Minister, knowing that our family were already operating in this gifting and prepared to take every opportunity we could.

Are you prepared for when God opens the door you have been knocking at?

What do you need to believe God for today?

Our words are powerful. Whenever we speak, we are releasing the potential for positive or negative effect into the atmosphere. Our words have the power to create, to form and fashion something out of nothing and to change outcomes. In Genesis 1, God spoke, and the world was created. He has given us the same creative power to create outcomes by the words we speak. Do you boldly declare what God has revealed to you, partnering with God in opening the door and bringing it into being?

         God’s Word does not return empty, and our words don’t either.

The Bible says a lot about our use of words:

  • Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
  • Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
  • Proverbs 12:18 “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
  • Romans 4:17 “the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”

I encourage you today to:

1. Ask God to reveal to you something big He wants to do through you. Dream BIG on how you would like to partner with God on this for the year.

2. Write this into a declaration and begin speaking it out.

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:  Compile an assortment of magazines, scissors and positive ‘words’. Spend time as a family/group sorting through the words and magazines for a ‘word’ that stands out to each person. Write that word down and chat about that word and how it applies to that person for this year. You may like to make a poster about that word and place in a prominent place or bedroom.

2. Group Activation: As a group, practising hearing, sensing and seeing together for a Bible verse for the group as a whole for this year. Have people share and come to a conclusion. Spend time chatting about what you have learnt about getting a ‘prophecy’ together for the group.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God and ask Him to reveal to you a special Bible verse that is applicable to you this year. Pray into that verse and how it applies to your life.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God for a Bible verse or chapter or Bible character to prophesy over your family this year. Spend time with God, opening further up the meaning and application.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him for a Bible verse for your nation for this year. Ask Him what you are to do with this and how you are to proclaim it.

Bringing Christ into the centre of my Christmas

Several years ago around Christmas time, I was having a coffee with a close friend and she asked me what we were doing for Christmas. I shared how we were going to be getting together with extended family and that I had a real sense that one of the family member’s who has an issue with manipulation and control was going to create a scene and get angry at someone.

My friend looked at me and ‘gently’ rebuked me. “Jane, you are always challenging people to watch what they say as your words come true. What you put out there into the atmosphere, what you say, then has power and will come true. I think you should change what you are saying and be an atmosphere changer with your extended family.”

Ouch – that really struck me and made me think. Yes. I 100% believe that there is power in our words and we can speak life or death into situations. I had been speaking death and destruction into our Christmas day and I needed to take responsibility to see that peace would reign.

Is there anything you are not looking forward to about this Christmas? Is there anyone whom you are dreading the interaction with? Sometimes Christmas can be so stressful and something we are not looking forward to, yet as Christians we are meant to be celebrating the birth of our Saviour? Below, I have highlighted some questions to ask yourself.

1. Am I creating an idol out of Christmas with my expectations?

  • Do I have to have the house perfect?
  • Do I need to give (and receive) the perfect present?
  • Are my emotional needs being ‘filled’ or ‘unmet’ by expectations surrounding the perfect Christmas when God should really be taking that place?
  • Am I creating an ‘idol’ out of Christmas with my expectations of the ‘perfect’ Christmas?
  • Is there a lie I’m believing about having the ‘perfect’ Christmas?

2. How am I spending my time, energy, money and thought life?

  • Is too much time, energy and money being spent on insignificant things?
  • Am I overthinking situations and creating a bigger problem in my mind?
  • Am I spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about what to buy for people?
  • Have I fallen into the trap of people-pleasing?

3. What am I speaking into the atmosphere?

  • Are my words full of life?
  • Am I expecting negative things to happen?
  • Am I vocalising my negative thoughts and expectations?

4. How am I communicating Christ’s love, peace, joy and power?

  • What is flowing from my relationship with God?
  • How am I loving my extended family, those who require ‘extra time’, and those who supposedly can’t give me anything in return?
  • Are people attracted to the God within me?

5. How am I prophetically encouraging people this Christmas?

  • What do the presents I am giving communicate?
  • What have I written in cards to prophetically encourage others?
  • What message do my Christmas decorations communicate?
  • How have I extended myself with acts of kindness this week?
  • How am I making space and time for Jesus at the moment?

This Christmas, why don’t you resolve to be the change you so desperately desire within your family and community. Below I have listed five ways of doing this.

1. Be an atmosphere changer

  • When you come up against someone who is angry or manipulative or a control freak, quietly change the atmosphere by saying something similar to “I see you, spirit of manipulation and control. I choose not to partner with you and instead release freedom.”
  • A few months ago, I taught a group of children this by saying “Go manipulation. Come freedom.” The change is incredible.

2. Watch your words

  • Be careful what you say and how you frame it.
  • Speak life into every situation.
  • Be an encourager.

3. Realise what you can and cannot change and what you can bring to the situation.

  • Prepare some prophetic words to give to people that will encourage, comfort and strengthen them.
  • Be on the look out for how you can encourage everyone you meet, whether by a smile, a few words, an action etc.
  • Take time to look out for the lonely, the people left out, the refugee, the unloved, the grieving, the ‘prisoner’ (whether in actual prison or a prisoner in their feelings), the person who can’t look you in the eye. Ask God what you can do or say to show love and to communicate to them that they are important and that you notice them.

4. Do something just for the heck of it.

  • Have fun.
  • Do something with wild abandon.
  • Laugh out aloud.

5. Spend some quality time with God

This Christmas, may you know and feel the love that Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus all have for you and may you be a blessing to those you meet and spend time with.

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:  Bake some gingerbread biscuits and decorate them prophetically with a design or a word and give them away.

2. Group Activation: Ask each group member to buy a prophetic Christmas decoration for another group member and to prophesy over that person using the decoration as the base for the prophecy.

3. Beginner Activation: Buy a Christmas decoration for yourself that prophesies into your future.

4. Intermediate Activation: Grab a bottle of hand sanitiser and spend some time looking at it. Ask God to speak to you through what you see. How does it apply to your life? What does God want to say to you through it?

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight a major socio-political issue impacting your area/country at the moment eg in Victoria, it is the conversion therapy act trying to be passed through Government at the moment. Spend time with God hearing His heart on the matter and prophesy into it, declaring out aloud the future as God desires.

What to do with your Prophetic Words part 5

Prophecy does not end as soon as you have received a prophetic word. It is only the beginning. Prophecy is powerful, and your responsibility as the recipient is to activate it in your life.

Reading through Jeremiah in the Bible recently, I was challenged about my prophetic words, particularly working towards the fulfilment of them.

In Jeremiah 1:12 it says: “The Lord said to me, ‘You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled’.” Sure, that was speaking of a particular time in Israel’s history, but I am sure that God still watches to see what we will do with the prophetic words spoken over our lives.

When we actively pursue that which God has communicated to us, how it must thrill God’s heart. Alternatively, when we are overwhelmed with the enormity and allow that to stagnate us or when we procrastinate in working towards the fulfilment of our prophetic words, I wonder how God feels.

Sometimes those prophecies can seem so vast and impossible that we almost disregard them and thus do not carry out any action towards the fulfilment of them. Other times, we can become side-tracked.

My purpose in explaining the steps in ‘What to do with your prophetic words’ is so you can take delight in becoming who God is calling you to be and impacting the world for that which He created you.

In what area of your life is God watching to see that you fulfil His word in your life?

Over the last four blog posts, I have explained the benefits of having a prophetic word, the first steps to take when you receive a prophetic word, and how to identify your identity words and destiny words from your prophecies and work with them. This blog post addressed the practicalities of implementing your prophetic words into your everyday life.

At the end of the last blog post, I encouraged you to dream with God. To imagine what your future may look like if your prophetic words came true. You were encouraged to:

  • Get your notes from that session and highlight the steps you will need to take to get from where you are to where you will be once you fulfil your prophetic words.
  • List the practical things that you would need to grow in.
  • Look at the first 2-3 steps you would need to take. Write them down. Ask God to impress on you the way forward. You need to take responsibility to action these steps. You can’t expect God to pluck you out of your current circumstances and land you right in your fulfilled prophecy. You may find it helpful to grab another sheet of paper and draw the steps and label them.

List your next 3 steps.

We need to be intentional in who we are becoming and what we are doing. It can be overwhelming when we have too many options. Thus, narrow down your responsibility at this moment by:

  • Writing the first three steps you need to take.
  • Writing a date, beside each step, when you hope to have accomplished this.
  • Highlighting that which is under God’s control in one colour and that which is under your control in another colour.
  • Look at what you need to stop doing in your life to allow you time, finance and energy to accomplish this.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • What is the difference between where I am now and where I need to be to fulfil this prophetic word?
  • What obstacles are ahead of me?
  • How do I overcome these obstacles?
  • What are the things under God’s control?
  • What are the things under my control?
  • Do I have enough faith to carry out what God is asking me?
  • How can I increase my faith for this assignment?
  • What practical skills do I need to gain?
  • What areas of my character need growing/changing?
  • How am I going to do that?
  • What provisions/finances do I need to carry this assignment out?
  • What opportunities/invitation do I have to grow in?
  • What area of my relationship with God is He inviting me to grow in?
  • What is my next step?
  • Is there anything I need to stop doing so I have time, finances, and energy to do this next step?
  • Is there anyone I need to connect with for assistance, development, acquiring skills or qualifications?

Accountability:

I have found that the times in my life when I get someone else to hold me accountable for some goals I have set, I achieve those goals. Needing to meet with someone else and knowing they will ask me how I am going in certain areas helps to keep me accountable and ploughing towards where I am hoping to be. I also find that it is helpful if that person is a person of prayer and will support me by praying for me.

If you have a mentor, it is fantastic to give them a copy of your prophetic words and your next steps so they can see where God is calling you and how to assist.

Who are you going to ask to hold you accountable as you work towards fulfilling these first three steps in seeing your prophetic word come to fruition?

Craft a prophetic declaration.

Every time we speak, we are creating an atmosphere and an outcome. Our words can bring life and power. We can use our words to bring a breakthrough into our current situation. We can speak truth into the atmosphere and engage our future with who God says we are becoming and what we will be doing.

The Bible says a lot about our use of words:

  • Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
  • Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
  • Romans 4:17 “…the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”

What we decree and declare brings life and power. Decreeing and declaring speak of commanding, ordering, bringing into being, agreeing in the spiritual to change the physical. Write a prophetic declaration about who you are becoming and what you will be doing.

I encourage you to keep your declaration short and to the point. When I restrict my declaration to a few sentences, I can easily memorize it and speak it over myself numerous times each day. I also write it out and stick it on the bathroom mirror so that when I look in the mirror, I see my declaration and speak it over myself.

I also encourage you to write your declarations in the first person eg “I am a prayer warrior. I will bring healing to ….”

Look at your sheet of paper and choose the words that speak of your identity and calling. Put those words into a declaration.

I begin like this. “I decree and declare that God sees me as….

My calling and purpose in life is…..

I decree and declare that God wants to be …… for me during this season.”

Once you have written your declaration, I encourage you to find a place where you can say your declaration aloud. Practice saying it aloud several times. Then shout it out. I suggest you also find a place where you can be elevated while you shout out your declaration. This changes the atmosphere and engages your spirit differently. When we do this, we are partnering with God’s intentions for our future and helping Him create it. When we declare our future in the same way, the same tone, the same intentionality, and certainty as God declares it, our spirit engages and comes alive.

Finally, write your summary:

  • My decree and declaration
  • The next three steps I need to take.
  • What I need to stop doing to make time to pursue this.
  • Who I need to hold myself accountable to in this journey.
  • Suggested dates for review.
  • Set aside time in your diary to sit with God and review how it is going, read over your prophetic words again, pray through it all.

Saturate all this with prayer and worship, spending time with God, asking Him to reveal more through this process. Enjoy the journey!!

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:  Bake a batch of biscuits and make icing in several different colours. Gather piping tools for writing with icing. Encourage everyone to sit around the table and decorate a biscuit for various people eg each family member. Ask God to show what word, design, colour to decorate each individual biscuit with that communicates how God sees that person. Then distribute the biscuits to those people. Enjoy eating the biscuits and chatting about how God sees them.

2. Group Activation: Ask everyone to bring a gift beginning with the letter ‘B’. Encourage people to get into pairs. Every person has 1 minute to give their partner the gift plus prophesy over them about how that gift relates to them and how God sees them and their future.

3. Beginner Activation: Open your phone/computer and type ‘song heart’ into search. Ask God to highlight one of the song titles that appear on your screen. Spend time with God unpacking that song title and how applicable it is to your life. As God to reveal His perspective on that to you and His heart for you.

4. Intermediate Activation: Spend time with God seeking Him for His view on your partner or close friend. Ask God to reveal something significant to you about this person and their future. Lean into God and ask Him to flesh it out more for you, together with implications and when you are to share it with this person.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him for His heart on COVID-19, especially in regard to a vaccine etc. Ask God to download to you more about this and the future of your area in regard to COVID-19. Ask God to show you whether you are meant to share this with anyone and, if so, with whom.

What to do with your Prophetic Words part 4

In the previous few blog posts, I have looked at what to do with your prophetic word concerning using it to contend with your current situation, the initial steps when you receive a prophecy, and how to get the most out of it regarding your identity. This blog post looks at what your prophetic word is saying about your calling and purpose and how to extrapolate that out of your prophetic word.

When we returned from Mozambique six years ago, we looked at the fact that our 8-year-old daughter had prophetic words over her life about healing people in the natural and supernatural. We realized that we couldn’t just wait until she was 21 and expect her to start praying for people and seeing healings. We had a responsibility to place her in situations to steward her growth and development in this. Thus, our family joined our church’s Healing Rooms Team, where we would all get experience and training praying for people for healing. For the first five years we were involved in this, there were minimal children on the team i.e. mostly one other girl.

Were my kids happy about being involved? Not always, mainly because there weren’t many other kids, although my daughter loved catching up with the other girl and looked forward to the times being with her. Were we tempted many times to stop doing this as a family because it was hard? Yes, but we hung in there. Now there are at least 15 children/teenagers on the team, and our kids look forward to going. My daughter has seen God heal so many times that she now expects God to heal and that He wants to heal. God and healing are synonymous.

In relation to your prophetic words, let’s now look at how to find what they are saying about your calling and purpose.

Steps to identifying your calling and purpose:

  • Grab a copy of your prophetic words, some highlighters, a blank sheet of paper and pens.
  • Read through your prophetic word, this time highlighting all the words that talk about:
    • your future
    • your purpose
    • action or ‘doing’ words (as against ‘being’ words)
    • where you are likely to be in the future or what you are likely to be doing
  • As you did with your identity words, read through your prophetic word again and look for words or themes that are repeated, or emphasized.
  • Grab the blank piece of paper and a pen and then write down all the highlighted words.
  • If you have several prophetic words, do this for them all. Highlight:
    • any exact wording
    • common themes
    • stuff that leaps out at you
    • resonates with your soul
    • any words that confirm what God has already been chatting with you about
  • Do not forget to highlight anything that conflicts with what God has already shown you.
    • Look at why it appears to be in conflict with what you already know.
    • Is it a conflict or an enlarging of what you already know?
    • Is it something you need to ‘shelve’ for a period of time?
    • Does it carry the ‘heart’ of God, or is it against God’s character?
    • Is it a conflict or a different way of looking at something God is revealing to you?

Spend time with God seeking His heart on anything that appears to be conflicting.

  • Look for any specific words that talk about where, what, who with, etc. Circle them so they stand out. Use your sheet of paper to mark and highlight important aspects.
  • Take particular note of any character words. Our calling is not in isolation. It is very dependent on our character. Clues to this can be found in who God wants to be for us in this next stage/season of our life. Look for any words along this line. God is a relational God, so He wants to come with us on the journey we are embarking on. He wants to play an essential role in this journey, so look for clues as to who He wants to be for us. Another way of looking at it is ‘what is God wanting to provide for me on this journey?’

Personal prophecy is conditional. It is dependent on us co-operating with God and becoming who He wants us to become. Usually this requires a step up in our character or skills or identity. Does anything come to mind immediately regarding this? Take a moment to ask God to highlight anything to you where you need to go on a character journey.

Spend time dreaming with God.

  • Spend time just being with God, dreaming or imagining what the future may look like for you if these prophetic words come true.
  • What steps will you need to take to get from where you currently are to where you will be?
  • Write down practical things that you would need to grow in.
  • Continue spending time with God over the next few days dreaming and brainstorming with God about these steps.
  • Look at the first 2-3 steps you would need to take. Write them down. Ask God to impress on you the way forward. You need to take some responsibility to action these steps. You can’t expect God to pluck you out of your current circumstances and land you right in your fulfilled prophecy. You may find it helpful to grab another sheet of paper and draw the steps and label them.

In the next blog post, we will look at crafting a prophetic declaration and how to action your next steps.

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:  Put the names of everyone present on separate pieces of paper and place in a hat. Ask each person to pick a piece of paper out. The person’s name on the paper is who they will ask God to share with them which cake mix that person reminds God of and why. Ask everyone to share with the group.

2. Group Activation: Ask everyone to bring a small but significant / meaningful object from home. Place all the objects together. Ask each person to choose an object and prophesy over the person it belongs to.

3. Beginner Activation: Look for a key in your home that you don’t normally use that often. Spend time with God asking Him what is on His heart for that key and what it opens. Ask God to then enlarge your vision and see what He has to say about your next step and an opening that may occur.

4. Intermediate Activation: Find someone wearing a mask (during this time of COVID-19). Ask God to show you His heart for the person and how that relates to the mask they are wearing. Ask God if the colour / pattern / design are influential in what He reveals to you. Ask God if you are to release what God has shown you to the person. If so, find an appropriate way to let the person know God’s thoughts towards them, being aware of the language you use.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to show you a bully in your life – whether personal, family, neighbourhood, church, Government etc. Ask God to show you His heart and purpose for this person and your part to play in the ‘bully’s’ life or future. Declare out aloud God’s intentions for this person, finishing with a blessing as you call them higher.