Category Archives: Hearing God

Creating your own Prayer Closet

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For the first twenty years of my marriage, I strongly disliked ironing. I now love ironing. What caused the 180° turnaround?

Prayer.

Not prayer that I would love ironing.

Prayer whilst I was ironing.

When the kids were younger, ironing was the one place I was never disturbed. I found that I finally had a few minutes of peace – mental and physical. I then began to use that time to pray for friends and start interceding for them. I then realised that some friends were consistently asking for prayer and there were so many issues popping up in people’s lives that I was spending more time praying for them than my own husband and kids.

I made a change to pray for my family to begin with whilst ironing. Now, I can’t believe how quickly the time seems to go when I’m ironing a basket of clothes. (Whilst writing this blog post, I have just realised that when I am in the laundry, I look at a blank wall. After googling ‘prayer closet’, I have now received inspiration to put some artwork and Bible verses and encouraging pictures on that wall for inspiration when praying.)

I also have found that since I use that time in the laundry to pray, it has created an atmosphere of prayer in there. I can sense it when I go in there.

Concerted prayer in the one place changes the atmosphere over that tiny piece of earth. Where I stand whilst ironing has a ‘grace’ upon it for answered prayer. Whilst ironing, I often find myself asking God questions about various issues. Almost immediately I will sense the answer. It is like so much connection and relationship between God and I have occurred on that very piece of my floor, that God answers immediately. The atmosphere is rich with grace and mercy.

Much the same as our shower. When I have a shower, I often pray for friends. Now I have quick showers as I was brought up on a farm and on tank-water, we were only allowed one-minute showers. Thus, as soon as I jump in the shower, I ask God what He wants me to pray for a certain friend. Tuesdays I pray for my friend Katharine who does prison ministry that day. Almost immediately God will download to me what to decree and declare for her. So, I immediately do it. All up, 30 to sixty seconds maximum. Due to daily spending time in that place, the atmosphere has become rich in there so that I can hear God immediately. Like a ‘thin place’ between heaven and earth.

A thin place is a location where we can sense the divine more easily and readily. A place where the space between heaven and earth grows thin and the Sacred and the secular seem to meet.

A ‘thin place’ comes from the mystical world of Celtic spirituality. The Celtic Christians were known for believing, and practicing, that the most ordinary elements of everyday life are infused deeply with God’s presence.

Do you have the one or two places you love to spend time praying in? If not, I encourage you to find a place where you feel comfortable, where you are alone with God, where you won’t necessarily be disturbed and begin to build up the prayer ground in that place.

For inspiration, the movie “The War Room” inspired many people to build a prayer closet in their house. If you google ‘prayer closet’, there are oodles of photos for inspiration. For me, I prefer a portable prayer closet, in the shower or laundry or with my journal in a favourite chair. You may prefer out in nature, on the beach, during a walk in the park. It doesn’t matter where. What matters is that you have somewhere you feel comfortable spending time investing in your relationship with 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 God to show, tell or give you a picture of how He sees your teacher. Share with the rest of the family or group. Draw a picture of this to give to your teacher. Share with your parents and maybe even make or buy something that resembles how God sees them.

2. Group Activation: Explain to the group that you will ask them to get up and move around the room. You will have some music playing and at short intervals, you will stop the music. As soon as the music stops, they are to find a partner. Then they have one minute to ask God for a book of the Bible for their partner and why that book relates to them. Allow a few minutes for people to share with their partner, but keep it short and snappy. Then repeat the process, with people finding new partners when the music next stops. At the end, debrief and see how many people received the same book of the Bible or if they received different ones but they were all applicable.

3. Beginner Activation: Grab a piece of paper and a pen. Spend time seeking God’s heart for yourself. Then write a letter to yourself from God.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you a person in a leadership position who desperately needs encouragement. Seek God how you can most effectively give them a prophetic word that will encourage them.

5. Advanced Activation: Address the latest issue that has become a worldwide fear eg Coronavirus that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Ask God for His heart and His perspective on this and what He would have your role to be. Then do what He shows or tells you.

Visual Reminders for Prophesying

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Over the last fortnight I have taught the teenagers (ages 13-15) in our church’s Teen Leadership Academy. Some of these teenagers have grown up in our church and have had numerous teaching on the prophetic before and have also been involved in giving numerous prophetic words to people. Others were brand new to hearing God’s voice.

Our aim was to help these teens not only hear God for themselves but also for others. A secondary aim was to invite these teens to release prophetic words to individuals after our church service along with the adult prophetic team.

After we had looked at hearing God’s voice for ourselves, I concentrated on hearing God’s voice for others. To help introduce the purpose and aims of prophesying to others, I gave each teen a ‘goodies’ bag. These bags had eight items in them. They were a huge hit!! Visual cues help reinforce our teaching point so much more effectively.

These items were:

  1. Heart shaped sunglasses

So important to have love as the basis for communicating God’s heart to others.

  1. Packet of very sour & very sweet lollies

When we are prophesying to others, we want to leave a ‘sweet’ taste in their mouth. We do not want to leave a sour taste.

  1. Candle

When we prophesy, we want to light a fire within them that burns for what we have communicated.

  1. Gold medal

Each person has their own race to run and must run their race. The medal symbolised us enabling them to see, through our prophesying, what their race is that they are called to run and finish.

  1. Water pistol

When we prophesy, we are called to hit the target that God has placed on their life.

  1. 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.

  1. Ring

Another part of prophesying is helping people to realise their full authority. The ring symbolises the ring the Father placed on the prodigal son. This means having full identity and authority as the Father’s child.

  1. Key attached to a (photocopied) computer ESC key

(This was a stretch but all I could think of that communicated the acronym ‘ESC’). 1 Corinthians 14:3 says that all prophecy should be encouraging, strengthening and comforting.

The teens loved it and the following week could remember all the objects they had received in their bag.

What are your thoughts?

What are some other items you may have included to help them remember what prophesying over others is about?

I would love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to 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: Have gold/yellow cardboard precut to look like a medal. Punch a hole in it and thread cord through it so that it looks like a winners medal. Have pens/pencils handy. Ask each person to make a medal for themself about what God says that they are the winner for in Heaven and here on earth. If time, ask them to make one for someone else, asking God what that person’s purpose is here on earth or the race they will win at running.

2. Group Activation: Have sheets of A4 paper and pens/textas handy. Distribute a sheet of paper to everyone. Ask them to place their name in the middle of the page followed by the word ‘is’. eg ‘Jane is’. Then ask everyone to give their paper to the person on their left. This person will write one sentence that they sense, hear or see from God about who that person is. Then ask everyone to keep passing the paper around to the people on their left until at least everyone’s sheet of paper has at least ten sentences on it about who they are, their identity. Return the sheets to their owners. Maybe even have someone speak the sentences over each person as the papers are returned to their rightful owner.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend some time with God asking Him to show or tell you how He sees you dressed. As you begin to hear or see or sense what it is, then ask God further questions. Eg Why am I dressed that way? Is this how I am seen in Heaven? What is on my head? What would you like to put in my right hand God? etc

4. Intermediate Activation: Find a community group that is struggling in its identity. Ask God for a prophetic word about this group’s identity. Ask God how to most effectively release that word to the group.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God for a prophetic word for your nation’s first people and their future. Ask God what He would like you to then do with that prophetic word. Then do it.

How dare you pray that!!

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Whilst sitting in my car waiting for my son to finish swimming squad, I glanced over and saw a young mum rushing with her two girls into the swimming centre. My gaze concentrated on the fact that this mum had scoliosis and a hip issue and was bent really forward at the waist to the point it looked really awkward to walk, along with a limp. My first thought was “I wonder if she would let me pray for her as she could be healed.”

My second thought was “Jane, don’t be so presumptuous. You have no idea of her situation and even if she wants healing. You need to spend time with her first.”

My mind then immediately went back to two events that stood out for me in regard to praying for others.

Firstly, I was helping at a weekly meal for people who were struggling. I had formed some good friendships with the folk, many who had mental illness or psychiatric issues. I had been able to speak into their lives and also pray for a number of them and had seen a number of them pray for each other. One guy in particular had become very open about his life with me as we realised I knew a number of people from his childhood. On the evening he had been released from hospital after a psychiatric episode resulting in an admission to Intensive Care, I had turned up at the boarding house with a friend and a load of food for him as he was too frail to come to the weekly meal. As I chatted with this guy this evening, he shared with me that God had healed him of at least 5 major physical health issues. I commented that the only thing left for God to heal was his psychiatric illness. This guy went quiet for awhile before speaking. He then shared that he didn’t really want God to heal that as it would mean too many changes for him and he would also lose the disability pension.

I was shocked.

I had never even considered that.

I presumed that this guy, and everyone else, desired to be totally healed and live an amazing life, in my viewpoint.

If my friend was healed of his psychiatric illness, the change to how he lived would be enormous. He would lose his disability pension. He would lose his room at the boarding house. He would need to find a job and earn money. How he viewed himself would change. His identity would change.

Sometimes, this can be too much for someone and they do not want the ‘healing’ that we would love to see them walk in.

The second event that stood out to me was when I was in a conference and the guest speaker identified a person with a very obvious physical disability. The speaker spoke to this person and shared how God wanted to heal this person completely but the choice was this person’s, as the healing would change their whole life and they would lose certain things from their life, and gain other things. This person chose not to be healed of this physical condition.

I was flabbergasted at several things, including how this was addressed in public but also that this person chose not to be healed.

Please don’t become presumptuous in how you view others and the opportunity for healing. We can fall into judging others lifestyle by what we see physically and comparing that to our physical lifestyle.

A key in praying for other people is to always ask what they would like prayer for. What they would like Jesus to do for them. What may seem obvious to you may not be their top priority for an answer to prayer.

A second key in praying for other people is to treat people with kindness and compassion, not an opportunity to ‘fix’ them with Jesus. Everyone is a person. Everyone is someone who deserves respect and kindness and to be treated with compassion.

I’m currently writing a 30 day devotional based on how Jesus ministered to folk according to the Gospel of Mark. As I read Mark’s Gospel, the one thing that stands out over and over again is how Jesus treated everyone with compassion. They were not an object. They were not a physical deformity. Each person was worth stopping for. Each person was significant and deserved to be treated with respect.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Please feel free to comment below.

 

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: Brainstorm with your family someone whom they know is sick or requires healing. Ask God to show you how to go about praying for them and what God would love you to do. Draw a picture for the person and give it to them.

2. Group Activation: Get into pairs and ask God to reveal to each other’s partner what part of their health God would like to address for their partner. Then check with your partner which area of their health they would like prayer and prophesy for and see if it is the same health issue. Ask God to show you what to pray and prophesy over this area that your partner wishes to receive prayer for. Check for any healing or response.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to highlight to you an injured or sick person today. When you notice this person, ask this person if you could pray for them and ask them what they would like prayer for. Then pray for them and prophesy over their illness or injury.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight to you someone in the news who has an illness. Spend time with God asking Him to show you more about this person and their illness and what He would want you to do about it. If there is something God highlights to you that He wants you to do something about, press in further and ask God to show you how, when and what and to open the door for this to occur. Prophesy over the person and their health.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight to you a health issue that affects many people in your nation. Spend time hearing God’s heart on this issue and prophesy God’s heart in regard to the healing of this health issue.

Is your vision clear or cloudy?

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Sitting in the car at the beach, looking out over the bay, the rain was pounding down outside. I was enjoying the atmosphere of the sound and the feeling of God being in control of the pounding waves. Seeing the relentless waves breaking upon the shore, I slowly noticed something.

The windscreen was hard to see through.

This began to rob me of some of my enjoyment and of my being able to experience the completeness of the stormy picture.

Because the rain was pounding so hard, if I didn’t turn on the windscreen wipers, I couldn’t see anything but the pounding rain.

 

I needed to clear the windscreen to see beyond.

 

What’s your ‘windscreen’ or vision like today? Is it cloudy or clear? Could it be better?

Sometimes our relationship with God and our prophesying can be like my windscreen – a bit foggy. Maybe not as clear as it could be. Maybe something is impairing the sight slightly. Maybe we can see some but not as much of the picture as would be ideal. Maybe we can see close by but not into the distant.

When that happens, who are we robbing?

  • Ourselves
  • God
  • The people we meet whom God is desiring to communicate to…

Prophesying can be like looking through a windscreen to see something beyond. Sometimes we can see the full picture, other times our vision can be impaired for some reason or we can’t see the full picture. Sometimes another person can help fill in the complete picture or more of the picture.

1 Corinthians 13:9 says “For we know in part and we prophesy in part”. Yes, God sees the full picture and we don’t have that ability to be all knowing and all seeing. But please do not let that be an excuse for letting your ‘windscreen’ get, or remain, foggy so that you are impaired from prophesying to your full ability with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Friends, we all need to take action to clear our windscreen, clear our vision. Some seasons can be harder and can require more effort to keep the windscreen clear and clean.

What action do you need to take today?

  • Spend time just worshipping God.
  • Confess sin.
  • Change an action that’s not quite right.
  • Get stuck into reading the Bible and finding what He has to say to you in His Word.
  • Listen to God and wants He wants to share with you.
  • Develop your intimacy and friendship with Father God, Holy Spirit, and Jesus.
  • Apologise to someone for your part in the relationship that is no longer right.
  • Enjoying hanging out with God with no ulterior purpose than to enjoy being with God.
  • Have a good sleep.
  • Spend time praying in the Spirit.
  • Turn off certain tv programs, stop reading certain books, stop listening to junk, or stop playing certain games that are not beneficial or that don’t encourage purity.

What is your vision like today?

I would love to know what you do to ‘reset’ when your vision is a tad cloudy. Please feel free to drop me a line or comment below on my blog.

 

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: Pass out several sheets of paper and crayons / textas to everyone. Ask everyone to draw or write on a piece of paper the stuff in their life that is putting a barrier up between them and God. Then burn, or destroy, each piece of paper. Have fun praying with your kids to cleanse everyone’s mind, dreams, imagination and heart. Then ask God to show everyone present what things they need to change or do differently to keep clean imaginations. Draw a picture each to represent this. Finish up with asking the children to pray over the adults and share what God is telling them about each adult.

2. Group Activation: Ask people to pair up. Give out pieces of paper and crayons / textas. Ask people to listen, see, feel what they sense God is communicating about a big issue that their partner is facing at the moment. Then ask them to prophesy over their partner by drawing how God sees that issue in their life in 3 years time. Allow ten minutes then ask people to give the drawing to their partner and explain the picture.

3. Beginner Activation: Put on some worship music that allows you to focus on God. Spend time getting ‘lost’ in the presence and beauty of God. Cultivate your ‘awe’ of God and His goodness. Finish by asking God what He would like to share with you and wait for His response. Try and journal God’s response and your reaction.

4. Intermediate Activation: Think about the biggest issue you are facing at the moment. Ask God to share with you His perspective on this issue and His timing. Ask God to show you the picture of this issue several years down the track. Ask God to reveal to you the next couple of steps you need to take to get from now to the picture several years down the track.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to reveal to you something about your nation’s finances that God would want you to know so that you can decree and declare God’s way forward in your nation’s economy.

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.

When I can’t hear God for myself?

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My 13 year old son has recently joined Air Force Cadets and, on Anzac Day, as I watched him march with his unit, I began crying. Not sobbing but crying enough that my response shocked me. Why was I crying? When anything unexpected occurs, I try to ask God “What did that trigger in me?” or “Why did I respond like that?” or “What’s underneath that emotion?”

Nothing came. My mind was spinning with a thousand thoughts – was it because our son wanted to join the Defence Force and he may be fighting in a war one day? Was it because…. Numerous what if’s came to mind. But God seemed to be deathly silent in answering me.

I sat with it a bit longer and it suddenly struck me – I think I was asking the wrong question. A more appropriate question was “Was it appropriate the emotion I expressed?” Immediately I heard God’s voice – “Yes. You are extremely grateful for those who served and fought to save this country and your future.”

Wow – I suddenly realised that often when people say to me “I can hear God for others but I find it hard hearing God for myself”, then perhaps they need to change their question.

I encourage you, next time you find it hard hearing God for yourself, to change the question you are asking God.

I believe that there are also several other things we can do so that we open up the communication lines between God and ourselves for ourselves.

Listed below are a few ideas to implement when you feel a blockage in hearing God for yourself.

  1. What am I asking God? Can I reframe my question? Am I asking God the wrong question? Am I wanting to hear a specific answer ie treating God like Santa Claus, thus not hearing God because I’m not hearing what I’m wanting.
  2. Change things up a bit. Do something different. Perhaps put on different worship music. Try spending time with God in nature or a different place than normal. I love going to the beach on a stormy day and ‘feeling’ God in the storm.
  3. Have I been obedient in doing what God has asked of me? This is a question I ask of myself. If I haven’t been obedient in following through on what God has already asked me to do, how can I expect Him to then tell me the next step?
  4. Is there any sin in my life that I am aware of? Sin has an amazing way of blocking the relationship between God and myself.
  5. Facilitate an encounter with God. In your imagination, go to a place where you feel close to God, a place where you hear God’s voice easily. Imagine yourself there. What is it like? What does it feel like, look like, smell like, taste like, sound like? Imagine that Jesus walks to where you are in that place. Look for Jesus in your imagination and imagine that He has a present in His hands for you. Watch Him place it down next to you or place it in your hands. You have a choice what you do next. Do you want to open it? Go ahead and open it. What has Jesus just given you? (Usually something like this can open up those lines of communication between God and ourselves again.) Another encounter to try is to imagine yourself under a waterfall. Look around and feel, hear, smell, see what it is like under that waterfall. Imagine next that that waterfall is God pouring out good stuff over you. What is He pouring over you? Revel in what is being poured over you. Enjoy. Splash around in it. When you finish imaging this, try spending some time just enjoying God for who He is.
  6. Am I prepared to really lean in to God over a longer period of time – fast, meditate, pray over a period of time, enjoy being with God, spend time listening.

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 paper and crayons/pencils ready. Ask everyone to find a partner and ask God to show them what sort of present He wants to give their partner. Encourage them to draw what the outside of the present looks like. Then ask God what the actual present is and draw that. Ask them to give the paper to their partner and share what it was.

2. Group Activation: Play a harder version of Prophetic UNO. You will need some UNO cards (you don’t need the whole pack – just select a few of each colour) and the instructions below copied so that people can easily see them. Take it in turns going around the circle turning over the next card. Follow the instructions as to what to do with that colour card. This works best when the group is about 6-8 people in size. If your group is larger, perhaps form two groups, with enough UNO cards and instructions for each group.

UNO Prophecy Instructions – remember to be encouraging, strengthening and comforting

RED – you give a prophetic word to the person on your left about their financial situation

GREEN – you give a prophetic word to the person on your right about their relationship with someone close to them

BLUE  – you give a prophetic word to the person opposite about something that concerns them

YELLOW – you choose who to give a prophetic word to in the group about their career/employment/job

DRAW 2 – give any 2 people in the group a prophetic word about their identity

DRAW 4 – choose 4 people to give you a prophetic word

WILD CARD  – choose whether you give a prophetic word to someone about their destiny or choose someone to give you one about your destiny

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God asking Him about something you have felt He has been quiet on. Brainstorm with God several different questions about it. Perhaps facilitate an encounter with God eg present encounter or under a waterfall etc and see if you can hear God easier.

4. Intermediate Activation: Spend time with God asking Him for a prophetic word/picture for me (Jane – the author of this blog). Feel free to email it to me at [email protected]

5. Advanced Activation: In Australia, we are in the lead up to voting for the leadership of the country and for the Prime Minister for the next three years. Spend time with God hearing from Him about this and what He desires. (If you are in another country, please feel free to join with us in Australia and listen to God for what He desires for our nation.) Devise with God a prophetic act to do that ushers in spiritually and physically what’s on God’s heart.

5 Keys to Growing in the Supernatural

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“I want to pray for people and see supernatural miracles”, is an often heard cry. “So I’m going to go to Africa (or the other side of the world) to see all these miracles occur.

Sure, that’s a great intention but is that really the only way of growing in the supernatural?

We went to Mozambique, Africa for 3 months and saw some supernatural miracles. But I had seen more supernatural miracles when I had prayed for people back in Australia before we went. I had prayed for two people with broken bones and the bones were dramatically healed instantaneously. I came back different from Africa though because I had been on a journey of discovering my identity and authority in Jesus Christ.

The essential, I believe, in praying for people and seeing supernatural miracles can be summed up in these 5 Keys:

  • Identity
  • Authority
  • Defining moment
  • Intimacy with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus
  • Being obedient and praying for people at every opportunity.

Key 1: Identity

Know your identity – who you are in Christ. Know what the Bible says about you and who you really are. You need to fully know and believe what God and the Bible says and believes about you at all times. A great way to help in this is to have some inner prayer ministry that helps heal inner wounds, especially from our childhood. You have to agree with me that no parent is perfect. No matter how great your parents are, there will be some wounding of some sort. I really believe that it helps to have some prayer ministry on a regular basis (for example annually or every second year) just to make sure that no faulty thinking starts to stick and cause any issues. There are many different types of inner prayer ministry available. A great place to start is to ask around and see which type people recommend. Sozo is a great place to start also.

Key 2: 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 we were created for and am meant to be walking in every single day.

Key 3: Defining moment

That moment when you know, without a doubt, that God can heal and will still heal today.

For me, this was in 2010 when my two children were dramatically healed from anaphylaxis. Before this, I had had my mum die of cancer and a very close friend die of a brain haemorrhage. For me, I had allowed these two tragedies to impact my thinking with the belief that God wouldn’t really heal the ‘hard’ things. After my kids were dramatically healed, I could no longer deny that God didn’t heal today with the big and the small and that God actually wanted to heal every disease.

Key 4: Intimacy

We become empty if we don’t keep close and intimate with all of the Trinity – Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus. This intimacy and hearing and knowing and sensing and seeing God and what He is up to and is doing is so important. We don’t want to be running ahead or falling behind where God is and what He is up to. We need to be intimate with God and clearly hearing His thoughts and methods on what He wants us to do and how He wants us to participate in each part of life, especially in the supernatural.

Key 5: Obedience with taking every opportunity

A major part of growing in the supernatural is trying, practicing and doing. If we are never ever going to step out and take risks in the supernatural, then we can’t expect to grow. If you see someone sick or injured, immediately ask God “What do you want me to do?” or “How 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. That was why we took our 7 and 10 year old kids with us when we were invited to the City Morgue to pray for a dead person. We took the opportunity to pray. No we didn’t see that person come back to life here on earth. We have recently taken another opportunity to pray for two more dead people. Still no resurrection here on earth but that has only resolved in us a determination to pray for the next dead person and see them come back to life on earth.

I would love to hear your thoughts on how you are growing in the supernatural. Please feel free to comment below.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

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

1. Children / Families Activation: Gather a number of items of clothing that denote royal identity. Allow time and space for everyone to dress up in the clothing and use the royal items whilst decreeing and declaring statements of identity over them. Have statements on paper that the kids can read out as well eg “I am God’s royal princess”, “I have authority to pray for the sick and to see them healed.” “I am God’s royal son and have access to everything that Jesus had access to.” “God loves me and has given me power to prayer for people and see my prayers answered.”

2. Group Activation: Ask people to partner up and to share with their partner a critical are of their life that they need a miracle in. Ask everyone to spend a few minutes waiting on God for how He wants them to pray. Then change the prayer to a decree and declaration and prophesy into their partner’s life about the miracle.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend some time reading about Jesus in the Gospels and the miracles that He did. Ask God to show you someone who needs a miracle in their life. Ask God to show you what to pray for them and how to go about seeing them receive their miracle.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to impress upon your heart a medical condition that He would like you to have authority over first eg praying for people with cancer and seeing them healed, seeing broken bones healed, eyesight restored etc. Go after that condition. Spend time with God praying over that condition and seeking Him about it. Write out a prophetic word that you can regularly decree and declare re that physical condition.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask a friend with similar interests and desires to grow in the supernatural to deliberately go with you to a place where desperately needy people hang out. Ask God to show you what and when to say things and start conversations with people. Ask these folk if they have a physical need that you can pray for them for a supernatural answer. Then pray with them and be a blessing to them.

Prophetic Activations – fun, simple, and important.

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My biggest growth in the prophetic has come from me practicing prophesying. The most fun, though, has come from doing prophetic activations in a group. It is a great way to build community and, since I value community, I thrive on this.

A prophetic activation is an exercise where you practice and try to develop in the skill of hearing God’s voice for someone else.

I believe that prophetic activations are important in helping us to grow in the prophetic – both for adults and kids. That is why I always include 5 prophetic activations at the end of each of my blogs – one each under kids/families, groups, beginner, intermediate and advanced. Please feel free to do as few or as many as you wish. (The groupings are just a guideline.) For families, I encourage you to set aside one dinner time each week where you can practice prophesying over each other or doing the prophetic activations attached to my blogs.

I also believe that prophetic activations usually work better when they are:

  • fun
  • simple
  • quick

They provide energy and inspiration for group dynamics. Most times they can be done in pairs, sometimes in larger groups. It is also important, I believe, to ask for short feedback or a quick testimony at the end of the game.

Finding a partner:

I try and be creative at getting group members into pairs or small groups when doing an activation. When you are creative with this and people have fun, without it taking too much time or taking the focus away from doing the activations, then it helps relax people and gets them feeling easier about trying new activations. After each question, I get people to find a new partner using a different method, so have a few methods of matching people up ready.

  • I might use ‘find someone born in the same month’ or ‘find someone with the same colour socks on as yourself’ etc.
  • I sometimes use coloured lollies that stain the tongue and I give the lollies out and then people need to find a person with the same colour on their tongue as themselves.
  • I have used the chocolate clinkers and people bite into their clinker and find someone who has the same colour clinker interior as yourself.
  • I usually have a pack of cards / UNO cards handy and give out cards to people so find ‘a person with the same UNO card as you, or same number card with a pack of cards’ etc.
  • A favourite of mine is using a set of animal cards I made up using pictures of animals taken off the internet. I then laminated these cards so I can use them again. I give out the cards and get people to make the noise of the animal that is on the front of their card. They then have to find a partner who is making the same noise as themselves.

Some activations for pairs:

One the group is divided up into pairs, then give everyone a question to ask God about their partner. Give them a limited time to get an answer. After 30 seconds or a minute at the most, get people to share their answer with their partner.

  • God, if my partner was a tree, what tree would they be and why?
  • God, if my partner was a vehicle, what vehicle would they be and why?
  • God, if my partner was some confectionary, what would they be and why?
  • God, what do you see my partner clothed in and why?
  • God, if my partner was something in a supermarket, what would they be and why?
  • God, if a book was written about my partner, what would the title of the book be?
  • God, if my partner starred in a movie, what would the movie be about?
  • God, if my partner was an animal, what animal would they be and why?
  • God, if my partner was a person in a hospital, who would they be ie their role, and why?
  • God, if my partner was something at a playground, what would they be and why or, alternatively, where would they be on the playground and why?

Key points to remember:

As with any prophetic activations, there are a couple of key points to emphasise.

  • Make sure you only speak what is encouraging, edifying or comforting.
  • God speaks back to us instantly, like a friend on the phone. We don’t ask our friend a question and then have to wait 2 minutes to get a reply. We get an answer immediately.
  • A key here is the ‘first thought’ principle. The first thought that flies through your head when you ask God a question, capture that thought. If it is encouraging, edifying or comforting, then go with that thought.
  • God loves questions, so ask God some more questions about the thought that came to you to find out more. Eg why did you show me that God?

Pass the parcel:

Several years in a row for our prophetic group breakup, I organised a game of ‘Pass the Parcel’. I modelled it on the children’s party game. It was a huge hit and we continue to do it annually as it was so successful in both enjoyment and stretching everyone. Since there were about 40 people, I wrapped up 5 different parcels to be passed at the same time. (I wanted maximum effect and practice from the time!)

In every layer of the parcel, I placed an item I had bought from either the supermarket or the $2/discount shop or scavenged from around home. Items included things such as:

  • pen
  • highlighter
  • torch
  • Princess birthday candle
  • toy army men with parachutes attached
  • bath toy – rubber ducky
  • soap
  • packet of mixed lollies
  • chocolate advent calendar
  • a very sharp knife
  • balloon
  • bottle of bubbles to blow
  • a map of the world
  • a can of spam
  • a teabag
  • etc

No item was repeated and there were 9 layers each parcel. Creativity is encouraged so walk around your supermarket and see what catches your eye. I am always astounded at the variety of items I wrap in the parcels and how God uses them to speak to people.

As the music played, the parcels were passed around the circle. When the music stopped, the people holding the parcels had to unwrap the next layer of paper and find the object. They then had to ask God 2 questions – “Who do I give this present to?” and “Why?” They had only 20 – 30 seconds to get their answers. They would then go up to the person God had highlighted and give them the present and say the reason why as a prophetic word. We didn’t go with popular culture and ‘make it fair’ so that everyone got a go of giving and receiving. It was just whoever had the parcel when the music stopped gave the present and prophetic word to the person who they felt God highlighted. Some people received several presents and prophetic words and some received none. The point of the game was to realise that you can see a seemingly insignificant object and use it as a basis for a prophetic word.

Prophetic UNO:

Play “Prophetic UNO”. It works best in groups of 6-8 people. Get a pack of UNO cards. One at a time, turn over the top card. Follow the instructions eg if a red card, then you give a prophetic word to the person on your left. This is most effective when you play it quickly ie people need to start giving a prophetic word within 20-30 seconds of turning over the card. If you have more than 6-8 people, divide into groups with a pack of UNO cards for each group.

UNO Prophecy Instructions

                     RED            – you give a prophetic word to the person on your left

                     GREEN       – you give a prophetic word to the person on your right

                     BLUE          – you give a prophetic word to the person opposite

                     YELLOW    – you choose who to give a prophetic word to in the group

                     DRAW 2    – choose 2 people to give you a prophetic word

                     DRAW 4    – choose 4 people to give you a prophetic word

                     WILD CARD – Choose whether you give a prophetic word to someone or choose someone to give you one.

Duck, duck, goose:

Play prophetic ‘Duck, duck, goose’. If it is a group of children, sit on the floor in a circle. If adults, arrange chairs in a circle and ask everyone to sit on a chair. Ask everyone to close their eyes. Walk around behind the group and ‘tap’ one person on the head (or shoulder if more culturally appropriate). This person will know they are the receiver. You will also know but no-one else should be aware since everyone would have had their eyes closed. Ask a leader to be a scribe. Ask everyone else to ask God what He would like to say to this (unknown) person with the scribe taking notes. After 5-6 people have shared, ask the receiver to raise their hand, thus they were the person whom the prophetic words were said about. Pass the written notes to that person for encouragement. Then repeat the process taping someone else on the head/shoulder.

Musical Chairs:

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

Prophetic Tag:

Choose a person to be ‘the tagger’. They stand in the middle of the room and everyone goes to the other end. These people have to try to get to the other side of the room without being tagged by the person in the centre (the tagger). If someone is tagged, that person has to give ‘the tagger’ (the person who tagged them) a prophetic word. They then become ‘the tagger’ and the previous ‘tagger’ joins the rest of the group trying to cross the room without being tagged. If you have a large group, consider having several people in the middle being ‘taggers’.

Prophetic Ping Pong:

Get into groups of 3. Elect one person to receive the prophetic word. The other 2 people in the group will play ‘prophetic ping pong (or table tennis)’ – one person starts giving a prophetic word, the second person then carries on giving the prophetic word in the same vein of thought, then it returns to person number one to expand even deeper on that thread, then back to number two to expand deeper still. Try not to introduce anything that doesn’t follow that thread. Instead, ask God how you can go deeper with just the one thread of thought. After you finish that one concept/thought etc, switch positions for someone new to receive a prophetic word.

Lucky Dip Bag:

Have a bag that you can’t see through and place a number of items in the bag. Get people to take turns to put their hand in the bag, choose an item and pull it out. They then have 30-60 seconds to ask God who in the group they need to give the item to and why. They then give the item to that person and share how that item relates to them as a prophetic word.

Blindfolded Lucky Dip:

Beforehand, place a number of various supermarket objects in a bag. Pair up everyone and blindfold one person in each pair. This person places their hand in the bag and selects an item. Based on what that item feels like and reminds them of, get each blindfolded person to give a prophetic word over the person standing in front of them. At the end, ask each person who received a prophetic word to give feedback to their blindfolded person based on how accurate and ‘weighty’ the prophetic word felt and whether or not it raised any emotions within.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

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

1. Children / Families Activation: Find up some magazines with pictures in them that you can cut out. Glue and blank paper will also be needed. Ask each person to think of someone and then find a picture or some words from the magazines that God highlights to them that will communicate God’s heart to that person. Let people cut out the pictures and words and arrange on the piece of paper. Then give the piece of paper to that person.

2. Group Activation: Get people into pairs. As you play a piece of instrumental music, ask God to highlight to everyone something from the music as a starting point for a prophecy over their partner. Ask people to share with their partner.

3. Beginner Activation: Grab a cup of tea or coffee. As you do, ask God to highlight something about your drink to you. Then ask God to show you how this relates to a prophetic word to release over a family member. Share it (the prophetic word) with your family member.

4. Intermediate Activation: Look up the latest movie releases and ask God to highlight one of the movie titles to you. Ask God who this relates to prophetically and why. Contact that person and share with them.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight a major disaster in your state or country. Ask God to show you His perspective on this and what He would love your part to be in helping or prophesying good over the situation.

Helping my Kids hear from God part 4

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Four years ago, our 11 year old daughter was invited to have afternoon tea with the then Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott. One of our first reactions as a family, after agreeing that we would do everything possible for her to attend, was to agree to draw (for the children) and write (for hubby and I) a prophetic word each for him and we would hand it to him when we saw him.  It was just natural to think that way, almost ‘second nature’.

(Our children find it easier to express what they are hearing / seeing from God for a person by drawing a picture for them and writing a sentence or two of explanation.)

Several weeks later, I was amazed at the number of Christians who had commented to me that they would never have thought to write or draw a prophetic word / picture for him. This shocked me. Why wouldn’t you take the opportunity in person to do that. We didn’t include any Christian language. We were encouraging and strengthening in what we wrote and drew. We purely asked God, “how do you see him and what would you like to say to him?” and then we listened for God’s reply.

Reflecting on this later, I realised that several years earlier, we would never have thought to do it either. The journey we have been on over these last eight years has prepared us for this. We have specifically tried to take every opportunity that we can to write, draw, and speak prophetic words over people. We have incorporated it into our daily lives so that it is part of us. We have grown considerably in our gifting because we have practiced. I encourage you to practice and take every opportunity you can.

We have stuck to the basics of it being encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting. We have tried not to use Christian language but begin by saying, “I sense that…” and not using “God says…”. We have never spoken or drawn negative things. If we ever did get anything negative, we would change it to the opposite and speak the positive, thereby giving life to what we said and to the other person.

This blog post is fourth in a series of four blog posts that are about teaching our kids to hear from God and prophesy. You can read the other blog posts here: Beginning to hear from God for yourself. Starting to hear from God for Others. Helping our Kids grow in hearing from God.

 

Basically, there are four steps to take initially to grow yourself and your children in the prophetic.

 

First: Practice, practice, practice.

The more you practice something, the better you get at doing that activity.

I love prophetic activations for this reason. Prophetic activations are basically some exercises that you can do to help you practice hearing God’s voice and sensing what is on His heart for a particular situation or person.

At the end of each of my blogs on this website, “Unlocking the Gold”, I always compose five prophetic activations. They include one aimed specifically at families or groups of children, another one for groups, beginners, someone a bit further down the track and another for people who consider themselves quite advanced and have been operating in the prophetic for a while. You are most welcome to do the whole five each week.

The individual activations will take about five to ten minutes to do. Some may take a bit longer eg twenty minutes. I have found with my children that they hear God immediately and they are finished within a couple of minutes whilst I am usually still trying to work out what God is saying.

I encourage you this week to look for ways to practice. Look for the hidden ‘gold’ inside a certain person and try to bring it to the surface by asking God to show you how He views them and what they need encouragement in. Then speak it kindly and gently to them in an encouraging and uplifting way.

Also, realise what you are modelling to your children. Have fun. Go for it. Make it a part of your lifestyle. Enjoy!!

 

Second: Develop intimacy with Father God.

I have found that a hugely significant way to grow in the prophetic is to get closer to God. To become more intimate with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus. The more intimate we become with all three, the more we recognise the subtleties of what they say and do and who they are.

This is also true with your kids and God. Create opportunities to pour into their lives for them to be intimate with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus. It all starts with listening to God and knowing His voice and being able to recognise it immediately. Make it fun. As you spend time with them during their bedtime ritual, practice listening to God. Ask them – “what do you think God is saying to you about ….(what happened today)..?” or “What would God like you to know as you as you are going to sleep?”

God is creative and He loves us being creative with Him. Experiment with how you and your children relate with God. Change the place eg go for a walk on the beach during a storm, take a hike, sit in a coffee shop, rest in a quiet place. Change the how eg put on quiet music and meditate on God’s goodness, put on fast, loud music and dance with God, read the Bible, fast, be silent, go out into nature and touch that which the creator has created, try creating a piece of art, etc

Our church has recently had a period of fasting for 3 weeks. It was interesting to hear some of the different ways that the teenagers fasted. Some fasted food or sugar, others social media or television etc. One girl fasted make-up as she felt God wanted to take her on a journey of looking at her self image and who she really was. Fasting creates an edge and acuity to hearing God clearly.

We become what we behold. Thus, we need to be careful at what we are looking at. What are we listening to and watching on the television or our social media? What voices are your children exposed to? What books are your children reading? Are you allowing violence, adultery, swearing into your lounge room by what you see and hear on television? Who do we surround ourselves with that are impacting on our soul and spirit? What are we feeding our spirit, soul and body? If we are exposed to the glory of God, we will be transformed. 2 Corinthians 3:18 – “And we, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

 

Third: Look at your true identity.

I encourage you and your family to go on a journey of discovery with God and yourself. Look at who God says you are. Discover your true identity. Find out how you are known in Heaven.

Explore the good, the bad and the ugly about yourself. God is a safe person and place. Be truly vulnerable with God and ask Him to reveal to you those areas you need to grow in eg any fears, shame, guilt etc. Spend time with God immersing yourself in being completely vulnerable with him and discovering what He thinks of you.

Bless your children’s spirit with knowing who God sees them as and who He created them to be. Regularly pray a blessing over your children in regard to how God sees them and who they really are.

As you uncover your true identity and live that out in its purest form, the more likely you are to hear God and operate in an intimate manner with God. Thus, your prophetic skills of hearing and seeing from God will grow and you will want to release what God is sharing with you to others.

 

Fourth: Take responsibility for your own growth.

You are responsible for your own growth. Do not expect anyone else to take this responsibility from you. Read books about the prophetic, listen to podcasts, find prophetic people and ask them to mentor you.

Chat about the prophetic when you are in the car with your kids and practice. Play a game eg “Let’s ask God to show us each which animal best represents dad and what it is about that animal and its characteristics.” Or “See that building over there. Let’s ask God what He wants to say to the owners.” Or “Let’s all ask God how much money we should give to ….?”

Keep a journal as a family outlining the promptings you feel from God and what you have done as a result and the outcome (if it was apparent). Regularly reflect and read through the journal. Even keep a jar on your dining room table and coloured paper and pens nearby. Write down times you have given prophetic words to people or drawn pictures for people and it has been appreciated. Place these slips of paper in the jar and read them out on New Year’s Eve etc.

Have family devotions about prophetic people from the Bible and how God communicated with them. Regularly talk about your dreams from overnight and what they mean.

Take every opportunity you can. Practice drawing prophetic pictures for the café owner or the post man or the teacher. At birthday parties, write a card for every person asking God what He wants you and your children to write or draw on it. Do this with every birthday card you send.

Ask friends if you can ‘practice’ on them.

Have fun on this journey as a family and be able to spur each other on in your prophetic growth. When you are intentional about growing in the prophetic, you will see a huge improvement in your ability to give prophetic words and the depth of those words.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

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

1. Children / Families Activation: Walk into your garage or a storage room and ask God to highlight an object to each person. Ask God why He highlighted that object and who He wants you to tell about it and how it relates to them.

2. Group Activation: Ask everyone to get an object out of their bag or pocket or off themselves and place in a bag in the middle of the room. If it is a large group, you may want to split into several smaller groups to save time. Ask each person one at a time to put their hand in the bag and select an object without looking in the bag. Ask them to prophesy over the owner of that object and then, when they have finished prophesying, ask who the object belongs to and return it to them. Encourage people to respond with brief feedback on the relevance and suitability of the prophecy.

3. Beginner Activation: Research different names for God in the Bible and ask God to highlight one for you to reflect on more. Spend time with God, reflecting on that characteristic of Him. Ask Him to show that side of His character to you and how He already operates in that way in your life. Write a prophetic word to a friend incorporating that part of God’s character within the prophetic word.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight a community group to you and to give you His insights for that group. Carefully and sensitively write a letter to the group, encouraging them in what God has shown you without actually mentioning God.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you His plan for Antarctica and what the current state of play is there. Spend time with God crafting a prophetic declaration that you can decree over Antarctica and its future.