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.