Tag Archives: prophetic words

When the same person keeps asking for a Prophetic Word

Posted on by

Like clockwork, every few months, the same person would approach me for a prophetic word. They would start by explaining how they were wanting a prophetic word from me so that they had something to hang on to in their time of struggle.

Immediately this raises a red flag with me.

Firstly, they need God to hang on to in this time. God needs to be their source of comfort, inspiration, and wisdom during their time of struggle (in fact all the time) rather than me hearing from God for them.

Secondly, they have had numerous prophetic words in the past. Prophetic words are especially for such a time as this. Just because they are going through a new season of struggle, doesn’t mean that their ‘old’ prophetic word is no longer viable. Prophetic words can be for the ‘here and now’ but they usually seem to be for a few steps time. Prophetic words are meant to be ‘encouraging, comforting and strengthening’ (1 Corinthians 14:3). Thus, they are great to get out in times of hardship and work through and see what God wants to be for you during this time.

Prophetic words usually address identity and destiny. Who you are and who God wants to be for you during this time are what identity words are all about.

Hubby also has had similar situations where a certain single lady would, on a regular monthly occasion, ask him for a prophetic word. He addresses this issue by saying that he won’t give a person another prophetic word, when they keep asking, until they have worked through their last prophetic word.

Usually when people are asking for a new prophetic word and they have been given numerous prophetic words in the last year or so, it becomes a discipleship issue. The person need to be taught that they need to go to God Himself. To put in the time and relationship with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus.

Please never become a substitute for a person seeking God for themselves. Jesus was, and is, the only ‘go-between’ in our relationship with God.

If a person is having trouble hearing from God for themselves, you will have a far greater impact if you help them to hear or receive from God for themselves.

Start with helping them look at how much time they are setting aside to spend with God. Do they prioritise Him each day? Are they reading the Bible? Are they looking to God for their answers?

Then, you may help them to have an encounter with God or give them tools to spice up their relationship with God.

Some of these tools may be to:

  1. Try spending time with God in a different setting eg in nature, at the beach, outside, in a different chair, etc.
  2. Try setting aside a different time of the day to specifically focus on God.
  3. Try reading the Bible a different way eg using an audio version or a new app or a different version or a DVD version. The IF:Gathering app has numerous amazing four week Bible study series on it which I have found extremely helpful.
  4. Try writing out verses from the Bible each day.
  5. Ask God to show you pictures or images of yourself or your day.
  6. Put worship music on and rest with worship filling your head.
  7. Find new ways of being in awe of God and thanking Him.We are not in the business of making people reliant on us. We are not their Saviour. We need to be pointing them to God Himself.

We are not in the business of making people reliant on us. We are not their Saviour. We need to be pointing them to God Himself.

 

Leading people through an encounter with God is effective for the here and now but it also gives them a tool for when they are stuck again.

Leading people into an encounter with God can be very simple.

  1. Ask the person to get into a comfortable position and close their eyes to help minimise any distractions.
  2. Ask the person to imagine that they are in a favourite place for them. Ask them to share with you what it looks like, smells like, feels like.
  3. Ask them to then imagine Jesus coming into that scene. Imagine that they see Jesus walking up to them and sitting, standing, just being next to them or in front of them. What is He doing? What does He say?
  4. Imagine that He has a present He wants to give to them. What does that present look like? What shape is it? How is it wrapped and what colour is the wrapping?
  5. Unwrap the present. What is it? What does that mean to them?
  6. How do they want to respond to Jesus?

Variety is the spice of life. Just how you sometimes need to vary stuff in your relationship with your partner or children or friends, it is also helpful to vary things in your relationship with God.

I would love to hear of different methods you have used when someone keeps coming to you for a prophetic word and how you have helped them refocus back on to their 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: Lead children into an encounter like the one above, imagining that Jesus has a present for them. Ask them questions to find out what the special present Jesus has for each one of them.

2. Group Activation: Buy an assortment of small chocolate bars that have different names eg Cadbury favourites. Place them in a bag deep enough so that you can’t see what you are selecting. Have each person put their hand in the bag and bring out a chocolate. The person then asks God for a prophetic word about the name of the chocolate bar for a person in the group. Hand the chocolate bar to the person as you share the prophetic word with them. If it is a large group, perhaps split into several smaller group, each group having their own chocolate assortment in a bag.

3. Beginner Activation: Open your calendar/diary before God. Ask Him to show or tell you something significant that you need to realise and what you need to do in response.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight a family to you. Spend time with God hearing or seeing what is on His heart for this family as a group and for the members individually. Draw or write the encouraging response and then ask God how you are meant to communicate it to this family.

5. Advanced Activation: Dream with God for one thing to change in the world this year and what the change could look like. Ask God to highlight to you your part in bringing about that change. Then ask God to show, tell or give you a strategy for your part.

Principles for Prophesying over Businesses

Posted on by

An acquaintance was sharing how he had been in a hotel room with a friend who was a very successful business man. My acquaintance shared how he had felt God had given him a prophetic word for this man. So he shared it with him. Whilst there, the phone rang. The businessman answered and it was about a negotiation for something to do with the business. The prophetic word had been about this very negotiation. Immediately the business man decided to accept the prophetic word and followed the advice. Within the next few hours, the businessman had increased his fortune significantly.

The Bible has a lot to say about finances, business management and divine intervention. There are numerous stories throughout the Old and New Testament about this. As you read through them you will notice that most of them begin with God helping the person to realise their true identity first. That’s a great principle in itself – you need to know and understand your true identity before God gives you the strategy.

Biblical examples include:

  • Dreams & their interpretation predicting success (Genesis 41. Joseph and Pharaoh)
  • Supernatural promotion (Genesis 41 & 47:1-11. Joseph, Jacob & his brothers)
  • Divine intervention (Judges 6 & 7. Gideon threshing wheat)
  • Prophetic guidance and promises from God (Genesis 31:1-18. Jacob to leave his father-in-law and set up on his own)
  • Miraculous provision (2 Kings 4:1-7. Elisha and the widow and the small business of oil in the jars or the disciples in Luke 5:4-11 with the disciples and the catch of fish)
  • Principles of what you sow, you will reap plus God blessing hard work & integrity.

When prophesying over a business, there are several things to keep in mind. My acquaintance had a choice – to share or not. If he had chosen not to share, then it would not have helped the businessman. Sure, God is far bigger than this situation and could easily have delivered the ‘answer’ in a different format or method.

My acquaintance also had to be careful though. Imagine if he had misread what God had shared with him. It could well have lost this businessman a lot of money. I don’t share this to frighten you, just to help you be aware that you carry ‘power’ to bring good or bad. You need to be wise and follow the Lord’s leading carefully and with humility.

Just because you think you have heard from God about someone’s business, please do not presume that it is right, it is welcomed, it is perfect timing. Timing is crucial, so wait and hear from God when, and if, you are to release it to the appropriate person.

You are not ‘God’s gift’ to the business.

You are merely the mouthpiece that can bring pleasant or foul response.

 

Some principles to keep in mind:

  1. You and your prophetic word are not the ‘Saviour’ for this person and their business.
  2. Confidentiality – do not tell others what you are doing or what you’ve done in relation to the business. Others do not need to know. It is the other person’s business, thus, their ‘property’ so to speak. Honour them by being confidential. Also, please do not take anyone else with you that the business owner hasn’t asked for.
  3. Honour the person and their time
  • Be punctual
  • Dress appropriately
  • Don’t waste their time. Start promptly.
  • Be prepared beforehand. Spend time with God, knowing what it is He has asked you to share.
  1. Prophesy only. Don’t exaggerate. Do not add anything else God hasn’t shown or told you.
  2. Respect the fact that if they implement what you say, it could ‘make or break’ them.
  3. Be wise about the timing of the release of the word.
  4. Watch your language. Do not use ‘christian’ language. Any business language you use, please be aware of the meaning and implications.
  5. Ask them how what you have said ‘sits’ with them. Is there something you have said that they don’t understand? Give them an opportunity to give feedback and ask further questions.
  6. If you are not invited to prophesy over their business but you believe that God has given you a word for them, you need to pray about the way forward. Is it to share with them or is it for you to intercede for them and their business?

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 blank cards, crayons, textas, etc. Ask God to show everyone what to write and draw on the cards and for leading on who to hand them out to. Then spend time preparing encouragement cards to hand out to business owners or people who work in businesses. Then go as a group to a local shopping centre. Follow God’s leading on who to give the encouragement cards to.

2. Group Activation: Ask for those who own businesses to stand up. Then arrange groups around those people so one business person is in each group. As a group, practice hearing from God together about this person’s business and then prophesy along the same theme as the other members of the group are doing. This is great practice in waiting until what you feel to say is appropriate timing to share and follows the theme of the prophecy.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time with God asking Him His heart for a business you work for or someone close to you works for. Ask God for what He would like you to pray and prophesy for for this business and what to do with the prophetic word that He gives you.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight to you a business in your area that is not going well. Spend time with God asking Him His heart on this business and what He wants you to do with what He shares with you.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to highlight to you this week a national or multinational company who has injust working practices. Lean into God and hear, sense, see His heart on this issue. Then ask God what He wants your response to be.

Prophesies – what do I do with mine? (part 3)

Posted on by

In the previous few blog posts, I have looked at what to do with your prophetic word in relation to using it to contend with your current situation and how to get the most out of it in relation to your identity. This blog post looks at what your prophetic word is saying about your calling & purpose and how to extrapolate that out of your prophetic word.

When we returned from Mozambique 6 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 realised that we couldn’t just wait until she was say 21 and expect her to start praying for people and seeing healings. We had 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 to be healed. For the first 5 years we were involved in this, there were minimal children on the team ie mostly one other girl. Were my kids happy about being involved? Not always, mainly due to the fact that 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 learnt heaps about God and healing throughout this time and has seen many healings. Her expectation is that God can and will heal and wants to heal and she just expects God to heal since she has seen Him heal many times.

I want to start today by encouraging you to:

  • Grab some highlighters, a blank sheet of paper and pens.
  • Read through your prophetic word once again, 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.
  • Grab the blank piece of paper and a pen and then write down all the highlighted words on the piece of paper.
  • If you have several prophetic words, do this for them all.
  • Look for any common threads or similar words and highlight them.
  • 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 aspects that are important.
  • Take particular note of any character stuff. 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 important role in this journey so look for clues as to who He is wanting to be. Another way of looking at it is ‘what is God wanting to provide for me on this journey?’
  • As you did with your identity words, read through your prophetic words again and look for words or themes that are repeated, or emphasized.

Personal prophecy is conditional. It is conditional 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 in regard to this? Take a moment to ask God to highlight anything to you where you need to go on a character journey. Look back on your identity words from last blog post. What are you needing to grow in?

Spend time dreaming with God.

  • Next, spend some time just being with God, dreaming or imaging 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 are currently are to where you will be?
  • Start listing off practical stuff that you would need to grow in.
  • Continue spending time with God over the next little while dreaming and brainstorming with God about these steps.
  • Look at the first few steps you would need to take. Write them down. Ask God to impress on you the way forward and how? You need to take some responsibility to action these steps. You just 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.

Craft a prophetic declaration

What we decree and declare brings life and power. These words speak of commanding, ordering, bringing into being, agreeing with in the spiritual to change the physical. Spend time writing a prophetic declaration about who you are becoming (taken from last blogpost on identity) and what you will be doing. We are speaking truth into the atmosphere and engaging our future with who God says we are becoming. The words we speak bring life or death. We can use our words to bring breakthrough into our current situation. Look at your sheet of paper and choose the words from there that speak about your 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.”

 Write down your next 3 steps

We need to be intentional in who we are becoming and what we are doing.

  • Write down the first 3 steps you need to take.
  • Write a date beside each one that you hope to have accomplished this by.
  • Highlight that which is under God’s control in one colour and that is under your control in another colour.
  • Look at what you need to stop doing so as to allow you time, space and energy to accomplish this.

Accountability:

I have personally found that the times in my life when I get someone else to hold me accountable for some goals that I’ve set, I actually go on to achieve those goals. The mere fact that I need to meet with someone else and 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.

Thus, write down answers to the following:

  1. My decree and declaration
  2. The next 3 steps I need to take.
  3. What I need to stop doing.
  4. Who I need to hold myself accountable to in this journey for support.
  5. Suggested dates for review.
  6. 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.

Remember to marinate 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:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice 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: Write sentences on slips of paper eg “If daddy was a car, which car would he be?”, “If mummy was a flower, which flower would she be?”, “If sister was a toy, which toy?”, which book, which song, which musical instrument, which animal etc. Place each slip of paper in a different balloon and blow up the balloons, tying the ends. Get each person to choose a balloon. Play some music and when the music stops, have the first person bust their balloon and read what’s written on the paper. They then answer the question. Play more music and continue the game to the end. If bursting balloons is an issue with any children, place the slips of paper in a bag and when the music stops, draw a slip of paper out.

2. Group Activation: Have everyone place one thing from either their pocket or their handbag on a central table in the room. Ask everyone to select an object off the table. Then ask them to give a prophetic word to the owner of that object.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to highlight a family to you and then ask God to show you a bible character for each family member and how the Bible characters relate to them, ie which aspect of that Bible character is relevant for that person. Share with that family.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight a family to you and ask Him to then give, show or tell you a prophetic word for that family as a whole unit. Share with the family.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to reveal a country to you and a prophetic word for that country. Spend time praying over that and turning it into a declaration that you then declare on a regular basis.

Prophesies – what do I do with mine? (part 2)

Posted on by

Receiving a prophetic word is like receiving a gift. We need to accept it, unwrap it and then do something with it otherwise having a beautifully wrapped gift just sitting on the bench is a waste. The giver also wishes you to accept and unwrap the gift so that it can be useful as well as the fact that they love to see your reaction and delight. The same applies to our prophetic words that we have received. They are useless just hearing them and laying them aside. Maybe even occasionally remembering back to when you were given them doesn’t change the words.

1. Grab a set of highlighters, coloured pencils, textas or anything where you can highlight words and phrases with different colours. Read through your prophetic word (hopefully double spaced for ease of use) and highlight, preferably with different colours for ease of use:

  • Any words or phrases repeated
  • Words that really impact you or are very meaningful
  • Words that keep being repeated in various other prophetic words
  • Any themes
  • Any promises
  • Any conditions
  • Any Bible verses – look them up and write them out fully.
  • Any sense of timing

A beautiful lady I mentor received a prophetic word from my husband about 6 months before she received a word from a world renowned prophet. My husband had written in the prophetic word for her “It is time. It is time. It is time.”. This international prophet said to her “It is time. It is time. It is time.”. A couple of months later, another world renowned prophet also gave her a prophetic word and said, “It is time. It is time. It is time.”. Not only was the phrase repeated three times by each person, but it was exactly repeated by the three people. She needed to pay particular attention to those words.

Whenever I receive a prophetic word, I see the themes of healing and restoration. Thus, I tend to look for them now. I also, though, love looking for new themes. We have received some prophetic words about promises and we use these to partner with our faith in our contention in seeing these promises fulfilled.

2. See the opportunity

The prophetic word you receive is an opportunity to partner with God to become the person you need to be so that the prophetic word can be fulfilled. It is not an automatic process. An individual prophetic word, apart from if you were Jesus in the Bible, is conditional. We need to step into it and grow to become the person whom this prophetic word speaks about. When we partner with the Holy Spirit and lean in to the character and identity changes and growth, we unlock the prophetic word in our life.

I have had a number of prophetic words given to me about my gaze being awestruck with the gaze of God, my eyes being locked with the eyes of God, that the Lord and I having the same gaze. This was a foreign concept to me at the time so I went on a journey of exploring this and looking at God through new eyes, trying to look into His eyes, focusing on God and drawing near to Him so that I knew where His gaze was so that I could join Him.

Partnering with our prophetic word is an opportunity to go on a journey with God to become the person He created us to be. It is an opportunity to look at our identity, that of who God created us to be. Our prophetic word usually highlights how God sees us, how we are known in heaven. There may well be a ‘gap’ between how God sees us and how we see ourselves and the prophetic word is an invitation to close that gap.

Grab your coloured highlighters again and highlight:

  • Any words that speak about who you are
  • Any words that speak about how God sees you
  • How you are known in heaven
  • Who does God want to be for me
  • What part of God’s nature is an invitation to grow in?

3. Get a large sheet of paper and label it “My identity”.

Write down all those words you underlined that speak about your identity and who God wants to be for you. Use this as a working sheet. Group like words together, draw mind-map type of diagrams, be as creative as you want whilst you are drawing all the identity words out of your prophetic word. Find out how God wants to encourage, strengthen and build you up from your prophetic word (1 Corinthians 14:3 “But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.”) Write it down on your sheet of paper. Then look at it and see what really sticks out to you.

Part of our mandate for being on earth is for us to grow in the likeness of Christ. Therefore, look at your prophetic word and highlight any aspects of God’s nature that are there and that are an invitation for you to grow in. Peace and joy are often mentioned in prophetic words. If peace is mentioned, then that is God’s provision for you. The same with joy. If you currently are not the most joyful person, then this is your opportunity to access God’s provision of joy for you and to grow into your new identity of being a joyful person. How do you do that?

  • Choose joy over misery. Make a conscious choice whenever you are feeling miserable or not joyful to be joyful.
  • Ask God to help you.
  • Find all the Bible verses that speak about joy. Read them over and over.
  • Worship God.
  • Practice turning your heart to God whenever you don’t feel joyful.
  • Meditate on God and His Word
  • Look for the joy in your everyday life. Find things to be grateful for as people who are grateful are joyful.
  • Look at practical things you can do – practice smiling, read comics, do silly things, be around joyful people.
  • Look at what hinders you from being joyful and address those issues.

Our transformation begins with how we think. Proverbs 23:7 says “For how he thinks in his heart, so he is”. What we think about ourselves determines who we become. This then influences what we do.

4. Summarise

Look at the words you have highlighted and the words you have written on your large sheet of paper. Bring it together to summarise:

  • What God is telling me about my identity
  • Who do I need to become for this prophesy to be fulfilled
  • Who God wants to be for me to help me become that person
  • What is God developing in my character

Next week I am going to look at working with your prophetic word to reveal your destiny and calling. Please subscribe to my blog so that you will receive the new blog post next week.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice 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: Spread flour on a baking tray and place the tray in front of a person. Have them draw or write something in the flour that they feel or sense God is saying for the person on their right. Ask them to share and explain. Then get the next person to have a turn etc.

2. Group Activation: Pray for insight for people to get a picture/scene/image from God and then give out paper and pencils to everyone and ask them to draw that picture/scene/image. Set a time limit of 5 minutes. Then get people into small groups of 3-4 and ask everyone to look at their picture and to share how their picture relates to their life. Pray for each other after sharing.

3. Beginner Activation: Find a calendar that has photos on it. As you ‘flick’ through the calendar, ask God to highlight a particular month to you. Ask God then to highlight what it is about that photo and that month that is especially applicable to you or to someone close to you whom you can share it with to encourage.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to highlight a Bible passage or Bible verse to you and then ask God whom that verse is especially applicable to that day. Share it with that person as an encouragement.

5. Advanced Activation: Spend time with God asking Him to give you a poem or write a new Psalm for someone whom God highlights to you. Share it with them at an appropriate time.

What to do with a prophetic word

Posted on by

iStock_000001483815SmallThis past weekend our family was ministering to some families who were part of a small group wanting to help themselves and their children hear from God. During this last week, I had asked our children to draw a prophetic picture for each person who was going to be present. Our children had basically asked God what He wanted to say to that person and had then drawn a picture representing that, and then told me what it was and I wrote at the bottom of the picture what they had said. My 9 year old son had drawn a picture for one lady and had then told me “She is a missionary in jail.” At the time, I thought – wow – that is very specific. Half the time, the pictures tend to be specific, the rest are general about their relationship with God and having fun with God, being able to trust God, their identity etc. This lady later shared how when my son gave her this picture, she immediately thought it was wrong. She couldn’t see how it was right as she wasn’t in jail, had no desire to help prisoners or volunteer in jail and could only think of the Andrew Chan case in Indonesia at the moment and how she wasn’t like that. Sure, my son could be wrong but I encouraged her to not dismiss the picture but to pray about it and see what God says. Also, to feel free to put it aside and return to it in 12 months time and see if it resonates at all then. I also encouraged her to look at how being a ‘missionary in jail’ is about bringing freedom to those who are locked up or bound up or imprisoned by fear etc and how it may not be a ‘real’ jail.

Several things came out of this. Firstly, how we give prophetic words and secondly, what you do with a prophetic word. Today, I would like to address the “What do I do with a prophetic word?” question. Another way of looking at it is “How can I make the most of any prophetic words given to me?”

Biblical precedence: In 1 Timothy 1:18, it says, “Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them, you may fight the battle well”. Paul is remembering the prophesies given beforehand to Timothy. He considered them significant, he brought them to mind and he gave further instruction in line with them.

1. Record it at the time, if at all possible. If you can’t record it at the time, or the recording didn’t work, don’t despair. Your spirit will still take in what is relevant. As soon as you can, write down what you do remember, asking God to bring to mind the specific content that He wants you to know.

2. Accuracy: 

  • Does it resonate with you and what you already know and feel (like an inner witness in your spirit)?
  • Does it align with God’s Word?
  • Does it line up with the nature of God?
  • Will responding to it bear good fruit in my life?
  • We sometimes talk about ‘weighing it up’. Weigh it up. Test it. (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all, hold on to what is good.”)

3. Write it out fully so that you have a ‘hard’ copy and can ‘see’ it. (Habakkuk 2:2-3 “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time.”). Use it as a working document. Underline specific phrases and words that appear significant.

4. Acceptance – Do you want to embrace / accept this?

5. Timing – Is it a ‘now’ word, is it something for the future, or is it something I will put up on the shelf and review in 6-12 months time?

6. Pray – If you are ready to embrace it and step into it, I encourage you to pray about it daily for at least the next month or two.

  • Read it through each day.
  • Pray through it.
  • Underline key words and phrases.
  • After several weeks of praying it through daily, change the sentences into decrees and declarations. Eg “I see you as a mountain climber in the prophetic” I would change to “I decree and declare that I am a mountain climber in the prophetic”. Continue praying and declaring it daily. (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.”

7. Clarify with God – Throughout the month, be asking God:

  • “Who do I need to become for this to come true?
  • What character traits do I need to grow and develop in?”
  • “What is the timing in relation to this?”
  • “What action do I need to be taking now?”
  • “How do I need to align how I see my identity with how God sees it according to this prophesy?”

8. Accountability – We are called to do our life in community with others. Ask a friend, a family member, a mentor, a leader for advice on your prophetic word. Does it resonate with what they know of you? When leadership are aware of prophesies over your life, they can hold you accountable, but more importantly, they can also help nurture the gift and call of God on your life, just as Paul did with Timothy. When we returned from Mozambique 3 ½ years ago where we had received one of our family’s first significant prophetic words, I met weekly with a friend and we agreed to pray daily through our prophetic words for two months. At the end of two months, we both knew our prophetic words off by heart. During this time, my friend asked for a copy of our family’s prophetic word. There was a sentence in it that I had paraphrased inaccurately. It was not quite correct. My friend challenged me on this. I needed this correction as it influenced the outcome and what I was declaring.

9. Allow the prophesy to enlarge your vision and stretch your perspective of who you are and who you were created to be. Sometimes it may not be evident immediately. Wait on God. Explore your true identity with God. Remain intimate with God. Allow Him to show you the bigger picture. Our prophetic words are really to help us get a bigger picture of how heaven sees us and are really contingent on our deepening relationship with Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus.

10. Keep all your prophetic words together and look for the common theme running through them. Regularly read them through and review what is happening in your life in relation to the prophetic words. Ask God for an update on them. Review how you are going in relation to your character and who you are becoming. Enjoy reflecting on them.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice 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.

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)

1. Children / Families Activation: Have blank pieces of paper and coloured pencils/textas handy. Get everyone to ask God for something for the person sitting on their right. Draw what God showed/told/gave them for that person. Write a sentence or two at the bottom that explains the picture. Then give it to the person.

2. Group Activation: Gather a selection of items eg balloon, feather, candle, piece of string, stickers, toy car, chocolate bar, pen etc. Place them in the middle of the group where everyone can see them. Take it in turn going around the group having each member select an item and giving it to another person, at the same time prophesying over that person about the relevance of that item to that person and his/her situation.

3. Beginner Activation: Imagine God giving another person a gift. Who is the person? What is the gift? Prophesy about this person receiving the gift from God and the outworking of this gift in that person’s life.

4. Intermediate Activation: Sometime this week when you are at the supermarket, walk down the confectionary aisle. Ask God to highlight a particular item eg chocolate bar, bag of lollies, chewing gum, box of chocolates etc. Ask God to show you who you are to buy it for and why? Before you give it to this person, keep asking God for more details about the item and the application to this person’s life. As you give the item to the person, share with them what God has shown/told you.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to identify a particular neighbour to you. Ask God to then show you how He sees them and feels for them. Write a note to this neighbour, outlining what God has revealed to you in an encouraging manner without using any ‘Christian/churchy’ language. Drop the note into their letterbox.