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Prophecy: a Covenant and Kingdom Perspective: Part 1

Posted by Cath Livesey on July 16, 2014 in Values

This month’s blog is part one of a 2-part series on Covenant and Kingdom. It is an adapted extract from Cath Livesey’s book about prophecy that will be published later in the year. If you want to find out more about Covenant and Kingdom mindsets, you can read all about them in 3dmEurope’s book ‘Covenant and Kingdom’ which you can purchase here.

Rooting the Prophetic in Covenant

Covenant and Kingdom are the two fundamental themes that play out through all of scripture, a sort of double helix of DNA in the Bible. Not only do Covenant and Kingdom anchor the prophetic, they also provide a biblical perspective that covers the whole spectrum of prophetic experience. Applying the paradigm of Covenant and Kingdom to absolutely everything we do and say in the prophetic is going to ensure our ministry is grounded, biblical and healthy. It’s the bottom line.

Covenant is the way the Bible describes and defines relationship, first our relationship with God, and then our relationships with everyone else. The theme of Covenant is woven throughout the whole biblical narrative as God calls people into relationship with him. It is from our Covenant relationship with our heavenly Father that we receive our identity as beloved children – and fully understanding our true identity is key for being able to grow in prophetic gifts and ministry.

A covenant mindset releases us into the joy of hearing God’s voice because the bottom line is that hearing God is about who you are, not what you do. We cannot earn the right to hear his voice; it’s not something we achieve through hard work or ‘super-spirituality’. Hearing God flows out of relationship, pure and simple. It’s about being before doing. Knowing our true identity as his children releases us into hearing his voice – because fathers like speaking to their kids.

As we journey deeper into Covenant we find the antidote for legalism and striving. We can’t strive to hear our Father’s voice. Covenant reminds us that we simply align and attune our hearts with his; being still and knowing that he is God. As we focus on his glory and majesty, we can rest in that place of perfect love and enjoy the fact that we are his children.

Without an understanding of Covenant we will be tempted to behave as spiritual orphans rather than beloved children. We will try to earn God’s favour, gifts and anointing. We will compare ourselves with others and the level of ‘anointing’ they seem to have.

We need to recognise the nature of the battle we are in, because the enemy will always attack us on identity. When Jesus encountered Satan in the desert it was Jesus’ identity as God’s son that was targeted:“If you are the Son of God….”(Matthew 4:6)

As Jesus’ representatives we face the same temptations. Brokenness around our identity has the potential to completely de-rail our prophetic ministry. The way of the world – competition, ambition, striving, self-righteousness and success - has affected many in the church and are destructive forces as far as the prophetic is concerned. There is a real danger of finding our identity in our ministry rather than in God.

When we haven’t had a deep revelation of our covenant identity, and lack security in who we really are, then we become vulnerable to three fundamental fears that all have their roots in identity issues:

• Fear of rejectionI have to strive for approval and acceptance. I need to prophesy in a way that will please people***• Fear of lackGod’s voice is a scarce resource. I need to hold onto it. If I make a mistake there will be no more anointing• Fear of failure***I need to succeed in prophetic ministry. Others need to see me as a success. It will be terrible if I get it wrong

However, the more we root ourselves in Covenant and take on a mindset of ‘sonship’ rather than ‘orphan’, the less susceptible we will be to these fears. A Covenant mentality gives us confidence and security; being secure in our identity and having confidence in who God is. Security is essential for operating in prophetic ministry – being absolutely secure in our identity and in the nature of our heavenly Father.

When we know who we really are in God, and are confident in who he is, then we can start to take on a mindset of abundance which declares:

God is good and he is generous with his gifts; there is so much to go around, we can all join in.

Covenant secures and guards prophecy because it keeps drawing us back to the truth thatit is only out of relationship with God that we can learn to hear his voice, and as we step out and prophesy over people we do that from a place of rest, assurance and affirmation.

I hear the voice of my heavenly Father because he loves me, and I seek to be a channel of his love to others by sharing his words with them.

Look out for Part 2 in August!

Tags: biblical prophecy, gift of prophecy, god speaks, hearing from God, prophecy, prophesy, prophetic, the prophetic Permalink

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Prophetic Dreams

Posted by Joanna Millward on June 18, 2014 in People

Last month we posted the blog How Does God Speak? In which I interviewed various members of the 3dm Europe team to see how and where they personally hear from God. This month we are very excited to have a guest blogger, Anna Burgess, who has written this blog about her experience with prophetic dreams.

Does God talk to us in dreams today?

Definitely! What’s more, in both Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17 we are told to expect God to speak in dreams as part of the Holy Spirit being poured out onto His people:

And afterwards, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. – Joel 2:28

But what if you never remember your dreams? How do you know if the dreams you do remember are from God or just a result of some funny cheese you ate last night?

Here are four keys for receiving and interpreting dreams from God:

1. Pray for dreams from God and believe!

‘How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’ – Luke 11:13

Maybe you already dream lots. Or perhaps, like my husband, you rarely remember one. I always dreamed a lot as a child, but I rarely remembered dreams beyond the first few moments of waking.  As an adult I received a prophecy that God would speak to me in dreams.  My husband wanted to take hold of that too, so we began praying that God would speak to us in dreams and that we would remember them! Suddenly, Mark began remembering a dream or two! There is definitely a correlation between the nights we pray for dreams and the nights we get dreams! Another part of believing is getting ready to…

2. Write them down

Ever woken up remembering a dream and five minutes later totally forgotten it? Not only does writing down a dream help you remember it, I have also found that it has helped me remember more of the dream, or other dreams I had that night.  It has also helped me interpret the dream.  If you don’t have time to write the whole dream down, just jot down a few key words to help remember it later.

I think we assume that the dreams that are mentioned in the Bible were all incredibly vivid, accompanied by angels, a fanfare and lots of fuss to mark them as special dreams, but we don’t know that that was actually the case. Some of them may have just been ‘normal’ dreams that the receiver took seriously, even though they were rather weird.

Although I have had some particularly clear and vivid dreams, I have found God has spoken to me powerfully through ‘here-one-minute, gone-the-next’ dreams too, so writing them down has been very helpful in being able to discern whether a dream is from God or not and working out the interpretation. Which leads us onto…

3. Discerning the source of the dream:

‘Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God’- 1 John 4:1

Just as prophecies can come from one of three sources – ourselves, God and the enemy, so can dreams.

DREAMS FROM THE ENEMY BRING FEAR; ARE OFTEN DARK, HOPELESS; AND MAY BE FULL OF TEMPTATION:

Nightmares are obvious examples, but I have also found the enemy send dreams about things going wrong or dreams to unsettle me about upcoming events which could easily be mistaken as ‘prophetic dreams’ until I look at the spirit of fear and hopelessness in them. Others may seem like they are from God, suggesting that you do something you want to do, but when you look at the spirit behind them, you realize they are a temptation to please yourself not God.

In contrast to the enemy’s dreams which are full of fear, I have had dreams where God has shown or told me about negative things that are going to happen, but there has always been a message of hope within the dream. For example, in one dream, God spoke to me and said ‘a time of persecution is coming, but I am going to use it to unite the team in prayer.’ I shared the dream with the team and we prayed together, and during that week several attacks occurred, including two of our team members being robbed at gunpoint. That week was obviously not pleasant, but it did unite us as a team in prayer and our team daily prayers are now central to our daily life.

**DREAMS FROM OURSELVES CAN BE PROCESSING OF EVENTS AND TRAUMA, AS WELL AS REACTIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT.**THEY CAN HIGHLIGHT OUR OWN DESIRES AND FEARS:

Dreams can be our mind’s and spirit’s way of processing events and trauma, and can equally be stimulated by our environment. One night, for example, I dreamed about going to buy a thick winter coat, only to wake up and discover that Mark had taken all the bedcovers!

Although dreams that contain levels of stress and processing could be defined as soul dreams rather than dreams from God, they do often highlight areas of worry that I need to bring to God and process with Him, so they can also be helpful to look at too.

DREAMS FROM GOD MAY BE BRIGHT, FULL OF COLOUR, BRING HOPE, ACCOMPANIED BY A SENSE OF PEACE AND MAYBE WONDER:

I have had dreams where I have seen amazing scenery or flowers in vivid colours I have never seen before – and those dreams have left me with a sense of wonder and longing for heaven, but they have been rare. Most of the dreams I have had from God have been opportunities for God to speak into situations I am currently facing, to bring fresh strategy to our team or to highlight bad attitudes in me. God has also used dreams to move me to pray.

I woke up one night after a dream about women trapped in sex trafficking against their will and had a real burden to pray for them.  God used the dream to help me identify with their plight and pray for them.

4. Ask the Giver of Dreams to help you interpret and apply your dreams:

‘Do not interpretations belong to God?’- Genesis 40:8

Our teammates Lili and Rosa both dream ‘literally’- God often shows them things that later take place. I am struggling to think of even one occasion where I have had a dream like that. Even the dreams where God has talked to me about things that are going to happen, an element of interpretation has been necessary.

So, as is often the case with God’s voice, we need to be aware of the elements of Revelation, Interpretation and Application. Firstly, God gives a revelation (a dream, picture, Bible verse, thought, feeling, etc.) and then comes the process of interpreting the revelation; finally we have to work out the application.

Interpreting dreams is a process which requires relationship with God. There is not a formula or a set dream dictionary that will tell you what your dream means. God desires to be in relationship with you and to help you interpret your dreams.

I have found, however, that God does seem to use a personal dream vocabulary that I understand more over time. My earthly father in my dreams, for example, sometimes represents my Heavenly Father. Who is driving a car in my dream is often important and connected with my family or ministry. The people in my dreams are often symbolic for the meaning of their name.  Numbers and colours have been important at times too – a spring green having represented a new thing, and numbers having represented days.

But things can change, and asking God to show you the interpretation and what you are meant to do with the interpretation (the application) is a process that requires a dialogue with God which may take some time, accountability and help from others.

When you next have a dream, why don’t you ask God first what it means before sharing it with a friend over lunch?

You might like to pray this prayer:

Lord, would You please give me dreams? Even tonight, Lord, would your Spirit give me dreams.  Would you help me to be faithful in writing down any dreams You give me, and would you also please help me interpret and apply them to my life.   Amen.

Anna Burgess lives in Lima, Peru with her husband Mark and three sons, Daniel (7), Joel (5) and Kaleb (2). Together they lead Oikos Ministries. Anna blogs at AnnaCBurgess.com

Tags: bible, Christian, dreams, god speaks, jesus, pray, prophecy, prophesy, prophetic, prophetic dreams, the prophetic Permalink

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How does God speak?

Posted by Joanna Millward on May 21, 2014 in People, Values

The Bible teaches us that we can all hear from God, and we can all engage with the gift of prophecy. However, many of us get stuck thinking that we can’t hear from God because it looks different to someone else who we feel has a very prominent prophetic gift. The thing is, God created us all to be unique. This means that when he speaks to us, we hear Him in different ways and in different contexts.  To understand this better, this month we’ve interviewed a few different people who all hear from God, and asked them how and where they hear Him.

Cath Livesey

“For me the best context of hearing God is in worship. For my husband StJohn, a great context is going out for a walk with the dog. I hear God primarily through pictures, whereas StJohn hears God through a deep down knowing and sensing.”

Simon Ford

“As an introvert the context that is important to me is having space to myself on my own. Quite often I will be reading the Bible and God will take me off into a rabbit hole. I’ll read a scripture and ask God what he’s saying. Often a particular sentence or a word or phrase will stick out to me. Then I might be reminded of another passage which relates to the first one, and maybe a few others after that and a certain theme will arise from what I have read.

Another way I hear from God is if, say, I have had a conversation with someone and want to know what God is saying, I’ll sit on my own for five minutes afterwards and ask God what was significant about that conversation, and what I need to remember. Whatever of that conversation then comes to mind or feels significant is what I believe God is saying about it.

When I get a prophetic word from God which I feel needs to be shared with someone, I basically start getting this download of language. As an introvert I can often struggle with turning my internal thoughts into spoken language. However, when I get a prophetic word, God gives me this stream of language which I have to quickly write down. I won’t have thought about it or have internally processed it as I do with all of my thoughts. I also don’t have to try at all to formulate the language; the prophetic word just seems to go through me as ifI’mlistening to someone else say it.”

Rich Robinson

“I hear from God in a variety of ways. I think being an active person, with an active body and an active imagination; I generally struggle to sit still. So I generally do something around activity and nature. So going out for a walk or run helps me to have my body active but my mind at rest. Ironing is also a great place to hear God as it keeps my body active but gives my mind space to listen. So with a bit of worship on I might walk, run or iron so that I’m able to mentally settle while I’m physically active. Another way I do it is needing the noise and people, but also being able to be quiet. So sitting in a coffee shop I find very helpful as there is noise and people around me, but space to hear God.

The way I hear God is in a number of ways. One way is through the bible, I just read about different characters and or different books and just reflect on them, listening to what God says to me through that. I also like to journal, so having a conversation with the Lord. As an extrovert, writing out what I think helps me to feel like I’m having a two-way conversation with the Holy Spirit. I kind of work out what I think as I write it down as I talk to God. Also, just silence. The discipline of silence and stopping. Perhaps staring out the window or looking at a painting in a coffee shop. Just stopping and stilling my mind, listening and seeing what pops into my head or what I think of. Then I just journal that and let that train of thought of consciousness or unconsciousness disappear into what I think God is saying to me.

In terms of in relationship or in leadership, I’m always asking God ‘what are you saying to me about or for this person, or for this situation?’ I do that as a discipline before I go into meetings or when I find myself in conversation so that I don’t drift but make an active decision to listen. As an apostolic extrovert I have 101 words and ideas for every solution and circumstance so actively being made to listen and positioning myself in a way to listen I find really important. Rather than me initially responding out of my own good ideas, just listening and taking a moment to think. Often I’ll have 2 or 3 trains of thought in conversation so I settle on the one which I have a sense of peace about, which is what God is saying or what I feel God is calling us to do.

So it’s owning who I am, loud, active with good ideas and finding the Lord in the midst of that as well as embracing some of the shadow side of listening which isn’t natural to me.”

Shaun Millward

“I’ve found that God speaks to me in different ways depending on the situation.

For example, I was speaking to someone recently about how I hear from God when trying to making decisions for myself and how I have found that generally the way He will speak to me is through a sense and feeling of peace – I think this is often underrated as a way of hearing from God. When I have a decision to make, I will use the resources God has given me to make that decision, but I will also simply wait on God and see which option I feel the most peace about.

But, when hearing God for other people, the way I tend to hear God is through pictures and visions (by which I simply mean pictures that move). I find it is easier for me with my eyes closed as I tend to get less distracted by everything else. The way that this happens is that a particular (and usually completely random) thing simply pops into my mind and because I’m a visual person I associate these things with images – it’s not a shocking, startling taking over your mind, extravagant kind of picture – it’s just a bit like if I said to you the word ‘boat’, you would see a boat in your mind. That’s how I see the pictures God gives me. They just pop into my mind”

Jacolien van den Steenhoven

“When I want to hear God I do so in a context of rest. For me that can mean sitting on the couch and listening to worship music, or it can just mean being restful with my mind and focussing on Jesus. The funny thing is that’s not the only way I hear God. Sometimes when I’m active a name will pop into my head and that there’s something that God wants to say to them. This can happen when I’m standing in the shower, or when I wake up. It comes as just a sense that I want to pray for a certain person. When I get that sense and decide to pray for that person- that’s when I need rest and some time alone with God.

God speaks mainly through the Bible to me. Something may just pop up in my mind, a verse or a passage perhaps or maybe a biblical figure. I then like to wait for a day or so, take some time and see if it’s confirmed. If it is confirmed then I know it’s from God. When I have to pray for someone immediately, I can’t take time to wait for it to be confirmed, so it’s more like a step of faith- I just speak it out and see if it makes sense. But I like to wait for confirmation mostly as I’ve found it’s often more accurate and more timely for people.”

What we can see from these interviews is that we all hear from God in different ways and in different contexts. Some of us may hear from God through pictures, others through a strong sense or gut feeling, and others through the Bible or even through other people. We also engage in prophecy in different spaces. You may find like Cath, you hear God best in worship, like Rich by doing something active such as going for a run, or maybe more like Simon, you hear God best when you’re on your own in quietness. However and wherever you hear from God, remember that your way of hearing Him is just as valuable as the way in which someone else hears from Him. God speaks to us in different ways because He has designed us all to be unique.

• How and where do you hear from God?
• If you’re not sure how best to hear from God for you, why not try exploring some of the ways demonstrated in this post?

 

Tags: bible, gift of prophecy, god speaks, hearing God, people, pictures, prophecy, sensing, the prophetic, visions Permalink

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Why We Love Prophecy- Part Two

Posted by Joanna Millward on April 16, 2014 in Why We Love Prophecy

In our February blog, we posted the first part of “Why We Love Prophecy” which you can find here. This month we come back for Part Two, which explores three more reasons as to why prophecy is such an exciting and useful gift.

Prophecy builds confidence and gives strength to endure

A good example of this from the Bible is 1 Timothy 1:18:

Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight.

We see here that Paul encourages Timothy that he is able to fight the good fight by reminding him of the prophecies that have previously been made about him. By doing this, Paul ensures that Timothy can be confident and strengthened in what God has called him to, and reaffirms that God is by his side to “fight the good fight.”

God frequently speaks to us to affirm us in what He has already called us into. It is not uncommon to hear people comment “Ooh, someone else prophesied that over me last week!” or, “I was really struggling with that, now I know to keep going!” when we give them a prophetic word. God loves to affirm us, and when we hear from God, affirming us in what He has called us into, naturally our confidence is built, and it gives us strength to keep on going.

Just last week I was given a prophetic word which I have been given a number of times. Each time I have been given this word, last week included, I was reminded that God has promised me this, that he’s given me that passion for a reason, that I’m gifted in it, and to keep seeking it. Each time I hear this word from God, my confidence is built and it gives me strength and confidence to keep on going for it.

Prophecy leads people to Jesus

For me personally, one of the things I love the most about the prophetic is that it leads people to Jesus.

1 Corinthians 14:24-25 tells us that

If an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!

The above passage shows us that a prophetic atmosphere reveals the Father. It  shows us that when we prophesy, people who don’t know God hear His voice. This can look like conviction of sin, or it can look like God speaking into them words of life and truth. A couple of years ago a friend of mine came to a Christmas service at church after being invited by her housemate. She walked into the service as an atheist, heard God’s voice calling her to a life dedicated to Him, and walked out as a follower of Jesus. It wasn’t the talk that brought her to Jesus, but it was hearing God’s voice for herself. Therefore, let us prophesy not only to encourage and bless people, but to bring people to their loving Father.

Prophecy is a vital tool for mission

Prophecy is not a gift to only be used within Christian circles, waiting for people to come in, but is also a vital tool for mission. Using the prophetic in mission can often feel a lot more difficult than using it within Christian communities, it can feel like a much bigger sacrifice because it feels less safe. However, speaking the words of God to people who do not know him, as we have just seen, can lead them to a relationship with the Father.

Recently I heard a testimony from a friend about utilising the gift of prophecy for mission. He really felt God saying to him to tell a man he saw across the street that God loved him. My friend was obedient even though he felt the word was a bit simple, impersonal and even a little bit cheesy.  To my friends surprise, the man was overwhelmed and started to cry. As it turned out, just the day before this man had considered suicide and asked God for a sign to show him that he was loved. By stepping out in faith, not only did this man hear God loved him but he had his own prayers answered. This encounter lead him to life.

If we align ourselves with the Holy Spirit and let ourselves be guided by Him, we can be confident that we are still safe. So, let’s be available for God to speak through us to all the people he leads us to.

God speaks to all his people, and that includes those who don’t know him yet. We need to act as channels for them, until they learn to hear God’s voice for themselves. Even though it can feel super scary, the potential of stepping out and seeing someone meet Jesus should by far surpass any fear of getting it wrong. Prophecy leads people to Jesus, therefore, let’s use it to bring His lost children back to Him. Align yourself with the Holy Spirit, draw your confidence from God and see who he takes you to.

• Who can you give a prophecy to today to build their confidence and help them keep on going?
• For whom can you act as a channel for God’s voice?

Tags: bible and prophetic, prophetic culture, prophetic ministry, prophetic mission, prophetic word, the prophetic, why we love prophecy Permalink

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Motivated by Love

Posted by Cath Livesey on March 12, 2014 in Values

We hear so many great testimonies of prophecy and the joy that hearing God’s living word brings to people. However, it’s amazing and sobering to see how such a wonderful gift as prophecy, which enables us to reach into the heart of our heavenly Father and communicate His thoughts and purposes to people, can occasionally end up getting a bad press.

I’m sure some of you reading this will have heard of a bad report about prophecy.  Future events being predicted that never occurred; marriages and babies being prophesied that never materialised; ministries and destinies being called forth that just ended up in disappointment and disillusionment.

It’s really hard to ‘eagerly pursue’ a spiritual gift, as we’re encouraged to do in 1 Corinthians 14:1, if we’ve had a bad experience of it or observed it being handled badly.

Once we’ve seen the bad side it’s very hard to wholeheartedly embrace this particular gift of the Spirit. Surely it’s safer to give it a wide berth. The problem is we can end up being held back by fear, or taking on the mind-set that only the most experienced of leaders could ever be trusted to use the gift.

Which is pretty tragic.

If fear and apprehension hold us back – the voice that tells us we might do it wrong and cause more damage than good – we miss out on what the Bible tells us is a very important gift, both to the church and to the world around us.

Fortunately, there is a way forward, a way to ensure our prophecies are on the right track, meaning that we can all enjoy using the gift of prophecy in its fullness without fear:

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

1 Cor 13:1-3

When we look to follow Jesus’ example we see that throughout the gospels He is so often moved with compassion. We always see that Jesus loves first. Therefore we need to make sure that we love first too.

Many years ago a friend of mine was having a terrible time because her husband had just left her. As I prayed for her one day the prophetic picture God gave me was of her going down into a deep valley – the lowest point of her life. But as I prayed for her, I saw that at the very lowest point in this valley there was a bench, and on that bench Jesus was sitting waiting for her. Jesus was waiting for her there even before it had happened and as she travelled down through the valley, Jesus was there for her the whole time. He was sat waiting for her with a space on the bench next to Him. It absolutely blew me away that Jesus loved my friend that much. Engaging with the prophetic that day enabled me to catch a glimpse of the profound depths of love that God has for His people. I was able to connect with His heart, and realised that this is the foundation of everything – being plugged in to God’s love.

The primary solution to the problem of bad and ugly prophecy is very simple – it is that we need to be motivated and consumed by love. Prophecy needs to be refined and purified by love – when this happens it becomes the most wonderful of spiritual gifts.

Of course this may seem easier said than done, but here are some simple steps to help you to make sure that you are following Jesus and truly loving people through prophecy:

1) Choose to base your identity and security in your heavenly Father’s love for you. You’re His beloved child. He’s always pleased with you.

2) Lay down your own agendas. Do not let your own opinions manipulate the revelation God gives to you.

3) Ask God to show you His heart for people. Try this with everyone you meet today. Ask to see them as He sees them. My favourite definition of the prophetic is ‘a passion for the heart of God’. I know that as I choose to lay down my own agendas and begin to really seek God’s heart for people that my prophetic ministry is going to be both purified and simplified – because all that matters is that I hear the heartbeat of God, and by His grace I get to reveal the Father’s burning passion for the people around me.

The focus needs to shift – from ourselves and all the reasons why we couldn’t possibly use the gift of prophecy – to the men, women and children around us who need more than anything to hear a word of love, compassion and hope from the very heart of the greatest Father in the universe.

We need to start thinking, “What have I got in my spiritual tool-kit that will reveal God’s love to the person in front of me today?”

Tags: jesus, love, prophecy, prophetic, prophetic ministry Permalink

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Why We Love Prophecy- Part One

Posted by Joanna Millward on February 12, 2014 in Why We Love Prophecy

Before joining St Thomas’ Church Philadelphia I had a limited understanding of prophecy. It was used very occasionally on special occasions to encourage someone at something like a baptism, but other than that I rarely saw it used. However, since being at Philadelphia, I have discovered that not only is prophecy a great gift which blesses people, it is actually an essential tool which is vital for the church.

Prophecy is essential, as it says in 1 Corinthians 14:3, because it strengthens, encourages and comforts people. This is probably the most common way I have seen prophecy utilised as a gift: God talking to us about ourselves and each other in order to encourage us. Most of the prophetic words I have received from other people fall under this category. One of my favourite words that I have been given was from a speaker who told me he saw Jesus sitting in a garden with me, and he said that he heard God say that Jesus loved spending time and simply being with me. This came at a time in which I was struggling with striving, so this word really encouraged, strengthened and comforted me to just be with Jesus and not do. It was exactly what I needed to hear at that time of my life and I still find it to be beautiful and encouraging to this very day, two years on. Prophecies like this are essential as in addition to strengthening, encouraging and comforting us, through them we hear God’s heart for us. This builds up hope and leads us to a place of thanksgiving and praise.

Another reason prophecy is essential is because it helps us know how to pray. I often used to find myself praying to God and running out of things to pray for, meaning that my prayer life became very repetitive, short, and if I’m completly honest, not particularly heartfelt. However since listening to God in prayer I have found that prophecy provides us with an agenda for prayer. Hearing what God says when we pray means that we are able to agree with Him and say Amen to His will. When we ask God what to pray for and align our prayers with Him, we are letting the Holy Spirit lead our prayers rather than our own minds. This is helpful in our personal prayer lives, and also when praying for other people. By listening to God whilst praying for others, we hear God’s viewpoint on their situation and are able to pray from a heavenly perspective, speaking right into the heart of the issue. Not only does this mean that we pray more effectively because our prayers are aligned with the Holy Spirit, but praying in this way gives us confidence in prayer and therefore builds our faith for answered prayers.

When we dig deeper into this, we can see that prophecy and intercession go hand-in-hand. Prophecy is a powerful tool in counselling and personal ministry situations as it brings God’s insight. When we use prophecy to help us intercede and hear God’s insight we are humbling ourselves and ridding our prayers of our own agenda. It is very easy to judge a person’s situation ourselves and decide what it is they need praying into, however if we listen to God we know what it is that God wants us to pray into, and therefore we pray far more effectively. This saves us a lot of time as it means that we don’t have to figure out for ourselves what the root of the issue is. Prophecy is also essential in counselling situations because it helps us to focus our eyes on Jesus. It is often easy to get caught up in the issues and problems of a situation, however prophecy leads us straight to Jesus the deliverer.

These are just a couple of the many reasons why prophecy is an essential tool for the church; we will be looking at some others in upcoming posts. The main reason we love prophecy however is because it is how we hear from God Himself, and there is nothing better than hearing from the One who loves us.

Images courtesy of:

Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

lilamilka / RGBstock.com

 

Tags: comfort, counselling, encourage, intercession, prayer, prophetic, prophetic ministry, strengthen Permalink

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What is Prophecy?

Posted by Joanna Millward on January 13, 2014 in Values

The blog this week has been written by Joanna Millward who is part of the Accessible prophecy team.

At our wedding three weeks ago, we asked four friends of ours to pray and prophesy over us in the service after we had just got married. We received some beautiful words from God which have really inspired us as a newly married couple. However, we realised that many people at our wedding would have no idea what was going on, or where these people were getting these words from! Therefore I wanted to provide an explanation on what we believe prophecy to mean, not just for the people at our wedding but for anyone who is unsure of the meaning of prophecy.

On a simple level prophecy means to hear God’s voice and then to repeat what He has said; making known His heart and intention. This may look different to different people as to how God may speak to them, but the model of prophecy in the Church means to listen to God on behalf of someone else, and then tell that person what they think God has said to them. Usually this will be a word of comfort or encouragement for the other person. However prophecy doesn’t just have to be on behalf of another person, someone could also be listening to God on behalf of a church or a particular community. When this person gets a sense, the Church or community would then weigh the prophecy together.

A common misconception about prophecy is that it always means to tell the future. While this is sometimes true, there are many aspects of the prophetic which are more about our current reality or past experiences. It can be helpful to think in terms of two broad categories of prophecy:

• Fore-telling prophecy means speaking about the future and the things that are yet to come. This type can be quite directive and pour strategy and purpose into someone’s life.

• Forth-telling prophecy means speaking into the present. It can mean encouraging the person in their current circumstances, or speaking God’s truth about their identity.

When we look at the Bible we can see both fore-telling and forth-telling prophecy. There are many passages in the Bible which show fore-telling prophecy. A specific example being Acts 11:28-30 where the prophet Agabus prophesies that there will be a famine. The disciples then act on this and prepare for the famine he has predicted. We are also told in 1 Corinthians 14:3 that “everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.” This shows us forth-telling prophecy; speaking God’s strengthening, encouraging and comforting words to people in the here and now.

However, a more profound way of looking at prophecy is to think of it in terms of revelation.

Prophecy is fundamentally about revealing truth that is hidden so that people can see and hear.

The greatest example of this is when Jesus came to the earth and revealed to us who the Father is and what His relationship with Him is like. “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.” John 1:18

Jesus’ revelation of the Father is the greatest and most profound revelation – the greatest prophecy – of all time. And in the same way that Jesus revealed the Father, we as disciples who seek to follow Jesus are living as prophetic people as we reveal the Father and Jesus.

If you live a life which reveals the truth about Jesus to people, then you too, are living a prophetic life.

Tags: prophecy, prophetic, what is prophecy, what is the prophetic Permalink

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