TABLE T ABLE OF CO NTEN TS
Preace // Shawn Bolz
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Walking in God’s God’s Intention // Graham Cooke
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Lie Giving Words // Katherine Ruonala
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Street Signs and Wonders // Will Ford
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Prophecy is Creative // Bob Hazlett
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Stewarding Prophetic Prophetic Favor Favor // Jul Julian ian Adams Adams
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Strategies or Reaching the World // Cindy McGill
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How Apostle Apostless and Prophets Work Work ogether ogether // Ché Ahn
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Back to the Future // Jam Jamie ie Galloway Galloway
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racking My Prophetic Words Words // Shawn Bolz
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(Good) (Goo d) Prophecy Is Awesome // Sally Hanan
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How to Receive More More Revelati Revelation on // Jere Jeremy my Butrous Butrous
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Good News: Prophecy Invigorates Invigorates Prayer // Bobby Conner
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How to See the Storms Trough Prophetic Eyes // Doug Addison
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wo Major Major Hindrances to Properly Interpreting Prophecy // Bishop Hamon
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What Are You Doing? // Julie Meyers
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You Are Anointed or Tis Moment on the World World Stage // Lance Wallnau
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Conclusion // Shawn Bolz
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PREFACE Shawn Bolz
I believe that prophetic gifs are going to be some o the main harvesting tools in the next great revival. In other words, as God speaks through us, we invite the world to know who God is, what he is like, and how to connect to him. Tis book was lovingly put together to bring a resh approach to the subject o prophetic ministry today. Te prophetic has changed vastly since it was introduced in a major way back in the 1980s—it has matured so much, and there has even been a reormation among those who pursue prophetic prop hetic ministry regarding their ministry goals and direction. I have been reading articles and books or years to grow my aith and strengthen my connection to God, and I want to help you do the same by connecting you with some o our riends—people who I believe have some o the most relevant insight on the subject. We asked sixteen o them to write about what they see God doing through prophetic ministry in this season. We wanted to consolidate their voices to bring you a resh take on how to connect God’s people to a greater understanding o the prophetic in this generation o ministry. Tese seasoned prophetic and apostolic leaders, as well as some emerging leaders and new voices (rom different races and both genders), bring you some thought-provoking ideas and revelatory teaching that will empower you in your own pursuit o hearing and sharing God’s heart o love. Tey have all grown my hunger and aith or more o what I already love, and I believe--whether you are new to the subject or are well-versed in revelatory gifs--you will benefit rom everything you read here. Out o all o the gifs and roles God has given or this side o eternity, hearing resh prophetic perspectives can be one o the most encouraging and lie-building tools we receive. By joining some great ministry voices rom every generation, we can bring you solutions on how to pursue prophetic ministry,, bring perspective on what it is or, introduce some new themes, and reorm some old ones. ministry I still remember a time many years ago: I was so discouraged with the quality o much o the prophetic ministry available, but then I pressed past my human rustration and looked deeply into God’s word. It clearly says in 1 Corinthians 14:1 to ollow love like our lives depend on it and to eagerly desire to prophesy. As I prayed into this, I pushed mysel past the discouragement and even annoyance at some o the ministries that were dominating the prophetic space. Instead, I opened my heart to really see this gif become useul in my lie and in the lives o those around me again. I want to encourage you to do the same.
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W ALKING IN GOD’ S INTENTION Graham Cooke
Te two questions that I have consistently been asked in the past four decades of ministry are: 1. “What is God really like?” and 2. “What is the will o God?” New estament prophets answer both questions as soon as they open their mouths! Both are relational issues. God’s nature is the critical part o our reedom. Guidance is the byproduct o right relationship with him. We learn both these vital eatures by learning the lessons o abiding, which are to: stay, be still and remain, consciously indwell and be a partaker o Christ within, take a simple turn and yield our hearts throughout the day, remain joyul and thankul, see all o lie through the eyes o God’s goodness. We bask in his love because we are his beloved. We practice living every day under his smile. We are much-loved children learning how to grow up in him and become confident, more mature adults. Te Father loves us as much, and in the same way, as he does the Lord Jesus (John 17). He put us into Christ and Jesus into us so that he can treat us exactly the same! In the will o God, a right relationship is the key to moving orward. “Everything in Christ is yes and amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Te Lord always wants us moving orward. It’s normal to pray and commit things to him; this is an important part o our relationship. We must learn how he says yes, no or wait. Te will o God is primarily relational. As we abide, we become sensitive to
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his heart. He gives us confidence. Everything is yes in Christ! Tat means we always have a green light until God turns it red. Our responsibility is to be ready to go on green. His authority is to turn the light amber, which means wait, or red, which signifies stop. Yes, no, and wait are the main directives o guidance, with yes being the priority. Go until you hear no. Tere is no inertia in the Spirit. We are the subjects o great love; thereore, we can make ourselves vulnerable to his goodness. In relationship, we become sensitized to the nature o God. We can learn to live in awe, wonder, and astonishment. Tese are the beautiul attributes o beloved children. Te nature o God is our most compelling adventure. His heart or us is the promised land o exploration. I love my story in God. In the hardest chapters, I have seen beauty and extreme lovingkindness. I have been to hell and prospered because he held my hand. I have lost everything and thrived. I have been in the valley o the shadow and lost all ear. I have been on the mountain, bathed in a light so strong I thought I would dissolve in happiness. In the depths o humiliation and embarrassment, crushed by my own stupidity and inadequacy, he showed me a grace so amazing it brought healing to my soul. He taught me how to find kindness everywhere, and the un in being patient. His love leaves me awestruck with gratitude. In all these encounters, encounters, every event e vent o my lie has been about his primary purpose in making me in his image (Genesis 1:26). Everything is relational. Tat is also the primary purpose o prophecy: to produce the bride, the beloved. All new covenant prophets are the riends o the Bridegroom (John 3:27-30). We produce people who know, with a joyul certainty, how much they are loved. Te nature o God and the will o God are olded together in primary purpose that is as unchanging as God himsel. Te outcome o every circumstance is cleverly designed to show us another glimpse o the Father’s heart. Abiding empowers us to see properly. We always behold what we must look or and look like in lie. Every application o his will and purpose is to make us in his image. We are learning how to grow up in all things. Every prophetic word, vision, or dream has that same intentionality. “My people know my voice” (John 10:27). It’s the voice o the One who knows us best and loves us best. It’s the One calling us up in Christ. We serve a God who is dedicated to seeing us get things right. In return, we live and abide in the sheer pleasure o waiting on him. We learn to use the all-access pass o delight in his presence. All prophecy begins with a logos word that we have already experienced in ourselves, and on top o that oundation, our hearts are secure enough to hear the rhema word o the uture he is calling us to, or the direct now word that can challenge our circumstances.
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Alternatively, we may see a rhema word first and release a uture directive word—one that can then be rooted and grounded in the logos word that provides practical wisdom in how to process the promise. Both are required in order to ulfill God’s intentionality or the achievement o primary purpose. In this context, we must learn that the Holy Spirit is our inheritance. Tese are the signature points that are made with every prophetic word. Primary purpose, nature o God, uture and a hope (huge sense o expectation). Prophets empower hope because they, themselves, have embraced love. Assurance is a byproduct o presence. In all the circumstances o lie, prophecy is the healing, releasing actor that elevates people into the high places o God’s intentionality.
Graham Cooke
Author o twenty books, including Crafed Prayer and Approach Appr oaching ing the Heart Heart o Prophecy Prophecy brilliantperspectives.com brilliantbookhouse.com
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LIFE GIVING WORDS Katherine Ruonala
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words—wow! Tey can do so some real damage. But they can also release amazing healing and hope. I want share some thoughts on the power o delivering healing words. God loves to share his secrets with his riends the prophets, but the prophets must be lovers who overflow with his love in order to effectively reveal the heart o the One speaking. We are created in the image o the God who created the world with his words, so we must be very careul to speak words o lie. We need to seek God or his way o delivery and his interpretation, always being aware that when dealing with people, we are dealing with the apple o his eye. o be filled with all the ullness o God is to overflow, and with that overflow comes love-empowered signs and wonders. Prophecy will flow like a river rom a heart overflowing with love. I remember receiving a word regarding my songwriting when I was quite young, and it brings home the importance o delivering a word in love so that it releases hope and lie. I had just started writing songs when a man called me out o a crowd to give me a word. He proceeded to say that he had seen a vision o a clock at a quarter past the hour and then gave his interpretation. He said that my songwriting was one-quarter anointed and three-quarters un-anointed. I was devastated! I went home and certainly didn’t want to pick up a pencil and write anymore. I, instead, the word had been delivered out o an overflow o God’s loving heart, grounded in a revelation o his grace, I would have reacted very differently. Te same vision could have been delivered like this: “I see that the Lord has anointed you to write songs, and it is his desire to increase that anointing threeold.” Such a delivery would have inspired me to run home and write. Te same word delivered two different ways can have vastly different impacts. As it says in Proverbs 16:24, “Nothing is more appealing than speaking beautiul, lie-giving words, or they release sweetness to our soul and inner healing to our spirit” (P). Ofen prophecy is made up o a word o knowledge, a prophetic word, and a word o wisdom. A lie-giving word never just consists o a word o knowledge about the problem; it should always
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include a prophetic word revealing Jesus as the answer and the hope or the uture. Keep looking and keep asking the Holy Spirit until the hope is revealed. “Te testimony o Jesus is the spirit o prophecy” (Rev 19:10). Jesus always maniested himsel as the answer to those who came to him with a problem, and our prophetic words should be a maniestation o Jesus as people’s answer and hope. With Christ at the heart o our prophesying, prophesying, lie will always a lways maniest. He is the way, way, the truth, tr uth, and the lie. Christ-centered, lie-giving prophetic prophetic words can bring amazing healing. A ew years ago, a man rom Australia was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer and given three months to live. He began to search the Web Web looking or ministers who had prayed or cancer victims and ound one o our video testimonies. Inspired Inspired with hope, he came to one o our meetings. Partway through the service, I elt the Holy Spirit prompt me to call him to come or prayer. He was so excited; to him, that was the confirmation he was waiting or to know he would be healed. I declared the Lord’s healing over his lie and gave him a prop prophetic hetic word regarding his uture ministry. He was overjoyed and lef the meeting that night ull o aith. When he got home, he went to the doctor to confirm his healing, but he was told that while his condition had improved, he was still in the final stages o cancer and nothing more could be done. But this man continued to rejoice that he was healed because God had said so, and he kept telling people about the word he’d received about his uture. In the ollowing weeks, even as he was in severe pain, he continued to declare the prophetic word spoken over him and the act that he had been healed. Six months later, he wrote to us to say that he had a clear report. Years later, he is still alive and well and praising God, walking in the prophetic word he received and preaching the gospel. I love it when we see immediate results, as we ofen do, but I appreciate this story because o the beauty o this man’s hope-filled journey o aith. Te prophetic word released in love is lie giving. I love that he waged war with his prophetic word. 1 im. 1:18 tells us to wage war with the prophetic words spoken over us. Prophecy is a powerul weapon to fight with. David waged that kind o war when he was being pursued in the wilderness. He wrote, “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness o the Lord in the land o the living” (Ps. 27:13 NAS). He held on in hope to the promise o God spoken prophetically to him through Samuel and Jonathan. I have done the same thing many times, pulling out prophetic words I have received and praying them back to God, declaring them in aith that t hat God who is aithul will ulfill his promises (Ps. (Ps. 57:2). It is important to understand that a prophecy is not always an inevitability—it is most ofen an invitation that God wants us to agree with and wage war with. In the midst o discouragement, discouragement, words are such a wonderul blessing. Prophecy is a lie-giving gif and glorious revelation o God’s love or people. I want to challenge you to step out and love people with God’s lie-giving words.
Katherine Ruonala, Senior Leader
Glory City Church, Brisbane Author o Living in the Miraculous and Wilderness to Wonders www.katherineruonala.com
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STREET SIGNS AN A ND WONDERS Will Ford
Prophetic signs are actions, events, or chance encounters that reveal transcendent truth or confirm God’s will or something to happen. Like natural signs, they give direction and guidance and help us to prepare or what’s next. Tey also cause us to stand in awe o God. I used to only think o signs and wonders in terms o healing and the miraculous, but many times, God uses his servants as signs and wonders. I first learned this concept rom Is. 8:18, when Isaiah’s amily was a sign and wonder to the nation o Israel: “I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are or signs and or wonders in Israel” (KJV). In Hebrews 2:13, this Scripture is mentioned again in reerence to Christ’s redeemed amily members in his household o aith. It’s one thing to walk in signs and wonders; it’s another thing to be a sign and a wonder. In other words, our lives can be a sign o God’s mercy and grace in that we can bring hopeul reassurance to people o God’s love and desire to be involved in their lives, and even their nations.
A Connection and and an Offer In August 2000, as my hunger or revival began to grow intensely, I elt the Lord calling me into orty days o asting and prayer, which led me to prayer-walking my neighborhood. I’d take my Bible and declare Scripture promises over my neighborhood; my city o Euless, exas; and the nation. During this time, I also studied about the First and Second Great Awakenings and the Azusa Street Revival in America, and I began crying out or another awakening in our day. At the time, I had no idea this was preparation or so much more. A short time afer the ast, in March 2001, I chose to go to a conerence in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and I heard a message by Dutch Sheets. I was struck by this phrase: “Not only can we agree in prayer with the person next to us, but we can also agree in prayer with the generations behind us.” I began to see that when we understand what previous generations prayed or and
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God’s purposes in those prayers, we can move the spiritual momentum orward exponentially. Jesus’s words, “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” (ESV), took on a deeper meaning or me. During the conerence, Cindy Jacobs (whom I also didn’t know at the time), called me out o the audience to participate in a prayer time or Williamsburg, Virginia. Afer this, Dutch started to eel I should play a part in a prayer journey with him. Te last day o the conerence, he said that he elt we were to stay in touch with each other. Bear in mind, we had never met each other beore. While at home, I began to sense this was more than a moment o shared hype or emotionalism and God was really up to something. Afer prayer, research, and the leading o the Holy Spirit, I began to encounter a series o un-coincidental coincidences, which caught my attention. I now believe what one Archbishop o Canterbury, William emple, once said: “When I pray, the coincidences happen, but when I stop praying, the coincidences stop.” I received an e-mail rom Dutch saying that he elt we were to not only go to Williamsburg, but also throughout all o New England and the Northeast to pray or revival. Neither o us had ever mentioned New England in our conversations beore, but I remembered studying the New England revivals while prayer-walking my neighborhood, beore I’d ever attended this conerence. Had God been preparing me or this? I was open to going, but I still needed more confirmation, because I’d had no relationship with anyone at the conerence beore this. My thought was, God, is this really you? My remaining doubts were erased a ew weeks later when Dutch sent me the list o the cities or the tour. In a very proound way, God truly had prepared me or this prayer journey. I realized that while I was prayer-walking my neighborhood, I was prayer-walking streets named afer the cities and regions or our projected tour!
Un-Coincidental Coincidences Un-Coincidental First, I noticed that Jamestown, one o the original American settlements, was on the tour list— Jamestown Court was across the street rom me. We were to go to Princeton University—Princeton Street was two blocks behind me. New Haven, Connecticut, was on the list—New Haven Court was one block down rom my house. Also on the tour was Plymouth, Massachusetts— Plymouth Court was across rom New Haven Court in my neighborhood; Gettysburg, Pennsyl vania—Gettysburg vania—Gettysb urg Street was around the corner rom me; Dartmouth University—Da University—Dartmouth rtmouth Court was our blocks down rom my house; and Hanover, New Hampshire—Hanover Street is right next to Princeton Street. On it went. We were to visit Williamsburg, Annapolis, and Washington D.C. Tese cities are in the Chesapeake Bay area, and my house was on Chesapeake Street. Potomac, Warwick, Middlebury, ren-
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ton, Rochester, New Bedord, Nantucket, and Saratoga were on Dutch’s list—and streets in my neighborhood. Basically, I had been prayer-walking cities o New England and America’s original settlements—and doing this in exas, no less! I went rom walking street signs to being a sign that God wanted to move in America. I’ve learned that when God gets this serious about the details, it’s a sign he is inviting us to partner with him.
Te Kettle our For me, the invitation was to enter into the unfinished business o praying or the next generation by continuing the work o intercession rom the previous generation in America, especially rom my amily, where slaves used a kettle pot as an acoustic means to keep their prayer meetings or reedom secret. I realized that had it not been or the prayers o a godly remnant o white Christian abolitionists and black Christian slaves, revival would have never come and slavery would not have ended in America. We called our journey the Kettle our, and or about a month, we prayed or revival and healing o the races in America throughout New England and the northeastern portion o the country. We saw amazing spiritual breakthroughs, especially at Ivy League schools. Shara Pradhan, a student at Princeton, was present at the prayer meeting we held there. She reported that God released a revival o prayer on the campus; hundreds o students were showing up or prayer and many people were getting saved.
What I’ve Learned Tis prayer journey launched me into national ministry, and I’ve been traveling and speaking on prayer, unity, and revival ever since 2001. Tis is just one example out o many when God used me as a prophetic sign. And it’s been so much un! Now, let me give a ew precautions, learned rom over twenty years o ministry wonders and blunders. 1.
2. 3.
As with all prophetic revelation, especia especially lly with signs, don don’t ’t make over reaches. In other words, don’t make the symbol or occurrence mean more than what it’s stating. Don’t embellish. Also, not every coincidence is a sign rom God. Te devil likes to orches trate those too, to distract us and bring ear or derail us. Next, stay biblical. Te Word o God is our barometer or all revelation. Finally, i God uses you this way, remember, you are only a sign that is pointing people to Jesus and his purposes. It’s not about you. No one stops at a sign, they ollow where it’s leading them to next. Be a good leader to Jesus and or Jesus, because ultimately, he is the sign. A healthy accountability team o spiritual leaders, peers, and amily members can help you avoid these pitalls, so stay accountable. Te biggest pitall or people that are prophetic signs is or them to lose their wonder. Stay child-like, not childish, and avoid becoming overly amiliar with how God uses you.
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Isaiah had a son named Shearja-s Shearja-shub, hub, which literally means “a remnant shall return.” He was a sign o the remnant that would return to the Lord and turn a nation back to the Lord. God wants to use you the same way as his sign, so never lose your wonder. Stay expectant and childlike, and trust God’s ability to lead you more than Satan’s ability to deceive you. Stay in awe o God; be the sign o the turnaround and his sign o redemption.
My prayer is that your lie will be a living witness and testimony o God’s aithulness. I pray he uses you like a pen, and with the Holy Spirit as the ink, God will write a love letter through you to a world looking or hope.
Will Ford, Director of Marketplace Ma rketplace Leadership Leadership Christ or the Nations Institute www.willordministries.com www.theGodoprovidence.com Author Aut hor o History History Makers Makers and Created or Influence
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PROPHECY IS CREATIVE Bob Hazlett
I never used to think o mysel as an artsy person. I write with block letters, draw with stick figures, and usually preer to color between the lines. It wasn’t wasn’t until I was introduced to the world o prophecy that I discovered how creative God is and how he could create through me. Prophecy is a creative activity. Tis should not have been a surprise, since, according to Genesis 1:4-5, the process o creating the world involved God seeing something and then bringing it into existence through words. Consider Webster’s definition o art: Something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiul, b eautiul, or that expresses important ideas or eelings. In a very real sense, prophecy is art. Just like God’ G od’s voice at creation, it is painting with words. Tis truth has been impressed on me countless times while sharing a prophetic word. My custom, when giving a talk to a group o people, is to share something I am learning and attempting to live out. I ollow that by communicating what I believe God wants to say about that topic to specific individuals. Many times, those words are encouraging; occasionally, occasionally, they are dramatic. On one such occasion, I was sharing about creation and God’s voice. Genesis chapter one explains that God’s solution to the chaos, darkness, and emptiness that was in the world was to speak. When we hear his voice, a new order order,, new vision, and new resources become available to us. I began b egan to share with a gentlemen seated there something I saw or his business. He, and the group o people seated around him, visibly and verbally responded to what I was saying, and they affirmed what was happening and what they were believing or. What caught my attention next was the young woman seated in ront o this group. I almost did not notice her; she was dressed in nondescript dark clothing, with a purposeully non-distinguishing outward appearance that screamed, “I’m just a stick figure. Don’t notice me!” Had she not responded with a look and body language o aversion while I was speaking to the businessman,
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it would have been easy to pass her by. It was this negative reaction which drew my attention toward her. Just as God’s creative Spirit hovered close to the chaos, darkness, and emptiness o the earth, God’s voice vo ice is dra drawn wn to wha whatt it it wan wants ts to cre creat atee in the liv lives es o ind indivi ividua duals. ls. Som Someh ehow ow the cr creat eative ive wo word rdss I was speaking were conronting something in her that was created by God. When I looked at her, I saw a beautiul picture and began to speak. “God is going to use you to worship and play music that will bring reedom to people with addiction and identity issues. In one year, you will go to a worship school to be part o a 24/7 house o worship.” I could see by her response that I was coloring outside o the artificially drawn lines o her identity. Her arms were olded across her chest, and she tried to melt into her seat and disappear. I knew that in order to see the portrait God was painting in her lie, I needed to identiy what had limited her. I asked God or another picture. What I saw next was something that had happened to her as young girl—it had scribbled on her soul and kept her rom receiving the light God wanted to give her. I told her God was quietening those voice vo icess and and rem removi oving ng lim limits its tha thatt kept kept her ro rom m seei seeing ng wha whatt I co could uld see in her her.. I tur turned ned off my mic an and d spoke quietly or those things to be gone. For a moment, her body seemed to react physically to what was happening spiritually. spiritually. God was erasing darkness and filling emptiness. Tis was more than just a moment o deliverance. It was creativity at its best. Tis is a perect picture o 2 Corinthians 5:16,17: “So rom now on we regard no one rom a worldly point o view. Tough we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Tereore, i anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: Te old has gone, the new is here!” (NIV). When we see people the way God sees them, and say what God says about them, we empower them to become what he says. We We also disempower what is keeping them rom seeing what God G od sees. Prophecy erases the lines that are scribbled on people’s souls and paints a new picture. I asked a ew women sitting around this young lady to stand with her as I once again told her the picture o the worshipper that I saw. One o those women stayed involved in this young lady’s lie over the next year—to keep the picture in ront o her. One year later I returned to speak in the same city, and a young woman with colorul clothing and a bright countenance approached me. She pulled out a picture o who she had been a year beore, and told me she was leaving the next month or a 24/7 worship school. She had become what God’s words had painted! Here are a ew ways you can learn to be more creative with prophecy and learn to color outside the lines: 1. 2. 3.
Look or those who are trying to blend in, not just those who stand out. Ask God to help you see the limiting lines he wants to erase in people’ people’ss lives. Find people you can help by keeping God’ God’ss picture o them in ront o them.
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I you want to grow in prophecy, learn to see people the way God sees them. Write new scripts, draw in 3-D, and always color outside the lines!
Bob Hazlett Author Auth or o Te Roar: Roar: God’s Sound in a Raging Raging World World and Tink Like Heaven: Change Your Tinking, Change Your World www.bobhazlett.org
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STEWARDING PRO PHET IC FA F A VOR Julian Jul ian Adams Adams
“Tey said to him, ‘We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.’ And Joseph said to them, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.’” Genesis 40:8 ESV
One o the most exciting shifs that the church is going through is its move rom being a people who gather to being a people who scatter. God is giving the church her voice back. We are beginning to realize that what we have traditionally confined to a church meeting is, in act, to be used or kingdom influence in every sphere o society. God is calling us to learn how to prophesy into, and interpret the dreams o, influencers—without agenda or hidden motives, but simply because it reveals his nature o love to a lost and dying world. Te amazing thing is that as we do this, he uses our posture o servanthood or the extension o his gracious rule and reign on the earth. As I have connected with influential people rom many different walks o lie, I have realized the incredible opportunity we have, as prophetic voices, to reveal the Father’s heart. I have also realized the journey we must take in order to find ourselves in these spaces o influence. Unlike a business networking strategy, str ategy, we cannot find ourselves in places that shape the world through our sel-promotion or strategic connections. Promotion into influential places requires avor. Favor is the currency by which we get to influence or heavenly purposes. God is raising up prophetic voices on on the earth today, today, not through through good marketing marketing skills, but but through avor avor that he he gives. My background is one that demonstrates this principle. I grew up during an incredible season o transition in South Arica. Apartheid, a system that dominated and suppressed people o color like me, was in ull orce during my childhood. God raised up men like Nelson Mandela to bring a measure o reedom, and I clearly remember the day every person o voting age, irrespective o race or social standing, was able to cast his vote and elect a ree democratic government. Te
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legacy o apartheid, however, was not removed overnight, and we are still working hard to see that changed in South Arica. Being a person o color in South Arica meant that I was not afforded any privilege with regard to education. University was out o the question, and finding a job in our country was challenging. I have no degrees or academic accolades. In light o this, I find it incredible that God has brought me to consult prophetically into multi-million dollar companies and into the lives o politicians and significant society shapers. I am totally unqualified or this, yet God’s avor gets you into places that human effort never could. Recently, I was invited to do a closed meeting or very wealthy people in a Middle Eastern nation, and I ound mysel totally out o my depth. o be honest, I was very nervous! As I got up to prophesy, God gave me detailed words o knowledge or a certain Hindu couple who were seeking direction. I was able to see their house and describe it with detailed explanation explanation and insight. It caught their attention. My immediate thought was to “go or the jugular” and present the gospel—so I could see them saved—but I elt the Lord impress on me to hold back and instead to simply reveal the love o Jesus to them, no strings attached. Tis was a couple very amiliar with being used and taken advantage o because o their wealth. Tey would recognize a gospel “sales pitch” and see through a lack o authenticity. I am grateul I did not press them hard. In that prophecy, God revealed so many deep things, and he healed the wie’s long-term illness. As it turned out, someone else got to lead them to Jesus that night, when they opened their heart to him, but even i they had not opened their hearts to Jesus, they would have walked away loved. Tat is the aim o prophecy. Ultimately, it’s not about the detailed accuracy, but rather the love that people encounter.
“So Joseph ound avor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer o his house and put him in charge o all that he had.” Genesi Genesiss 39:4 ESV
My journey in growing in prophetic influence has come about because I am learning to steward the avor that prophecy opens up to me. Te truth is that authentic prophetic ministry opens up doors o avor and influence. Joseph’s avor to impact the highest leader o a nation did not come about because he suddenly “got an opportunity.” It came because o how he stewarded his heart and responsibility in unseen places. Joseph grew up knowing he was his ather’s avorite. Te journey God then took him on on was not one o o demotion, despite despite how it may may have appeared, appeared, but rather it was one o adjusting his posture. When you grow up knowing you are the avorite, you’ll think like a avored one. It’s why Joseph thought nothing o sharing his dreams with wit h his jealous older brothers. brothers . God’s God’s avor on you is never in question; however, your posture in order to enjoy that avor is important. God took Joseph on a journey o servanthood. In a sense, Joseph had to learn how to bow beore others beore his brothers would bow beore him. As I have understood the avor o God on my lie, I have also had to learn that his avor on my lie is or the benefit o others, not my own gain. It would be easy to
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manipulate people o influence or my own ends and distort the reason why God has given me opportunities to influence. We must make sure that our position o avor does not overshadow our posture o serving. Te way we do this is by loving and serving when no one is looking. Joseph did not find avor with Pharaoh because o his dream interpretation skills, he ound avor with Pharaoh because he served Poti Potiphar phar aithully when everyone else had orgotten him. Serving or avor only produces striving; serving rom avor releases lie.
“And God sent me beore you to preserve or you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive or you many many survivors.” Genesis 45:7 ESV
At every juncture o Joseph’s lie, a garment was taken rom him. Ofen in our journey to the next level o avor, it eels like our insecurities and vulnerabilities are revealed. Tis is good and is the process through which God shapes our hearts or greater influence. When Joseph finally revealed who he was to his brothers, he said to them, “It was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:8 ESV). Joseph realized that his avor and personal call was connected to God’s bigger purpose, which was saving the bloodline o Jacob so that Israel would become a great nation. Your personal avor, however small or big it may seem, is about God’s bigger purpose. As you allow him to shape you and as you serve in the space he gives you, know your avor is working or kingdom advance. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Are you using your avor or the benefit o others? Do you prophesy without agendas? o which areas in your sphere o influence do you need to apply aithu aithull stewarding? How well are you allowing God to shape your heart when no one else is looking?
Remember, avor always gives you the unair advantage!
Julian Jul ian Adams Adams Author Aut hor o Gaining Gaining Heaven Heaven’’s Perspective Perspective and Te Kiss o the Father www.requentsee.org
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STRATEGIES FOR REACHING THE WORLD Cindy McGill
Having met Jesus in the Jesus movement in the ‘70s, I have watched the church struggle with effective ways to communicate God’s love to a dying world o people who desperately need to know he’s in love with them. Over the years, our teams have explored ways to communicate God’s love in some o the most unusual places. Using dream interpretation as a bridge builder, we have gained access into the hearts o many, many people when they have told us about impacting dreams they have had. Listening intently to their dreams, we have been able to build trust and confidence with them, which gives us a gateway to share Spirit-breathed truths about their lives. Our adventures have taken us to places like the Sundance Film Festival—since 2002—where independentt filmmakers gather; the Burning Man estival in the Black Rock desert o Nevada— independen since 2004—where over 70,000 trendsetters and spiritual seekers camp in the desert or a ten-day experience o radical sel-expression. We have set up booths at New Age estivals, Pagan events and, most recently, w e have built teams to be present at major porn conventions, in an effort to rescue young people rom this epidemic o moral-les moral-less, s, destructive liestyles. In Luke, we can read about the parable o the great supper, where a table was prepared or people to come and eat but everyone made excuses to not attend. At the end o this parable, God commanded his servants to move “quickly” and go out and compel people to come in and that his table would be ull. Furthermore, specific instructions were given to go out into the highways (where people are visible) and hedges (where people are hiding) and compel our categories o people to come in.
And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Ten the head o the household became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes o the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” And the slave said, “Master, what
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you commanded has been done, and still there is room.” And the master said to the slave, “Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.” (Luke 14: 15-23 NASB)
Let’s take a look prophetically at this portion o Scripture. We see our distinct categories o people: the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind. Each category has a distinct compelling actor, which tells us that not all methods work on all people. Let’s look at each one individually.
Te Poor Jesus said the poor will be with us always (see Matt. 26:11), and i we give to the poor, we lend to the Lord and he will repay us (see Prov. 19:17). Tis is a great outreach or those starting out, as the rewards are instant. But there are three other categories we have to look at. Te Lame Tese seem to be those who have legs but there is no strength in their walk. Tey are possibly holding ast to oreign religions or New Age, deceptive doctrines that cause them to have no strength to stand in their belie systems. Ofen the best way to reach the lame is by way o a dream interpretation. Having already received a message in the night while they sleep, we have an opportunity to “help them” understand a message—that could possibly be rom God—and divert them rom going to a psychic to get it interpreted. People ask, “Are all dreams rom God?” My answer is “No, but God made every dreamer.” When we can work with them in understanding a night message, a bridge o trust is built or us to give them a timely word in language they can understand—one that awakens them to the act that the “One who made them,” can and will talk to them while they are sleeping. A new door is open or them to pay attention to God’s voice, and God will awaken them to his existence and his persistent beckoning. Te Maimed Te compelling actor o this group is their need or us to go the distance with them. Tere is no trust, because their t heir trust bridges are all blown up and un-crossable. Because o their broke brokenness, nness, they are unrecognizable. Tey don’t know who we are because they don’t even know who they are. Te maimed have walked through lie suffering abuse and deception; they have been used, devalued, and despised; and as a result, they have hardened their hearts to such an extent that they hide rom rom society. Teir lives exist in i n the “hedges.” “hedges.” Prophetic words and words o affirmation won’t do much to help them, because in their minds, words are empty and powerless. Mostly, salvation will occur on the installment plan: a little down and a little each month. Rebuiling trust bridges take time with the maimed, and our prayers are to ask the Father to draw them to Jesus (see John 6:44). Te Blind Te blind are visionless, and without a vision they perish (see Prov. 29:18). Teir lives consist o bumping into walls, stumbling over the same obstacles again and again, and wandering aimlessly. Prophetic words are extremely helpul or those who are shortsighted and cannot see their pur-
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pose. Teir hearts are open to hear and receive, because their lack o direction has developed an insatiable hunger to find lie, purpose, and direction. Jesus told us to ollow him and he would actually make us fishers o men, but so ofen we act with learned behavior—we repeat what worked the last time we went out on outreach. Te above are just a ew examples examples o how how Jesus will direct us to to reach the ones ones he is drawing. drawing. My avorite avorite comcompelling tool o bridge building is dream interpretation. When we give out prophetic words, even in treasure hunting, people have to decide whether or not they want to hear a word rom someone they have never met; however, when we interpret dreams, the person we are “compelling to come in” is telling us something. By doing that, they are lowering the bridge themselves. Another major key to reaching into the hearts o today’s seekers is to listen well. We have to learn to listen to hear instead o listen to respond. When we emphatically listen with our hearts, we shove all o our thoughts out o our heads and make ourselves available to actually listen as people lower a bridge and gateway into their hearts. A trust is ormed, and we are able to loving communicate truth, love, and wisdom as God gives us language to share his purpose with them in “un-churchy” language. [We must always remember that people in the world have been turned off by church. Teir perception o Jesus usually makes them want no part o a religious box that suffocates their creativity and individuality.] As we make our way out to the highways and hedges in this great harvest, let’s remember that it is God’s love that compels and his Spirit that guides, and when we learn to ollow the leading o the Holy Spirit and not our learned techniques, God will introduce us to his riends. He is not condemning or judgmental. It is not our job to correct people; it is our effort to love them….. And let us not ever orget that we were them beore we were us. It’s time to ollow the true leader, Jesus. Tis is the millennials’ revival—theirs—they will have their own sound, their own voice, and their expression. We have a golden opportunity to champion them, the next leaders, as God advances his kingdom in the most creative ways we have ever seen.
Cindy McGill Author Aut hor o What What Your Your Dreams Dreams Are Are ellin ellingg You: You: Unlocking Solutions While You Sleep www.cindymcgill.com
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HOW A POST LES & PROPHETS WORK TOGETHER Ché Ahn
I have been asked beore, “What are apostles looking or when it comes to prophets?” Te answer to that question is really ound in how apostles and prophets are to work together effectively. Ephesians 2:20-21 are the oundational verses in recognizing the importance o not only the apostle, but the prophet too.
“Having been built on the oundat “Having oundation ion o the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himsel being the chie cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” Ephesians 2:20-21 NKJV
Te church is ounded on the apostles and the prophets working together, with Christ being the cornerst one. Tis is a significant key or the church growing into all that she is called to be in the Lord. Another instance o this is with the spiritual offices and gifs listed in Ephesians 4:11-12: “And He Himsel gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, or the equipping o the saints or the work o ministry, or the ediying o the body o Christ” (NKJV). Te offices are listed with apostles first and then prophets second. Each time those spiritual gifs and offices are listed in Scripture, such as in 1 Corinthians 12:28, they ollow that same pattern: apostles first, prophets second. Te goal is to bring the body o Christ into maturity, so how does it work? Te best model o apostles and prophets working together are ound in Scripture. We see, or example, in the lie o the apostle Paul that he had Barnabas, a prophet, with him in his ministry. Even when he and Barnabas parted ways, Paul picked another prophet, Silas, to join him in his ministry. In my own personal lie, God has given me a powerul prophet in my wie, Sue Ahn. She
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has been the prophetic voice in my lie since we were married in 1979. And or over thirty-two years, Lou Engle was my first prophet. Lou is an amazing prophet and an extraordinary prophetic intercessor. When I first met Lou, I was his pastor in Maryland. It was beore he had met his wie, Terese, and he was at a singles outing. I oversaw the singles ministry at the time, and I asked him what he did or a living. Lou said he mowed lawns or a retirement center in the area, Leisure World. I remarked that it must be the most boring job in the world and Lou, being Lou, said that it was the best job in the world because he got paid to pray eight hours a day, five days a week, as he pushed the lawnmower. I knew then that I needed to get to know him! Ten later on, when God helped me to get a church planting team together or Los Angeles, rom Maryland, he was one o the first ones I asked to come out. By then he and Terese were newlyweds, and I asked them to pray about it. Te way prophets and apostles work is this: Prophets have an extraordinary ability to hear rom God. Everyone should be able to hear rom God, but prophets have a higher level o revelation. Tis will lead to one o the things that I am looking or as an apostle: Can they really hear what I call “significant words”—words with details and specifics, not just less detailed personal prophecy, which all o us can do. I have many examples o this, but several are meaningul. For instance, when HRock Church was first starting out in 1994 in the midst o revival, John Arnott was encouraging us to move services to Mott Auditorium or nightly protracted meetings. When we invited John to speak in January o 1995, 2,000 people showed up, and he believed it was time or us to move to Mott. Although we did eventually move HRock Church to Mott Auditorium, it was Lou who originally said that we needed to be there, even though I didn’t want to. In act, it was Lou and my wie, Sue, who were the only two saying that we needed to be in Mott Auditorium. My reasoning was that we couldn’t afford it; afer doing the research we ound out that the rent would cost $35,000 a month, and we would need to rent it out 24/7 i we were going to hold nightly protracted meetings. HRock was in the nearby city o Arcadia, and I didn’t want to go back to Pasadena—where we had first started as pastors in Caliornia—because I didn’t want to come across as i I was coming back to my ormer church. Out o my desire or unity and integrity, I wanted to stay in another city. But Lou and Sue really heard the Lord that we were supposed to move to Mott. Ten their word was confirmed by James Goll, another prophet who has since become another prophetic voice in my lie. James called me because he had a dream o me holdin holdingg a bottle o the amous Mott’s applesauce, but he didn’t know what that meant. When I told him the context o what was happening and that Lou and Sue were telling me to move back to Mott, he confirmed that word o the Lord. He said I was to possess Mott Auditorium and that God would take care o the finances. Sure enough, on the word o the Lord, we moved into Mott Auditorium in April o 1995 and began nightly protracted meetings or the next three t hree years, rom 1995-1998, and God truly met our financial needs. Apostle and prophets unction like this: prophets hear rom God, but apostles have to make it happen. Te apostle brings leadership, structure, strategy, resources, people, and more to rally
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behind the prophetic vision. So even though Lou heard the word rom the Lord about moving HRock into Mott, he couldn’t make it happen practically and financially. So as the apostle, I had to organize churches to come together, because we couldn’t do it alone. We were a church o 300 at that time. Tere was no way we could have afforded it on our own. But with the grace o God, I was able to provide leadership to make the nightly meetings happen. Tis is the same process that took place when it came to launching TeCall, which was birthed through another significant prophetic word rom Lou. In 1997, Lou got a word rom the Lord that we should gather the young people together or a prayer movement in the National Mall in Washington, D.C. He got the word in 1997 afer the million Christian men o Promise Keepers had gathered there, and he elt that we needed to have a youth counterpoint. HRock was such a young church in 1997, and Harvest International Ministry (HIM) had just begun in 1996, only one year beore. I just didn’t think it was or me to get involved without support in finances and prayer. I told Lou he needed to ask another apostle to make it happen, and he did. He asked several major youth leaders who were apostolic i they would take the leadership o TeCall. All o them said TeCall was a vision rom God, but each one declined to be the point person over the event. However, I’ll never orget: the Lord woke me up at 6 AM on a Saturday morning in October, 1999, and basically said to me, “Lou laid down his lie to serve you; are you willing to lay down everything to serve him?” It was a rhetorical question, and I knew the answer. Initially, my heart sank, but I knew I had to obey. I said, while I was still in my bed, “Okay, I’ll do it.” I knew I needed to talk to my amily about it, though, because I would be traveling and be away rom them. Te next day afer church, I took my amily out to lunch and shared with them. Tey said the same thing the Lord had said to me, “O course you are to serve Uncle Lou; he served you all these years and it’s time or you to serve him.” So that evening I talked to Lou and Terese, and Lou broke down weeping because he was so relieved, and even though he knew I was supposed to do it rom the beginning, he didn’t want to push it. Tis leads to the second thing I look or in prophets. What I’m looking or is prophets to not only have to have a high level o revelation, they also need to learn how to submit their prophetic words. In other words, they need to learn how to submit the word and then not keep bringing it up or harassing the pastor or apostle, reminding him or her o that word. Because as a prophet, once you submit that word, your job is really done. You can pray, but God has to speak to the person you gave the word to to obey the word or not to obey that word. Now the leader is accountable to God. I believe the reason why a lot o apostles and pastors get turned off rom the prophetic is because when they get a prophet or a prophetic person to share a word and it’s not being acted upon, the prophet can get somewhat hurt. Prophets are sensitive people, and they can try to make it happen on their own. When the pastor isn’t heeding their word, they can try to make it happen by praying it through in prayer meetings, or telling others that the pastor doesn’t value the prophetic, etc. However, this can be divisive, because in reality, they are casting negative aspersions on the pastor or not heeding their word. Tat’s why a lot o pastors shut down the prophetic—because they pick up division.
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Te prophet or the prophetic person has to learn to submit the word to the apostle or pastor and trust him that i this is a true word rom God, he or she will obey God. Pastors might miss it, but this way they are the ones accountable to God. Lou did that. He never persisted or harassed me with a word, he just submitted it and trusted the Lord that he would speak to me and he did. So I love when prophets submit words and give space or me to hear rom God as the apostle. Essentially, there’s there’s a protocol on how apostles apost les and prophets work together. I’m looking or prophets who are really Christlike and mature and have a high level o revelation, but they also know how to work with the apostle. Tey really trust that once they are able to submit the word that the apostle will be able to carry that word orward. I really believe that i prophets can do that with pastors and apostles, we will see the prophetic flourish in the local church. Tis is why we see the prophetic flourish in our local church, HRock, because we honor the prophetic and how it works with the apostolic.
Ché Ahn, Founder and President Harvest International Ministry Founder o HRock Church Author Aut hor o When When Heaven Heaven Comes Comes Down and Fire Evangelism www.harvestim.org www.hrockchurch.com
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BACK TO THE FUTURE Jamie Galloway
An all-time avorite movie o mine is Back to the Future. Michael J. Fox lit up my imagination on the tiny ten-inch V my parents had. It was the only V in our house, and in that ten-inch window I saw the uture! Te uture is a wild concept, an idea I ell in love with as a ten-year-old while watching that film. What wonders await us in the uture? What strange and wild things will we experience? Tere’s a moment in Back to Future 2 when Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travels out o 1985 and into October 21 o 2015. Within minutes, he is riding a flying skateboard coined a “hoverboard.” For me, it was the possibility o the hoverboard—a skateboard without wheels that lifed the rider off into the uture—that hooked me! Learning about the prophetic prophetic ministry ministr y awakened the same type o curiosity and excitement about the uture. Te Father says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts o peace and not o evil, to give you a uture and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV). I am constantly amazed at God’s accuracy about the uture. His knowledge o it keeps me anchored in hope that he will cause all things to work together or good. Prophecy and prophetic ministry is predicated on the awareness that: 1. 2. 3.
God has a proound understandi understanding ng o the past, he is ully engaged and present with us in the now now,, and he has a wonderul and positive vision o the uture.
With this in mind, we begin to encounter the tiniest glimpses o something beyond the urthest side o beyond, bringing us to marvel at the depths o God’s proound awareness o all things. I was deeply impacted recently by a prophetic word the Holy Spirit gave me or a couple I ministered to. Teir son, a riend o mine, had introduced us a ew days beore, and now I was excited to share a word with them. When I began to minister prophetically, I elt a check in my spirit to
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hold back on speaking into anything I’d learned rom my time with them. Instead o prophesying over them in the moment about their current circumstance, I heard the Holy Spirit telling me to tell them, “God is going to give you a word.” Now this was happening in a public meeting. I’d had them stand up in the crowd and I’d told them I had a word or them. Tey looked all ready and excited! Te word went like this, “I have a word or you, and the word is … you are going to get a word.”
I stood there and realized this was a very awkward moment or all o us! Tey were waiting or something a little more proound. I then heard the Holy Spirit tell me it was coming on uesday, so I continued, “God is going to give you a word, and it is coming on uesday!” Tey sat down and I could eel their tension. Tey wanted something more that I could not give them in that moment. In my soul, I wanted to give them something else, but I knew it would only be my kind words and not the Father’s. A ew weeks later, their son came to me laughing. His mother had called to tell him the rest o the story. uesday came around and the mother went to the mailbox. When she opened up the box, an envelope was in the pile labeled, A word rom God or you! She opened up the letter to realize this was a mass mailer rom a ministry she would not normally receive rom. Te ministry was so outside her normal cultural comort zone that she had to take a moment so as not to reject it because o the cultural differences. ypically, she would have thrown the letter in the trash, but she told her son that because o the word beorehand, she knew to pay attention, let down her guard, and receive what God was speaking to her on that uesday afernoon. Tough the letter might have gone out to hundreds o homes, or even thousands, she took it as a word or her and her husband! In it were things that might have sounded like a basic prophecy to many, but she took it as a letter personally handwritten by the God who knows. It touched on every area o difficulty in their lives, while giving them hope to move orward in the direction they were contemplating. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Prophecy gives us a glimpse into the heart o God or our uture. Prophetic ministr ministryy has a way o altering our perception to see beyond the impossible and into a world o possibility. Prophecy helps us to see when God is taking an average uesday and turning it into a breakthrough moment. Te prophetic word creates vision and gives purpose or our present reality.
Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit’s help or the believer in regard to the uture: “When the Spirit o truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the uture” (John 16:13 NIV). Prophecy is, simply stated, telling the uture, which is Holy Spirit’s job description; he partners with Jesus and tells us uture things. So knowing this, we can actually actua lly hear rom Holy Spirit and begin to look orward to our uture! Jesus spoke to his ollowers about specific prophetic events as something to watch out or: “Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door” (Mark 13:29 NIV).
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Tough Jesus was speaking about certain prophetic signs to watch out or on a global scale, the same prophetic principle applies even to the individual. Prophecy gives us mile markers in our journey so that when when we see them, we can can be confident confident we we are in God’s timing. Tese Tese mile markmarkers give us hope and help us to walk in aith that God’s promises are real. With this confidence, we can have courage that God is with us in everything we do! I have taken to heart something the Old estament prophet Samuel said as he was prophesying o uture events: “Once these signs are ulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, or God is with you” When God gives us prophetic descriptions about our uture, they serve as mile markers—when we see them start to be ulfilled, we can be confident that God is with us. So how do we activate the prophetic in a way that helps us step into our uture “God moment?” I want to share with you a simple strategy. When you start to see little clues o ulfillment o the prophetic word in your lie, “Do whatever your hand finds to do, or God is with you.” Tis may seem too simple, but too ofen we overcomplicate the moment and end up doing nothing. God gives us prophetic moments like the “uesday” story above so that when the sign is ulfilled, we can be confident to do the thing we have had in our heart the entire time!
Jamie Jam ie Galloway, Galloway, Founder Founder Jamie Galloway Jamie Galloway Ministries Ministries Author Aut hor o Superna Supernatura turall Revolution Revolution www.jamiegalloway.com www.Facebook.com/jamie.r.galloway www.twitter.com/jamiegalloway
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TRACKING MY PROPHETIC WORDS Shawn Bolz
I’ve been tracking my words or a ew years now, and I’ve ofen written e-mails to a list o people that I’ve prophesied to. I like to hear i anything has happened and to see i I can just connect, because in the prophetic world, to connect means to personally develop and grow in your prophetic gifing. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:32 that the spirit o a prophet is subject to the control o the prophet. I believe this means that we are in charge, with God, or our stewardship o our gif, not our church or our denomination. While they can be helpul, ultimately we have to begin to take responsibility or our words and do some sel-critique and growth. Recently, a amily I wrote to immediately wrote back and said: “You called our little boy out by name and even said he had a condition that could lead to death, but that God was going to give him victory and answer his amily’s amily’s prayers or him! Please pray, pray, because he is in the hospital and it looks so grim.” I began to pray with them. I knew I wasn’t responsible or the word to come true, but out o love, I couldn’t help but believe with them. A prophetic word was on the line. In tracking with them, I got to be part o their journey and battle or this precious little boy in a connected way. 1 Corinthians 14:1 says to ollow love like your lie depends on it, and to eagerly desire prophecy. When we don’t track some o the things we have put dates and conditions on, we’re not stewarding our gif, which is paired with stewarding this great love. Sometimes we risk losing sight o love because o our lack o connection. wo days later I got an e-mail rom the ather o the boy entitled: “Bad but Good News!” I was nervous thinking, I hope he didn’t die and they accepted that as ultimate victory, but I clicked “open” and read it. It was a miracle!
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Te first time I wrote, the ather said the boy was in a coma and the doctors were saying he was brain dead. Te amily was praying because the doctors were talking about lie support and giving them no hope. Here is the report: “I wish it had been easier and we could say he rose up right away, but it was a battle. Te seventeenth day in the hospital was when we were told he wouldn’t live. Te doctors were preparing us. We prayed or our more days, and we were letting him go piece by piece as things in his body were shutting down. Ten my wie read your e-mail to us about checking in to get a ollow-up about your prophetic word, and it brought the word back up in a new way. She had recorded your word on her phone, and she played it one more time. Something happened in our amily as we listened, and we began to pray again with the same aith but with renewed passion. His lie wasn’t over yet, so we weren’t going to give him over to death or grieve like he had died already. He was still breathing. Tat’s when it happened. He just started getting better. Ten he came out o the coma. Now he is in physical therapy already. Te doctors don’t get it, but we do! Tanks or walking this out with us!” I, o course, cried. I was so glad that words that came rom God’s Spirit out o my mouth helped them to fight or something that most humans would have never had hope or. As I tracked a word with the amily, it somehow brought up aith in the word again because I chose to care. I don’t track every word, but when they are about lie and death or serious, it’s hard or me not to, i I can get the people’s inormation. racking helps us to keep connected to what God has spoken through us. We grow and gain authority by hearing the very real stories o ulfillment, or by taking responsibility when it doesn’t work out. I ofen take responsibility by just saying, “I am growing in hearing rom God. I am so sorry that my word didn’t happen. God bless you.” Tis is always a little scary (or a lot scary) when I am wrong, or when the person is just rustrated that the word has no obvious ulfillment. It helps me, though, to be careul about how much weight to put on different type as o words, and what kinds o words I have more authority or aith to speak with boldness, or when I need to be more gentle or purposely vague. I remember one o my first times afer tracking a word with a riend: I asked i it had been ulfilled ulfilled by the date I had given. He said no—with a disappointed sadness but love or me. I knew he had been in conusion or a while and his lie journey had been hard. I almost wanted to use that as an excuse, like it was his ault. Ten I heard the Lord speak Proverbs 11:18 to my heart: “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue o the wise brings healing.” I immediately said, “I am so sorry that my date was off! Tat must be really disappointing. I am still learning how to minister prophetically, and I want to take responsibility or that growth process.” He was so moved that he was healed right away in an area that might have caused permanent trust issues with the prophetic. I you want to grow in the prophetic in a deliberate and accelerated way, get eedback and also track any trackable inormation. You will get the opportunity to hear the greatest stories, but you’ll also learn social skills and sel-awareness rom the times that you misunderstood, spoke
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out o turn, tried your best, or even just were growing. I want to personally challenge you to track your words, because you will grow so quickly! ake the time to get people’s e-mails or phone numbers i you give them prophecies or the uture, and then ollow up! You will be amazed at what happens next. Sometimes prophecy is just the beginning o the story!
Shawn Bolz Author o rans Author ranslating lating God God and Keys to Heaven’s Economy www.bolzministries.com
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(GOOD) PROPHEC Y IS AW A WESOME Sally Hanan
Prophecy is God’s heart shared with his people through his people. Prophecy is one o the gifs God gives us so we can serve each other well. So how do we benefit or help people with prophecy? We get to encourage, comort, confirm, exhort, and inspire. “As each has received a gif, use it to serve one another, as good stewards o God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10).
PROPHECY IS NO ABOU: Exposing someone’s sin in ront o a group o riends—a public shaming Giving yoursel a platorm so everyone can look up to you Having a ministry that implies you’re so in touch with God that you don’t need amily Sharing the problem without the solution Calling out people on all the things they do that annoy you. o exhort actually means “to draw near,” so when you exhort someone, you have the privilege o calling that person closer to the heart o God.
PROPHECY IS ABOU: Calling out the greatness in people and reminding them o how awesomely unique they are Reminding people pe ople that God knows exactly exact ly what’s what’s going on (good or bad) and that he cares deeply dee ply Confirming things God has already shared with people Confirming the dreams in people’s hearts and encouraging them to move toward their ulfillment Seeing into people’s utures and affirming their hope Sharing solutions and answers
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Te closer you get to knowing God and his voice, the better you are at serving that up to benefit others. Perhaps you’re araid o prophecy because you’ve seen a lot more bad examples than good ones, but that doesn’t mean you have to keep it or the prayer closet. It just means you need some practice giving and receiving words in a sae environment. Tat way you can see up ront how a healthy model works and serve rom that place o maturity.
We prophesy rom identity, not or one. ~ Ben Armstrong
Prophecy is un! We get to share the heart o God with many people and change lives because o our willingness to share what we hear. Giving words should never be reserved solely or church. It’s always a good time to share God’s heart with people! When you live in the moment and in the God zone all the time, you catch those seconds o heaven telling you to go speak to someone or ask a certain question. It takes practice, but don’t miss out on how much o an adventure it is either. God is always speaking, and when you get to be the one he speaks through, lie is uller. I was in Whole Foods one evening hovering around the chocolate booth (don’t judge), and when the girl walked up to help us, I almost missed a sudden flash o light in the corner o my vision. I gave her a word confirming what she’d been thinking about doing, and the conversation ended with her talking about possibly finding a regular church again afer years o absence. And the whole thing started with me drooling over chocolate. Validated!
Prophecy is not about telling you what to do as much as it is awakening who you are. ~ Ray Hughes
“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifs, especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1). Why does Paul love prophecy so much? Because it makes people happy. Who wouldn’t be happy to know that our busy, omnipotent God is looking at them and letting them know how much he loves all the details o their lives? I you want to be able to prophesy to people, all it takes is a willingness to express what God is sharing. It’s scary. I get it, but i you compare the eeling o sharing to the eeling o walking away without having done so, the sharing wins every time. Not many things eel worse than a missed opportunity. “For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged” (1 Corinthians 14:31). Apart rom the ew prophets who are like walking act knowers, we can all prophesy. We can all hear God’s voice and we can all share his heart with others in a way that will teach them something and encourage them. Even or the chosen ew (prophets who instantly know many pertinent acts about your lie), the office o a prophet is a lie calling or the equipping o the saints to do the works o service” (1 Corinthians 14:31). We’re all on the same page! Isn’t it interesting that most o the great verses we have on prophecy are in the love book? We’re all in the love chapters. We all get to serve in love. “So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:39).
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God ofen specifically chooses you to be the one to share his words because he likes the way you’re going to say them. Te more you practice, the more helpul your words will be. Te more you practice, the greater you’ll trust that God knows what he’s doing by using you as his mouthpiece. “Having gifs that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: i prophecy, in proportion to our aith” (Romans 12:6). I’ve been practicing or a long, long time, mainly because it’s extremely rewarding to push people closer to God and into his heart. It was people’s stories that first inspired inspired me to try it out, so I had a very ver y helpul group group o riends let me practice on them and vice versa. When I was blessed to be stuck at home with two small children and no car, I’d go through the church phone list and call people I elt led to pray specific things over. Being able to encourage them was great, and the more I practiced hearing and sharing, the more o a blessing (I was told) I became. Some people have been very ond o using their ability to hear God to manipulate others. “You’re going to marry me.” “You’re going to start crocheting booty shorts and giving me 50 percent o the proceeds.” “You’re going to apologize to me and then voluntarily resign.” All sad but true … although I might have made up the one about the booty shorts. A woman called me one time to ask me about the latest thing her husband was asking her to do. She had told him no, so his response was that he’d then prophesy it to her and she’d have to do d o it. I suggested that he go to t o the pastor with his “prophecy” to see what the pastor thought about the word and the obedience o the man’s wie. Tat went down like a lead balloon. Don’t turn advice or control into a word. It’s manipulative and it’s witchcraf. Let your words be judged. Expect the word to be examined. Others seem to think their words are only good or leadership. Tey have a “gif” o pointing out the bad things they notice about how the church is run, so they eel obliged to share. Below are some questions you can ask yoursel beore you decide to share your word.
CHECKLIS FOR ALL WORDS Do I have a naturally judgmental perspective on lie? Is this word one o those judgments? Am I giving this word so leadership or people will notice me and think I’m important? Do I have an agenda in giving this word? Do any o the leaders or people actually know me as a riend? Have I spent time getting to know them beore going in to deliver my truth bombs? Am I willing to have this word examined and possibly rejected? Can I deliver this word in a humble way? Will I get offended i this word is rejected? As you can tell, there is a high need to know your heart beore delivering a word. I there’s anything in it or you, it’s probably not time to give them a word. It’s probably more to do with an issue in your own heart. I you still eel the need to share it, and you truly believe the word will
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benefit and bless them, do so and then go home and ask God i you have any more responsibility with it. Once God says your responsibility is lifed, don’t worry about it anymore. I you’re having a rough time with negative thoughts, work with God on cultivating your own atmosphere o peace, love, hope, and joy. Te more time you spend in God’s presence and the more you filter the words that come out o your mouth, the better your personal atmosphere will become. Light is stronger than darkness! Te more intensely good your atmosphere gets, the wider the influence you’ll have and the more you can affect others or the good. Ministering God’s gifs rom a place o love can be a scary thing, but the joy in doing so is so worth it.
Sally Hanan, speaker Author o Fix yoursel Author yoursel in Jesus Jesus and Empower Yoursel Yoursel in the Holy Spirit morethanbreathing.com
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HOW TO RECEIVE MORE REVELATION Jeremyy Butrous Jerem Butrous
Revelation is the ruit o intimacy. Regardless o the revelation that you seek, its origin and lie is centered in the lie o Christ. Indeed, it is suitable or us to look at the biblical understanding o revelation beore we try to apply any methodology. But first, I would like to take you on a short journey and and present present a ew realms realms o thought. thought. You You may may find an overar overarching ching perspective perspective and some practical tools along the way.
1. ruth is established by the Word of God, not my exper experience. ience. My lie’s experience, or lack thereo, has never been the qualifier or God’s available abundance. He is our perect standard! Would you agree with me that salvation is made available through the cross? Some have embraced it and some haven’t. Is our experience the origin o our salvation? No! Jesus has made salvation and the kingdom o heaven available regardless. 2. Heaven is accessible through dimensi dimensions ons of understanding. How can Abraham, Moses, and others enter into salvation that was made available afer their death? Is it possible they accessed a dimension o understanding by aith that permitted salvation even beore the physical sacrifice o Christ? I believe so. See, spiritual truth is eternal, accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Te Word o God creates realities, while time is simply the stage or the Word o God to be perormed. 3. Te Word of God needs to be embodied by will willing ing vessel vessels. s. Tis world that we live in is brought to you by the Word o God. We are alive today because o his proceeding words. When God said, “Be ruitul and multiply” to Adam and Eve, those proceeding words are still bearing ruit or us today. God already “chose us in him beore the oundation o the world” (Ephesians 1:4 ESV); he simply needed willing vessels to embody the Word.
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4. Te Word of God is already settled in heaven. ime is simply the opportunity to manifest it. Jesus was a willing vessel that embodied the Word o God. He is the Word made flesh, the Lamb that comes to take away the sin o the world! Wait. Wasn’t the Lamb slain beore the oundation o the world (Revelation 13:8)? Te payment had already been made in heaven even though it was yet to maniest on the earth. Jesus, this willing vessel, simply needed an opportunity to maniest what was already established in heaven. With the aorementioned points, we now have place to explore a ew spiritual moments that will bring a deep well o context rom the lie o John the Beloved. John the Beloved paved a dimension o intimacy that is worthy o exploration. He had a heavenly perspective about the entrance and maniestation o Christ to the world. John the Beloved was not surprised to receive the revelation o Jesus Christ. He carried the preparedness in his lie that properly positioned him to receive the greatest revelation that has been shown to the world: the culmination o Jesus Christ. Let’s look at how and why this perspective developed. My desire is that you will identiy with his story and assimilate his process. John understood intimately and coherently the revelation that he received about Jesus. He was not perplexed and conused. John was a student o the Word and was brought into the ullness o understanding with each picture and vision. God presented the revelation to John because o three main reasons: A. Joh John n was able to to identiy intimat intimately ely with Jesus Jesus in the the midst o the the Law. Law. Te Law was a perect standard that no man born o Eve could uphold. It was, no doubt, a substitute or a relationship with God. Go d. John, being a student stu dent o the Word, Word, was able to see that the entirety o the Law pointed to Jesus as the answer. John, in the midst o the one o the most treacherous religious times on the earth, was able identiy intimately with Jesus as the Son o God. John laid down his lie and ollowed Jesus despite every obstacle. Jesus even called the religious leaders o the day children o the devil (see John 8:44). Tey were, in act, dev ilish in their ways and persecuted John or his lie. Moreover, the Law was very active during the days o John. One was not at liberty to access heaven so easily. No payment had been made or the sin o the world and thus, no Holy Spirit was available. An unbelievable eat, one would say, that John was able to be so close to Jesus when his entire world was a contradiction to the possibilities. John was able to identiy with Jesus intimately in the midst o the Law. B. John was the only apostle to witness Christ’ Christ’ss crucifixion and sufferings. Te manner in which Christ maniested and how he brought about a perected redemption to humanity may be perplexing to some. Nevertheless, it was the manner in which God desired to do it. Tere is a unique and intimate access that is established when one is able to partake and relate to the death, burial, and resurrection o Christ. John was able to ellowship in the death, burial, and resurrection o Christ.
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He was the only disciple o the twelve that participated in the greatest love offering that the world has ever seen. John was shown the heart o the Father, and the implications o that are still being discovered today. “But to the degree that you share the sufferings o Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation o His glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Peter 4:13 NASB). John was, in act, a bondservant o Jesus Christ. His ear was pierced with the nails o the cross to the doorpost o Christ (see Deuteronomy 15:17 and John 10:9). His hearing was perected in the piercing. You can be saved and not be a bondservant. John showed us what a bondservant actually is. C. John leaned his head on the chest (heart) o o Jesus. Te Bible was not written just so we could have historical acts about what lie was like back then. Each Scripture Scr ipture is an address into i nto the nature and heart hear t o God. Te Bible doesn’ doesn’tt contain the Word Word o God; it is the Word o God. Simply put, the complexity o treasure is limitless when it comes to God’s Word. Let’s look at a dimension o understanding when John leaned his head on the chest o Jesus: Jesus knew his hour had come. Jesus shared with his disciples about the prediction o his betrayal. Te disciples were undoubtedly perplexed. Tey just had their eet washed by Jesus and then their plans or an earthly kingdom were coming to an end. Tere, in the midst o one o the most intimate moments, John leaned his head in and rested it on Jesus’s chest. Te invitation that we are brought into—with John leaning on the chest o Christ—speaks volumes. How intimate does one need to be to get that close to God’s (in the flesh) heart? Te picture also speaks o the ability or John to relate to the lie and process that Jesus maniested. John wasn’t off thinking about himsel like Judas was; he had his head pressed to the heart o God. Te disciples were perplexed and probably looking inward toward their own ailures and doubts, while John was listening beat by beat to the heart o Jesus. John’s head and mind were resting on the heart o Jesus. I imagine he wasn’t worried about the troubles in the day. His thoughts were o intimacy and ellowship. With the culmination o these three dimensions o understanding. John was able to bring the revelation o Jesus Christ to the world. John embodied the Word. He accessed heaven by agreeing with Jesus. He wasn’t conused about the times and seasons in which he lived. John did not put his God-given responsibility into the hands o a generation that did not yet exist. He learned how to embrace God and thus learned how to receive more revelation.
Jeremyy Butrous Jerem Butrous Author Aut hor o Unveili Unveiling ng Revelation, Revelation, ransce ranscending nding Mindsets, Mindsets, Praying Trough the Seven Mountains, and ghostwriter o o Children Children’’s Adoration Adoration Prayer Prayer Book Book unveilinggod.com childrenwithpurpose.com
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GOOD NEWS: PROPHE CY INVIGORATES PRAYER Bobby Conner
Prepare to Pray! Come into Agreement with Paul’s Paul’s Prayer! Recently, the Spirit o God said to me, “I have good news or you to share with God’s people!” At this divine proclamation, my spirit leapt with holy expectation. I was even more encouraged by the words God then declared: “I am preparing to answer Paul’s prayer recorded in Colossians!” Ponder deeply, and agree with quickly, this outstanding prayer in Colossians 1:6-12 (Amplified Bible):
...which has come to you. Indeed, in the whole world [that Gospel] is bearing ruit and still is growing [by its own inherent power], even as it has done among yourselves ever since the day you first heard and came to know and understand the grace o God in truth. [You came to know the grace or undeserved avor o God in reality, deeply and clearly and thoroughly, becoming accurately and intimately acquainted with it.] You so learned it rom Epaphras, our beloved ellow servant. He is a aithul minister o Christ in our stead and as our representative representative and yours. Also he has inormed us o your love in in the [Holy] Spirit. Spirit. For this reason we also, rom the day we heard o it, have not ceased to pray and make [special] request or you, [asking] that you may be filled with the ull (deep and clear) knowledge o His will in all spiritual wisdom [in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes o God] and in understanding and discernment o spiritual things—
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Tat you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy o the Lord, ully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing ruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge o God [with uller, deeper, and clearer insight, [acquaintance, and recognition]. [We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might o His glory, [to exercise] every kind o endurance and patience (perseverance and orbearance) orbear ance) with joy, joy, Giving thanks to the Father, Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the [portion which is the inheritance o the saints (God’s (God’s holy people) in the Light.
Beloved, this prayer is going to be ulfilled—soon and very soon—but we must join with Paul and pray ervently, contending or these promises to be ulfilled in our lives and the lives o our loved ones. Tere must be a boldness and confidence in our prayers, we must pray like never beore! rue prayer should be a proclamation o the promises o God see 1 John 5:14. Without the Spirit o God highlighting this to me through the gif o prophecy—direct communication with the Father—I would not even be writing this. Eagerly desiring the gif o prophecy is eagerly desiring to hear what the Father has to say in each and every moment. When he says to pray, we must pray!
Prayer Proposal: Nine Promises to Bring Nine Breakthroughs What exactly is going to happen when we pray? Here are the nine promises o this most amazing prayer o Colossians 1. Many o them relate to the prophetic. We will: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
be filled with the deep and clear knowledge o God’ God’ss will have all spiritual wisdom concerning the ways and purposes o God understand and discern spiritual things walk and live in a manner pleasing to the Lord bear ruit in every good work steadily grow and increase in the knowledge o God be invigorated and strengthened with all power exercise endurance and patience with joy give thanks to the Father, having been qualified or our inheritance
Let us ask, seek, knock, and keep on asking, seeking and knocking or ever y one o these prayers to be ulfilled. Let us press on in prayer, praying through to be filled with his Spirit, given all wisdom and discernment, empowered to walk and bear ruit to please the Lord, to grow and increase, to exercise endurance and patience, and to be invigorated and strengthened with all power.
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Why do we need this invigorating power? So we may advance God’s kingdom into every aspect o society and every corner o the earth!
Prayer Strategy: Believe and Stand Strong! It is imperative, beloved, that we not only pray exactly what God reveals in the moment he reveals it, but also take a strong stand as we pray. Tis stand takes place on the battlefield o the mind. We must make up our minds, make a quality decision, and draw a line in the sand, declaring, as Martin Luther declared, “Here I stand!” In other words, we must decide not to continue to stumble about in the conusion that seems to gridlock believers as well as unbelievers in this culture. Rather, we must walk with God-given goals, God-given aims, and God-given divine purpose—not our own goals and aims. We are not to be vague, thoughtless, conused, or distracted during these end-time days; on the contrary, we can and must discover the Lord’s certain guidance every moment o the day, every day o the week. In Ephesians 5:15-17 (Amplified Bible), Paul offers us a most severe warning:
Look careully then how you walk! Live purposeully and worthily and accurately, accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), Maki people), Making ng the very most o the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil. Tereore do not be vague and thoughtless and oolish, but understanding understanding and firmly grasping what the will o the Lord is.
When we take heed; rebuke the enemies o conusion, doubt, and sel-reliance; and take hold o God’s promises by aith—praying earnestly as Paul prayed in Colossians 1—we can rest assured that God’s continual guidance and provision are certain truths in our lives: we will be invigorated and strengthened. Growing in our prophetic abilities will ensure our position on the correct path.
Prayer’s Result: Christ Our Wisdom In Nehemiah 9:20, the Lord promises: You also gave Your good spirit to instruct them, and withheld not Your manna rom them, and gave water or their thirst (AMP). In Psalm 32:8, the Lord again makes this promise o guidance: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go: I will guide you with My eye.” Te Holy Spirit, the revealer o genuine truth, the upright Guide, will give clear direction as we seek him and wait upon his guidance. Consider John 16:13: But when He, the Spirit o ruth ruth (the ruth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide g uide you into all the ruth (the whole, ull ruth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [rom the Father; He will give the message that has been given g iven to Him], and He will announc announcee and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the uture] (AMP).
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Tis last phrase is extremely significant or today: “and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the uture].” Te entire world seems to be seeking this revelation, asking, “What does the uture hold?” As ollowers o Christ the King, we have the answer, and that is the overcoming victory in and through our blessed Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:37). Christ, himsel, living within us, is the wisdom that God is offering to us. God will direct us as we yield and ollow, reusing to lean on our own human understanding but standing on his Word instead. Dear believer, pray, pray some more, and stand strong—and you will see breakthrough and be invigorated and strengthened to bring in the harvest! Amen!
Bobby Conner Author Auth or o God’ God’s Supernatura Supernaturall Power and Gaining the Gaze o God EaglesView Ministries www.bobbyconner.org
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HOW TO S EE T HE STORMS THROUGH PROPHETIC EYES Doug Addison
I am sure you have seen the increase in storms and unrest in the world. One cannot help but wonder where God is in all o this? Many people are claiming these are signs that God is judging the world. I would like to give you some prophetic insight into what I am hearing rom God about the time and season we are in now. Ready or some good news? God is still in control and still loves and wants to save humanity. It is neve r his will to destroy us. Many o my prophetic riends and I are seeing that this is a divine time designed to bring about a great revival. O course, right beore a major outpouring rom God, there will be a lot o turmoil and storms rom the enemy to get you distracted. It is really important we stay at peace and not ocus on the storms.
What Is the Root and Fruit? As part o an Internet prophetic culture, it is easy to get pulled in a million directions with many prophetic words that can sometimes sound conflicting.
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One battery test that I use or evaluating prophetic words is to look at the root and the ruit o the word: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Do you know the person who released the prophecy? Does he/she have a good track record? What is the spiritual result o the word? Are you earu earul,l, hopeless, or angry?
Tese are ofen major signposts to guide you through learning to discern the voice o God or yoursel.
“For God has not given us a spirit o ear, but o power and o love and o a sound mind.” 2 imothy 1:7 NKJV
My Storm Storm Recently I got hit with a terrible series o illnesses, and no matter what I did, it would not get better. At points, it was even lie threatening. As a prophetic minister known around the world, it was not easy reaching out or help. I had people telling me a lot o conflicting advice and giving me prophetic words o what and why this was happening to me. I would get a significant healing—then get knocked down again. I had to hold on to God’s word that he, indeed, loved me and wanted to heal me. I also held tight to many prophecies spoken over my lie that had not yet come to pass. I knew who God was—the God o justice—and that the enemy had brought this unjust time to my lie. I knew there would be repayment to me once I got through this three-year battle. Te good news is that I got healed, and now my spiritual lie is going to a new level because God is repaying me or all that happened. How Did Jesus Respond to Storms? Tere were two occasions in the Bible in which Jesus was in a major storm.
“Ten he got into the boat and his disciples ollowed him. Suddenly a urious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. Te disciples went and woke him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ He replied, ‘You o little aith, why are you so araid?’ Ten he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.” Matthew 8:23-26 NIV
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Jesus knew ull well there was going to be a storm that night, and he did not give his disciples a heads-up. It is interesting that the storm came without warning. Tere is a temptation by prophetic people to ocus on the storms and warn people. Jesus ne ver did this; instead, he encouraged people to rise above the storms, stay at peace, and take authority. In one case, he slept, and in another, he walked on the water during a storm.
“Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance distance rom land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly beore dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in ear. But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘ake courage! It is I. Don’t be araid.’ ‘Lord, i it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said. Ten Peter got down out o the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was araid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You o little aith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’ And And when they climbed climbed into the boat, boat, the wind died down.” Mathew 14:23-32 NIV
Prophetic Lessons in the Storm When things get choppy in our lives, it is easy to lose sight o the Lord. It is interesting that Peter asked or a confirmation that what was happening was really Jesus. You can do this too. Ask God to speak to you and confirm things in your lie. Jesus invited Peter to walk on the water during a storm, and when Peter ocused on the waves, he began to sink. Tis is a prophetic word or us to not ocus on the storms or attacks o the enemy right now now.. God is releasing something new and great in the Spirit; you will not want to get distracted or miss it. When the storms are kicking up around you: stay at peace, do not be araid, ask God to speak to you, and then take some steps o aith. rust God to guide you through the storms o lie. And as you get through them, be sure to reach out and help others who are going through storms as well. Blessings,
Doug Addison Author Auth or,, Lie Couch, Couch, and and Comedian Comedian DougAddison.com
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TWO MAJOR HINDRANCES TO PROPERLY INTERPRETING PROPHECY Bishop Hamon
In sixty years o ministry, I have ound two major hindrances to accurately interpreting prophecy: either one’s eschatology and doctrine, or the anguish o spirit that comes rom cruel bondage.
1) Your Eschatology and Doctrine In 1954 and 1955, I elt strongly that God would do something significant in 1963. My eschatology said that the next thing on God’s agenda was Christ’s return, so I knew that’s what I was sensing. I had statements rom Billy Graham and William Branham; I had teachings rom dispensationalists with graphs and charts; and I had lined it all out in detail, proving that Jesus would return in 1963. Years later, a man wrote the book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988, based on Israel becoming a nation in 1948. He used Matthew 24:34, which says “Tis generation shall not pass, till all these things be ulfilled” (KJV). He calculated that a generatio generation n was orty years, thus Jesus had to return by 1988. We both had “sensings” rom God, and we both misinterpreted them. However, something did happen in 1963 and 1988. What happened in 1963 was the birth o the Charismatic Movement through Dennis Bennett. Ten in 1988, we birthed the Prophetic Movement. God did something big, but not what we expected. We interpreted the accurate prophecy, that there would be a major move o God in those years, as inaccurately meaning Jesus would return. Now I hold a different view o eschatology. Acts 3:21 says o Jesus, “Whom the heaven must receive until the times o restitution o all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth o all his holy prophets since the world began” (KJV). Once I understood that Acts 3:21 says he is held in the heavens until the restoration o all things, I now tell people that i Jesus has not come yet, that
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means the next thing on the list is not looking or his coming, but rather looking or what needs to be ulfilled so he can come. Now we have prophesied and seen several restorational moves, because we are not limiting what we prophesy by our eschatology. Similarly, we can have a pre-concept o how God is going to ulfill prophecies. I have received over 3,500 prophecies. Almost all o them have come to pass, but not one ever did when I thought it should, with whom I thought it should, or the way I thought it should. I remember once prophesying to this tall Dutch man in Pennsylvania. As I laid my hand on his head, God started describing some o his attitude that he wanted to fix. I could eel the guy’s head shaking no, no, no, but when I opened my eyes and looked up, I saw the pastor’s head nodding yes, yes, yes. God knew, and the pastor knew, which areas God wanted to help the man in, but the man could not see himsel accurately, so he wasn’t “witnessing” to the word. You can’t interpret prophecy rom your head; you must do it rom your spirit. Your spirit may be saying yes, yes, yes, but your head may by thinking no, no, no because o what you understand. You witness to a word with your spirit, not your doctrine.
2) Anguish of Spirit and Cruel Bondage “And Moses spake so unto the children o Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses or anguish o spirit, and or cruel bondage” (Exodus 6:9). Moses prophesied to Israel, but they couldn’t hear him. For 400 years they had the same hardships and nothing changed. When you have longstanding difficulties, it becomes harder and harder to hear the voice o God speaking to your circumstances. In 1972, God was bringing me through my dying process. Te building we used or Christian International extension Bible colleges went bankrupt, and I had to move the entire organization into my garage. My assistant decided he did not have the vision anymore, and he backed out and lef me. Our ministry went down to zero. We had nothing promising. Tree prophets came to me during that time, and each one prophesied the same thing: “I see you in Arica, Asia, and traveling all over the world.” “I see you on platorms with thousands o aces in ront o you.” I had never even flown on a commercial plane. A man later prophesied that I would have a prophetic ministry ministr y that flowed like a river, r iver, and I would prophesy continuously rom one day into the next. I couldn’t imagine anything like that. In those prophecies, God said nothing about our circumstances. He said nothing about what I should do with the college or anything else in the present. I was rustrated. I thought Does God not know where we are today? Doesn’t he know there’s not going to be a tomorrow i he doesn’t work a miracle today? Ten my wie finally said, “Don’t you think that i God is talking about your uture, it means you’re going to make it today?” So we kept going. Ten in 1973, with only $250 to our name, I bought a Greyhound ticket to travel 4,000 miles around the country starting extension colleges. On my way back, I stopped in Sacramento, Cali-
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ornia, to drop in on a ormer Bible college student who had a church there. He was so glad to see me. He explained, “I promised these people that God wanted to speak to each one o them. But I don’t prophesy, and you’re the only person I know who prophesies. Would you ask God to give you a word or some o these people?” I agreed and prophesied to a ew people here and there. At this point I had only seen, at most, fifeen people prophesied to in this kind o setting. I had a preconceived “quota” I had learned rom that. So when I reached my quota, I lined up the rest o the people just to pray or them. I elt the prophetic bubbling up as I prayed. First I tried to bind it, but then I asked the Lord, “Do you want me to keep prophesying as I eel your unction?” He said, “Yes, son, let it rip.” So I continued to minister until 2:30 a.m., prophesying to eighty-five people. I had never heard o or seen anybody do that beore. Ten I remembered the word that said I would prophesy rom one day until the next. In 1972, I had never been on a commercial plane, and I had never seen anyone prophesy to more than a ew people in a meeting (when I received those prophecies). A year later, those prophecies came to pass, even though I couldn’t imagine it when I got them. Tat experience launched all that Christian International is today. oday, I have been to seventy countries and every state, have 3,000 churches and ministries worldwide, have trained 300,000 in the prophetic, and have personally prophesied to over 50,000 people. Te word o the Lord came to pass. I challenge you to believe what God has said and stand until the promise comes to pass. I you have a prophecy that is impossible to ulfill, then you know that is God—because it’s going to take God to ulfill it, not your own strength or ability. Te same principles it takes to ulfill a logos promise are the same principles it takes to ulfill a prophetic promise. You have to believe with aith and keep expecting exp ecting what God G od declared. Don D on’t ’t give up on your prophecy. prophecy. Continue to believe bel ieve what God has spoken, and it will come to pass.
Bishop Hamon Founder o Christian International Ministries www.christianinternational.com
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WHAT WHA T ARE YOU DOI NG? Julie Jul ie Meyers
I learned early on in my lie the reality o Psalm 139:7: I can never escape rom your Spirit! I can never get away rom your presence! It was 1989. I was pregnant with twin boys and confined to three months o bedrest. One day, I turned on the V and a soap opera was on, Days o Our Lives, so I watched the whole show. Ten the next day, I watched it again. And suddenly I loved Marlana Evans. So every day at noon, I made sure my door was locked and the curtains were closed, because I didn’t want anyone to know that I actually loved Marlana and that daily I watched Days o Our Lives. I actually didn’t l ike soap operas because they twisted lie. Tey seem to make you actually root or characters to have affairs, lie, and do every single thing that is the opposite o holiness and marriage. Sin seemed to be celebrated in soap operas. So I actually didn’t like them, yet suddenly I was totally consumed with Days o Our Lives and what would happen to Marlana on any given day. Afer some weeks o giving my heart, my thoughts, and my time to this show, my phone rang right in the middle o a very dramatic scene. With my eyes and ears still ocused on the V, I said “Hello,” and I heard the voice on the other end o the phone say, “What are you doing?” Well, these our words brought me back to reality. I said “What?” I heard these our words again: “What are you doing?” O all people to call me right in the middle o my V show, it was Bob Jones. But this time, t ime, when I said “What?” he said, “You “You know what. You You are watching those thos e women shows, and you turn that off!” I was totally shocked. Because my curtains were closed. My door was locked. I was alone in my room and no one was supposed to know what I was watching. I said “Bob, how do you do that? Where are you?” I was actually actu ally looking around the t he room wondering i he was just going to appear.
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Bob told me, “God showed me exactly what you were watching and you turn that off.” Well, I waddled over to the V with that statement and I turned that show off. Tat was the time, the day, and the hour that I realized that the eyes o the Lord are in every place. We might think we are alone; however, we are not alone. God is looking into our lives and he is always telling someone. Tis is good, because he wants us to shine in radiant righteousness when no one is looking. And it is one little choice at a time. Tat one little choice can pull you to light or pull you to darkness. Tat day, I was awakened to Deuteronomy 4:24: “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Tat day I learned he is jealous. He wants everything. He wants my choices when I think I am alone. He wants to work on our character, and he invites us to choices that make a difference in our lives when no other human is around. He wants us great in character so when he pours out great avor, great anointing, and great clarity in prophecy, that our character matches our anointing when no one is looking except his eyes alone.
“God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s God’s deep secrets.” secrets.” I Corinthians 2:10 NIV
Te Holy Spirit is always speaking, always revealing mysteries o the Father or us to share with the world. Te more we listen, the more we step out in courageous aith, the more we will hear; and we will hear with greater clarity. But at the same time, God is looking at the inside. He desires character to match anointing, not just or a season, but or a complete lietime—so that as we are growing in prophecy, we are growing in righteousness on the inside when no one is looking. He wants us great on the inside. He desires that we shine in happy holiness when no one is looking. He desires us to stay steady in the place o intimacy with him. Whether we are beore thousands, beore ten people, or by ourselves, our choices are always the same. Tey point us to God or away rom him. I desire prophecy. I earnestly desire to prophesy. I believe God is also calling us to earnestly desire to throw off everything that hinders, to throw off sin that easily entangles. It’s time to run and persevere. It’s time to prophesy with great clarity and, at the very same time, to earnestly desire to live a lie o shining righteousness. Te blood o Jesus is so big and so powerul that it washes us rom all sin. He loves us all through the process and through every choice, but the call goes out to let every choice count. alk to him. Sing to him. Pray his Word and sing his Word. Te more we talk to him and the more we read his Word, the more help we have in making the right choices or Jesus when no one is looking. He is always watching, and i you think you won’t get caught, I promise he will send someone to tell you what you are doing. And it’s all because he loves us greatly. I believe God desires us to be his voice to the heart, and in the same breath, to look exactly like Jesus behind the scenes.
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“Tereore, since we are are surrounded by such such a great cloud o witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out or us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perecter o aith.” Hebrews Hebr ews 12:1-2 NIV
Julie Meyer, Julie Meyer, singer, songwriter Healing Rooms Apostolic Center o Santa Maria juliemeyermin juliem eyerministries.com istries.com
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Y O U A R E A N O I N T E D F O R YO THI S MOME NT ON T HE WORLD STAGE Lance Wallna Wallnau u
Tose who love lie in the Spirit naturally gravitate to Bible school and ull-time ministry. But what i your ministry sphere is not in the church? What i it is in the secular marketplace? Is it possible to navigate your spiritual lie in the swelling currents o coarse, secular culture? Can a prophet thrive in business, academia, entertainment, or politics? Can you stay close to God and the anointing in an intensely non-Christian environment? Te answer to all o these questions is yes. Here are a ew missing pieces that can help a prophetic person, especially as it applies to what’s unolding in the world right now. Do you remember the moments in the movie Te Matrix when Neo plugs himsel into the Matrix and afer two minutes o programming, he opens his eyes saying: “I know Kung Fu!?” He experienced an update o programming! Here are three downloads that will update your own sofware: 1. First, your Cyrus download, 2. Second, your Assignment download, 3. Tird, your Wi-Fi download.
Your Cyrus Download So much ocus is on the interpretation o our dreams; however, when we talk about major league prophets and dream interpreters, like Joseph and Daniel, we miss an important point. Tey ulfilled their calling by interpreting the dreams that God gave heathen rulers! Te God o the glory cloud and supernatural church is the God o politics—who meddles on occasion with who gets into office! Tis paradigm comes as a surprise to contemporary Christians, mysel included.
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I will never orget the theological shockwave I experienced when I read how Daniel’s intercession ueled the angelic warare over the Jewish people. When the angel broke through, he delivered to Daniel a revelation regarding the shifing o rulers taking place in the second heaven. Ten he added this: “Also I in the first year o Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him” (Daniel 11:1 KJB). So why was Daniel’s assignment to King Darius, who wasn’t a Jewish ruler or a prophet! He was a heathen king. Tis is something or Christians to consider when they are in the habit o only supporting other Christians in elections. God and his army o angels don’t only promote believers! Tey get engaged in high-level warare to make sure the right person (believer or unbeliever) gets into office, power, and influence! Isaiah prophesied about a secular ruler named Cyrus 200 years beore he showed up. God’s words are interesting because he reerred to Cyrus as “my shepherd” (Isaiah 44:28) and called him “my anointed.” In this case, we discover acts about Cyrus that may apply to other Cyruses–some o whom you may someday (or already!) serve. Te Lord says that Cyrus was anointed or the sake o God’s people, or God’s agenda. And even more curiously, the prophet added the words “though you do not know me” (Is. 45:4), implying that this king did not have a personal revelation o the God who was using him so mightily.
Your Assignment Download Clearly, God has distributed gifs o grace on people o every creed, and even those o no creed. All over the world, people are born with talents, abilities, and capacities or inventiveness. Tey come with built-in standards o morality and harmony that may or may not be very much in line with the kingdom. Te reormers spoke o “common grace” as something granted by God to all mankind, whether they ollowed God or not, or the promotion o what is right and restraining what is lawless. Tink o world leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Margaret Tatcher (to name a ew), who were brought to the arena not because o their aith but who were used mightily or God’s purposes. While everyone has access to grace gifs–you, as a believer, have access to something even more! Tere are certain current-day Pharaohs, Dariuses, and Cyruses that God puts in power. When God promotes individuals, he does so because they come with an assignment connected to God’s purposes. Cyrus, or instance, decreed the restoration o Jerusalem, beginning with the house o God (see Ezra 1:1-4). Darius continued this restoration project, and as we see in Daniel, there were archangels in warare to establish him in his position. Nehemiah finished building a wall as the final act o this Cyrus decree.
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Where will these uture uture “common “common grace” rulers find such prophets and intercessors, i not through t hrough you and me? I our commission is to “go into all the world” (Mark 16:15 NIV), it makes sense that prophets and Christians are called into every sphere o lie–education, the arts, environment, business, science, journalism, community ormation, academia, and so on. As you pray and establish a spiritual perimeter over the territory you work in, you are creating an atmosphere conducive with your prophetic gif to see, hear, and sense intuitively what your department needs to do to flourish. Tese rulers need intercessors and prophets in proximity to their office to assist them in administering that which God has revealed to them. t hem.
Your Holy Spirit Wi-Fi Download Once you enter the sphere you are called to occupy, your spiritual perception—your Holy Spirit Wi-Fi—will be active in a new way. You may find yoursel as the lowest ranking employee in the company, but i you are a believer you are the highest ranking spiritual authority in that business! It is time that Christians in these roles treat their jobs as a ministry and begin by praying on location. I ound that by walking through our corporate office in Babylon, New York (yes, I worked in Babylon), and praying, I shifed the atmosphere over the office. I discerned what was in the atmosphere and prayed accordingly. I experienced divine appointments as I did this, because people would speak right out o their mouths something that confirmed what I was sensing. I prayed a lot in the Spirit and received words o knowledge on products and how to position them in the marketplace. I led three men to the Lord and made that new division in our company a million-dollar profit center. Te entire time I worked in Babylon, I was praying to get into ulltime ministry because I thought I was missing out on something. My paradigm was off. Please do not make this same mistake. Te supernatural activity you seek is wherever God sends you, and he is sending a resh wave o influencers into the seven mountains that shape culture! ap into your Holy Spirit resource to influence the secular arena!
Influencing the Kingdom Did you know that or a period o time, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel all overlapped as contemporary prophets? Notice that they all got involved with issues o nations and governments. wo-thirds o the prophets in the Bible were assigned to the role o a prophet in the amiliar sense, but one-third was specially assigned to the secular arena. Teir combined intercession and prophetic words were stored up in the heavens until the right kings started making decrees.
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We are told that “Daniel prospered in the reign o Darius and in the reign o Cyrus the Persian” (Daniel 6:28). He was there to influence the decrees that released all the pent-up intercession, asting, and prophecies that were unulfilled over Jerusalem. Wow! Now, let’s translate that into this current culture and your moment in history. How much revival is stored up in heaven, constrained until the right people step into their positions? Is it time to reassess your assignment? Are you called to partner with “common grace” leaders? Do you need to reconsider who God is promoting and then consider how you are called to come alongside to support them? Jesus said “He who receives you receives Me” (NASB). Te moment you walk into that marketplace, Jesus walks in. You are the ultimate problem solver. You are the atmosphere shifer. Expect to see the orce o avor promote you to more influence as you step into the arena.
Dr. Lance Wallnau, Founder Lance Learning Group www.LanceWallnau.com
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CONCLUSION
I love how John (in the book o Revelations) says that whoever reads the book will be blessed. When we read prophetic materials, we are usually blessed by what we read. Our minds are expanded by more revelatory understanding, and our spirits become connected to an awareness o what God is currently doing and releasing—understanding and awareness we would not have had without the impartation received just rom reading these types o messages! I pray that as you read our compilation--o insight rom current prophetic and apostolic voices-that God filled you with his Spirit o wisdom and revelation so that you can really understand what he is doing both in you and in the world around you. We are called to develop a deep sense o prophetic awareness to what the Spirit is doing so that we can be the counselors, the riends, and the comorters o the world around us. We get to offer perspective and insight in a way that no one disconnected rom God’s Spirit can offer. I you want to grow in your own prophetic ministry, each ministry here has materials on growing in this gif. Our ministry has our bestselling book, ranslating God, to offer you too. Go deeper and grow so that the world around you can be blessed! Bless you or reading this book!
Sincerely,
Shawn Bolz
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