There is only one
way to receive a word from the Lord.
- Wait on the Lord
- Wait on the Lord
- Wait on the Lord
- Seek the Holy Spirit
- Seek the Holy Spirit
- Seek the Holy Spirit
- Pray
- Pray
- Pray
- Read the Word
- Read the Word
- Read the Word
Then do all these things some more.
To recognise a person’s voice, you must
know him well. Prophets must develop a strong relationship with
God, before they can hear his voice. The key is sitting in the
presence of the Lord and walking in the Spirit. We cannot tell the
Lord when he should speak. We must wait for him. Sometimes he may
speak to a person two or three times in quick succession, then he
may go for several years without speaking. He is sovereign, we
have to wait on him to come (Jer 42:7).
The angel said the following words to John seven times.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Rev 2:7).
Jesus said something similar at least four times.
He who has ears, let him hear (Matt 13:9).
These words must be really important.
The first think to note is that the Spirit speaks. He speaks clearly in a language that we can know. He does not speak gobbledegook that we cannot understand.
Secondly, we must listen to his voice. The Holy Spirit loves to speak and longs for his people to listen. The most important ability needed for serving God is to be able to hear the Spirit speak. If we can hear him speak, everything falls into place.
If we cannot hear him, it is unlikely that he has stopped speaking. If all we are getting is confusion, the Spirit has not lost the plot; we are not listening correctly.
Prophets must also be students of history. They
must also be students of contemporary events. The whole of a
nation's history is a record of God’s dealings with his people.
The prophetic message must be spoken in this context.
One of the errors of the Pentecostal
and Charismatic portion of the Church has been to cast the
prophet into the mould that says he/she must be one who
exhibits the supernatural gift of the prophet to prophesy, and
thus will often neglect the prophetic voices of men such as
Chuck Colson or others who are clearly prophetic voices to our
generation (Jim Wies - Different Kinds of Prophets).
Different people and personalities hear
God in different ways. Each prophet must find the way that is best
for them.
The Lord speaks to prophets through
visions and dreams, and sometimes face to face.
When the prophet of the Lord is among
you, I reveal myself to him in visions I speak to him in
dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is
faithful in all my house with him I speak face to face;
clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord (Num
12-8).
The most important skill is to learn to
hear the Holy Spirit speaking.
"I have much more to say to you,
more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth,
comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on
his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell
you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking
from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs
to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take
from what is mine and make it known to you (John 16:12-15).
A prophet can choose not to receive a
word. Elisha did not want to seek a word of guidance for a wicked
King.
But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there
no prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord
through him?" An officer of the king of Israel answered,
"Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on
the hands of Elijah." Jehoshaphat said, "The word of
the Lord is with him." So the king of Israel and
Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. Elisha said
to the king of Israel, "What do we have to do with each
other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of
your mother." "No," the king of Israel
answered, "because it was the Lord who called us three
kings together to hand us over to Moab." Elisha said,
"As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I
did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of
Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you. But now
bring me a harpist." While the harpist was playing, the
hand of the Lord came upon Elisha (2 Kings 3:11-15).
Sometimes worship or song may help the
prophet to hear the Lord speak. This is why Elisha wanted the harp
to play.
Lloyd Philips lists twelve ways that
we can hear from God.
1. Impressions
An impression is like a feeling
or intuition. Often I get the sense that the Spirit is
pressing upon me in a certain way. This is a form of
discernment. The still small voice really is under this
category. We are all in that category as far as we can
receive through inspiration and we can receive through
the voice of God and then speak it.
2. A knowing or witness
Romans 9:1 says, "I tell
the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit". We all have
an inner witness. It is called Christ in you. It is the
mind of Christ that tells us what we ought to do or
ought not to do.
3. We can feel things.
We can receive things in the
emotions of our soul and in our bodies. The word does
not come through your flesh, but the word can effect the
flesh. Often I have had the sense that the Spirit is
touching a part of my body in order to communicate a
message to me.
4. Visions.
The first and most common
manifestation of visions are visions of the spirit in
the heart. The eyes can be open or closed. Seeing a
vision and interpreting what is being seen are not one
and the same.
5. Supernatural senses.
In this level the five senses
are amplified in sensitivity and ability. One can
experience 'x-ray vision' giving the ability to see
through something or a heightened sense of smell or
hearing. One may hear a sound of conversation across a
distance, which could not be heard with your physical
senses.
6. Dreams.
The next level is dreams. They
are seen all through the Bible. Jacob at Bethel saw the
angels go up and down a ladder. Joseph saw the vision or
dream of the moon and the stars. God will often use
dreams to communicate warnings and other important
information to us in order to avoid as much interference
from our senses as possible.
7. Open visions.
This is where the eyes are open
and one sees spiritual things as if they appeared normal
to the natural eyes. It is possible for the open vision
to be so real to our eyes that it is only later
understood that it was an open vision at all. It is
likewise possible to actually be involved in the
physical sense in a spiritual phenomenon only to realise
later that it was not a vision. This happened to Peter
in Acts 12:11.
8. Trances.
This manifestation is distinct
from visions because in a vision one is still aware of
ones surroundings. In a trance ones surroundings are
blotted out temporarily, unless God wants them to be
observed. This also occurred to Peter in Acts 10.
9. Audible voices.
Acts 9 is the account of Paul's
encounter with the Lord while travelling to Damascus. He
was knocked to the ground and a conversation occurred
between he and the Lord. In verse 7 it says the other
men stood by and heard a voice but they did not see
anyone. To Paul it was an audible voice. In my
experience, the audible voice of God will always be life
changing no matter the length or brevity of the
conversation.
10. Visitations from angels.
Angels can bring us information.
An angel came to Daniel to bring him understanding.
Angels came to Abraham because there was something
important that needed to happen that he needed to be
informed about. Mary spoke with the angel Gabriel, the
same archangel who communicated to Daniel. Joseph was
ministered by an angel through a dream, as was Jacob.
11. Visitations from the Lord.
At times there may be a
commissioning that the Lord Jesus Himself will
administer. It is often difficult for the person to
communicate what happened in human words. It may not be
something they want people to know about, especially
since many people would not believe it.
12. Translation in place or
time.
Both Paul and John were caught
up into the third heaven. They were used to doing
service for the Body of Christ, to bringing the Word of
God so that the Body would prosper, so that they could
adjust and prepare for the things that are ahead.
Lloyd C. Phillips - Prophets,
Seers and Rulers www.keepersofhisgates.com/seers.htm)
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There are a number of good books on
hearing God.
- Jack Deere - Surprised by the Voice of
God 1996
- Clifford Hill - Prophecy Past and
Present 1989.
The ministry of the prophet required
spending time in the presence of God. Jeremiah calls this
standing ‘in the council of the Lord to see or hear his word
(Jer 23:18).
It is to that end that all of the
prophets training proceeds. He must learn how to hear God
speaking in visions and dreams. He must polish his gifts of
perception and knowledge by practice. He must learn to combine
bold forthrightness and reticent courtesy. He must know the
law - and when and how to follow the Spirit beyond the letter
of the law in mercy. He will above all learn the power and
ways of intercession and how to call the body to it (John and
Paula Sanford - The Elijah Task p.64).
A prophet will never initiate a single
thing for himself. He must be explicitly and totally led by
God in every syllable that he utters (Art Katz - The Heart of
a Prophet).
This statement of Jeremiah neatly sums
up the way in which all the prophets received divine guidance.
They learned to listen to God, to meditate upon his word, to
allow their thoughts to be directed by the spirit of God and
sometimes to receive pictures through which he communicated a
message to them (Clifford Hill - Prophecy, Past and Present,
p.35).
The prophetic ministry involves seeing
things as they really are (Ian Breward).
Prophets should not only be careful
how they hear the Lord; they also need to learn that people’s
wishes can affect their hearing (John and Paula Sanford - The
Elijah Task p.97).
We will only have true prophetic
vision to the degree that we are looking through his eyes
(Rick Joyner - The Prophetic Ministry).
Wait
When we have received a word from the
Lord, the first thing we should do is ask what he wants us to do
with it. We should not assume that he wants us to speak it out. He
may want us to sit on it and wait and pray. We should also ask for
an interpretation and guidance for how to deliver it. Many true
words are spoiled, because they are incorrectly handled.
In Charismatic and Pentecostal circles
there is an emphasis on spontaneity and giving the word as soon as
it is received. Sometimes it would be better to just receive the
word and brood on it. God will often clarify and focus the word as
the prophet carries the burden. There is a risk that the prophet
will add to the word, however, this is no greater than the risk
that a person giving a spontaneous prophecy that is not complete,
will complete it themselves.
Under no circumstances should we share
this revelatory word with our friends or cronies. We must go
to God, then the leadership. It may sound good or seem
attractive to share this with our closest loved ones. However,
in my experience, in 90% of those cases, a disaster occurs. We
cannot always know what is in the heart of our friends or what
resentments, hurts or opinions lurk beneath the surface. Many
prophetic people get suckered into firing other peoples’
bullets, often at the wrong target!! (Graham Cooke -
Developing Your Prophetic Gifting p.272).
A prophetic minister must discipline
himself to remain silent when God is silent (Mike Bickle -
Growing in the Prophetic p.105).
When frustration is present in the
life of an individual, they will probably see and hear
correctly but interpret it in a totally wrong way (Graham
Cooke - Developing Your Prophetic Gifting p.322).
A prophet loves to hear from God, but
sometimes the message received can be painful to bear.
Then the voice that I had heard from
heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that
lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea
and on the land." So I went to the angel and asked him to
give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and
eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it
will be as sweet as honey." I took the little scroll from
the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my
mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I
was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples,
nations, languages and kings" (Rev 10:8-11).
Once the prophet has received
revelation, he must enter into intercession (Chip Brogden -
The Ministry of the Watchman).
>Prophetic Teams
When several prophets function together, the anointing
is multiplied, not added. The Holy Spirit loves to chop a revelation up
like a jigsaw and give pieces to different people and then watch their
excitement as they put it back together.
The other side of this is that we can often assume that
we have the whole picture when we are only a holding a piece of a jigsaw.
The piece that we have might be pretty, but we need to get together others to
get the full picture. I suspect an unbelievably large number of people
have been given partial messages by lone prophets.
The one-one man band was never part of God’s economy.
The lone prophet (and the lone evangelist, and the lone pastor) should never
have got past Pentecost. The big man syndrome is a curse on the church.
God’s way is a big Holy Spirit working trough a whole lot of little men.
While there is strength in several prophets working
together (1 Cor 14:29) there are also risks. I have seen a group of
prophets get together and rark each other up in the flesh. The result is
not a pretty sight.
God’s way is to bring a few prophets together with
someone with a pastoral gifting and an evangelist being present as well.
The latter two would help the prophets keep their feet on the ground. (I am not
referring to a one-man band pastor. He would just try to control the whole
set up).
There is a real safety in a balanced
ministry. When several people with different giftings (that sometimes
rub against each other) submit to each other in love, the anointing is
multiplied even further. |