Delivering the Word

Precise Prophecies

No one likes to be wrong. A fear of being proved wrong can affect the presentation of prophecies. Two common ways are:

• Vague prophecies with precise timing

• Precise prophecies with vague timing.

The problem with these types of words is that no one will know if they have been fulfilled, so God is not honoured. On the other hand, they can never be proved wrong. Giving dates is not necessary, but listeners need to know, if the word is for the next few months (urgent), the next few years (get prepared), or later in the century (hope for long-term victory).

Jesus message in Matthew 24 is a wonderful example of a clear precise prophecy. He explained,

• What would happen;

• Why;

• When, with signs

• Instructions.

Jesus was very clear about what would happen. The walls of the temple would be smashed and destroyed. This prophecy was fulfilled.

Jesus explained clearly why these events would happen. They would be the consequence of the stuff described in the previous chapter.

When asked when these things would happen, he gave a very precise answer. They would not happen immediately, but they would come in the lifetime of most of the people listening.

Jesus gave good advice about what people should do when the troubles started. They should flee to the mountains. Those who heeded this warning were kept safe (Acts 4:36-37).

Jesus also gave a couple of signs that would show them when the time for action was close (Jerusalem surrounded by an army). This prophecy was fulfilled, too.

Jesus also warned them not to be deceived by wars, famines, earthquakes and false religions. These types of event are ubiquitous in every age, so they are not a sign of anything, except that a people have lost the blessing of God.

When asked about the second coming, Jesus said two things. First he did not know when it would happen. Second, there would be no signs of the second coming. It would occur when life was going on as normal on earth, so most people including Christians will not be expecting it.

Jesus also explained that this lack of signs does not matter. He told several parables, which explain what they should do. "Get on with doing the job you are called to do, so you will be ready when Jesus returns".

This is all very clear and precise, and gave Jesus listeners everything that they needed to know. Nothing is missing. No unanswered questions. But many Christians cannot accept Jesus' clear precise message and turn it into something confusing, with multiple fulfilments, so that they can get what they want.

• They ignore Jesus' statement that there will be no signs before the second coming and try to find signs.

• They ignore Jesus' statement that he does not know the day and the hour, and claim that they can know the month and the year and the season.

• They ignore Jesus' explanation that famines, earthquakes and wars are common in every unrighteous generation, and turn them into the true signs of the second coming.

No wonder many Christians are confused.

Every prophet should be aiming for clear precise prophecy. This is not easy, but it is a goal to aspire to. The church has been crippled by too much prophetic mush.

Spontaneous v Deliberate

Precision is an essential value for prophetic people, because truth is important and there has been too much prophetic mush masquerading as prophetic truth.

The modern church tends to assume that spontaneous prophecy is more accurate. This is also a crossover from the gift of prophecy, where spontaneity is the norm. However, there is nothing in the scriptures that says that a spontaneous prophecy is superior to one that is pondered for a time and edited to sharpen the delivery of the message.

The Holy Spirit can do both spontaneous and deliberate, and he is free to choose how he will operate in any situation. To shake us out of our comfort zones, he will sometimes be spontaneous, when we want to be deliberate, and he will often be more deliberate, when we want to be spontaneous.

The benefit of a spontaneous word is that the Holy Spirit can drop it into our hearts unexpectedly, before our minds get going and before the flesh starts getting in the way. This is fine for beginners, but it not the basis for developing into a prophetic ministry. The person who wants to be used by God in prophecy must learn to quiet their minds and put their flesh to death. They must learn to distinguish between their own thoughts and the voice of the Spirit. This is difficult and takes time, but essential for developing a prophetic gifting. Relying on the Holy Spirit to beat our minds with spontaneous words is not a long-term solution.

The Holy Spirit loves to surprise us, so he will continue to give us words when we are not expecting it, but we must never fall into the trap of thinking that spontaneous words are superior to those that are received in a more deliberate, careful process. Clinging to the spontaneous will keep us locked in immaturity. Those who want to be used in prophecy will need to work hard at learning to shut out their own mind and flesh and deliberately and carefully seek the words of the Lord.

Sometimes precision is worth waiting for.

Pearls take time to polish:

Mush tends to gush in a flush.

"Rapid fire" prophecy is not superior to a quieter, more measured approach.

Many prophecies would be clearer, if they were reviewed and edited by the prophet and other prophetic people. Many prophecies are spot on for the first few sentences, but then the speaker loses the plot towards the end. Someone should probably have put the editor's pencil through the last few sentences.

Seeing in Part

1 Cor 13:9-12 is often used as an excuse for mediocre prophecy.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Paul is explaining our human situation, not providing an excuse for weak prophecy. We see in part, because God does not reveal everything to his people. He only gives each person the small part that he wants them to have.

The common saying that we always see through a "dark glass". That is not what Paul is saying. He is actually explaining the difference between our situation now and that in the next life. Because we live in the physical world, we miss most of the important spiritual stuff that is going in. Human minds just cannot comprehend the reality of the new heaven and new earth.

The Lord speaks clearly. He only gives us each person a small part of the big picture, be he gives it to us very clearly. Because, we are human, we may not always receive it as clearly as he has given it, but often if our heart is right, we do. We can often get our small part of his total revelation very clearly.

The prophet's role is to share their part clearly, not explain to explain all parts dimly. If all the prophets give their part clearly, God's people will get what we need. If every prophet give the entire picture dimly, we will just get confusion.

Mixing Prophecy and Application

A prophecy and its application must not be confused. The application of a prophecy can be unclear, especially if it is intended for a different person or a different time, or the listeners have hard hearts. The prophecy itself should be clear and precise.

This principle is evident from the scriptures. The application of many prophecies is unclear. Often the application is not clear until they have been fulfilled. This is also true of Revelation. Much of the application of this book is still not clear.

The prophetic word itself is always very clear and precise. The prophets did not just dictate what they heard the Holy Spirit saying, like automatons. They received a revelation from God and wrote down or spoke what they had received. It is clear that what they wrote is very carefully honed. Much of Jeremiah's prophecy is presented as poetry. John recorded the revelations he received on Patmos with an amazing economy of words, yet what he saw is vividly and precisely described.

Jesus never rambled. The beatitudes themselves are amazingly precise and clear. The application of them is much more difficult. Jesus could tell a complicated parable in just a few words, because his communication was precise and clear. His listeners understood the story clearly, their problem was with the application.

Isaiah 53 is a good example. The application of this prophecy was totally unclear, until Jesus had died on the cross. However, the prophecy itself was very clear and precise. Reading now, it is clear that every word was important and is exactly where the Holy Spirit wanted it to be.

Many modern prophets are quite different. They often ramble and their messages are often confused and vague. Quantity of words often seems to be more important than quality. When I look at the prophecies on the various prophetic websites, I find that many of them to be ambiguous and imprecise. Vague words benefit the prophet, because it means that no one can prove that they have spoken a word that is not true. With some prophecies that are said to be fulfilled, it is hard to be sure, because the wording is so loose that you could drive a truck through it.

I am sure that many of these people have received a revelation. They have just not taken the trouble to hone the word and ensure that they are communicating what they have received precisely and accurately. If prophecy is going to be taken seriously, prophetic people will need to communicate much more clearly.

The biblical prophets were very precise and clear in the way they wrote and spoke their words. They knew they would quite likely be misunderstood by a people with hardened hearts, so they made sure that they did not give them an excuse, by speaking vaguely. The application of a prophecy will often be unclear. People with hardened hearts will just not get it, but that is not an excuse for prophets to be lazy with their presentation. I am not surprised that much modern prophecy is ignored, because the wording is often just too sloppy.

Sharing Visions

The Holy Spirit often shows the prophet an image or a vision. This is just another way of communicating. God uses images to strengthen the power of communication, because audio-visual communication is often more effective than written words.

God does not speak in images just to suit the learning style of the seer. He communicates this way for the benefit of all his people, so the images are not the property of the seer.

If a Christian has been given words or shown images by the Holy Spirit, the vision should be recorded as accurately as possible. This is what the biblical prophets did. Daniel and John described what they saw (sometimes not very well, because human language was not up to it).

The Christian should pray about whether and when to share the vision. Often the Lord does not give permission to share until some time after the vision is received. Receiving a vision does not constitute permission to share.

Once permission to share has been given, the vision should be described as accurately possible. The best practice is to describe what was seen "I saw.." Any contextual information or interpretation should presented separately. "I believe this means" This approach has several benefits.

1. Other Christians can test the seer's seeing (Maybe they ate too much ketchup with their fries last night).

2. Readers are encouraged to think about the nature of what the seer has seen,

   • an exact description of what will happen (1 Kings 22:17),
   • symbolic of a real entity like Daniel's beast, or
   • a symbolic presentation of a spiritual truth like Amos's lion hiding in the thicket (Amos 3:5).

   Seers often confuse these three different types of seeing when interpreting what they have seen.

3. People can then apply what the seer has seen to their situation. It may be different from the seer's.

4. Readers are free to decide about the timing of the fulfilment, because that is not usually contained in the vision.

5. Readers can test the interpretation of the vision. Sometimes another people will provide a better interpretation of a dream and vision than the seer. Daniel understood the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar's dream better than he did. Some seers are not gifted at interpretations of visions.

In these experiences, distinguishing what the Spirit is showing from what the person already knows is difficult, but it is also really important. Just as it can be difficult to distinguish the voice of the Spirit from the words that pop out of our mind. However, learning to distinguish the two is critical for sharpening the prophetic gifting. Unfortunately many prophetic people do not bother trying.

If the seer has struggled to distinguish the two, there is nothing wrong with saying that to the readers. It does not diminish a gifting to be humble. The Holy Spirit is capable of highlighting what he wants people to see or hear (that should not be taken as an excuse for prophetic laziness).

This article (Commando Vision) is a really good example of describing a vision badly. I received this vision in 1978. The text at the link is what I wrote down at the time. You will see that there is not a clear description of what I actually saw. A little bit of description is all mixed up with my interpretation of what it meant. I still believe my interpretation was correct, but because it is all mixed up the vision, and because I did not fully describe what I saw, much of the impact was lost and the message totally misunderstood. The vision was all about commando units and getting prepared for something that would happen. Readers assumed that it was all about an economic crisis and started looking for it, while doing nothing to prepare.

If I had described accurately what I had seen, the importance of the commando army would have come through much more clearly, because that was the way that the Holy Spirit structured the vision. If I had kept the interpretation separate, it would have supported understanding of the vision, rather than distorting it.

The safest way to keep the description of vision accurate is to write it down as soon as it is received. If too much time passes by, the memory dims and extraneous stuff can creep into the description of the vision.

Vision and Context

God speaks into the context of our experience. He uses the images, words and places with which we are familiar when he does speak to us. When prophets communicate their words, they used words and images with which their listeners are familiar. All the prophets did this.

Sometimes God gives a seer a vision that goes beyond familiar words and images. The seer has to translate what he saw using the words and images with which he was familiar. John's Revelation is a good example of this. Here is a description of something he saw.

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne (Rev 4:2-3).

I doubt that John saw jaspers, rubies and emeralds. These are physical things and John had been given a glimpse into the spiritual world. He saw things that were beyond is earthly experience, so he was trying to describe the indescribable. He used images of the most beautiful things he knew to describe the wonder of the spiritual world, but this is just a hint of its glory.

The biblical prophets used everyday language and context to describe what they saw, but they were also very clear about what was a revelation from God and what was a description of their response or their experience.

Prophetic Timing

There are two situations with regard to timing in the scriptures.

1. Some prophecies are conditional, so there is no time attached to them.

2. In other situations, God is very precise about time.

Therefore we cannot just give up on timing. We actually need to do it better.

When a revelation comes, the prophetic person should ask four questions.

1. When is the revelation to be communicated?

2. How is to be communicated?

3. Is it conditional or does it have a specific timing?

4. What is the timing?

The need for question 4 depends on the answer to question 3.

The reality is that we do not have a full revelation until we have the answers to all these questions. People get so excited about getting a revelation that they forget to press in and get the rest. They stop before they have the lot.

For the prophecies recorded in the scriptures, the Holy Spirit has to cover the whole of history. So of course many of the prophecies were for times way in the future that the prophet did not have a clue about. The Holy Spirit will give the timing when the timing is right. We are not in the situation of those prophets, so their experience does not give us an excuse to put timing in the too hard basket.

If Christian prophets want to be taken seriously, they will have to do much better on timing. Being vague about timing is really just a "cop out". God can do better than that. He will not always give precise timings, but we need to be sure that it is not because we have not pressed in to get the full revelation.

Prophets must be careful not to fall into the trap of implying that their prophecy will be fulfilled soon, if God has not said that is the case. This gives people a false hope that their deliverance is close, when they might need to struggle on for some time. Seeking God’s wisdom about timing of prophecies is really important.

A related problem is failure to ask about conditionality. Before announcing what God is going do, a prophet should ask if it is conditional on God’s people doing something. And if it is conditional, the prophet should seek God to discover what these conditions are, so that they can be stated precisely. Of course, as with timing, the prophet may feel the vision/revelation so vividly that it seems to them that God is going to act sovereignly soon to accomplish the vision regardless of the response of his people (even though he has not said that is what he will do). We must be careful not to let our excitement about what God is promising to do prevent us from seeking and sharing the conditions under which he will be able to act.

Getting the conditions for the fulfilment right would solve many of the problems with timing.

Publishing Dreams and Visions

When publishing a dream and a vision, it is important to separate the dream or vision from the interpretation. If the Lord gave some interpretation during the dream, then that should be spelt out clearly, separate from the seer's interpretation.

The person who had the dream or vision knows what they saw, so there cannot be any debate about the content. They should know what they saw. However, there can be debate about whether the dream came from God, or the forces of evil, or was just the working of the dreamer's mind. Dreams and vision should be tested by the body of Christ to establish that they have come from God.

Unless the Holy Spirit gives a specific interpretation and application during the dream or vision, the interpretation of a dream or vision can be open to debate. Sometimes the person who receives the dream or vision may not be the best person to provide interpretation. Joseph and Daniel were prophetic people who were skilled in interpreting the dreams of other people.

With many dreams and visions on prophetic websites, the person has received a valid revelation, but seems to have the interpretation wrong. In these situations, someone else in the body of the Christ may have the interpretation. If the interpretation is mixed up with the published account of the dream, it becomes difficult to suggest an alternative interpretation, without questioning the inspiration of what has been published.

The best practice is to record accurately the dream and vision as received, and then give the interpretation separately. This was Daniels approach in Daniel 7 and 8. In the first part of the chapter he describes what he saw. He then gives the interpretation that was given to him by the angel. Not only did he keep the description and the interpretation separate, he did not give his own interpretation or application at all.

The book of Revelation is similar. John recorded all that he saw very carefully and precisely. He rarely gives any interpretation (except for stars are angels, lamp stands are churches, waters are people, heads are kings, hills are kings). I presume that the Holy Spirit did not give John the interpretation of his vision, so he did not give it.

Most Christians who have a dream or vision to share seem to feel bound to give the interpretation and application at the same time. Moreover, the content and the interpretation are often mixed up together, which makes it hard to assess the source of the dream. It also makes it hard to assess the interpretation. Likewise if the dream or vision is not described clearly without interpretation, it is very difficult for a person who is gifted in interpreting dreams and visions to give an alternative vision, because they do not have all the material that they need.

Right Attitude

A prophecy must be delivered in the right attitude. We must speak the truth in love. An incorrect attitude nullifies the truth of the word. Many true prophecies have been made false, because they have been spoken in a harsh or critical attitude.

A prophecy must be delivered in the right attitude. We must speak the truth in love. An incorrect attitude nullifies the truth of the word. Many true prophecies have been made false, because they have been spoken in a harsh or critical attitude.

We can be absolutely correct in the heart of a word and still release it at the wrong time or in a form that the receiver can not accept. I know of several prophets who found themselves in very hot water - not because the word was wrong but because the delivery broke the rules (Africa Prophecy).

A man can present truth so arrogantly that men will not listen. That man's truth has failed to find expression in our Lords way; therefore, however factually true it may have been, it has failed to become truth to his fellow men (John and Paula Sanford - The Elijah Task).

When you can produce a distinct sound, the church will hear you (Rick Joyner - The Ministry of a Watchman).

God is showing me that we are missing out on a lot of truth because we become offended in the messenger or the method of delivery. If something is true, let us weigh it, test it, and discern it on its own merit (Chip Brogden -Overcoming Prophetic Offence).