|
"Activating Prophecy Outside the Church Walls" |
The purpose of this
teaching is to get you prophesying. For some of you, it will just be a matter
of you stirring up the gifting that's already within you. Others may have
functioned in a level of the prophetic before and will be stretched to prophesy
more than they have before. On the other hand, some of you haven't prophesied
yet and will prophesy for the first time before we're done. We could call this
a prophetic party. I believe that you're going to be so edified, encouraged,
comforted and built up with what the Holy Spirit is going to speak to you;
you're going to float into a prophetic season of your life. The Spirit of
prophecy is going to come on your life.
Before I activate you in the prophetic, I'm going to talk about how to test a
prophetic word, how to receive it and how to stir up the anointing in your life
so that you can prophesy and speak the words of God. God is raising up
prophetic people and He's releasing prophetic oil. He doesn't want us just to
get knowledge of the prophetic. So by the time we leave this session, you are
going to be prophesying. I'm excited about what's going to happen in your life.
I'm going to lay out some guidelines here about how you're going to be released
into prophetic activation. God wants you to prophesy and He also wants your
prophetic gifting to go beyond just ministering in the prophetic anointing in a
church setting. I believe that if we are God's prophetic people, we are
prophetic in our homes, in the work place and just about anywhere we are. You
can stir up the prophetic gift anywhere and use it even among unbelievers. In 1
Corinthians 14 we see that if an unbeliever comes into one of our meetings and
people are prophesying, then that person will be convicted, fall on his face
and say, "God is really among you!" That kind of response, I believe,
doesn't just happen because of the word - there's something about the prophetic
anointing that goes with evangelism.
TAKE THE PROPHETIC TO THE MARKETPLACE
So take what you receive in this teaching and expect that next time you're in a
public place and you make yourself available to wait on the Holy Spirit that
He'll give you a word of knowledge for someone. I believe that God wants His
prophetic people to be prophetic not just when they're in the anointed
atmosphere of a meeting. Why don't you create a prophetic atmosphere in the
restaurant? Why don't you create a prophetic atmosphere in your home? Do you
ever minister to your children or others in your home with a word of knowledge
or with revelation? I find that sometimes the word of knowledge will come out
of me in the most natural circumstances - I'll have a vision or receive a
supernatural insight from God and deliver it out in the marketplace.
God wants us to have that word right in your workplace, right when you're
sitting at the lunch table. Look at the guy next to you, pray in the Spirit and
say: "Tell me something about Him Lord". Then you may be led to ask
something like, "Are you having a problem with your blood pressure lately?
Have you got high blood pressure?" Then all of a sudden, you're
ministering. He'll likely ask, "How did you know about that?" Then
you can say, "I was just listening for God's voice because I believe He
wanted to talk to you. I believe He showed me you had high blood pressure. Can
I pray for that?" Its time that, if you want to function in the prophetic,
you're going to have to be willing to get out of the boat and onto the water
and into the unknown. The anointing is the unknown, but the prophetic is the
unknown as well.
Jesus also liked to take the prophetic anointing outside the church. Remember
the time Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. It was there that
Jesus had a powerful word of knowledge. A word of knowledge is the prophetic -
it's just a different _expression of prophecy. One of my favorite ways that the
Holy Spirit will use me in the prophetic is in the word of knowledge. I'll know
things about people – past, present, future. When Jesus ministered in that
level of the prophetic anointing with the woman in John 14, He told her about
events in her life. Not only did she get saved, she told the people of the city
what had happened and they came out to listen to Jesus for themselves. Then
there was a revival in the city because of one prophetic word.
PROPHETIC ENCOUNTER IN THE RESTAURANT
Once after a meeting in Abbotsford, I was in a restaurant looking for a woman-at-the-well
experience. I challenged the rest of the people at my table by asking, "Is
the prophetic anointing just for the church? Is prophecy only to be used within
the structure of the local church or is the prophetic anointing to be used
beyond the church, even for the lost?" When the waitress came over, we
were making ourselves available for a word from the Lord for this unbeliever.
Then God gave us some precise insights. I said, "You grew up as a Catholic
and when you were 12 years old you were sexually abused at a Catholic
camp." Then my friend said, "I see your apartment and on the balcony
of your apartment are bird cages." After that I told her that she didn't
want to get saved because of her non-Christian boyfriend. The Holy Spirit gave
us these powerful prophetic words to minister to our waitress simply because we
waited on the Him while we were having supper.
So I want to challenge you to be prophetic people beyond just prophesying over
one another today - take the prophetic to the unbeliever. Take it into your
home and get words of knowledge about your kids. Get words of knowledge about
why they're in the bondage they're in and get the key that's going to unlock
the doors in their lives that will bring positive change. You need God's spoken
rhema word, not just human wisdom. I find that it's easy to get into ministry
mode at church but what about getting into ministry mode in your home? Why
don't you get into ministry mode in the workplace? Sometimes I'll line
unbelievers up at the restaurant and prophesy over them all... or I'll just
give a word of knowledge to the lady at the Wendy's drive through. Let's just
give the word of the Lord in some of the most natural places. The bible talks a
lot about the supernatural. However, let's think about that word supernatural.
The first part is the ‘super' - I know you all like the super! But the second
part tells us that the super is natural. I want to bring the super into the
natural. God really does wants to release the prophetic through us in the most
natural places and ways.
We also need to be ready to prophesy at any time. In the beginning, God would
move me to give somebody a word without even having the word first. I know that
many Christians have been trained to hear the voice of God by waiting until
they get a thought or a picture. They believe that only then can they give the
word and it will grow as they deliver it. However, I want you to know, there
are times when I'll be ministering in a meeting and God will tell me He wants
me to prophesy. I may say, "Lord I don't have anything for anyone."
In spite of my protests, He'll say, "You see that whole row over there?
Call them up and prophesy over every one of them right now in the
service." I can remember other times when I've worked with fellow prophetic
ministers who really challenged me. I'll tell you, it was a stretch when they
said, "Alright Todd, you're going to prophesy over everybody in the
building." Nowadays there are times in a meeting when God will just say,
"There's a grace Todd, there's a spirit of prophecy. Ill give you a
release if you want it. Together we can prophesy over everybody in the
church." Then we'll just line up everybody and minister for hours. Today I
love these times! That's why I'm free now; that's why I like to activate people
in the prophetic. But whether I'm in a meeting or not, I'm always seeking to
walk in the prophetic. I will often sit down and say, "Lord, give me a
word. Tell me something about that person."
THE LAST DAY'S PROPHETIC SPIRIT POURED OUT
These truly are the days that God is pouring out His prophetic Spirit on His
people. This passage is quite familiar but let's consider Acts 2:17 again:
"It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour my spirit
on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy. Young men shall see
visions; your old men shall dream dreams. On my men servants and on my maid
servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days and they shall prophesy."
In these verses God is talking about pouring His Spirit out on every single
believer because He wants all His sons and daughters to prophesy. This
outpouring is not just for the prophet or the prophetic ministry. He wants us
all to have visions and dreams.
You may be thinking, "I don't know how to prophesy. What am I going to
say?" The Father says, "I will pour out my Spirit". It's when
the Holy Spirit comes upon you that the word of the Lord begins to flow. You
know how easy it is to prophesy? It's just a matter of opening your mouth by
faith and He will fill it. You can be confident that you can prophesy because
the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. God talks to you
all the time - you just have to be able to hear God. Maybe you just don't have
your spiritual ears tuned to His voice. However, if you are listening, it's
impossible not to hear God because the Spirit has been poured out on you,
according to His promise.
The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of you and it's
the presence of the Holy Spirit that comes and releases the prophetic word.
"I will pour out my Spirit and you shall prophesy." When the Holy
Spirit is poured out, the first thing that happens isn't tongues, its prophecy.
We can find examples of this in 1 Samuel 10:6 and 19:20... with accounts of Samuel
and the prophets (people in the office of the prophet) who were prophesying.
They were prophesying over the nation of Israel and one another - it was a
prophetic conference.
COMING UNDER THE MANTLE OF PROPHECY
In most cases in the Old Testament, you can see the diversity of gifts far more
distinctly than you can see them in the body of Christ today. You knew Saul was
king - that was it. David was king. Prophets were prophets. Aaron was priest.
Moses was a prophet. Solomon was a king. In one scriptural account, the people
of Israel are completely amazed when the king (Saul) prophesies. At the
direction of the prophet Samuel, God sends King Saul to stand where these
prophets are prophesying. When Saul comes under the same prophetic mantle, the
Spirit of God came on him and he prophesied. He was king so he had never
prophesied before. (Maybe that's like you - you've never prophesied before.)
But the Holy Ghost came on Saul and he didn't just give a little prophetic
word, he prophesied all day and all night. There was such accuracy to that
prophetic word that the rest of the people asked, "Is Saul also among the
prophets?"
Do you know why you're going to prophesy? Because the same Spirit that fell on
Saul and was poured out at Pentecost has now been poured out on all God's sons
and daughters, according to scripture. The Holy Spirit is going to enable you
to have the word of the Lord when you minister over others. The Holy Spirit is
with you at home, at work and in the restaurant - in the most natural, common
places. You look at that passage in 1 Samuel 19 - it talks about common folks
coming under the anointing of Samuel and the prophets. They weren't prophets or
even recognized leaders in the church - they were just messengers of Saul. Yet
the Spirit of the Lord came on them and they prophesied. In the same way, I'm
believing that you're going to come under a prophetic anointing, the mantle of
prophesy, so you'll are able to prophesy words of edification, comfort and
exhortation over one another.
Now does God want you to minister in the prophetic? Is there even a place in
the bible where you can just prophesy over others at will? You may be thinking,
"What are you talking about Todd? How can you turn prophecy on and off?
You can't turn on the prophetic - it's either going to come in God's
sovereignty or it's not going to come. You can't just turn it on and off as you
want." Well, I don't believe that. I believe that Jesus said, "My
sheep hear my voice." And I'll tell you something--all you have to do is
be in a place of listening. Remember, God is our Abba, Father in heaven.
by Todd Bentley