Archive for the ‘Prophetic Concepts’ Category

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The Perfect Prophetic Word – Timing

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

What is the perfect prophetic word? I believe that in the strictest sense it is a piece of revelation delivered without any of the communicator’s opinions, feelings, or judgments. Another way of considering this could include a piece of revelation that glorifies God completely and draws the listener to God. But for my line of consideration I want to talk about timing that moment when revelation and delivery come together at the perfect moment.

I remember an instance about 15 years ago when I was in a meeting having a private conversation with God. As I recall it was in that moment of reflection when worship is just winding down and ministry time is in full swing. While I was sitting there a great family friend, Carl Greer, walked up to me and answered the exact question that I had been asking God. It was less than 5 words, but changed the trajectory of my life tremendously.

Having grown up and immersed in in the charismatic culture for most of my life, I have heard, received, been given, had sung and of course prayed several hundred prophetic words on the low end of estimation, however Carl’s word is one of only about three that have always stood out as near perfect. This was because the word itself was incredibly pertinent for me, but almost more important was he gave the word to me at the perfect time.

Another instance of near perfect timing was with Christine Potter. One evening during a service she prayed for me in a spectacular way. It was just a normal Wednesday night service but so much emotional healing took place I can’t really explain it. Christine is an amazingly sensitive person who sees so much, and although the issues she was praying into had probably been seen before, the difference was the moment that her prayers took place. Within 10 minutes of this ministry time I encountered an extreme situation that I don’t know how I would have handled if not for her words. It was perfect timing once again.

The last perfect prophetic word I can remember came from my father in law. He gave me a word that was almost exactly the opposite of what virtually everyone else I knew was saying. It was at a time when things were not going that great for me and the words would have been only words without this perfect timing. Standing in the gap while others where prophesying what they saw in the natural, my father in law spoke what he saw in the spirit. At the end of the day it came to pass that he was right where other voices appear to have been mistaken.

I have been blessed over the years to receive many prophetic words from different people, however in truth over 90% of them seem to have slipped into the ether or are hidden from memory. I don’t know what all the components of a perfect prophetic word are. But I am certain from my own experience that timing is a crucial element that cannot be overlooked. I know that so often what we see as being a powerful word doesn’t even compare to the importance of giving it at the right time.

Going forward I want to focus much more on knowing from God when a word is to be delivered. I think I will worry a little less if the word feels to me less powerful as a result of timing that is not always my own. Because it isn’t about saying things that I think will have a profound impact. It is about having the impact God wants to have, when He wants to have it.

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Gardening our lives #2

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

So often in the past my garden has suffered from a lack of watering. Recently however my basil and other herbs have started to turn yellow on me despite the fact I often water them. After a quick search around the internet I discovered this is often due to over watering. What happens is the plant gets too much water in relation to the nutrients that it is able to absorb from the soil it is planted in.

This made me think about how our focus on developing spiritual gifting can sometimes cause us not to absorb enough of the other things that are around us, or the same in reverse.

Initially everything God created was created to be in balance. We have to eat or we starve, yet over eating can lead to numerous ailments and suffering.

How do we find a balance?

I think a balance comes from taking nutrients in from many sources. As with plants, some stress, like pruning, can be essential in generating continued growth.

The short lesson I learned from my garden is that too much of a good thing is not always the best thing for it. The garden provides such a wealth of insight into the gifts that God gives us. The key to balance is to develop these gifts but at the same time to make certain we do not lose touch with the other crucial parts of our lives such as friends, family, and work. With out these elements we actually lose purpose for the gifts.

Keep a broad focus and grow!

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Investigative Dreaming

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

I think there is a wealth of as yet undiscovered understanding and maturity to be gained from within the realm of dreams from God. To my mind each and every person can have a slightly different, or hugely different, private vocabulary with God. This means that while there are some basics and fundamentals to understanding dreams that carry across all languages, cultures and dare I say denominations, once you have moved past the fundamentals into interpreting metaphors, similes and puns within dreams, the finer essence of a dream is often a code between the dreamer and God.

This is why dreams can’t be interpreted as well using a dream dictionary. Each and every symbol can have dozens of meanings, based on a person’s individual relationship with the environment around them and with God.

So what are we to do as people who aspire to help find answers through looking at the dreams God gives us? First I think we can only give the answers that we have. The worst thing an interpreter can do is try to build an interpretation on the basic understanding they have without revelation from God. The second thing, and equally important, is not to assume. So often we see a parent, car, or some other common element show up in a dream and assume that we have an understanding of what that element means based on past or present experience. While we do become more experienced, each dream we face is a blank slate, a fresh start, a chance to learn something new rather than churn out what we already know.

Dream interpretation is not a science. The danger is when we try to see the gift turned into something that we simply ‘get’. We may have interpreted thousands of dreams and so we feel we have it figured out. The truth is, in my experience, that the number of dreams and often increasing complexity of dreams interpreted can be viewed as a milestone not as a result of volume or accuracy in the interpretation. Rather I find I am increasing learning the questions to ask and hold my own ‘wisdom’ more and more loosely. As an interpreter, my role is to act as a conduit for God, not a display model for practice makes perfect.

As we investigate we learn something that every fan of Bones, CSI or Sherlock Holmes already knows. Let the evidence speak for itself. Don’t assume, and the more experience you have the more you know things can, and will surprise you. When we maintain humility God uses us powerfully. If we stay humble he doesn’t have to remind us who is really doing the heavy lifting.

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Cheese and Prophesy, more in common than you think

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

Have you ever noticed that many of the foods that we think of as delicacies are actually the result of spoilage? Imagine the first guy that had a jug of milk go off and after a couple days of rotting and turning sour he decided to give it a taste. That is more or less the process has brought us sour cream, yogurt, cheese, buttermilk and my favorite a nice creamy gorgonzola. Just think about the time that someone cut into their forgotten wheel of cheese around 1200 years ago and discovered that it had all these blue veins because somehow a little bit of penicillium mold had made its way in. I think that they would have had to be pretty hungry to give it a try. But now, over a 1000 years later it is one of the most popular varieties the world over. Something that was smelly, and at first appearance rotten is now special and very expensive costing up to 40 dollars or more a pound.

One of the often unspoken rules of the prophetic is that the greater the word, the greater the test. This test can come in the form of timing, obstacles, and even in some cases total disillusionment. Much like great cheese you can’t see what is going on below the surface. This all came up for me as I was talking with an old friend that was in town visiting about prophetic words that we have received from various well known prophetic voices. He was talking about how all three words from one person who I think of as a spiritual grandfather had come to pass, and been great. For my part I have received maybe 10 words from this same amazing man – going back about 25 years. To be honest not a single one of the words that he has given me has come to pass at this time.

The most common parmesan cheese in America is sold by Kraft, it comes in a green plastic bottle is pre-grated and often lacks the full punch and texture of one of the most loved cheese varieties in the USA. But it fills the role that most people use it for on pizza, spaghetti or making a béchamel sauce. But, in my opinion it is nothing like‘real’ parmesan aged for around 2 years and sometimes longer. The grainy, gritty texture is untouchable by anything that comes in a bottle. Yet, I use the bottle, and I suspect that you do as well. It is cheaper, keeps longer in the fridge and is hassle free. Very similar to the way we prefer our prophetic words. I would prefer to have more history with the prophetic that was quick, relatively satisfying and hassle free. But sadly as fate or destiny would have it I have a lot of unfulfilled prophetic words, and I have many friends that do as well.

Sometimes our inclination with promises that we have held for a long time is treat them as though they are the cheese in the back of the cave that has turned blue. The key is to be hungry enough to have a taste and see what you discover. This is going to be a good year to pull old prophetic words out from the back of the cave. They might be a little moldy or cracked but the truth is they are delicacies.

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Knowing God’s Will

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

Matthew 6:9-13
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

Part of these instructions tells us to pray that God’s will be done. Through the Bible we have some understanding of following the rules that God has set out for us, while there is room for interpretation in some areas it is pretty clear that we are to respect our parents, pay our taxes, tithe, and so on. This is a great starting point. But what about “should I take this job, or that job? Should I get this car or that car? Should I attend this church or that church?” So many questions, and so much potential room for error.

We face many huge life decisions, choices that affect who our friends will be, what sort of accents our children will grow up with, and eventually what sort of opportunities will be available to us later on. One of the biggest choices I ever made was to move to Britain in the summer 2004. Looking back, you would be forgiven for thinking my move was a big mistake. There were some great things about moving – new friends, new experiences; however there were also crushing defeats and failures. However, one important thing happened while I was living in Britain. I developed a friendship with the parents of my future wife. A few years later we got married and I have been incredibly happy and blessed to be with such an amazing person. Maybe a year or so in the wilderness wasn’t all for loss! At times it certainly didn’t seem like God’s will that I should be in that place, and yet he was doing something deep and extraordinary, something I could have never anticipated or planned.

Through life so far I find I have gathered a number of stories like that. Stories where it seemed like I had made bad choices (and I have made more than my fair share) and yet later on, sometimes much later on, I see positive things that have resulted. As Christians we aspire to follow God’s will. We seek his will and we attempt to make choices that conform to our understanding of his will. But, once the choices have been made we then have to walk them out. Sometimes we look back and see that we clearly made the right choice other times we simply have to wonder what we were thinking and wait to see what God was doing. This is where Proverbs 3:5-6 comes into life every single day of our lives. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” We don’t have to know what God is doing, but we do have to trust him.

So, for me a big part of seeing that God’s will is accomplished, is trusting him. I know that I don’t always have to understand to know that he has a plan.

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