Numbers 11:29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
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The priesthood of all believers was the single most important teaching of the reformation. Luther had the revelation that we did not have to go through priests, saints, or Mary but could in fact each person was meant to have their own direct relationship with God himself and serve him, even if not a “minster.”
As we go deeper into the end-times God desires the PROPHETHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS. Christ taught: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Notice he did not say “my prophets hear my voice and relay it to the sheep” nor did he say “my pastors will hear my voice for the sheep.” He said MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE. This means God’s desire is for every believer to operate in the prophetic ability, regardless of whether or not you are called to the office of a Prophet. There is no such thing as “its not my gift.” As long as we are willing to obey what he says and when he says it, he will gift it to us. But we have to be willing to use it as part of ministry when necessary. We cannot be like the man who buried his talent in cowardice in the parable.
Jesus Christ operated as Prophet, Priest, and King. The word “Christians” means “little Christs.” We are supposed to be following after the model of Christ, pursuing his all and our full destiny. Not being impotent on a pew waiting for the pulpit to stir the waters so we can crowd to the aftercall again and again every service with no lasting change. Its time we become strong in the faith. We were meant to be leaders and sons of God, not permanent babies trapped on the milk of the word.
Obedience
When you hear from God, you are accountable to obey everything you hear. If God gave us crystal-clear prophetic hearing right away it would destroy most of us because we had not yet learned to obey and yet are suddenly accountable at a much higher level. The best way to hear God’s voice is to pray that he will train to you to very obedient and always practice doing the prompts he lays on your heart right away. We make excuses or forget about it. If God put on your heart to give a certain amount of money to a person in need or minister perhaps you will make excuses that there are other people who are more wealthy and it should be their job. If he tells us to stop a certian habit or change our lifestyle we may resist and pretend they are human thoughts, not God's word. This is why God does not speak to us. We would rather brush aside his promptings of obedience and hide from them. The gifts and callings of God are without revocation and our commitment must be the same way. We must tell God we understand that a higher level of hearing his voice comes with higher accountability to obey and be willing to follow through on this for life. We cannot just take it back later on.
Know God's Language: The Bible
God’s language is the Bible and his most common way of speaking to you will be by bringing a scripture verse to remembrance when you are seeking guidance. Many people have already been hearing God in this manner without necessarily realizing it. Also, just reading the word is God speaking to us. The Bible is a living book! We are not just reading to get some kind of head knowledge, but to have God speak to us and get to know him. Every time we read the Bible it speaks something different; you will notice something you did not before. How can God speak to us if we do not spend any time in his word to know his language? Obviously we are not truly hungry for his prophetic word if we won't even bother to learn the written word.
Zephaniah 3:9 “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.
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This scripture was fulfilled with the creation of the King James Bible. This standardized the beauty of the English language before our tongue became corrupted and debased into what it is now. The anglosphere (England, America, Canada, etc.) made a covenant with God just like ancient Israel to serve him and were the first to fully come out of the Roman mother-of-all-harlots church. This is the heritage God has given us.
Get to know the word. The bible is not meant to be read only once but over and over and it speaks something new each time. Read the bible every day! Is your knowledge of sports figures and actors greater than your knowledge of biblical characters, stories, and history? The bible was not written for people 2000 years ago anymore than it was written for us today.
Ask and ye shall receive
James 4:2-3 “ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
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Many times people assume they are born with certain spiritual giftings and seek to discover what those are. This is not a good mindset. Paul states: “But covet earnestly the best gifts.” Which is the best gift we should be seeking? “desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” (1 Cor 14:1). The Greek word for “desire” is zeloute, from which we get the word “zealous.” This desire is not a passive want, but an active seeking. Some fasting may be necessary. For me, I received the prophetic gifting in the middle of a 1-week water fast. This shows God we are truly committed and willing to put his Spirit over our flesh.
For self only or for ministry?
When God opens the taps of prophecy, our first reaction is often to think of it as to satisfy our itch for knowledge. That we could ask every theological question and get the answer. That we could know which direction the stock market will go in and make outsized profits. That we could learn the secrets of life and have a divine answer.
It is important to realize that God did not ordain this gift for the recipient’s personal benefit but rather for the benefit of the body of Christ at large. You don’t simply receive a fivefold gift, but YOU BECOME THE GIFT to the church. As a result, a prophet can hear an accurate word for another person or the church, but may not hear accurately for their own affairs. The principle “physician, heal thyself” applies (Luke 4:23). Someone can have the gift of healing and still get sick. Likewise the gift of prophecy does not mean you will always have an automatic divine answer for events in your own life. God is the one who decides what message he will speak and when.
You have to be doing some kind of kingdom work. This does not mean being a five-fold leader, but could be a ministry of giving for example. Helping others in need. As long as we are willing to minister for God somehow in our daily lives we can qualify to receive the prophetic gifting and be guided in these decisions. We think of ministry as a full-time only occupation, but we are all meant to be doing some sort of ministry on the side, even when we normally do secular work.
Holy Lifestyle
Every worldly thing you participate in will work against your sensitivity in hearing God's voice. Watching TV and listening to worldly music for example. This will increase the voice of the flesh and decrease your sensitivity in the spirit. As a result, your prophecies may become a mixture of holy revelation and fleshly “noise.” It’s like when you tune in a radio and hear mostly static until you adjust the sensitivity to just the right point. Certian music/tv is demonic and has to be given up completely. Others may be allowed, but should be limited as they still usually have some bad values that will still work to pull us down if we spend more than a little time in them. We also need a quiet time. We are so full of noise and always listening to something, we leave no time to hear God. We need to learn to be still and meditate; this has been lost from our culture.
Uncertian revelations and prophetic words
Romans 12:6 “let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.”
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What Paul was teaching here is that there are levels of certainty in prophecy and we must prophesy according to the level of sureness we have. If you are entirely sure the word is from God (100-fold faith), it can be written in 1st person form while under inspiration. If in 3rd person, the “God says” may be used. There are plenty of times however, when we are only “mostly” sure the revelation is from God (60-fold faith). In this case, do not use “God says” or write a 1st person prophecy. Rather, just preach it as part of your preaching word normally. Slip it into your message to the sheep. If first person prophecy, pray over the target individual, praying out the specific details from the revelation. In the minority of times you will be in error it will cause no major harm because you never claimed it was a direct word from God, and yet you were still able to release the word in obedience. Then there are times you may only “think” the word “might” have came from God vs from your own mind. In this case (30-fold faith), write it as a fictional short story or parable. This lets you get your idea out, without taking the Lord’s name in vain by falsely claiming “God says” when you re unsure. If it lines up with the word, you may also preach it or pray those details over a person.