We have to realize that before humanity was ever created and birthed out of the Creator’s mind and mouth, the Lord created a natural atmosphere for man and created the spheres of dominion for man to rule, function, live, and prosper in. It does not matter if one does not have a calling to be a prophet, apostle, evangelist, pastor, teacher, etc. We must understand that all mankind was given kingly dominion in the earthly realm by God before the earth ever existed and manifested in time (Gen. 2:7–9).
God, who is not locked into time, space, and seasons, planned outside of time and space the destiny of mankind in the natural realm. Before we were born we were predestined to become a kingdom, a chosen people, and a royal, spiritual race to populate the earth with the glory of the Lord. We have been birthed out of prophecies of the Lord. The word of the Lord was spoken on purpose to define man’s purpose for living on earth.
A SURE WORD OF PROPHECY
The Father had you on His mind, just like He had Jeremiah on His mind when He called him to prophetic ministry. The word of the Lord came down from heaven supernaturally and manifested itself in earth naturally. Have you ever received a prophetic word and forgot about it, and years later that same word came back full circle? Have you ever received a word from the Lord, and you were so busy doing the work of God that it hit you that you were walking in prophetic fulfillment of that word that was spoken? Have you ever needed a word from the Lord, and it didn’t come the way you would like, but it came?
Usually the word of the Lord comes at a time when a person really needs it the most. Jeremiah experienced that same thing. Moses was in the midst of his own wilderness, and the Lord spoke to him by a burning bush. Mary, Jesus’ mother, was in need of a word as well, and an angel of the Lord came with a prophetic word.
The word of God will find you just like the word of the Lord found Jeremiah; it took on a prophetic dynamic and function. That word from God was a sure prophecy that solidified his calling and removed all of Jeremiah’s doubts about speaking on the Lord’s behalf. Moses couldn’t use his stuttering complex as an excuse not to prophesy to an Egyptian leader who ruled with an iron fist.
It is very important to understand the dynamic of the prophetic function and how the Spirit of God operates and flows. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah to do what? It came to lift him up, throw him into, and establish him. That is usually what prophecies or the prophetic word does when it comes to an individual, city, nation, or system. It will lift you up, thrust you into, and establish you by confirmation and revelation.
The word before, according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, means, “in advance, ahead, at an earlier time, previously.”9 I always say that I would rather know something before than after the fact. There is a saying that goes, “What you don’t know will not hurt you,” but I believe that what you don’t know will hurt you. The Bible says that the people perish because of lack of knowledge (Hos. 4:6). Jeremiah needed to know what God had thought of him before he was born in the Earth. Jeremiah needed to know he was born on purpose.
In addition, God had already in times past knew, appointed, chosen, ordained, commissioned, anointed, and released him into public prophetic ministry; it’s just that in due season God made known to Jeremiah His will for his life, and it was up to Jeremiah to answer that call in the timing that God had revealed it to him. Jeremiah’s understanding of his prophetic potential had to be altered by a divine encounter by the Lord Himself. In order for Jeremiah to embrace this high calling he needed to be personally trained, mentored, governed, and monitored by the Lord, who called him on purpose.
Being born on purpose, a prophet will go through intense personal development, character adjusting, pride, and ego-breaking challenges and deliverance from the fear of man. Prophets encounter almost every condition and realm of society that they will soon face in their own prophetic ministry to confront, contend, transform, deliver over to, and change. Prophets have to first encounter the God of heaven and their Creator and fall out of agreement with what they were used to and come into agreement with their King.
There is more to prophesying than just proclaiming the word of the Lord or being an oracle used of God; prophets communicate with precision and accuracy the mind of God in plain language. In other words, prophets hear, see, smell, feel, sense, taste, and know things in the spirit world, and they are commissioned to translate and transmit what heaven is saying, revealing those things that cannot be seen and releasing them into the natural realm of what God is about to do.
LIVING ON PROPHETIC PURPOSE
To know the purpose of being born, we must understand that we are children of the Most High God, and we are not to walk in darkness. When a person does not know who they are and which direction to go, they are living in darkness, meaning without purpose. We can see in Scripture that at times the people of God knew nothing and understood nothing. They need to be reminded that they were gods, which means that they were spiritual representatives of the Lord in the earth. God is your Father, and we are His spiritual offspring. We have to live life on purpose. If a person doesn’t know their purpose, then it is impossible for them to fulfill it. Whatever God created as Creator of the universe was not done by accident but on purpose. When the Father spoke you into existence, your purpose was birthed. Everything in life serves a specific purpose and assignment. Regardless of Moses’ speech impediment or Jeremiah’s age and inexperience with prophecy, they were born on purpose. We cannot make excuses for why we cannot accomplish anything in life and for the Lord.
Jeremiah 29:11 (GW) says, “I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.” Jeremiah had a personal encounter with the Lord through a divine intervention and through the counsel of God, and the Lord revealed to him what he was born, assigned, and purposed to do. Jeremiah had to get acquainted with the prophetic ministry by God before he could ever walk as a prophet sent to the nation of Israel. In other words, Jeremiah had to understand his purpose first and know that God had commissioned him to a public prophetic office before he could be ready.
As believers we carry the purpose of God and the DNA of heaven on the inside of us. The Holy Spirit wants to consume our very being and empower us with the necessary power to fulfill that purpose in the Earth and for our generation. I truly believe that the prophetic ministry is instrumental in the plan and purposes of God. God, who is the Creator, used the power of prophetic creativity by faith to bring things into divine order. We have the same prophetic creativity by the Holy Spirit as believers; it is resident in us. We must prophesy and speak those things that are not as though they exist. But first we must by faith possess the prophetic Spirit of God.
9 Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online, s.v. “before,” http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/before (accessed May 26, 2013).
Chapter Three
POSSESSING THE PROPHETIC SPIRIT
But Moses asked him, “Do you think you need to stand up for me? I wish all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them.”
—NUMBERS 11:29, GW
POSSESSING THE PROPHETIC spirit is something that is not limited to those who are sovereignly called to the office of the prophet, but to those who possess the Holy Spirit indwelling and habitation. The Holy Spirit is a prophetic spirit, and since every believer is regenerated by the Spirit of God at the rebirth, each believer has the innate ability to prophesy to each other.
Nonetheless, due to the fact that there is limited education available on higher levels of the gifts of the Spirit, prophecy, the office of the prophet, and the supernatural power of God, today in society we see multi-media campaigns and marketing strategies proclaiming demonic literature and publications. These materials are usually about psychics, fortune tellers, new age doctrines, tarot card and palm readers, astrologers, pornography and adult entertainment, money schemes, and get-rich-quick systems, which influence the minds of people and make it dif
ficult for the gospel of the kingdom to be preached.
I truly believe that the church has seen tremendous breakthroughs in her ability to integrate its kingdom methods and dynamics to invade cultures of society and reclaim those pillars for the purpose of kingdom advancement, colonization, and expansion. Prophetically the church is expanding in how she engages these cultures and subcultures with heavenly strategies and Holy Spirit–led technology. No longer will there be a misconception about true prophecy versus false prediction and readings, the demonic world and angelic spiritual world, prophets of God and false prophets and psychics, the natural versus the supernatural.
In the world most people would think that the prophetic and other Holy Spirit operations are the same as physic perceptions or spiritualist readings. Both are quite different in function and source. Prophets receive supernatural revelation, insight, knowledge, and wisdom from God, which is eternally inspired communication media from the Spirit of God, while psychics receive their revelation from familiar and seducing spirits, which gather information about a person that is earthly, carnal, and demonically motivated by gossip, slander, tale-bearing, charm, and greed for money.
I have shared a prophetic word several times to unbelievers by walking in prophetic evangelism, including detailed information about past, present, and future events in their lives, and one of the many questions that I would from unbelievers and unbelieving so called believers would be, “How did you know that? Who told you that about me? How did you do that? And are you a psychic?” I would get very upset about the last question labeling me a psychic. However, I realized that they did not know the difference between a prophet and a psychic. Sadly, the world is familiar with witches, warlocks, psychics, and other demonic and secular terms, but they have no knowledge or idea of prophets, apostles, the prophetic, or knowledge of the Holy Spirit or other biblical realities of the spiritual realm.
JESUS REVEALED IN PROPHETIC EVANGELISM
While I was growing in the prophetic gift and ministry, the Holy Spirit would give me a strategy when I would prophesy to someone who was not a believer and follower of Christ Jesus. When I would do prophetic evangelism, I needed to use Jesus’ name frequently in my prophecies. God wanted me to show them the difference between a psychic and myself; I would display, by using the name of Jesus, that my information doesn’t come from seducing spirits but the Father of all souls and spirits.
By using this different prophetic strategy in prophesying I would no longer receive questions about me being a psychic, but I would be asked if I was “a prophet or something.” The world may not have much knowledge about the prophets, but they know that they’re different. A person can sense the prophetic function is Jesus revealing their heart and destiny to them. After prophesying to these unbelievers, I would see the power of God change their lives right before me. I would witness them getting instant deliverance, breakthroughs, and salvation through a prophecy. I call this the power of prophecy. This is what happens when one is consumed with the prophetic Spirit of God and uses the name of Jesus while ministering in love. There is power in the name of Jesus, and I also believe there is power in prophecy when released from a Holy Ghost–filled individual.
Moreover, there are misconceptions regarding the difference between one who is a prophet and one who can prophesy. I will cover that as well later, but this chapter is focusing on possessing a prophetic spirit. Possessing a prophetic spirit will give believers discernment in distinguishing between what is godly and the profane, between truth and error. Upgrading in knowledge, information, and education on spiritual gifts like prophecy and its function will remove and clarify much mysticism, spookiness, and the flakiness that can be prevalent in the prophetic. What a person does not understand, they usually reject. We should not throw out the baby with the bath water without researching and getting a full understanding of the matter.
The prophetic ministry and office has always been misunderstood. Furthermore, I have read many great books written on the subject. I believe now in the twenty-first century that people from around the world have access to thousands of books and resources on the prophetic, and with that we are going to see a major paradigm shift in the prophetic ministry. This paradigm shift is going to happen as God continues to use and raise up genuine apostles, prophets, teachers, and Holy Spirit–filled believers who have a passion for the prophetic and the word of the Lord to impact nations, systems, governments, and earthly kingdoms. There will be concise and foundational truth in the prophetic administration of these gifts. In addition, the Lord is going to continue to raise up in every generation kingdom believers, prophets, and prophetic people who will not only worship God in spirit and truth but also prophesy in spirit and truth.
Furthermore, as we come into more present-day truth and revelation of the significance of possessing a prophetic spirit and the paradigm of the prophetic operation, we are going to see Samuel, Moses, Jeremiah, Elijah, and Elisha-type mantles being activated in new ways in the twenty-first century and in the church today.
YOUR PROPHETIC NAME IS YOUR ASSIGNMENT
One of the biblical patriarchs that I have been intrigued with was Moses, who was the first official prophet of Israel, as well as a shepherd, godly lawyer, legislator, and judge. He was one that instituted Israel’s judicial system, new legislation, government, leadership, and their religious system. The prophetic spirit, authority, and anointing upon Moses caused things to shift atmospherically and aquatically while existing in Egypt. Moses was used by the Lord to deliver His people from the merciless regime of Pharaoh and the Egyptian government of the Hebrews.
Even though Moses was being raised in the courts of Pharaoh, who considered him a son, Moses possessed a prophetic name. He was drawn out of water, and his name means “drawn out.” Just like Jeremiah’s name, which was prophetic in nature to his prophetic assignment to nations and kingdoms, Moses was sent by God to “draw out” the people of Israel from the wilderness. It’s interesting that Moses was drawn out of the water when he was a baby, but God would use him to draw the children of Israel out of the desert place as an adult.
Moses was taken out of water, which water represents symbolically the Word of God, refreshing, growth, and is essential for life. One of Moses’ assignments as a prophet was to draw the nation of Israel out of enslavement, through water (the Red Sea), which signifies the prophetic word of the Lord delivering them. We can see according to the Book of Exodus that water was the vehicle that became the death penalty for Pharaoh and his army. The prophetic word of the Lord through Moses to Pharaoh became a bridge of crossing for God’s people and the cemetery for Pharaoh and his people.
Moses was sent to prophesy the judgment of the Lord to Pharaoh while at the same time bringing salvation through freedom to God’s people. Water is equated to the life-giving power of redemption, and Moses was used like a type of Christ and apostle who brought healing, deliverance, redemption, and salvation.
Moses is one prophet that I admire in particular because he was meek, humble, and possessed extraordinary power in the Spirit, which caused deliverance and emancipation for an entire nation that was in bondage. When the prophetic is delivered, it brings deliverance. The prophetic word given to Pharaoh by Moses was the Lord signifying His word with accompanying signs, wonders, and miracles. Moses was the possessor of the prophetic spirit, authority, and power of God as a prophet.
Even though Moses was a prophet, my emphasis is that God used the prophetic to bring deliverance for a people. I have received many personal prophetic words that brought me deliverance and became a bridge to cross over into destiny—and those very same words were a funeral for my past. Moses had a tremendous anointing on his life, so strong that even the Lord wanted him to delegate some of the honor, which in Hebrew means “authority, weight of responsibility, and glory,” upon his leadership team. Moses took ownership over the prophetic call and did as the Lord commanded him. (See Numbers 11:24–30.)
A HEART TO IMPART THE PROPHETIC SPI
RIT AND AUTHORITY
If a person is not called to stand in the office of a prophet, this does not mean that a believer cannot prophesy or minister the heartbeat of God to another. We must know that the gift of prophecy, spirit of prophecy, the governmental office of the prophet, and other gifts of the Holy Spirit are for the sole purpose of assisting one another in love. This was Moses’ burden in regard to the prophetic function. Numbers 11:24–30 is the fulfillment of God’s prophetic word to Moses, that he should have assistance in the government of Israel. Moses was an Old Testament type of an apostle and would impart what was on his life and transfer the prophetic spirit to the eldership team. The prophetic spirit is transferable, in contrast to the office of a prophet, which is not transferable. I believe that we all can be prophetic in spirit, but not all are prophets. Moses wished that all of God’s people were prophets.
In Numbers we read that, Moses was instructed by the Lord to give a measure of his prophetic spirit to the seventy elders, which were a part of Moses’ apostolic team and prophetic presbytery. They discoursed of the things of God so that all who heard them might say that God was with them. Two of Moses’ elders, Eldad and Medad, were found in the tabernacle as the rest of the leadership team realized and were aware of their own insecurities and unworthiness. To their surprise the Spirit of the Lord found them in the camp, and there they exercised their gift of praying, preaching, and praising the Lord; they prophesied as moved and possessed by the prophetic Spirit of God.
Prophecy is largely despised today in the twenty-first century because of lack of biblical knowledge and revelation of this gift. I have heard many different teachings on the gift of prophecy, prophets, and the prophetic ministry that brought much confusion, fear, and misunderstanding. But we must see from God’s perspective, which is emphasized in the Scriptures, that the gift of prophesying is the most important spiritual gift. Paul considers it vital to the upbuilding of the church at large.
Born to Prophesy Page 6