Born to Prophesy

by Hakeem Collins

  Life and death are in the power of the tongue.

  —PROVERBS 18:21, NKJV

  THE PROPHETIC IS God’s word, which is a seed that comes to us by faith in what He says. That word metaphorically impregnates us, which causes a person to nourish, water, feed and protect the word released. Once that word is received and believed, the person begins to go through many changes as the word of the Lord becomes them. Their lives begin to take shape from what God said. For example, if the prophetic word comes and says that God has called you to become something, then that seed will be planted in one’s heart. Over time, through seasons of maturation and development, the person will become that which God has already spoken and prophesied.

  The prophetic word brings clarity to a person’s identity and overall purpose for their life. The individual has the responsibility and stewardship to cultivate that seed planted and to one day evolve into that which is released. We must understand that the person receiving the prophetic word may not look like or be what God said until that word is spoken and released by God Himself to the person hearing the word by faith.

  PROPHETIC CREATIVITY

  The Bible says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17, NKJV). So by faith the word is received and believed. The individual, like Jesus’ mother, now will give birth to the Promise and the Redeemer of the world. Again, the prophetic word is the seed, and we become the womb. The egg over time develops and births out what God has originally intended us to become.

  The power of the spoken word of God is demonstrated in Genesis 1:3 when “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” God is not asking you to become but is commanding that you become that what He says. So in other words, God prophesies, “Let there be Hakeem,” and there was Hakeem. When the Lord speaks forth who we are, He speaks what He has already had in His mind, and He calls us by name. And with that, He attaches His eternal purpose in us.

  Furthermore, we can see that light came forth out of hiding and operated in its assignment. That assignment was to bring light to a dark cosmos. When the Lord prophesies, He always will prophesy what is and not what something is going to be. In other words, when the Lord said, “Let there be light,” light was already there or existed, but light needed to be affirmed, identified, and summoned by the word of the Lord. The prophetic word of the Lord does that when it comes to a person. The Lord will say that you are a prophet or you are a leader or you are this and that, even though you may not be fully walking in that call.

  Moreover, when the Lord says, “Let there be,” the spoken word of the Lord is powerful, because the word of the Lord is released to permit something to come forth. For example, when the Creator spoke and said, “Let there be light,” the light responded to the prophetic word and became when it was called out of darkness. When the creative power of the spoken word was released by God, God said, “Let there be light.” God was giving permission for light to be and to function in its God-given assignment. When the Lord calls you to something for Him and says to be what He has created you to be, you now have the permission and commission by the Father to be all you can be in the Earth. The power of the spoken word and prophecy can do that same to any situation. You can speak things into existence in your life by the spoken word and faith.

  CREATING YOUR WORLD THROUGH PROPHECY

  By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

  —HEBREWS 11:3, NKJV

  We understand by faith that God is creative power; through His word as Creator He causes the worlds, which are the ages, and gives reference to time being framed. The creative power of the spoken word of God can frame things in a person’s life. Prophecy can frame any situation if God’s wisdom, direction and strategy is applied. The word framed, kataritzo, means “to arrange, set in order, equip, adjust, complete what is missing, lacking and make fully ready, repair and prepare.”69 The prophetic function and power of the spoken word can repair a person’s life, marriage, etc. In addition, it can adjust and bring wholeness and completion, therefore making and preparing a person for what God has next for them. The prophetic word becomes a spiritual picture frame or a window for one to see through and see a glimpse or picture of their prophetic future or destiny.

  Everything that God creates is given an assignment and purpose for existing, just like the prophet Jeremiah, who was called to be a prophet. Prophets are called and sent to speak the counsel of the Lord to whomever the Lord sends him or her. I will go into detail in later chapters in regard to what is a prophet, prophecy, and the prophetic nature.

  COME OUT OF OBSCURITY AND BECOME WHAT GOD SAID

  God called light out of hiding or obscurity and told light to come forth and to be, so there was light. Light heard the word of the Lord and came forth. We can see that when God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, God gave light its name and identity. It was the light’s responsibility to respond and be what the Creator called it. Likewise, when the Lord has called us and says, “Let you be,” there is a time and season where you will become all that He has predestined you to be as long as you take ownership and stewardship of the will of the Lord in your life.

  Everything in life has been created by a seed. We are the seed that was downloaded into our mother’s womb. It’s a seed of greatness and full of potential. An apple seed does not look like an apple yet, but it’s only the seed. Therefore, that little seed has the capacity, potential, and DNA to be an apple in the fullness of time. That’s why it is called an apple seed; just like Jeremiah, he was called a prophet, but before the Lord placed him in his mother’s womb he was just a prophetic seed that was given an assignment and prophetic coding to be a prophet called to the nations. Whatever the Lord put inside of you is a seed of who you really were born to be. There is nothing in the universe that has not been created without a seed being planted. God releases his spiritual seed into the earth and from the earth. This is what you really are, a seed that will sprout forth or be birthed out.

  LIFE STARTS FROM A SEED

  Galatians 3:29 (NKJV) reads, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” We are heirs of the promise because we have been baptized into the spiritual family of Christ. Like any seed, life starts out as a seed and then forms and matures into that we are to become in Christ Jesus. The Bible says not to despise small beginnings. We must understand that everything in life has a beginning, and that small beginning is the seed. The seed is the beginning of who a person is really to become.

  I am reminded of when a woman gets pregnant. In order for conception to take place there, of course, has to be sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. The man releases himself (seed, sperm) into the woman, and millions of sperm are racing down the female organs to reach the egg. But only one sperm out of millions makes it. The rest die. This is very profound to me, because you have made it out of millions of sperms and became the champion seed that made it to the finish line (egg), which became the beginning of your life.

  The word of the Lord, spoken from the Father, is a seed of creation. The word is prophetic, because God’s words do not fall to the ground but fall inside of us on the earth as a seed sown to bring forth that which He speaks. The prophetic word fathers (imparts) and mothers (nourishes) the seed sown into our lives, which in due season and maturation comes to pass.

  I love the prophetic because it has brought understanding to certain situations and seasons that I could not comprehend in particular seasons of my life. I would receive many prophetic words about being a spiritual father and having spiritual sons and daughters in the faith, but I could not and didn’t understand the prophecy, nor grasp it fully like Abraham. For me, I was in search of a spiritual father and had spiritual leaders who would show me the way, but I never knew that God was going to raise me up to be a father in the faith.

  I could remember a proph
et of God who spoke a prophetic word to me back in 2004 saying, “Son, you have been looking for spiritual parenting and fathering, but the Lord says that through trial and error you are the father that you have been looking for, for I have called you to be a spiritual father and model to the next generation. And I am your father, so as I father you, you will father others, says the Lord.” I had many teachers, instructors in Christ, but not many fathers in the faith or in the calling that was on my life. We as believers are the seed of Abraham, being the descendants of Abraham.

  The prophetic word or dream may seem too impossible to fulfill or too farfetched because of time, chronological age, or failures that we may have encountered through life that have caused us to walk in unbelief, doubt, and criticism. But those words or dreams are true if God speaks them to us. Regardless of how old Abraham and Sarah were, they were chosen to release and conceive a promised seed that would bless all the nations of the earth. It only takes one seed to release a harvest and just one prophetic word to release the promise.

  In Genesis it talks about the Promised Seed, which was Christ, who was going to bruise the head of the serpent with His heel. In Eve, she carried the vindication and justice of the Promised Seed (Christ) who would defeat sin and death. All we need in life is a seed, which is the Word of God spoken in power. Genesis also talks about seed-time and harvest-time, which is the law that God has established. In every seed, there is a time of harvest and productivity. They work hand and hand. In other words, if you plant an oak tree seed, you are not going to expect a palm tree but an oak tree in the season of fullness. When prophecy comes forth in a person’s life it’s a seed of potential, and there will come a time for the seed to maximize its godly potential.

  I have listed just a few powerful Scriptures in regard to the power of the spoken word:

  A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth.

  —PROVERBS 12:14, NKJV

  Goodness comes by what you speak.

  There is that speaketh like a piercing of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.

  —PROVERBS 12:18

  Health comes with those who use their words wisely.

  He who guards his mouth keeps his life.

  —PROVERBS 13:3, AMP

  Life or death can be determined by what we declare.

  The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.”

  —PROVERBS 16:23, KJV

  God doesn’t teach one mouth, but the heart of the wise man teaches their own mouth.

  Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit of thereof.

  —PROVERBS 18:21, KJV

  Life and death is the creative power that a person’s own tongue can bring to pass.

  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life].

  —PROVERBS 18:21, AMP

  A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth.

  —PROVERBS 13:2, KJV

  Good life and prosperity come by the spoken word.

  A [self-confident] fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are the snare to himself.

  —PROVERBS 18:7, AMP

  Foolish and unwise people talk before they think and are ruined by their own words, which ensnares them and causes destruction. A wise man will think before he speaks.

  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

  —PSALM 107:2, KJV

  Salvation and redemption comes to those who know their God, and He will deliver them from the adversary.

  Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

  —MATTHEW 12:34, KJV

  The mouth only speaks what’s in it, whether good or evil.

  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

  —JAMES 3:6, NKJV

  The tongue is a small but powerful member and can change the direction of someone’s destiny and course of life.

  The power of the spoken word is creative and mighty. Jesus in Mark 11:23 (KJV) said to His disciples, “For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”

  This passage of Scripture is a principle that we must understand. Jesus was basically saying that if a person believes what they are speaking, then you can have it. In other words, if I can speak to an impossible situation like a mountain and tell it to relocate into the sea to be seen no more, then I can speak anything by the spoken word, and it will come to pass if I believe it. Jesus didn’t say anything about praying to the mountain to move or interceding for the mountain to move; Jesus said simply to speak to the situation and it would happen. That’s the absolute power of the spoken word.

  69 See http://www.studylight.org/lex/grk/gwview.cgi?n=2675, StudyLight.org (accessed July 12, 2013). See also Strong’s #2675- New Spirit-Filled Life® Bible, Copyright © 2002 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., page 1741, “Word Wealth” Index Section.

  Chapter Fifteen

  BAPTIZED INTO THE FAMILY

  Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

  —GALATIANS 4:1–7

  MANY PEOPLE WILL teach us many things, but who will impart their very own lives into us? I believe there is a spiritual company that certain people can identify themselves with; it’s not an occult or sect but a particular spiritual apostolic and prophetic tribe or DNA that one can relate to in covenant. God granted me the privilege and honor to relate to fathers and mothers in the faith who I will not name for the lack of identity and protection. I have been baptized into them and we have been baptized into one another.

  To relate with these world leaders has added a strong grace and identity in my calling. This type of apostolic, prophetic synergy and parenting is what cross-pollination is. We must connect with different types of irons in the body of Christ for fine-tuning, sharpening, and accountability. The Bible says iron sharpens iron; in other words, if you are a dull pencil and need sharpening, then it would be wise for you to go to a pencil sharper to get your edge back and be sharp again.

  Apostle John Eckhardt, who is an apostolic, pioneering voice of our day and my apostolic father, defines the term cross-pollination when he states:

  With the rise of many different apostolic networks, there can be a tendency to become isolated and exclusive. This can be avoided as apostles network with one another and cross-pollinate with their networks. Groups such as ICA (International Coalition of Apostles) formerly known as the NCA (National Coalition of Apostles) are bringing together different apostles to intermingle and raise the level of accountability between apostles. Different apostles and networks have different strengths and can help each other by cross-pollinating.70

  THE POWER OF CROSS-POLLINATING

  I believe this is an excellent definition of unity within the body of Christ. I believe it not only promotes unity, but also there is a mutual submission among other leading apostles. I believe cross-pollination is not just for apostles to relate, connect, love, and correct each other, but this should be for all believers in the kingdom. We are baptized by the Spirit of God, and we are citizens of the kingdom. We are
all kings in the kingdom of God. The baptism into the family of God is our inheritance.

  I have submitted my life, ministry gift, and doctrine to other seasoned men and women of God in the kingdom. I believe in accountability as a minister of the Lord. There are powerful apostles, prophets, and five-fold ministry leaders that I mutually respect and submit to for spiritual counsel, correction, guidance, spiritual covering, impartation, and love. These men and women have made tremendous spiritual deposits into me that were life changing. The prophetic words that they have released over my life set the course of my destiny. I am what I am because of who they are. I call them my family, and we have been immersed into each other. They have embraced me into their lives and vice versa.

  We need each other in the body of Christ. We need to submit one to another in love. The awesome thing about those who I submit myself and ministry to is that they challenge me to grow and do what God has called me to do. In addition, they do not dwarf or stunt my growth in Christ but stretch me to go higher and impact my generation.

  Importantly, above all, these men and women of God recognize the gift of God on my life and challenge me to go and to do what I have been born to do. We must be baptized into the family. I believe that we must be baptized into the family of God by the Holy Spirit’s regenerative power and that prophets and kingdom believers must be plugged into a local church to operate in. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish. There is growth and development when a person’s roots are connected to a body of other believers who share the same discontentment, passion, vision, ideas, concepts, belief systems, and burdens of the Lord as you do.

  BAPTIZED INTO THOSE YOU SERVE AND FOLLOW

  These leaders had to understand Moses’ heart and spirit. It was a prophetic dimension and spirit that they operated in. Moses, being a prophet, judge, and shepherd, needed a leadership who would carry out specific assignments for the people as he spent time on the mountain receiving the Law and Commandments of the Lord. There were men that needed to be immersed and baptized into Moses’ baptism.