RECEIVING THE WORD OF THE

LORD

BRINGING LIFE TO YOUR PROPHETIC WORD

RECEIVING THE WORD OF THE

LORD

BRINGING LIFE TO YOUR PROPHETIC WORD

CHUCK D. PIERCE AND

REBECCA WAGNER SYTSEMA

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The New

King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson,

Inc. Used by permission.

Receiving the Word of the Lord

Copyright © 1999

by Chuck D. Pierce and Rebecca Wagner Sytsema

ISBN 0-9667481-2-3

Second printing: July, 1999

Published by

Wagner Institute for Practical Ministry

P. O. Box 62958

Colorado Springs, CO 80962-2958

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved under

International Copyright Law.

Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part

without the express written consent of the publisher.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION

7

1 K

NOWING GOD SPEAKS

9

2 W

HAT IS PROPHECY?

13

3 T

HE FUNCTIONS, PROCESS, AND VALUE OF PROPHECY

21

4 T

ESTING THE PROPHETIC WORD

29

5 R

ESPONDING TO PROPHECY

37

R

ECOMMENDED READING

43

INTRODUCTION

earing the voice of God is not as difficult as some might

Hthink. I have found that many of God’s people are hearing

Him, but have not perceived that it is His voice. To perceive

means to take hold of, feel, comprehend, grasp mentally,

recognize, observe, or become aware of something by

discerning. We must learn to perceive God’s voice, which will

help us understand His will for our lives. Acting upon what we

have discerned as His voice until it becomes a reality is the key

to a successful Christian life.

To commune with a holy God—you talk to Him and He to

you—is the highest privilege we have on earth. My own life has

become one of hearing the Lord’s voice, not just for myself but

for others as well. My greatest desire is for each person to hear

God’s voice, embrace His word, and fulfill the destiny God has

for them.

I pray that this simple book will give you the principles of

hearing God through prophecy, show you how to test and

evaluate the prophetic word. and help you know what to do with

what God has spoken to you. As you read this book may you

recognize the Voice that gives you life and life abundantly!

Chuck D. Pierce

Colorado Springs, Colorado

7

CHAPTER ONE

KNOWING GOD SPEAKS

1

hen I first became aware that God had a voice and

Wactually spoke to people, I was eight years old. My godly

grandmother would take me to a little Baptist church in East

Texas where we lived. In that church was a lady named Mrs.

Grimes who would do a very peculiar thing. Right in the middle

of the preacher’s message, Mrs. Grimes would stand up and

wave her hands. Being a Baptist church, this was very unusual

behavior. Yet the preacher would stop his message and ask her

what was happening. Mrs. Grimes would say, “The Lord is

speaking to me!” Then the pastor would say, “Tell us what He’s

saying.” Then Mrs. Grimes would begin to tell us what she was

hearing from the Spirit of God and how it affected the church.

It totally fascinated me that this God of whom the preacher

talked could really speak to people today. I would look up at my

grandmother and say, “If God can speak to that woman, I want

Him to speak to me.” My grandmother would look down at a

typically wild eight-year-old boy and say, “You will have to

learn to be quiet and sit still for God to ever say anything to

you!”

MY DAY OF SALVATION

From that point on there was no question in my mind that

God had a voice. I had seen it through Mrs. Grimes, and I saw it

in the biblical stories I heard in Sunday School. Still, I had never

heard Him speak directly to me. When I was eleven, the Spirit of

the Lord came to me in a church service and clearly said, “This

is your day.” It was as if I followed His Spirit up to the altar and

surrendered my life, as well as I knew how at that point, based

upon His voice speaking to me.

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RECEIVING THE WORD OF THE LORD

As I studied the Bible later on, I saw that God has a day of

salvation for each one of us (see 2 Cor. 6:2). I saw that we all

could come into our day of salvation by hearing God’s voice

speak into our spirit that was dead in trespasses. As we respond

to His voice and allow His voice to illuminate truth in our

darkened spirit, we come into our day of salvation. In fact, none

of us has been saved without the voice of God prompting us. We

may not have heard an audible voice, but because only God can

illuminate the truth of salvation, everyone who has had a

salvation experience and knows Jesus as their Lord and Savior

has heard God’s voice, whether or not they understood it at the

time!

“I WILL RESTORE”

Even though I had been saved, I had a difficult, often

traumatic, and abusive childhood. Our family had suffered great

loss and anguish. But when I was 18, the Lord clearly spoke to

me and said, “I will restore all that you have lost.” I had never

seen that in the Bible, but as I read more deeply, I learned that

God’s voice had the power to restore (see Joel 2:25). My whole

life changed from that instant. God has healed, delivered, and

restored me in miraculous ways.1 God’s voice has great power to

bring us out of the ruins of our past and set us on the course He

has ordained for our lives.

GOD’S VOICE IS CREATIVE

In the account of creation that we read in Genesis, we see

that the creative instrument God used again and again was His

voice. God spoke into chaos and light came into being. He spoke

again and light divided from darkness, creating day and night.

The power of His voice created the heavens and earth, and the

abundance of creatures that filled the earth and seas.

God’s voice is so powerful that it can divide substance.

From the power of His voice, substance could be made into a

different form. God made the ground from His creative voice

1 A more complete account of this story is written in my book, Possessing

Your Inheritance, (Renew Books, 1999.)

KNOWING GOD SPEAKS

11

and from that ground He formed human beings. Our very being

is, therefore, a product of His creative voice.

JESUS SPEAKS

Jesus was God as man come to earth to redeem the human

race and to present the full character of God to us. Part of that

character was the power of His voice. When Jesus spoke, things

would happen. His public ministry began in John 2 when He and

His mother attended a wedding. As the wedding feast ran short

of wine, Jesus’ mother told the servants, “Whatever He says to

you, do it” (Jn. 2:5). It was Jesus’ creative voice (the creative

voice of God through Jesus as God and man) that changed the

water to wine.

Let’s look at how Jesus spoke to raise Lazarus from the

dead. He spoke to the grave and to the shroud of death

surrounding Lazarus and commanded them to loose Lazarus and

let him go. When Jesus spoke, life processes once again began to

flow through Lazarus after four days of death and decay.

THE HOLY SPIRIT SPEAKS TO AND THROUGH

The Holy Spirit was released to operate in a new way in the

transitional chapter of John 20. Jesus had already been crucified,

died, and raised from the dead, but had not yet ascended to

heaven. Jesus knew that He had to equip His disciples with

power to accomplish their role on earth because He was now

leaving to be with the Father. So in John 20:22 we read that “He

breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

As the Holy Spirit was released to them, He began to speak

to them and through them on an ongoing basis. The Holy Spirit

spoke many times to them, including when Peter was instructed

to go to the house of Cornelius. But prophecy was birthed in a

whole new way as the Holy Spirit began to speak through them

on a consistent basis. In Acts, the account of Stephen records,

“and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by

which he spoke” (Acts 6:10). Here the Holy Spirit spoke

through Stephen.

When God formed us with His creative voice, He made us in

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RECEIVING THE WORD OF THE LORD

His image, according to His likeness, and gave us dominion over

all the earth (see Gen. 1:26). Because we are created in His

image, and have been redeemed by Christ, therefore we have the

ability, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to be the voice of

God on the earth. That is what prophecy is all about.

CHAPTER TWO

WHAT IS PROPHECY?

2

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I

will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your

daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions,

your old men shall dream dreams (Acts 2:17).

IS PROPHECY FOR TODAY?

ost Christians in the United States today grew up in

Mchurches that did not embrace the idea of God speaking to

us today. We were taught “Cessationism,” which means that the

power gifts of healing, tongues, interpretation of tongues,

miracles, and the like all ceased to function sometime in the first

century. One of the gifts that supposedly stopped functioning

was prophecy. What that basically means is that God said all He

had to say by 95 A. D., and He has been silent ever since.

Those that hold to this line of thinking believe that prophecy

passed away when the Scriptures were completed. They base

their belief on 1 Corinthians 13:8-9 which says that prophecy,

tongues, and knowledge will pass away. However, Paul

encourages us in the following chapter to desire prophecy (1

Cor. 14:1).

He did not say that these gifts would be replaced by any

others, nor that they would pass away before the second coming

of Christ.

In fact, in Ephesians 4 Paul writes, “And He Himself gave

some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some

pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work

of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all

come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of

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RECEIVING THE WORD OF THE LORD

God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the

fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13, italics added). In this passage

we see that these gifts have been given until we come to unity

and we reach the stature of the fullness of Christ. At no time in

the history of the Church have we achieved those things.

Therefore, based on Paul’s own words, those gifts, including

prophecy, are still in operation today.

HOW CAN I KNOW THE WILL OF GOD?

The Bible makes it very clear that God has a purpose and a

plan for our lives. Any biblical scholar will agree that that did

not end in the first century. But if we have a God that won’t

speak to us, it can be hard to discern what that plan is. Many of

us have read books or heard messages on knowing the will of

God. Those books are all filled with good principles that we can

follow. Yet, the fact is that the Bible only gives one real

principle to follow in trying to determine what God’s will is for

us. In the Bible, when someone wanted to know the will of God,

they asked Him—and He told them!

God does speak to His people. But if we are so entrenched

in a mindset that says that God does not speak today, we can

often write it off as imagination. The truth is that the prophetic is

not an optional extra in the Christian life. The prophetic is not

an optional extra in the Church. Amos 3:7 even goes so far as to

say, “Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His

secret to His servants the prophets.”

Throughout the Bible, God communicated with His people.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul reminds the Gentiles that they once

worshiped mute idols. What a foolish thing to worship

something that cannot communicate! Our God, however, is not

like the mute idols. Our God is constantly pouring out new

revelation. continually speaking to His people. He is a God who

loves us enough that He wants to enter into communication with

us.

WHAT IS PROPHECY?

The definition of prophecy is simple. Prophecy is speaking

WHAT IS PROPHECY?

15

forth the mind of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Prophecy is the outflow of the heart and the very nature of God.

Revelation 19:10 says that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of

prophecy. Jesus cares about His Church and He, therefore, has

things He wants to communicate to His Church. Those

communications come by way of the Holy Spirit. That is

prophecy. It is what Jesus is saying to His Church.

The testimony of Jesus, which is prophecy, is not only a

corporate promise. Jesus says that His sheep know His voice (Jn.

10:4). If you are one of His sheep, you have the capability, the

capacity, and the privilege of hearing the voice of your Shepherd

that comes through the Holy Spirit.

UNDERSTANDING THE PROPHETS

Throughout the Bible we find several Hebrew and Greek

words that are translated as “prophet.” In understanding how

prophecy works today, it is helpful to know the different types

of prophets and prophecy taught in God’s Word. Let’s take a

look at some of the various names the Bible uses to describe the

prophet:

1. Nabi. This is the general Hebrew word for prophet. It means

one who proclaims, announces, declares, utters

communications, a spokesman, or a heralder. This word also

means a supernatural message that bubbles up or springs

forth. Nabi is the word used in 1 Samuel 3:20, “And all

Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been

established as a prophet of the LORD.” It can be either

masculine or feminine and can refer to either a prophet of

God, or a false prophet who brings messages that are

contrary to God’s character or will.

2. Roeh. This Hebrew word means “seer.” An example is 1

Samuel 9:9, “Come, let us go to the seer.” A seer is probably

the most misunderstood of the prophetic types. They are the

ones who have visions or visual impressions. These types of

prophets can look at something and receive a supernatural

message through that image. God asked many of the

prophets in Scripture, “What do you see?” The Lord has

often used this method of communicating with me.

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RECEIVING THE WORD OF THE LORD

3. Hazon. This Hebrew word is translated as watchman. Here

are some biblical examples of watchmen: “Also, I set

watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the

trumpet!’” (Jer. 6:17); “Son of man, I have made you a

watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word

from My mouth, and give them warning from Me.” A

watchman sees what is coming. A watchman also watches

after the word of the Lord and intercedes until it is

accomplished. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah released the word of the

Lord to Ahab, which was that it would not rain for 3 1/2

years. At the end of that time Elijah went into intercession

until he “saw” the cloud that represented God’s change of

seasons. Elijah was acting as a watchman.

4. Prophetes. This Greek word signifies one who speaks for

another, especially one who speaks for God. These are ones

who “forthtell,” which means that they speak forth a living

message from God for the hour. In this context, the prophet

is using interpretive gifts to forthtell the will and counsel of

God. This word also signifies one who can “foretell,” or

give insights into future events. In this context, the prophet

is using predictive gifts. This is the kind of prophet

mentioned in Matthew 2:5, who wrote that the Savior would

come out of the city of Bethlehem.

5. Nataph. This Hebrew word means to preach, to drop from

heaven, or to speak by (heavenly) inspiration. This type of

prophesying is that which is generally done from a pulpit or

in a public place, or a prophetic word that is given in the

form of an exhortation. The word nataph is used in Micah

2:6, Micah 2:11 and Zechariah 13:3.

THE KEY TO PROPHECY

The Holy Spirit is our key to hearing God. Throughout the

Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, whenever the Holy

Spirit came, prophecy flowed. Here are just a few examples:

“Then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you will

prophesy” (1 Sam. 10:6); “The Spirit of God came upon the

messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied” (1 Sam. 19:20);

“And it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they

WHAT IS PROPHECY?

17

prophesied” (Num. 11:25); “And when Paul had laid hands on

them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with

tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:6).

But the Holy Spirit’s ministry through prophecy did not end

in the first century! In many accounts of revival throughout the

Church’s history, when the Holy Spirit came in power, prophecy

broke lose. In fact, one of the signs of the Spirit’s presence is

prophecy.

WHY IS PROPHECY IMPORTANT?

Prophecy is important because God tells us it is. It is just

that simple. Here are three reasons we find in the Bible that help

us understand God’s heart toward this important gift:

1. We are to seek to prophesy. “Pursue love, and desire

spiritual gifts, put especially that you may prophesy" (1 Cor.

14:1). In the King James version, this verse says that we are

to covet prophecy. Do you know that prophecy is the only

thing in all the Bible we are supposed to covet? And what

happens when you covet something? You think about it all

the time. You desire it. You think about what you could do

to get it. That’s how we are supposed to seek prophecy.

Revelation 2 and 3 have the words of Jesus to many

different churches. Jesus gives different admonishments,

different promises, and different messages to each of the seven

churches listed in those passages. The one thing that does not

differ from church to church, however, is Jesus’ command: “He

who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying.” We are to

hear what the Spirit is saying. We are to seek prophecy.

2. God warns us not to reject prophecy. “Do not despise

prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thes.

5:20-21). When Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church, they

were still young in the Lord. They were just starting out.

When something is in the beginning stages, things may not

always happen the way they should. Out of immaturity and

lack of understanding, flaky things can happen. When

flakiness springs up, there is a tendency to say that

something (in this case prophecy) is more trouble than it’s

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RECEIVING THE WORD OF THE LORD

worth. But Paul says no. Don’t shut it down. Don’t quench

the Spirit. Let it happen, test everything, and hold on to what

is good.

The Bible also tells us not to despise tongues. The

relationship between prophecy and tongues is often

misunderstood. Simply put, when a tongue is interpreted, it

becomes prophecy.

3. Prophecy releases the life and power of God. As we saw

in Chapter One, the word of God has creative power. When

Ezekiel saw the dry, dead bones, the Lord told him to

prophesy to them.

So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I

prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and

the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked,

the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered

them over; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to

me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to

the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four

winds, O breath, and breathe on these skin, that they may

live.’ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came

into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an

exceedingly great army (Ezek. 37:7-10).

When the prophetic word of God goes forth, it doesn’t just

enlighten you, it doesn’t just give you information, it releases

life and power. Prophecy changes situations!

UNDERSTANDING THE GIFT

The Holy Spirit equips us to accomplish God’s purposes on

earth. This is what 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14 are about. Too

often these chapters are separated from one another in the

teaching we receive. But the fact is that they were written

together and they flow together to help give us an understanding

of spiritual gifts and how they are to operate in the body of

Christ. Let’s look at this passage in light of the gift of prophecy.

The body of Christ works in just that way—it is a body,

each part having a function and purpose that assists the whole in

operating correctly. This is explained in some detail in 1

Corinthians 12. There are, however, certain gifts that are to be

WHAT IS PROPHECY?

19

desired in the body, one of which is prophecy.

From that point, Paul immediately goes into a discourse on

the outworkings and importance of love. He goes so far as to

say, “And though I have the gift of prophecy … but have not

love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2).

From there he moves on to say, “pursue love, and desire

spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (1 Cor.

14:1). Godly prophecy cannot be separated from love. In fact,

true prophecy flows from a heart of love, even if the word is one

of correction. The basis for understanding the gift of prophecy is

understanding issues of love.

CHAPTER THREE

THE FUNCTIONS, PROCESS, AND VALUE

3

OF PROPHECY

FIVE DYNAMIC FUNCTIONS OF PROPHECY

aving laid out a basic understanding of what prophecy is,

Hlet’s now take a look at what prophecy does. From 1

Corinthians 14, we see that there are different purposes for

prophecy. Here is a list of five functions that prophecy is meant

to accomplish:

1. Comfort. To comfort is to soothe, reassure, bring cheer,

bring a feeling of relief from pain or anxiety, lessen one’s

grief or distress, and give strength and hope by means of

kindness and thoughtful attention. God is the “Father of

mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our

tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in

any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are

comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in

us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ” (2 Cor.

1:3-5).

God longs to comfort His hurting children. He longs to

speak to them in a way that produces strength and hope. This is

one of the very basic functions of prophecy that all believers

should both receive and deliver to others. A prophetic word of

comfort spoken at the right moment can break the back of

discouragement, hopelessness, and anguish!

2. Edification. To edify means to instruct, benefit, uplift,

enlighten, or build up. 1 Corinthians 14 is filled with the

correlation between prophecy and edification, which is the

building up of Christian character. A prophetic word,

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therefore, may contain elements of teaching or it may bring

new revelation to our minds and spirits. The word may bring

specific instruction. The word may bring a sense of

strengthening a place in our lives that has been in desolation

or ruins. All of these are types of edification we might

receive from a prophetic word.

1 Corinthians 8:1 tells us that love edifies. Because love is

the basis for prophecy, all true prophecies, therefore, have an

element of edification.

3. Exhortation. To exhort is to urge, advise, caution,

admonish, recommend, or warn. A prophetic word that

exhorts, therefore, can either build up or tear down.

Exhortation may be difficult to receive. It may not be the

word of comfort for which we were hoping. Even so, words

of exhortation are vital in that they bring forth the ultimate

purpose of God. Even a difficult word of exhortation that is

delivered in the right spirit leaves us feeling a sense of relief

and freedom. Prophecy should not leave us with confusion

or condemnation, but rather with direction and a way of

escape from bondage.

4. Redemptive. One of the basic and most beautiful functions

of prophecy is seeing redemption come into lives. God’s

heart revealed throughout the Bible is to redeem us from the

power of sin and death. Since prophecy is speaking forth the

mind of God, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the

logical conclusion is that prophecy should be redemptive.

About a decade ago, a young man named Jon received just

such a word from my good friend, Cindy Jacobs. Jon was a good

husband and father who was responsible and provided well for

his family. He attended church every Sunday and tried his best

to follow God. Yet Jon was a closet alcoholic. He was a

functional alcoholic, which means that even when he was drunk,

few around him knew it. Because he could handle liquor well, he

was able to keep secret the fact that he could barely make it

through a day without drinking. In addition, he was addicted to

chewing tobacco. He knew these things were wrong and had

sought God for healing.

During this time in his life, he attended a weekend retreat

THE FUNCTIONS, PROCESS, AND VALUE OF PROPHECY

23

which was being taught by Cindy. One night Jon sat quietly in

the back while Cindy began giving personal words of prophecy.

He felt that God would have nothing to say to him. To his

amazement, Cindy pointed to him and called him forward. As he

walked toward Cindy, Jon felt sure he was in trouble—as though

God was going to publicly rebuke him. But as Cindy began to

deliver the prophecy, he could barely believe the words! She

told of how the Lord had given Jon the heart of a pastor and how

He was going to use Jon in days ahead to see mighty things

happen for the kingdom of God!

Jon was stunned. There was no word of rebuke. His secret

life was not uncovered. Cindy had prophesied to him about his

destiny rather than his addictions. The words were so powerful

that Jon was completely delivered that very night from

alcoholism and addiction to tobacco. Today Jon is a governing

elder in his church, a cell group leader, and is actively involved

in implementing city-taking strategies where he lives. Jon will

tell you that the turning point in his life was the night when God

showed him his redemptive purpose rather than condemning him

for his shortcomings. That is redemptive prophecy in action!

5. Direction. As we see throughout the Bible, prophets are

given to bring direction to God’s people. I have known my

coauthor, Rebecca Sytsema, for many years. In the early

‘90s we both served on Cindy Jacobs’ staff at Generals of

Intercession. During that time, Rebecca went through a two-

year period of intensive healing in her life over many issues.

I knew that the healing process had brought her to a place

where she was ready for marriage. In early 1994, we were

preparing to go to a conference in California. One day I

looked at her and said, “You need to be at that conference.

God has your husband waiting there!”

My words confirmed a feeling that she had been having for

about a week, but she had not made her hotel reservations. I

immediately picked up the phone and called the hotel where the

rest of us were staying. I was told there were no rooms left. I

simply told the woman on the phone that first of all Rebecca’s

father, Peter Wagner, was in charge of the conference, and

secondly, her husband would be waiting for her there. The

woman on the phone checked again and found one room left. It

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RECEIVING THE WORD OF THE LORD

was at that conference that Rebecca met Jack Sytsema, God’s

perfect match for her. Two years later I had the privilege of

performing their wedding.

This is a case in which God gave a clear word of direction

and then made a way to see His prophesied will come to pass.

THE PROCESS OF PROPHECY

Besides the functions of prophecy, it is important to

understand the process of prophecy—that is, how it works in our

lives on an ongoing basis. Here are three important elements of

the process of prophecy in our lives:

1. Prophecy is incomplete. “For we know in part and we

prophesy in part” (1 Cor. 13:9). No personal or corporate

word of prophecy is complete in and of itself. In his

excellent book, Developing Your Prophetic Gifting, Graham

Cooke says:

God only reveals what we need to know in order to do his

will in that particular time and place. The things that he does

not wish us to know, he keeps secret from the one

prophesying. Elisha said, ‘The Lord has hidden it from me!’ (2

Kings 4:27). In other words, ‘I don’t know. ’1

God may give us a little bit here and a little bit there. In

retrospect, we may wonder why God didn’t tell us this or that, or

why He did tell us some seemingly unimportant detail. God

always knows what He is doing when He reveals His heart to us

through prophecy. That is something that we must simply trust.

We must bear in mind, however, that we do not know all we

may encounter, or how the prophecies may be fulfilled.

Prophecy may point out a path, but we must follow the Lord

daily and trust in Him as we move ahead along that path,

2. Prophecy evolves. As we follow the Lord in obedience, He

will give us our next piece. He will not tell us what He

wants us to do three steps down the road. He gives it to us

step-by-step. Such was the case with Abraham. God gave

him a piece here and a piece there. Each time Abraham

1 Graham Cooke, Developing Your Prophetic Gifting (Kent, England:

Sovereign World, Ltd., 1994) p. 119.

THE FUNCTIONS, PROCESS, AND VALUE OF PROPHECY

25

obeyed, God would speak to him again until He brought him

into the fullness of what He wanted to do. God would

confirm, expand, give new insights and move Abraham on to

his next place.

That is the way of prophecy. Each prophetic word is

incomplete, yet as we are faithful to obey God, we receive new

pieces of the puzzle. Prophecies will build on earlier prophecies

to bring confirmation and fresh understanding.

3. Prophecy is provisional. The key to the process of

prophecy is obedience. God will not usurp our wills and

force us to follow His will. Mary, for instance, could have

said no to the prophetic pronouncement that she would

become pregnant. Instead, she responded by saying, “Behold

the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to

your word” (Luke 1:38). Had she said no, the Holy Spirit

would never have forced her to become pregnant! Although

she did not completely understand how this would happen,

nor did she probably not grasp the magnitude of what she

had been chosen for, nevertheless, she knew that through the

prophetic word God had revealed His destiny for her life.

Through her choice of obedience, the word came to pass and

the human race has been blessed ever since.

THE VALUE OF PROPHECY

Prophecy is a tremendous gift that God has given to His

Church. It is full of important benefits for us, both individually

and corporately. Here is a list of some of the values of receiving

this gift into our lives and churches:

1. Prophecy brings healing. Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word

fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”

Accepting the comfort and edification available through

prophecy can heal a broken heart. As Graham Cooke writes:

Hurts, wounds, rejections and emotional trauma are a part

of our lives, both before and after salvation. The Good News is

that we serve a God who is committed to our healing at every

level (physical, mental, emotional). The goal of God is

wholeness of life and fullness of the Spirit. Prophecy is a

wonderful part of that healing and renewing process. Prophecy

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brings us, by direct verbal communication, into contact with

God’s real perspective on our lives and current situations.2

2. Prophecy deepens our relationship with God. When we

ponder how the God of all creation cares enough to send a

personal message from His heart, no matter what the

function of the prophecy, it causes us to stop and think about

what our individual value to Him must be! Receiving His

word brings a new appreciation of God’s deep love and care

for us. It reminds us of our position with Him. As in any

relationship, communication is a key to reaching deeper

levels. When God communicates with us, and we respond to

Him, our relationship becomes deeper and more meaningful.

3. Prophecy provides direction and renewed vision. When

we receive God’s word, we often get a clearer understanding

of where He is leading us. Knowing where we are headed

causes us to focus more intently on the plans and goals God

has for us. New excitement and vision are often direct

results of the prophetic word that brings us direction.

4. Prophecy brings biblical insight. As we will see in the

next chapter, prophecy must line up with the written Word

of God. That being the case, the revelation that comes

through prophecy will often open up new insights and

inspire deeper understanding of mysteries in the Bible. Paul

says that we can gain “knowledge in the mystery of Christ

which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men,

as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles

and prophets” (Eph. 3:4-5). Prophecy will often serve as a

catalyst for understanding biblical truths that we have not

seen or understood before.

5. Prophecy confirms. God has a number of ways He uses to

communicate with us. It may come through reading

Scripture or hearing a message or counseling with a friend.

God delights in confirming His message to us. He will often

use prophecy to say something to us that we may have heard

in some other form.

6. Prophecy can warn. God does not want us ensnared by our

2 Ibid., pp. 30-31.

THE FUNCTIONS, PROCESS, AND VALUE OF PROPHECY

27

own sin or by schemes of the devil. Prophecy, delivered in

love, can often warn us that our own sin will result in

calamity and despair down the road if we do not repent and

turn to God. Prophecy can also warn us of traps the enemy

has set for us. After the birth of Jesus, the wise men were

warned not to return to Herod (Matt. 2:12). Then Mary and

Joseph were prophetically warned to flee to Egypt and stay

there until the Lord spoke to them again in order to spare

Jesus from Herod’s plot to kill Him (Matt. 2:13). Paul was

warned by Jesus in Acts 22:18, “Make haste and get out of

Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony

concerning Me.” Because God sees the destiny He has for

us, He often uses the prophetic word to warn us of the snares

the enemy has set up to destroy our destined purposes.

7. Prophecy can bring salvation. As I mentioned in Chapter

One, when I was 11 years old, I heard the voice of the Lord

say, “This is your day.” That was the day of my salvation.

All salvation is a result of hearing the voice of the Lord on

some level. Yet there are times when the Lord clearly

speaks. Graham Cooke writes:

I have seen many atheists and agnostics persuaded by God

through prophecy. It is the work of the Spirit to convict of sin

(John 16:8-11). Prophecy can uncover past history which

needs to be amended. It can provide an agenda for repentance,

restitution, and revival.3

8. Prophecy releases new practices into the Church. There

is nothing new under the sun, but there are diverse

administrations. The administration of the 13th century will

not work in the 21st century. By “new practices,” I do not

mean a departure from the Apostles’ Creed. But there are

new methods of operation and administration that God is

revealing to the Church that will burst us forth into new

practices and new strategies that will work for the 21st

century.

9. Prophecy provides insight into counseling. When I am

involved in a counseling situation, I rely on the prophetic

voice of God to provide me with the understanding I need to

3 Ibid. pp. 39-40.

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give godly wisdom. The Lord will often reveal to me what

the problem is, what the root is, and give me a prophetic

word to unlock the strategy that the person needs to move

forward in God’s plan for their life. It has proven to be a

very effective method of counseling.

10. Prophecy shows us how to pray. When we know the will

of God in a certain area, we have great fuel for our prayer

lives. God’s will is made known to us through the prophetic.

That knowledge gives us a basis for ongoing prayer to see

His will done on earth as it is in heaven.

11. Prophecy releases strategy for warfare. Praying through a

prophetic word can often involve spiritual warfare. Timothy

1:18 says, “This charge I commit to you, son Timothy,

according to the prophecies previously made concerning

you, that by them you may wage the good warfare.” Joshua

also received prophetic instruction on the warfare he was to

wage in order to see the walls of Jericho fall (Josh. 6:1-5).

Prophecy can provide us with the strategy we need to war

against the enemy who strives to keep God’s plans from

manifesting in our lives.

12. Prophecy stirs faith. Prophecy can change things. When

our spirits receive a word from the Lord, we know that there

is hope, that there is a way to see that prophetic word

fulfilled. Remember how Jon was freed from alcoholism

when Cindy gave him a redemptive prophecy? Jon’s faith

for seeing God deliver him and bring him into his destiny

skyrocketed that day! That is the power of prophecy. In

Chapter Five we will discuss the relationship between

prophecy and faith in greater detail.

CHAPTER FOUR

TESTING THE PROPHETIC WORD

4

here are many ways you can receive a prophetic word from

Tthe Lord. You may have an impression in your spirit, or the

Lord may illuminate a passage of Scripture that has particular

significance in your life, or you may have a vivid, prophetic

dream. Prophecy can also come when someone is

communicating wisdom and counsel that gives you the direction

you are looking for in your life. Someone may even say, “I

believe the Spirit of God is saying this to you.” Prophecy can

also come by God or angelic beings visiting you and giving

supernatural revelation. These are all sound, biblical methods

which God uses at different times to speak to His children.

PROPHECY HAS BOUNDARIES

There are several things we must be aware of as we begin to

move into receiving prophetic words. We must understand that

prophecy has boundaries that God has established for our own

protection. For instance, in a corporate setting, Paul gives the

following guideline: “Let two or three prophets speak, and let

the others judge” (1 Cor. 14:29).

Another boundary is set in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21, “Do not

quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things;

hold fast what is good.” The rest of this chapter is devoted to

applying tests to prophetic words so that we can hold fast to

what is good.

IS MY WORD FROM GOD?

Not every voice we hear is from the Holy Spirit. Satan has

the ability to counterfeit gifts in order to bring confusion and get

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us off course. His ability to counterfeit includes the gift of

prophecy. Jeremiah records the Lord saying, “I have not sent

these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they

prophesied” (Jer. 23:21).

That still happens. There are false prophets. That is why we

are admonished to test all things and hold onto what is good.

Here are some unclean sources of prophetic words that we need

to be aware of:

1. The occult. “You are wearied in the multitude of your

counsels; let now the astrologers, the stargazers, and the

monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from what

shall come upon you” (Isa. 47:13). Occultic sources of

prophecy include psychics, tarot cards, Ouija boards,

astrology and horoscopes, clairvoyants, mediums, ESP,

witchcraft, divination, and so forth. These sources of

prophetic utterance must be avoided completely!

2. Delusions. “How long will this be in the heart of the

prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the

deceit of their own heart” (Jer 23:26). Not everyone that

gives you a false prophecy is malicious, they are just

confused. Sometimes they are walking in their own delusion,

thinking they are hearing God when they are not.

3. Unrestrained desires. Desires are a natural function of the

human emotion. Desires are linked with our wishes,

aspirations, urges, and expectations. Gone unchecked,

desires can cause us to rebel against the will of God in our

lives. Have you ever heard anyone use the expression,

“yearning desire”? Many times we can so yearn to have

something that we will listen for any voice that will align

with our desires. False prophecy can, therefore, come

through a desire so unrestrained that we can no longer

discern the voice of the Lord over the voice of the enemy or

our own flesh. Prophecy can come out of the longings of

someone’s heart, rather than from a pure word from the

Lord.

4. Manipulation and control. “Likewise, son of man, set your

face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out

of their own heart; prophesy against them” (Ezek. 13:17).

TESTING THE PROPHETIC WORD

31

Prophecy has been used to try and manipulate people into

actions they may not otherwise take. For instance, someone

might want this person to marry that person. It seems like a

good thing—so good, in fact, that God must want it too, so

they may go up to one or the other and say, “The Lord says

you are to marry.”

The true origin behind the word was not God, but a

manipulative and controlling spirit. We will discuss this more

later on.

5. Immaturity. There are true prophets that have not yet

matured in their gifting that may deliver a word from the

Lord mixed with their own emotions. Therefore, the word is

impure. This is where some sifting needs to take place, and

we are to “hold fast to what is good.”

6. False dreams. “Behold, I am against those who prophesy

false dreams” (Jer. 23:32). The enemy is able to counterfeit

prophetic dreams, just as he is able to counterfeit prophetic

words. We must realize that when we are asleep, we are not

fully active in our spirit. Many times the enemy will use this

time to speak false words to us.

7. Demons. “And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria:

they prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to err”

(Jer. 23:13). Just as the Lord can send angels to prophesy,

the enemy can also send one of his hosts (Baal was sent in

the biblical example given) to deliver a demonic prophecy.

JUDGING PROPHECY

There are many origins for what may seem like prophecy

from God. So how do you know if what is being said is from

God? How do we test prophecy? Here is a list that has been

compiled partly from Graham Cooke’s Developing Your

Prophetic Gifting, along with my own experience in judging

prophecy:

1. Does the word you have received edify, exhort, and

comfort you? Does it accomplish the basic functions we

outlined in the last chapter? 1 Corinthians 14:3 says that the

real purpose of prophecy is to edify, exhort, and comfort. If

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the word leaves you with a sense of uneasiness instead of

edification, or you feel that something is just not right, you

should not receive the word without further testing.

2. What is the spirit behind the prophecy? Someone might

begin to speak a word to you, but the spirit behind the word

does not seem right. It may have a spirit of condemnation on

it. Even though it could be totally true, if you feel weighed

down and condemned you may need to judge it further.

Remember, the spirit in which all prophecy should be given

is love. Therefore, even a word of exhortation or correction

should leave you with a freedom to rebuild.

3. Does it conform to Scripture? God is not going to say one

thing in the Bible and then tell you the opposite in a

prophetic word. The prophetic word of the Lord will always

line up with the inspired, written Word of God that has been

given to us as a guide and an example. Remember, the Bible

has no bounds or time frame. Therefore, you will find that

the principles and the illumination of the Word of God are

just as important for us today as when it was written. In

other words, your example or Scriptural principle may be

found in the Old Testament as often as in the New

Testament. But if someone gives you a word and you find no

Scriptural principle, basis, or example for that word in the

Bible, please do not fully embrace the word.

4. Does it display the character of Christ? In her book, The

Voice of God, Cindy Jacobs says:

Sometimes wolves in sheep’s clothing manipulate

Scripture for their own purposes. Just because someone is

quoting chapter and verse to you doesn’t make a prophecy

accurate. Even if Scripture is being used, another area to check

is to make sure Christ’s character shines through the prophetic

word.1

This, again, leads to love. In addition to love, prophetic

words should also exalt Jesus rather than a person or ministry.

They should lead us to His feet rather than to an organization.

1 Cindy Jacobs, The Voice of God (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1995), p.

76.

TESTING THE PROPHETIC WORD

33

5. Is it manipulative or controlling? Even though some

words are filled with truth, they can manipulate or control a

person under the desire of the one giving the word. Control

and manipulation are used to wield power, abuse, dominate,

or rule over others. Such a word has no love, much less any

of the other fruit of the spirit, and should be discarded.

6. Does it usurp your will? Does the word say you must do

this or that? If so, there should be a red flag. God gives us all

freedom—even the freedom to sin. All prophetic words

should leave you the choice to either accept them or reject

them.

7. Does it pull rank? In other words, does the word begin to

move you out of the authoritative structure in which God has

placed you? Does it breed rebellion against authority,

produce suspicion or insubordination? God gave each of His

children an authority structure in which to operate. If the

word suggests that you supercede biblical authority, reject

it!

8. Does it confirm what God is saying to you? God is always

willing to confirm His word to us. When God gives a word,

He will usually give it over and over again in many forms.

Prophetic words often confirm what God has already spoken

to you, and fit in with what He is doing in your life.

9. Does it allow outside perspective? If someone gives you a

word and says that you are not supposed to communicate it

with anyone else, be careful. That is a violation of Scripture.

Remember that 1 Thessalonians tells us that any word of

God is to be evaluated. Godly counsel is always in order,

particularly when the word tells you something drastic, like

quit your job and move to another city. Proverbs tells us

there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors, and that

includes judging the prophetic. In fact, a good test of any

prophecy is to take it to a mature spiritual friend or authority

in your life and ask them to help you judge the word.

10. Does it give a dire warning? Warnings are fine, but see

what kind of a warning it is. Is the warning so dire that you

have no way out and it produces hopelessness in you, or

does the warning show you your way of escape? Is there

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redemption?

Cindy Jacobs tells the story of one such warning that I

prophesied over Houston, Texas, on September 21, 1994. The

word was:

I would say, the next 24 days are critical. Though the

enemy has stood against you as a city, I have brought you to a

crossroads and you are about to make a transition and

crossover. My eyes are upon this city and the remnant of this

city, and I will overcome the structures that are set against My

Spirit in this city. Revelation that has been withheld is going to

begin to come down to people like rain. Look to the river of

the east. As that river rises so will My people.

“... Watchman, what do you see?” He replied, “I see a

fire. It is a literal fire. Fire is on the river” Then the Lord said,

“My fire will begin to come to this city.”

I would call you to the night watch. Gather together in

the night watch. Sing in the night in the hard areas of the city

and evil will be uncovered and deliverance will come. If you

will enter into the night watch, you will overthrow the

impending destruction and doom that is set for the area.

One of the prayer leaders, Deborah DeGar, took the

prophetic word from church to church, leading a prayer watch

from 3:00-6:00 a. m. At the end of 24 days, it began to rain in

Houston. There had never been a flood exactly like it in the

history of the city. Houston was brought before the eyes of the

nation. The San Jacinto River (the river to the east) began to

rise and flood the entire territory. Gas lines erupted underneath

the river and the flooded river literally had a fire that burned

in its midst. In the middle of the chaos, the Church came

together in great unity.

In the case of this prophetic warning, the flooding was not

averted, but it did not do the damage it could have done.2

11. How do you feel about the word in your spirit? God has

given each of us discernment in our spirits. If we receive a

prophetic word, and it just doesn’t seem right to us, for

whatever reason, we have cause to check it out further

before we embrace it as a word from the Lord.

12. Is it confirmed by the church? If a word is given in a

2 Ibid., p. 181.

TESTING THE PROPHETIC WORD

35

corporate setting, there should be instant feedback from the

people and the leaders. There should be a corporate “amen”

that comes forth. Rebecca Sytsema, my co-author, was once

in a meeting in the Anaheim Vineyard when a man stood up

during worship to give a prophetic word. He said that the

Lord was longing to fulfill the desire of His children’s

hearts. He said that God was, in fact, a God who longed to

bring even what seems like fairy tales to pass. He finished

his word and sat down. When worship concluded, John

Wimber came to the microphone. After a moment of silence,

he simply stated, “Our God is not a fairy tale God!” A loud

round of applause went up from the crowd, many of whom

had discerned that something had not been right with the

word. If a word was given in a corporate setting, what was

reaction of the leaders and of the congregation? If they

seemed unwilling to embrace the word, you should consider

doing the same.

13. Does it come to pass? “When a prophet speaks in the name

of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass,

that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the

prophet has spoken it presumptuously” (Deut. 18:22). Here

is, of course, one of the most basic tests of a prophetic word.

Remember, prophecy may be conditional, based on

something we must do. If you read through the list of

responses in the next chapter, and are satisfied that you have

done all that God has required of you concerning the word,

and it is still not fulfilled, it may not have been a word from

the Lord at all.

14. Does it produce fruit? A true word from the Lord will bear

good fruit that we will be able to discern. In his book,

Prophecy, Bruce Yocum writes:

If we pay attention to the effect that prophetic utterances

have, we can judge their worth. A word from the Lord will

produce life, peace, hope, love, and all the other fruit of the

Holy Spirit. A word which is not from the Lord will either

produce the fruit of evil—strife, anger, jealousy, lust,

indifference—or it will have no effect at all.3

3 Bruce Yocum, Prophecy, (Ann Arbor, MI: Word of Life, 1976), p. 119.

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RECEIVING THE WORD OF THE LORD

What kind of fruit has the prophetic word given to you

produced in your life? This will be a telling factor in whether or

not you accept it as a word from the Lord.

CHAPTER FIVE

RESPONDING TO PROPHECY

5

nce we have tested a prophetic word and have come to the

Oconclusion that God has spoken into our lives, we must

then understand how to respond to what we have been told. Here

is a helpful checklist of proper actions to take:

1. Keep a journal. There is tremendous importance in writing

down, tape recording, or keeping some kind of record of

prophetic words. Don’t rely purely on your memory. Having

a record of prophecy helps us to remember the whole word,

keeps us from adding thoughts to the word, and builds our

faith when we go back and read the word. We can also see

how the word we receive fits in with what God has said to

us in the past.

There are times, however, when we do not clearly

understand all that God is trying to say to us at the time the word

is given. Having a record of the word helps us go back and gain

fresh understanding at a later time. For example, in June of

1998, I was given a birthday party at the home of C. Peter

Wagner. Cindy Jacobs had come to help celebrate. During the

party, Cindy began feeling a spirit of prophecy come upon her.

Peter, who keeps a full prophetic journal, grabbed a tape

recorder. Cindy gave me a beautiful word for the new year I was

entering into in my own life. Then she turned to Peter and began

to prophesy that God was calling him to raise up a seminary that

would gather leaders from around the world. She went on to give

several specific details.

At the time such a thought had never entered Peter’s mind.

He had no frame of reference for such a concept. Nonetheless,

Cindy’s word was transcribed and entered on page 67 of the

Wagner Prophetic Journal. A few months later Peter met with

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several apostles from various streams of Christianity. During

that meeting, the Lord spoke to Peter about a whole new concept

for training leaders from around the world. It became clear that

he was to retire from his position as a professor at Fuller

Theological Seminary, where he had taught for 30 years, and

begin his own seminary-type school. As he obeyed the Lord,

God began pouring new revelation out as to how the school

would operate. Later that year, he officially formed Wagner

Leadership Institute, and the first student was enrolled that

December.

Peter was able to go back to page 67 of his journal and

revisit exactly what the Lord had spoken to him. In fact, as he

began to seek counsel and set up the leadership for the school,

he was able to distribute copies of Cindy’s prophecy to him so

that those involved would also know the word God had given

over the new venture.

2. Do not interpret the word by the desires of your flesh.

Many of God’s people have fallen into deception by taking a

prophetic word and adding their own interpretation to it,

then saying that God promised them this or that. Cindy

Jacobs offers the following caution:

I have had many singles come to me saying God has

promised them certain mates because they were told so in

prophecies. When I asked them what the prophecies said, they

came up with something like, “God said He would give me the

desires of my heart and so-and-so is the desire of my heart.”

(Such an interpretation) may be the desire of their flesh but

God may not have anything to do with it at all.1

Be very careful not to take a word and run in a direction God

has not ordained.

3. Embrace the word. To embrace means to grab hold of

something. When we embrace or grab hold of a word, it

activates faith to see the word fulfilled. Remember that faith

comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Rom.

10:17). When we embrace a true prophetic word, it brings

faith that God has a destiny for us. We must allow ourselves

1 Cindy Jacobs, The Voice of God, (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1995), pp.

83-84.

RESPONDING TO PROPHECY

39

to embrace our prophetic word with the faith that God is

well able to do what He said He would do. If God has

inspired the word, He will uphold it by the Holy Spirit. Even

if we have received a difficult word, if the word is from

God, faith will rise within our spirit because we know that

God has a path for us.

When I was 18, the Lord spoke to me and said, “I have

called you for the healing of the nations.” At that time the only

frame of reference I had for a call to the nations was to become a

missionary, which was something I did not want to do. Even

though I was willing to obey God, I did not embrace His word to

me. It was 10 years later when God spoke that word to me again.

This time I embraced the word fully. He then began to show me

that He had not called me to be a missionary, but rather an

intercessor, prophet, and strategist for the nations He would lay

on my heart. He began to open doors for me to travel in and out

of nations so that I could bring prophetic words and build up

strategic intercession to see His will accomplished. Had I not

been willing to embrace this word when He spoke it to me for a

second time, I would have missed that portion of His destiny for

my life.

4. Pray it through. Because prophecy is provisional, once we

know what God wants to do in our lives, the best thing to do

is to begin to pray along those lines. This will not only help

to build our relationship to God and build persistence in

faith, it can also teach us spiritual warfare. The enemy does

not want to see God’s will accomplished in our lives and

will do all he can to see that we are not successful in

reaching our destinies. That is why we must commit

ourselves to praying through the word until we see it come

to pass. For instance, I have known many barren couples

who have received words about children. Yet they did not

conceive immediately. In some cases, it took years. But as

they chose to pray through their word with the faith that God

is well able to do all that He says, the bondage of barrenness

broke off not only their physical bodies, but often their

spiritual lives as well.

5. Obey the word. As we mentioned in Chapter Three,

prophecy is often provisional. That means that there is

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something we must do to see it come to pass. There are

conditions to meet. Here is a good biblical example: “If My

people who are called by My name will humble themselves,

and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked

ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin

and heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14, italics added). Does God

want to forgive the sin and heal the land of His people? Of

course! But they have something they must do in order to

see that prophecy occur, namely, humble themselves, pray,

seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways. Something

that has been prophesied to us may never come to pass if we

are not faithful to meet the conditions.

Earlier I told the story of how Rebecca was to go to the

conference in order to meet Jack. Had she not gone to that

conference, she could have missed meeting God’s chosen mate.

God surely could have arranged another way for them to meet,

but there was a timing issue involved as well. Her obedience to

the prophetic word kept her moving forward in God’s timing and

destiny for her life.

6. Look for the fulfillment of the word. Having completed

steps one through five, we should look for and expect that

the word will be fulfilled. John 1:14 speaks of the word

becoming flesh. That is a good statement for the fulfillment

of a prophetic word. God desires that His word be made

flesh—that the intangible substance of a prophetic promise

become a tangible reality in our lives. Many do not see their

promise manifested because they do not know how to

“watch” for the fulfillment of their word.

CAN I PROPHESY?

While it is not within the scope of this booklet to give this

question a thorough answer, the discussion of prophecy would

not be complete without a brief look at who can prophesy. While

not all of us are called as God’s spokesmen on the earth, the fact

is that we all prophesy, whether it is through sharing an

encouraging word, edifying a friend, giving godly advice, or

knowingly giving a prophetic word. Romans 12:6 says we

prophesy according to our measure of faith. What measure of

RESPONDING TO PROPHECY

41

faith are you operating in? I want to encourage you to ask God

right now to increase your faith.

If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit

is made resident within you. You can now ask the Spirit of God

to begin to speak through you, knowing that He can. You can

also give Him liberty to begin to manifest His particular giftings

within you, whether they are prophecy, helps, hospitality,

teaching, or any of the gifts listed in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians

12, and Ephesians 4. All the gifts are greatly needed in the body

of Christ—including yours!

A FINAL WORD

We hope this small booklet will help you as you embrace the

voice of God, and evaluate any word that comes to you. For

further study on this topic we have included a recommended

reading list on the following page. May our Lord richly bless

you as you seek to hear His voice and obey His will for your

life!

RECOMMENDED READING

Bickle, Mike. Growing in the Prophetic. Orlando, FL: Creation

House, 1996.

Cooke, Graham. Developing Your Prophetic Gifting. Kent,

England: Sovereign World, 1994.

Deere, Jack. Surprised by the Voice of God. Grand Rapids, MI:

Zondervan Publishing House, 1996.

Hamon, Bill. Prophets and Personal Prophecy. Shippensburg,

PA: Destiny Image, 1987.

Jacobs, Cindy. The Voice of God. Ventura, CA: Regal Books,

1995.

Joyner, Rick. The Prophetic Ministry. Charlotte, NC:

Morningstar Publications, 1997.

Lord, Peter. Hearing God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books,

1988.

Payne, Leanne. Listening Prayer. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker

Books, 1994.

Yocum, Bruce. Prophecy. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications,

1976.

RECOMMENDED TAPE SERIES:

School of the Prophets. Eight-tape set and manual featuring

Chuck Pierce, Robert Heidler, Barbara Wentroble and Jim

Hodges. Available through Glory of Zion Ministries, P. O.

Box 1601, Denton, TX, 76201; phone 940-382-1166.

43

through their local church prayer room. This opens up the

possibility for every congregation in America to move into a

new level of prayer for their church family, for their community,

and for the world.

What is a local church prayer room? It begins when a church

of any denomination decides to designate a physical room in

their church facility exclusively to prayer. They furnish it and

decorate it comfortably and tastefully. They install at least one

telephone line, although some have two or three. They install a

fax machine and a computer with modems for email and

Internet. They put an individual with gifts for prayer and

intercession, combined with some organizational skills, in

charge. This prayer room leader recruits a volunteer staff which

will occupy the prayer room up to 24 hours per day, 7 days a

week.

Naturally, most of the prayer requests will come from their

own congregation, their own community, and even from other

churches in the community. But they will also be linked, through

the World Prayer Center, with thousands of other local church

prayer rooms in all states and with the National Prayer Networks

around the world.

If you are interested in applying for membership in the

Prayer Room Network or in receiving more information, please

contact:

Bobbye Byerly

World Prayer Center

11005 Hwy. 83, #119

Colorado Springs, CO 80921

Phone: 719-262-9922 Fax: 719-262-9920

E-Mail: BByerly@wpccs. org

Document Outline

- Receiving the Word of the Lord

- Table of Contents

- Introduction

- 1 Knowing God Speaks

- My Day of Salvation

- “I Will Restore”

- God’s Voice Is Creative

- Jesus Speaks

- The Holy Spirit Speaks to and Through

- 2 What Is Prophecy?

- Is Prophecy For Today?

- How Can I Know the Will of God?

- What Is Prophecy?

- Understanding the Prophets

- The Key to Prophecy

- Why is Prophecy Important?

- Understanding the Gift

- 3 The Functions, Process, and Value of Prophecy

- Five Dynamic Functions of Prophecy

- The Process of Prophecy

- The Value of Prophecy

- 4 Testing the Prophetic Word

- Prophecy Has Boundaries

- Is My Word From God?

- Judging Prophecy

- 5 Responding to Prophecy

- Can I Prophesy?

- A Final Word

- Recommended Reading

- Recommended Tape Series:

Table of Contents

I NTRODUCTION

1 K

2 W

3 T

4 T

5 R

R

.1

’1

ns.2

.3

d.1

.2

Receiving the Word of the Lord

Table of Contents

Jesus Speaks

How Can I Know the Will of God?

Understanding the Prophets

The Key to Prophecy

Why is Prophecy Important?

Understanding the Gift

The Value of Prophecy

Judging Prophecy

Can I Prophesy?

A Final Word