PROPHETIC EVANGELISM
August 22, 2005
REVIVALIST TODD BENTLEY
This is a two part teaching entitled Prophetic Evangelism. This week in Part 1, we will define prophetic evangelism. Next we’ll discuss how to come out of our comfort zone and actually begin to walk in prophetic evangelism. As well, we’ll discover how God’s prophetic words will help unlock and soften people’s hearts so they are released to hear the gospel. Next week in Part 2 we’ll discuss what it takes to receive God’s power for evangelism—being distinct and set apart for God. As well we’ll examine the “spirit and power of Elijah.”
PROPHETIC EVANGELISM
BY REVIVALIST TODD BENTLEY
PART 1
To receive and to activate are two different things! We can receive an anointing—a prophetic anointing or a healing anointing—but if we don’t go out and actively put the anointing to use for God’s glory we’ll never actually have the anointing. The substance of the power of God is always connected to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature . . . . and these signs and wonders will follow. . . ” (Mark 16:15-18). We have to actively use what we’ve received from God. Faith without works is dead (James 2:20, 26). So we’re really going to possess the anointing for prophetic evangelism when we go. In fact, evangelism can’t happen unless we go and do!
WHAT IS PROPHETIC EVANGELISM?
Let’s begin by defining: prophetic, prophesy, prophecy [all described in Webster’s New World Dictionary] as well as defining prophetic word and word of knowledge:
Prophetic means: containing a prophecy
Prophesy means: to predict as by divine guidance (verb)
Prophecy means: prediction of the future; something predicted (noun)
Prophetic word or word of knowledge means: pertinent information revealed by God for the purpose of blessing, encouraging or warning.
Next, let’s look at the word evangelism. It means: winning or revival of personal commitments to Christ—Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
So, based on these definitions, prophetic evangelism happens when a born-again believer receives a prophecy (prophetic word or word of knowledge) from the Holy Spirit for someone—that is the “prophetic” aspect—as they seize the opportunity to win them to Jesus Christ—that is the “evangelism” aspect.
The ultimate manifestation of prophetic evangelism is when we’re led by the Spirit of God and we hear the voice of God; that’s Spirit-led evangelism. It’s waiting on the presence of God, asking where He wants us to go and then when we get there, asking God exactly who He wants us to minister to. I believe that if we’d take the time to ask where and who (every time we say, “God, I want to win somebody to Jesus today”), that we would be effective in evangelism.
We won’t accomplish anything of eternal value if we just hear about the anointing and get the anointing, but then do nothing with it. This is the case with just about any anointing that God wants to give us. We need to be willing to go out to the people, and for instance, lay hands on the sick.
BE AVAILABLE AND BE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD
We have to make ourselves available. It’s not good enough just to have a passion and a desire or good intentions. We need to go beyond our comfort zone if we’re ever going to win souls. In fact, I believe God wants us to go way beyond our comfort zone!
Smith Wigglesworth had such a great passion for souls that he would go looking for the lost in the markets when he wasn’t ministering in conferences and revivals. He would wait in the market, even all morning and into the afternoon, until he saw the person that the Lord intended him to reach with the gospel. His attitude was: Lord, you have one that is ready. You have one that is ripe. Listen. His evangelistic fervor was Spirit-led!
Sometimes we try to be evangelistic but we’re not led by the Spirit of God. We’re just kind of launching out into the dark and hitting anywhere and everywhere with an attitude that says: Hey! We’ll just see what happens and take it as it comes. But we need to ask the Lord where to go and which person is ready. God will lead us to the right person. It might be someone who already has the seed of the kingdom planted and watered in their heart and they’re ready for it to be reaped. Some of us sow; some water and others reap (1 Cor. 3: 6-8). I’m a reaper in evangelism.
Most of us, if we do make ourselves available in evangelism, don’t make ourselves available for prophetic evangelism because we don’t take the time to wait and enquire of the Holy Spirit. He wants to tell us where to go and who to minister to and what to say to someone. Yes, there are times to go to all and just sow seeds, scatter seeds and hand out tracts, but there’s more. Let’s be released in a greater way into Spirit-led evangelism where we begin to hear the voice of God and we move in the word of knowledge.
PROPHETIC EVANGELISM IN ACTION!
So the best way to begin is by asking the Holy Spirit where He wants you to go. It may be the mall, a particular coffee shop, the streets or a park—He’ll nail it down. For me, after I arrive at the place the Holy Spirit designates I may see a crowd or I might just see one or two people. And so I’ll ask, “Who do you want me to minister to?” And the Holy Spirit will highlight somebody and I’ll just go up and begin to minister to them.
Having said that, you might be wondering how the Holy Spirit highlights who I’m supposed to minister to. So I’ll share a few stories that will help you recognize who God wants you to minister to.
After I first got saved I used to hang out with the Christian Biker’s Association in Canada. Once when I was at one of their conferences, it seemed that at every meeting, my eyes would be drawn to someone across the field. I couldn’t help but feel the urge to look over in that particular direction. There was a guy in that section of the crowd that “stuck out” more than anyone else. This went on for three or four days and I found that no matter where I was, whether I was at lunch or in a meeting, my eyes and attention would be continually drawn to this one person.
I didn’t know why, and I had no understanding concerning this until finally one of my mentors said, “Well Todd, that’s the Holy Spirit communicating to you that He wants you to minister to him.” My mentor began to tell me that when he, himself, encountered a similar situation, it was because the Holy Spirit was actually directing him. He said that quite often he would be in a meeting and the Lord would draw his attention to one person or several people, again and again. His attention would be fixed on them to the point that he realized the Holy Spirit was trying to get his attention because He had a prophetic word for them. And that’s how the Lord will use me. I’ll be led by the Holy Spirit somewhere (like the mall and the food court) and I’ll ask, “Lord who do You want me to minister to?” As I wait on the presence of God, He will begin to highlight and lead me and show me the person or the group of people.
I remember one of the first times the Spirit of God began to release me into prophetic evangelism. I had been preaching about the reality of God one night to some young people and we were pretty excited about what God had just done in our meeting. A few Mennonite kids were getting filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues and getting touched by the power of God.
Just to give you a little background, although at this point I had never received any teaching on prophetic evangelism, I was moving in a prophetic anointing in the safety of ministering in the church. But the Spirit of God was beginning to challenge me about taking that prophetic anointing outside those walls. I was beginning to get a revelation that if the prophetic anointing could work in the church, it could work with unbelievers outside the church.
Back to the young people! We decided to go to a Subway sandwich place to hang out for awhile after our meeting. Immediately, as we entered the restaurant, I just happened to overhear some talk about psychics. Well, that got my attention right away and it was like the Holy Spirit highlighted the group who were discussing this subject.
Suddenly I felt something begin to rise up within me. I thought: I move in the prophetic! I can hear God! [I realized that when we walk by faith, there are risks involved. And I’ve always been a risk taker! Perhaps that’s why we’ve seen such a release of the power of God these past few years.]
So I just blurted out, “Well, you know what! I have a gift, too. I believe that I can ask God right now for a word and because God wants to reveal Himself to you, He will share something about your life with me. You’re going to know that Jesus is real!” They were really skeptical: “Yeah, right?!”
“I’m not going to ask you for any money,” I said. “This is free. The difference between me and psychics is that I have a gift from God and I give Him the glory. I know Who is speaking! I’m going to ask the Lord for a word right now. I believe that He is going to give it to me because David declares in the book of Psalms: “how innumerable are your thoughts toward us” (Ps. 139:17). That means that the thoughts and the things that God thinks about you are countless.” I was excited because I knew that all I needed to do was to hear God; just get one thought, just one of those “innumerable thoughts” about each of these seven people in Subway.
So I lined them up, including the two Subway workers! I risked. I didn’t have a word at first. God didn’t even tell me to do it—I was just on fire about God. But He honored my efforts to glorify Him because He gave me prophetic words for each one! For brevity’s sake I’ll just share two or three encounters.
The first lady freaked out because God showed me her bedroom and I described it in detail. The Lord gave me the most intimate secret detailed place of her life so that He could move into the secret place of her heart. For the second person, the Lord showed me some things to say about his father and drug addictions. He was absolutely blown away and actually fell under the power of God. Somebody had to catch him right there in the Subway. I went to the next guy and told him about his relationship with his girlfriend and about his hobbies. By then everyone’s eyes were as big as saucers. One guy ended up getting saved in the parking lot. It didn’t stop there because they all went over to a different coffee shop and said, “Come and see a guy who is telling us things about our life that nobody knows.” A whole new group of young people came over!
So there was a real demonstration of the Spirit of God and power, and from that day forward God began to put the seeds of this message about prophetic evangelism in my heart.
STIR UP THE GIFT THAT'S WITHIN YOU
Prophetic evangelism is a exciting! When we get out of our comfort zone and go to the people, it’s great, because we get to see first-hand just how much God loves them. He wants us to bust out of those church walls and get into prophetic evangelism because He wants to reveal Himself to the lost. He’s not going to lead us out and then hide Himself. Like I just said, He wants to reveal Himself to the lost. He’s going to give us words of knowledge and help us share the gospel.
You know, sometimes we feel kind of apathetic, but we don’t have to stay that way! Listen. We can stir up the gifts that God has given us. Look at what the apostle Paul said to Timothy. “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Tim 1:6). I’ve always believed that there is a place in the kingdom of God to stir up the gifts that are within us. We can stir up the gift of prophecy enabling us to prophesy in proportion to our faith (Rom. 12:6). And guess what? A smile is a gift, too!
Paul also wrote to the Corinthians and exhorted them to desire earnestly the spiritual gifts, but especially that they may prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1). Therefore Paul is essentially saying that we all have the opportunity to learn how to prophesy if we desire to do so (of course under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit). The one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation, as well as edifying the church (1 Cor. 14:3-4).
As I studied these scriptures I realized that all of us can hear the voice of God. Also, when I discovered that Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27), I said to myself, “It’s for me!” With confidence I knew that I could prophesy by faith and I started to see that I could move in the prophetic in just about any area I wanted, because the Holy Spirit was the source of revelation knowledge. The Bible says, “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:27). Nobody knows the thoughts of God except for the Spirit of God. So I said, “The Spirit of God is in me, and the Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God. He has innumerable thoughts about me and about others, so all I have to do at any time is say, “Holy Spirit, just give me one of those thoughts.”
And so I stirred up the gift of prophecy within me and I was released in prophetic ministry. I started to travel in the beginning with Patricia King, Peter Helms and different prophetic ministries and they used to call on me when they sensed that God wanted to release me for prophetic ministry in their meetings. I would lay hands on someone, ask God for one thought, believe that I could hear the voice of God and then I would prophesy by faith.
But listen! The prophetic ministry isn’t just for me. There is a place where we can all prophesy and where we can all learn. We just need to take to heart the words of Paul that I mentioned earlier—“desire spiritual gifts but especially that you may prophesy.”
Prophesying is an important way to show an unbeliever that God is real and that He has His hand on their life whether they honor Him or not. Look at what Paul says:
“But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you” (1 Cor. 14:24-25).
The prophetic is released to help unbelievers to be convicted and convinced about God. Then they can report that God’s love is being manifested through us and among us. So there is something about that prophetic anointing that brings the fear of the Lord and that convinces and demonstrates. Paul is saying that there is a place to prophesy in the context of unbelievers.
But one of the interesting things about moving in the gifts of the Spirit is that after we stir up the gifts and move in the anointing, as soon as we walk out the church doors so often the anointing shuts off. I don’t believe that God shuts it off. I believe that we shut down. It’s like unconsciously we say that it’s okay to prophesy in church but it’s not okay in a restaurant or on the streets.
Hey! Let’s take it to the streets! I believe we can say, “God, I am about to go into the streets of our city. Please release Your power through me so that the lost will know You are real and be saved.” We can begin to pray in tongues and we can begin to stir up the gifts of God and get ourselves into ministry mode for the unbelievers in the streets and see even a greater release of the power of God and demonstration of the Spirit!
We need a release of prophetic evangelism. And it’s coming!! Stir up your prophetic gift. Exercise it! “Practice makes perfect!”
PROPHETIC WORDS UNLOCK PEOPLE'S HEARTS
Restaurants are such good places for prophetic evangelism because the waiter or waitress is going to come back to your table several times. It’s not threatening. They want a tip, so there’s some sort of communication there!
Once in a restaurant the Holy Spirit gave me and a friend of mine some prophetic words for our waitress that really let her know God loved her. The words were so precise that she was floored. She didn’t want to give her life to Christ at that time but God doesn’t waste His word! I believe that her encounter with the Holy Spirit that day will be used along with other future encounters and she will eventually get saved.
Another time when we had a crusade in Portland we went to the people on the street. There, the Spirit of God gave me a key to open up the hearts of the people we were led to. They were criminals, drug addicts and illegal immigrants (that had come up from Mexico). The Lord told me to tell them something about their Mommas, ask how their family was doing and if there was anything that we could pray for them. They were touched! “Wow! You really care about me? You really care about the things that I care about?” All their “walls” came down. “He’s praying for my momma—let’s do it!”
Maybe initially people don’t want to get saved but you want to open up their heart for the gospel. God will give you the key. “Can I pray for you? You need to give your life to Jesus.”
We just need to be open to evangelistic strategy. More often than not, we’re not going to get too far if we just open up the Bible and start preaching at people: “You’re going to go to hell, you better come all you sinners and repent.” Rather, it’s just as simple as, “Can I pray for you?” Or, “Do you have anything that I can pray for you?” Then pray right there. Don’t just go home and pray. Say, “Let’s pray now.” You ask them to close their eyes and pray with you and then you get them into the presence of God and He begins to open up their spirit.
BE READY
Windows of opportunity, to minister prophetically to people, often happen when you least expect it, so be ready! I say that because during one of our conferences in Canada I was surprised when the Holy Spirit pointed out five young guys having a meal. He said, “I want you to go over and share the gospel with them because one of them is ready. He has had an encounter with Me.”
I got up and went over to the table and I said, “I just felt like God told me that somebody here had an encounter with Him today.” One of the guys answered and said, “I did! Somebody was out on the street and they came over and gave me an invitation to a crusade. They started telling me about Jesus and they prayed for me. I started to fall down and I felt all warm and fuzzy.”
Because the Lord shared with me that one of the guys at the table had an encounter, that information opened a window of opportunity to share the gospel! All five of them (with their beers in their hand) got saved, plus the waiter. And so we left with six souls in 15 minutes because of one word from God that unlocked their hearts! I made myself available to the voice of God, but more than that, God spoke in such a way that I could hear correctly and release a word of knowledge and share the gospel. That’s a great example of prophetic evangelism!
I hope this teaching is wetting your appetite to get out there and do the stuff! Listen. Next week we’re going to discuss how to be in the right position to receive God’s power for evangelism and why it is so important to be set apart and different from the world around us.
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REVIVALIST TODD BENTLEY
This is a two part teaching entitled Prophetic Evangelism. This week in Part 1, we will define prophetic evangelism. Next we’ll discuss how to come out of our comfort zone and actually begin to walk in prophetic evangelism. As well, we’ll discover how God’s prophetic words will help unlock and soften people’s hearts so they are released to hear the gospel. Next week in Part 2 we’ll discuss what it takes to receive God’s power for evangelism—being distinct and set apart for God. As well we’ll examine the “spirit and power of Elijah.”
PROPHETIC EVANGELISM
BY REVIVALIST TODD BENTLEY
PART 1
To receive and to activate are two different things! We can receive an anointing—a prophetic anointing or a healing anointing—but if we don’t go out and actively put the anointing to use for God’s glory we’ll never actually have the anointing. The substance of the power of God is always connected to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature . . . . and these signs and wonders will follow. . . ” (Mark 16:15-18). We have to actively use what we’ve received from God. Faith without works is dead (James 2:20, 26). So we’re really going to possess the anointing for prophetic evangelism when we go. In fact, evangelism can’t happen unless we go and do!
WHAT IS PROPHETIC EVANGELISM?
Let’s begin by defining: prophetic, prophesy, prophecy [all described in Webster’s New World Dictionary] as well as defining prophetic word and word of knowledge:
Prophetic means: containing a prophecy
Prophesy means: to predict as by divine guidance (verb)
Prophecy means: prediction of the future; something predicted (noun)
Prophetic word or word of knowledge means: pertinent information revealed by God for the purpose of blessing, encouraging or warning.
Next, let’s look at the word evangelism. It means: winning or revival of personal commitments to Christ—Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
So, based on these definitions, prophetic evangelism happens when a born-again believer receives a prophecy (prophetic word or word of knowledge) from the Holy Spirit for someone—that is the “prophetic” aspect—as they seize the opportunity to win them to Jesus Christ—that is the “evangelism” aspect.
The ultimate manifestation of prophetic evangelism is when we’re led by the Spirit of God and we hear the voice of God; that’s Spirit-led evangelism. It’s waiting on the presence of God, asking where He wants us to go and then when we get there, asking God exactly who He wants us to minister to. I believe that if we’d take the time to ask where and who (every time we say, “God, I want to win somebody to Jesus today”), that we would be effective in evangelism.
We won’t accomplish anything of eternal value if we just hear about the anointing and get the anointing, but then do nothing with it. This is the case with just about any anointing that God wants to give us. We need to be willing to go out to the people, and for instance, lay hands on the sick.
BE AVAILABLE AND BE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD
We have to make ourselves available. It’s not good enough just to have a passion and a desire or good intentions. We need to go beyond our comfort zone if we’re ever going to win souls. In fact, I believe God wants us to go way beyond our comfort zone!
Smith Wigglesworth had such a great passion for souls that he would go looking for the lost in the markets when he wasn’t ministering in conferences and revivals. He would wait in the market, even all morning and into the afternoon, until he saw the person that the Lord intended him to reach with the gospel. His attitude was: Lord, you have one that is ready. You have one that is ripe. Listen. His evangelistic fervor was Spirit-led!
Sometimes we try to be evangelistic but we’re not led by the Spirit of God. We’re just kind of launching out into the dark and hitting anywhere and everywhere with an attitude that says: Hey! We’ll just see what happens and take it as it comes. But we need to ask the Lord where to go and which person is ready. God will lead us to the right person. It might be someone who already has the seed of the kingdom planted and watered in their heart and they’re ready for it to be reaped. Some of us sow; some water and others reap (1 Cor. 3: 6-8). I’m a reaper in evangelism.
Most of us, if we do make ourselves available in evangelism, don’t make ourselves available for prophetic evangelism because we don’t take the time to wait and enquire of the Holy Spirit. He wants to tell us where to go and who to minister to and what to say to someone. Yes, there are times to go to all and just sow seeds, scatter seeds and hand out tracts, but there’s more. Let’s be released in a greater way into Spirit-led evangelism where we begin to hear the voice of God and we move in the word of knowledge.
PROPHETIC EVANGELISM IN ACTION!
So the best way to begin is by asking the Holy Spirit where He wants you to go. It may be the mall, a particular coffee shop, the streets or a park—He’ll nail it down. For me, after I arrive at the place the Holy Spirit designates I may see a crowd or I might just see one or two people. And so I’ll ask, “Who do you want me to minister to?” And the Holy Spirit will highlight somebody and I’ll just go up and begin to minister to them.
Having said that, you might be wondering how the Holy Spirit highlights who I’m supposed to minister to. So I’ll share a few stories that will help you recognize who God wants you to minister to.
After I first got saved I used to hang out with the Christian Biker’s Association in Canada. Once when I was at one of their conferences, it seemed that at every meeting, my eyes would be drawn to someone across the field. I couldn’t help but feel the urge to look over in that particular direction. There was a guy in that section of the crowd that “stuck out” more than anyone else. This went on for three or four days and I found that no matter where I was, whether I was at lunch or in a meeting, my eyes and attention would be continually drawn to this one person.
I didn’t know why, and I had no understanding concerning this until finally one of my mentors said, “Well Todd, that’s the Holy Spirit communicating to you that He wants you to minister to him.” My mentor began to tell me that when he, himself, encountered a similar situation, it was because the Holy Spirit was actually directing him. He said that quite often he would be in a meeting and the Lord would draw his attention to one person or several people, again and again. His attention would be fixed on them to the point that he realized the Holy Spirit was trying to get his attention because He had a prophetic word for them. And that’s how the Lord will use me. I’ll be led by the Holy Spirit somewhere (like the mall and the food court) and I’ll ask, “Lord who do You want me to minister to?” As I wait on the presence of God, He will begin to highlight and lead me and show me the person or the group of people.
I remember one of the first times the Spirit of God began to release me into prophetic evangelism. I had been preaching about the reality of God one night to some young people and we were pretty excited about what God had just done in our meeting. A few Mennonite kids were getting filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues and getting touched by the power of God.
Just to give you a little background, although at this point I had never received any teaching on prophetic evangelism, I was moving in a prophetic anointing in the safety of ministering in the church. But the Spirit of God was beginning to challenge me about taking that prophetic anointing outside those walls. I was beginning to get a revelation that if the prophetic anointing could work in the church, it could work with unbelievers outside the church.
Back to the young people! We decided to go to a Subway sandwich place to hang out for awhile after our meeting. Immediately, as we entered the restaurant, I just happened to overhear some talk about psychics. Well, that got my attention right away and it was like the Holy Spirit highlighted the group who were discussing this subject.
Suddenly I felt something begin to rise up within me. I thought: I move in the prophetic! I can hear God! [I realized that when we walk by faith, there are risks involved. And I’ve always been a risk taker! Perhaps that’s why we’ve seen such a release of the power of God these past few years.]
So I just blurted out, “Well, you know what! I have a gift, too. I believe that I can ask God right now for a word and because God wants to reveal Himself to you, He will share something about your life with me. You’re going to know that Jesus is real!” They were really skeptical: “Yeah, right?!”
“I’m not going to ask you for any money,” I said. “This is free. The difference between me and psychics is that I have a gift from God and I give Him the glory. I know Who is speaking! I’m going to ask the Lord for a word right now. I believe that He is going to give it to me because David declares in the book of Psalms: “how innumerable are your thoughts toward us” (Ps. 139:17). That means that the thoughts and the things that God thinks about you are countless.” I was excited because I knew that all I needed to do was to hear God; just get one thought, just one of those “innumerable thoughts” about each of these seven people in Subway.
So I lined them up, including the two Subway workers! I risked. I didn’t have a word at first. God didn’t even tell me to do it—I was just on fire about God. But He honored my efforts to glorify Him because He gave me prophetic words for each one! For brevity’s sake I’ll just share two or three encounters.
The first lady freaked out because God showed me her bedroom and I described it in detail. The Lord gave me the most intimate secret detailed place of her life so that He could move into the secret place of her heart. For the second person, the Lord showed me some things to say about his father and drug addictions. He was absolutely blown away and actually fell under the power of God. Somebody had to catch him right there in the Subway. I went to the next guy and told him about his relationship with his girlfriend and about his hobbies. By then everyone’s eyes were as big as saucers. One guy ended up getting saved in the parking lot. It didn’t stop there because they all went over to a different coffee shop and said, “Come and see a guy who is telling us things about our life that nobody knows.” A whole new group of young people came over!
So there was a real demonstration of the Spirit of God and power, and from that day forward God began to put the seeds of this message about prophetic evangelism in my heart.
STIR UP THE GIFT THAT'S WITHIN YOU
Prophetic evangelism is a exciting! When we get out of our comfort zone and go to the people, it’s great, because we get to see first-hand just how much God loves them. He wants us to bust out of those church walls and get into prophetic evangelism because He wants to reveal Himself to the lost. He’s not going to lead us out and then hide Himself. Like I just said, He wants to reveal Himself to the lost. He’s going to give us words of knowledge and help us share the gospel.
You know, sometimes we feel kind of apathetic, but we don’t have to stay that way! Listen. We can stir up the gifts that God has given us. Look at what the apostle Paul said to Timothy. “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Tim 1:6). I’ve always believed that there is a place in the kingdom of God to stir up the gifts that are within us. We can stir up the gift of prophecy enabling us to prophesy in proportion to our faith (Rom. 12:6). And guess what? A smile is a gift, too!
Paul also wrote to the Corinthians and exhorted them to desire earnestly the spiritual gifts, but especially that they may prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1). Therefore Paul is essentially saying that we all have the opportunity to learn how to prophesy if we desire to do so (of course under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit). The one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation, as well as edifying the church (1 Cor. 14:3-4).
As I studied these scriptures I realized that all of us can hear the voice of God. Also, when I discovered that Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27), I said to myself, “It’s for me!” With confidence I knew that I could prophesy by faith and I started to see that I could move in the prophetic in just about any area I wanted, because the Holy Spirit was the source of revelation knowledge. The Bible says, “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:27). Nobody knows the thoughts of God except for the Spirit of God. So I said, “The Spirit of God is in me, and the Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God. He has innumerable thoughts about me and about others, so all I have to do at any time is say, “Holy Spirit, just give me one of those thoughts.”
And so I stirred up the gift of prophecy within me and I was released in prophetic ministry. I started to travel in the beginning with Patricia King, Peter Helms and different prophetic ministries and they used to call on me when they sensed that God wanted to release me for prophetic ministry in their meetings. I would lay hands on someone, ask God for one thought, believe that I could hear the voice of God and then I would prophesy by faith.
But listen! The prophetic ministry isn’t just for me. There is a place where we can all prophesy and where we can all learn. We just need to take to heart the words of Paul that I mentioned earlier—“desire spiritual gifts but especially that you may prophesy.”
Prophesying is an important way to show an unbeliever that God is real and that He has His hand on their life whether they honor Him or not. Look at what Paul says:
“But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you” (1 Cor. 14:24-25).
The prophetic is released to help unbelievers to be convicted and convinced about God. Then they can report that God’s love is being manifested through us and among us. So there is something about that prophetic anointing that brings the fear of the Lord and that convinces and demonstrates. Paul is saying that there is a place to prophesy in the context of unbelievers.
But one of the interesting things about moving in the gifts of the Spirit is that after we stir up the gifts and move in the anointing, as soon as we walk out the church doors so often the anointing shuts off. I don’t believe that God shuts it off. I believe that we shut down. It’s like unconsciously we say that it’s okay to prophesy in church but it’s not okay in a restaurant or on the streets.
Hey! Let’s take it to the streets! I believe we can say, “God, I am about to go into the streets of our city. Please release Your power through me so that the lost will know You are real and be saved.” We can begin to pray in tongues and we can begin to stir up the gifts of God and get ourselves into ministry mode for the unbelievers in the streets and see even a greater release of the power of God and demonstration of the Spirit!
We need a release of prophetic evangelism. And it’s coming!! Stir up your prophetic gift. Exercise it! “Practice makes perfect!”
PROPHETIC WORDS UNLOCK PEOPLE'S HEARTS
Restaurants are such good places for prophetic evangelism because the waiter or waitress is going to come back to your table several times. It’s not threatening. They want a tip, so there’s some sort of communication there!
Once in a restaurant the Holy Spirit gave me and a friend of mine some prophetic words for our waitress that really let her know God loved her. The words were so precise that she was floored. She didn’t want to give her life to Christ at that time but God doesn’t waste His word! I believe that her encounter with the Holy Spirit that day will be used along with other future encounters and she will eventually get saved.
Another time when we had a crusade in Portland we went to the people on the street. There, the Spirit of God gave me a key to open up the hearts of the people we were led to. They were criminals, drug addicts and illegal immigrants (that had come up from Mexico). The Lord told me to tell them something about their Mommas, ask how their family was doing and if there was anything that we could pray for them. They were touched! “Wow! You really care about me? You really care about the things that I care about?” All their “walls” came down. “He’s praying for my momma—let’s do it!”
Maybe initially people don’t want to get saved but you want to open up their heart for the gospel. God will give you the key. “Can I pray for you? You need to give your life to Jesus.”
We just need to be open to evangelistic strategy. More often than not, we’re not going to get too far if we just open up the Bible and start preaching at people: “You’re going to go to hell, you better come all you sinners and repent.” Rather, it’s just as simple as, “Can I pray for you?” Or, “Do you have anything that I can pray for you?” Then pray right there. Don’t just go home and pray. Say, “Let’s pray now.” You ask them to close their eyes and pray with you and then you get them into the presence of God and He begins to open up their spirit.
BE READY
Windows of opportunity, to minister prophetically to people, often happen when you least expect it, so be ready! I say that because during one of our conferences in Canada I was surprised when the Holy Spirit pointed out five young guys having a meal. He said, “I want you to go over and share the gospel with them because one of them is ready. He has had an encounter with Me.”
I got up and went over to the table and I said, “I just felt like God told me that somebody here had an encounter with Him today.” One of the guys answered and said, “I did! Somebody was out on the street and they came over and gave me an invitation to a crusade. They started telling me about Jesus and they prayed for me. I started to fall down and I felt all warm and fuzzy.”
Because the Lord shared with me that one of the guys at the table had an encounter, that information opened a window of opportunity to share the gospel! All five of them (with their beers in their hand) got saved, plus the waiter. And so we left with six souls in 15 minutes because of one word from God that unlocked their hearts! I made myself available to the voice of God, but more than that, God spoke in such a way that I could hear correctly and release a word of knowledge and share the gospel. That’s a great example of prophetic evangelism!
I hope this teaching is wetting your appetite to get out there and do the stuff! Listen. Next week we’re going to discuss how to be in the right position to receive God’s power for evangelism and why it is so important to be set apart and different from the world around us.
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posted by KFF at 7:30 PM
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