As we’ve discussed, even if you’ve read many books on the characteristics of a person’s voice, if you have never heard it with your own ears, you will likely have a very hard time recognizing that voice in a crowd. You may not have even thought about the technical characteristics of their voice, but if you have spent a lot of time with that person, you’ll recognize their voice as soon as you hear it, even if others are talking. Likewise, there is simply no substitute for spending time with the Lord and hearing His voice for ourselves. Even so, there are some principles that can help us until we come to know Him that well.
First, what is coming from the Spirit of God usually has an obvious touch of His love and compassion attached. What is often coming from the other side, or the human side, usually has another agenda, either to puff up the prophet, or to influence the target of the word in a wrong way. The Holy Spirit exists to reveal Jesus and to draw us to Him.
People who are obviously using the gifts to draw attention to themselves, or to establish their own ministry or authority, are at best immature. The immature can be very real and useful, because no mature prophet ever started out mature. I would love to have the gift where I could just lay hands on people and say, “Be mature in Jesus’ name,” but I don’t believe that gift exists. Maturity can only come from time and experience.
Because we honor and esteem anything of the Holy Spirit, this does not mean that we should sensationalize it. In fact, to really honor the Spirit, we should acknowledge that His work does not need sensationalizing by us. The less sensational, the better it is most of the time. We may feel that we have to shock or stun people with the power of our gift, but this shock often closes people to us. It’s just too much for them to handle. Consider how “natural” and gentle the Lord was with the woman at the well. You can be absolutely accurate with a word, but if you scare people with it, they will have a knee-jerk reaction that causes them to deny it instead of acknowledge it.
However, in prophetic circles you will hear a lot of bizarre examples of prophetic words and words of knowledge, but it is natural to talk about the extremes. Just as “normal life” will never make the evening news, normal prophetic ministry seldom gets the press. However, it is the bulk of the work of the ministry, and overall may accomplish far more for the kingdom than the sensational. Our goal should never be to be spectacular, but to simply be obedient.
When the spectacular happens it is exciting. It’s fine to be excited about it, but we’re making a big mistake if we think we’re now on that level and expect everything going forward to be that spectacular. Remember that God gives His grace to the humble, and He keeps giving His grace to those who stay humble.
Above all things, we must keep in mind that our number one job description is to grow in love for God and one another. John G. Lake seemed to enter a place where everyone he prayed for got healed. When he was asked the secret, he replied that when he prayed for someone he would not stop until he felt the compassion of God for that person, and then he knew they were healed.
Compassion is the foundation for all true spiritual authority. It was when Jesus felt compassion for the sheep without a shepherd that He became their Shepherd. When He felt compassion for those who were in darkness, He became their Teacher. God is love. If we’re following Him, we will grow in love, and through this, we will grow in the power of His love.
