Many of the mistakes that have devalued the spiritual currency of prophetic ministry have come from the failure to distinguish between the calling and the commissioning. As we see in the Book of Acts, Paul was called as an apostle many years before he was commissioned to that ministry. Estimates of how long it was between Paul’s calling and his commissioning range between eight and fourteen years. It is clear in Acts and from Paul’s letters that this time was spent in preparation, and that during this time, he ministered as a prophet, or a teacher,...

      Last week we discussed some of the basics on how to recognize the prophetic burden of the Lord. This week we will discuss how to be misled into thinking that a burden is prophetic when it is really our own concern or a burden someone else has put on us.

      Many have a hard time understanding and some are even offended by the principle that prophecy is rarely intended to be “an exact science.” It is not a science and cannot be learned by certain principles. It is all about relationship. There are principles...

     Many of the prophets in the Old Testament referred to “the burden of the Lord.” We briefly addressed last week how prophetic impressions can come to us when we feel something in our body that is actually wrong with another person. For example, if we’re talking to a person and our left knee starts hurting, it could be because the person we’re talking to has a problem with their left knee. A reason that the Holy Spirit moves this way is because the Lord feels the infirmities of people, and He shares this with those who are being...

     We have begun to discuss the levels of prophetic revelation from impressions to being caught up into heaven such as Paul and John did in the New Testament. Generally, it makes sense that the more dramatic, or high level the revelation, the more important it is. Others seem to think that the more high level the revelation, the greater the ministry of the prophet, but neither of these may be the case. We have learned that the level of revelation is more related to the difficulty of the task than to the importance of the revelation or the...

     Last week we addressed how there is no substitute for maturity and experience in Christ. This week we will begin to identify some of the ways that the Lord speaks to us. In the coming weeks, we will go deeper into understanding all of these, while keeping in mind that we are not seeking the understanding of a science, a formula for knowing His voice, but rather a relationship to God by which we come to know His voice. As discussed, there are basically only two ways that we know others—by their face and by their voice.

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