Prophetic Foundations Lesson 3

Hello, welcome to Self Talk. I'm your host, me, Dr. Ray Self. Very glad you're listening today. Don't forget to subscribe, download, do all the cool stuff that makes us get very popular. I'm going to start a four-part, very important series called Foundations of the Prophetic. Stirring, activating, imparting the prophetic gift in you. How do you know if God's speaking to you? How do you know if you have the gift? How do you get the gift if you don't have the gift? This is going to be a very important four-part series. This show is brought to you as usual by the International College of Ministry. Enrolling now at icmcollege.org, a Holy Spirit-filled accredited online Bible college. God's called you. Enroll now.

 

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Okay. Part three, prophetic foundations. Holy Spirit, have your way with this section. In Jesus’ name, amen. Amen. So, how to determine if God's speaking to you. I want to talk about, uh, we'll be talking about hearing His voice and then giving His voice prophetically. So, the first thing I want to talk about is hearing His voice. We've talked some about this, but again, pay attention to special thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere. Isaiah 55:8, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways, declares the Lord." So if it's something you wouldn't think of, something you wouldn't say, pay close attention to that. I like to, especially when I'm moving prophetically, I like to pay attention to first impressions. Uh, that typically is God. If I don't pay attention to the first impression, what happens is my mind gets in the way; my analytic, my analytics get in the way; my teacher voice gets in the way. But when I get a thought out of nowhere that's something I would not think of, so many times that is God speaking. 

 

Now if you think you hear– heard something from God, is it in agreement with scriptural principles? Now you need to understand the scriptural principle, what that is, understand the word of God. But does it agree with the Bible? Okay. If it doesn't agree with the Bible, it's not coming from God. Does it contain the love of God? God is love. Now love can– is not always ooey gooey. Sometimes love is correction, but there should be a motivation of love behind it. A, a feeling of love, “This is what I needed to hear.” Does it bear witness with the Holy Spirit in you? I have the Holy Spirit in me. You have the Holy Spirit in you. What I like to say is the Holy Spirit recognizes His own voice. The Holy Spirit knows when He's speaking. So if I'm speaking by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit in you goes, "Amen." If I'm saying something that's not of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit in you should go, "No way." So the Holy Spirit knows His own voice. So pay attention to what we call witness of the Holy Spirit. Is there an agreement in your heart, which is where the Holy Spirit is, with what you heard? Um, if there's any doubt, and sometimes there is doubt, submit the word to a pastor or an elder for judgment. You know, go to judgment. Sometimes, if you know somebody else who moves prophetically, go to them if you're unsure. We also like to talk about putting it on the shelf. You know, just put it, put it aside and uh see what happens. 

 

You know, some years ago, I'll never forget this. It's probably 15 years ago, I was at a home group and somebody looked at me and said, uh, my wife was with me, and we're sitting there, and he goes, "Ray, I see you ministering in Arizona. God's called you to minister in Arizona.” You know, when I heard that word, I'm thinking, I don't have any desire or invitation to minister in Arizona. And I thought, “Well, thank you very much.” But I just decided, you know, I'll hang on to that and see what happens. Well, in the last year, two times now, I have been ministering in the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and Arizona. And then, uh, I was also in Phoenix. And so actually I think three trips now where I was either in Arizona or New Mexico or right on the border and actually did some intensive ministry. And I remember that word. So what that told me was God was preparing me for the future. So when this trip to Arizona came, I knew it was of Him. Isn’t that beautiful? It's beautiful. 

 

Is the word you heard something from God? Is it something Christ would say or do? Does it, is it something He would do or say? Is there shame or condemnation in the word? That's not from God. There's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Jesus died on the cross, took our shame, took our condemnation on the cross. The Holy Spirit will not put shame or condemnation back on you. He's not going to come against the finished work of Jesus Christ. Your flesh loves to do that. Satan loves to do that. The Holy Spirit will convict you. A conviction is different than shame. A conviction is different than guilt. See, shame and guilt is not our motivator. Conviction is our motivator. Conviction is, “You know, I need to make a change. I, I, I need to repent. I should go here.” It's not out of shame. It's not out of guilt. It's out of a conviction in my heart. That's how the Holy Spirit works. Not through shame or condemnation. Another thing, God's word gives you peace in your heart. In, in the Psalms, it says, "These shall be led forth by peace." There's peace not always in your mind, but in your heart. There's a peace about what you heard. Now, prophetically, when we're moving prophetically, it's about hearing God and, and hearing His voice and then becoming His voice. You– Many of you know I have a book out called Hear His Voice, Be His Voice. Which means we are to hear what God has to say and then repeat it. And that can be prophetically, that could be through teaching, it could be through preaching, just be through witnessing. But hear His voice and become His witness or His voice on earth. The gift of prophecy is all about hearing God and speaking what God has told us to speak or relaying a picture or relaying a message God has given us for an individual, for the church, for a community. Maybe it's for yourself. I've had a lot of prophetic words that God gave me that was not for anybody but myself. Really, uh, quick, funny story…. 

 

Because let me tell you something. In this moving prophetically and flowing prophetically, you're going to mess up. We're going to make mistakes. Okay? Right? We all make mistakes. And I want to tell you something real clearly. If you're a prophetic person, you're moving prophetic, you make a mistake, doesn't make you a– Making a mistake doesn't make you a false prophet. It makes you a human being. Okay? Uh, I've never known a preacher that didn't make a mistake. It didn't make him a false pastor or false preacher,  just a preacher who made a mistake. I've never known an evangelist…Didn't make a mistake. They make mistakes. Doesn't mean they're a false evangelist. It means they're a human being. Now, a false prophet is someone who does it intentionally for personal gain over and over again. Evil intentions- that's a whole different story. We’ll not, we’ll not go there. Amen. But God's voice contains peace and is not confusing. Okay? And you– I was going to tell you a story. Let me go back. The story was…it was a funny story. There was a pastor in my house, and I got a prophetic word from him. His name was John. I'll never forget it. And I was going to give John this prophetic word. And so I spoke this, “John, I hear the Lord saying to you,” blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And John said, "No, no." And I said, "John, you don't understand. This word's for you." His name’s Pa–, I call him Pastor John. “This word's for you.” He goes, "No, no, no." I said, "John, you, you're not listening to me. This word, this is what God's trying to say to you. Please hear me, what I'm trying to say." I was a little bit immature; I was being a little bit pushy. John gets up and leaves my house. I follow him out the door and to the parking lot, determined that he was going to hear this word I'm trying to say, prophetic word. Didn't hear it. I walked back to my house. I said, "God, what did I do? What happened?" God said, "Ray, that word was not for John. That was for you." 

 

“Oh,” [laughter] I guess God got a chuckle; I don't know. I did get to repent to John sometime later whenever I could catch him. So yeah, we do make mistakes, and that's one reason when I'm given a prophetic word, I like to stay humble and say, “This is what I believe I hear the Lord saying. You can pray about it.” Usually I don't go, “Thus says the Lord God to you.” I…do it with a Charlton Heston voice. I don't do that. Um, I try to stay humble. “This is what I believe the Lord is saying to you.” Okay. What I believe, they can pray about it. So, another thing about God's voice is direction. How many times do we need direction? God, I need your direction. Where do I go? What do I do? I'm, I'm kind of lost. How do I go? Direction is so critical. People come to me quite often. You know, we do a lot of ministry at the altar. They say, "Uh, Dr. Ray, could you please pray for me? I just need direction." Let me tell you, hearing God's voice is critical for direction. But when you're trying to find your way somewhere, things need to line up. Um, I used to do a lot of boating, and sometimes I'd be out in the ocean. I'd be trying to find my way to a harbor. And when a ship is, uh, coming into harbor, there are buoys that line up that point the direction into the safe harbor. Now, when a ship is looking at the buoys, if the buoys are out of alignment, that means the ship is off course. And so, things need to line up for you to find where you need to be. Number one, God's word. Number two, a witness in your heart. Number three, your circumstance. And number four, confirmation. So, when God's word is in agreement, there's a witness. There's peace in your heart, your circumstance, confirmation; all these things line up. You're finding God's direction for your life or maybe just for that moment or for that, for that day. It's an incredible thing. 

 

I, I just experienced such a supernatural thing with this. When we started years ago, um, I started a school in the Memphis, Tennessee area called School of the Prophets. I'll never forget when God told me to start the School of the Prophets. And he said, "Ray, I want you to start a school of the prophets." Said– I went to the authority over me. I was working with a seminary, and I asked for permission to, to do this, and they gave the blessing ‘cause, you know, I like to be under authority. And so, He said, "I want you to start a school of prophets. I do not want you to tell anyone." I said, "Well, gee, God, that's kind of rough there." So, I had a building, and I set up my classroom. I set up the tables. I set up the speaker system. I got my little whiteboard out and got my notes. I set up the chairs. It was going to be a Monday night at 7 o'clock. And um, I got all set up. I didn't tell anybody. I just set it up. And 40 people, 40 people showed up. And I just, I was just amazed. And I…I asked several people, "How did you know?" They said, "I don't know. God just told me to come here and I came,” and they had direction from God. And it was, it was beautiful. This is how we started.

 

Matter of fact, the International College of Ministry, uh, we actually were birthed from the School of the Prophets. So, the prophetic foundations and the gift of prophecy is critical. God has called me to get back into this even more. Um, so let's get on. Next part of this lesson, I want to talk about operating in the gift of prophecy. Were we ever going to get there? Yeah, we've got there. Yay, we're here. Operating in the gift of prophecy. Okay. Now, in the gift of prophecy, one of the key things I emphasize is speak what God has spoken to you without adding to it. I'm going to say that again. Do not add to it. Now, it can be specific words, an impression, or a picture. When you end up adding to the prophecy, most of the time it's going to be your flesh, and you're going to mess it up. For instance, um, you know, God gives you a word for someone who it doesn't make any sense to you, and so you give the word to them, but then you just have this urge to try to help them understand what it might possibly mean. Don't do that. Because see, the prophetic word is for them, not for you. And the Holy Spirit can, can witness to them and can, can teach them and can show them what that word means. Um, I’ll give you an example. Uh, many years ago I was at a church, and a pastor came up to me with a prophetic word. Now this pastor did not know me. I was a visitor in that church. 

 

And he looked at me, and he said, "I see you on a sailboat." Now, he didn't know, but I actually own a sailboat, and I love to go sailing. “And I see you sailing toward an island.” Well, the particular lake that I sailed in was a very large TVA lake. There was an island in that lake, and I used to sail around that island all the time. He said, “I see you in a sailboat sailing toward an island.” Boy, he had my attention. “And I see you pulling people out of the water and putting them on the boat and rescuing people and bringing them out of the water into the boat.” And it was a beautiful picture, but he didn't add to it. He didn't try to explain it. He didn't try to interpret it. He just left it. Now, there's no way he could have known what that word meant to me, but he just gave me the word, and he left it alone. And here, this is probably 25 years later, and that word is still fresh in my spirit. I'll never forget that. So the point is you'll get prophetic words for people that, that don't make sense to you. Remember, it's not for you. It's for them. Let them do the interpreting. Please, please, please. 

 

Guidelines. Guidelines for the gift of prophecy. All right. Let's get in specific guidelines. Prophetic gifts should operate under the authority of the church. Hello. I love to be under the authority of the church. The, the church is God's established authority. I try to be in order. Uh, when I'm at a church, I travel - I speak at a lot of churches around the country - I ask permission before I flow prophetically. I'll make sure the pastor or the elder is in agreement with me, and I am in order with the church. When you get out of order, you can say, "Well, I got a word, and I got to give it." Well, when you do that, you're actually moving in rebellion, and it grieves the Holy Spirit. This is what I say to people who flow prophetically: The revelation of the prophet should submit to the wisdom of the pastor. So many times people with the gift of prophecy, they, “Oh, I've got this revelation from God. I got this prophetic word. I've got to give it,” and, and the pastor is not letting them give it and they want to give it anyway or they want to get up interrupt the service and do something out of order and they want to leave because they got this revelation and the pastor doesn't understand it. Stop it. The pastor is responsible for that church. He has a God-given wisdom for the, that church that you don't have. It's his church. It's his responsibility. God's given him the wisdom for that service. And I may not agree with the pastor, but I'm going to trust that God has given me the wisdom for the day, and I'm going to submit to it. Hopefully, they'll let me give the word. And I'll tell you what, about 90% of the time, I have not had any issues, but I'm not going to give a prophetic word out of order in any church. I believe in the, the, the authority that it's God's established authority on earth. Um, anything given out– it…when you get out of order, it never glorifies God. 

 

Prophetic words should not draw attention to the one giving the words. I know a church here in the Central Florida area, they, the prophets, they, they turn their back to the church when they give the word. The word is not…should not bring attention to you. The attention should go to the Holy Spirit, to Jesus. Attention go– it doesn't glorify you; it glorifies God. I know sometimes we, we got the spirit of illegitimacy; we need some attention. We need uh, some recognition. I get it. All that kind of stuff, but don't go there. Just let God get the glory. And the more you humble yourself, the more you let God get the glory, the more He will use you. Uh, prophetic words should not draw attention to you. If a gift is exercised without love or used for a personal display, it's just a bunch of noise. Paul talked about in Corinthians 12, just a bunch of noise. I used to, and I mean this with grace, but I just…a picture the Lord gave me, a picture of what we called peacock prophets and a peacock prophet would be someone with the prophetic gift and he gets up and he, he's kind of prideful and he makes a show of, a display of, “God has given me a prophetic word for the church. Here comes the word of God,” and, and the attention is going to the giver. Let's just stay humble. Let's speak what God tells us to speak to an individual, to a church, and just let God do what He wants to do. Okay? And sometimes it's something simple, sometimes it is something complex. But stay humble. Stay humble. 

 

Uh, remember, prophecy should edify, encourage, or comfort. That's the, that's the three things. That's the three evidence in the New Testament. Um, 1 Corinthians 14:40, “All things should be done decently in order.” In order. We're talking about that. In order. A partial prophecy is okay. 1 Corinthians 13:9, “We know in part, we prophesy in part.” Sometimes I get a partial word. Well, that makes me, that makes me not want to give it. “But Lord, that's incomplete.” Well, I give what I have. Next thing you know, my good buddy Darren Slack gets up and finishes it off for me. [laughter] Some years ago, we were doing a class. And uh, my wife had a prophetic word, and I said, she tapped me on the shoulder. She likes to do that when she gets a word. I said, "Okay, honey. What's your what's your prophetic– You got a prophetic word for the class?" She goes, "Yeah." Okay. I gave her the mic. “What is it, Christie?” She said, "Yellow." I said, "What?" “Yellow.” That's it. She goes, "That's it.” “Thanks, hun. Appreciate it very much." All of a sudden, members of the class, and actually there was a person we were prophesying to. All of a sudden, other members of the class began to pitch in, and somebody said, "I see a, I see a caution light. I see a flashing caution light." And then another, another member of the class preached– started seeing this and seeing that. And before we were finished, an entire beautiful picture was painted. And the woman we were prophesying to began to cry, said, "That's God speaking to me. Thank you so much. I needed that so much." It was, oh my gosh. Started off with a partial word. Amen. Amen.

 

Be aware that, and we're talking about guidelines for prophetic words. Be aware personal desire can distort a word. So many times you see someone, maybe they're struggling financially. You want to prophesy finances to them. You see someone struggling physically. You want to give a prophetic healing word to them. Watch out. I mean, personal desire… Just because it's you wanting it for them doesn't mean that's God speaking. Again, does it agree with scripture? Does it witness in your spirit? Do those in authority agree with it? Um, another thing in giving, and these are principles in receiving a word. Sometimes you got to watch the reputation of the person giving the word. That, that can matter a little bit. Although God has been, uh, been known to speak through a donkey. 

 

Does the word glorify Christ? Does it build His kingdom? Does it divide the kingdom? Is there confusion? God's not the author of confusion. If it's confusion– Now, sometimes a prophetic word can be accurate, but the person who is…you're giving it to has some spiritual issues going on; it can cause confusion to them, is because the unclean spirit in them or demonic influence in their life doesn't like what's being said. But in general, if it's confusion, it's not from God. Is it something a loving father would say to his child? We talked about shame or guilt. Another thing: a prophetic word leads; it never pushes. A shepherd walks in front and leads. So, a prophetic word is going to cause a leading. “Those that are led by the Spirit of the sons of God.” It's not a pushing, okay? Does not push. Amen. Amen. Well, that concludes part three. God bless you.

 

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