 Good afternoon everyone, good afternoon. Did you all have a good lunch? Excellent. Well, this is a workshop, so we're going to invite the Holy Spirit to come and do a mighty work this afternoon. Who's with me? Glory to God. May our awesome God show us His glory. Invite you to pray with me now as we begin. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you. We exalt you, we magnify you. And Father, even as we stand before you as your beloved children, as your little ones, Father, we ask that you would send your spirit now to fall afresh on us. And Lord Jesus, we proclaim you as Lord over this workshop, and we magnify your name as we pray, all glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. What is God saying to you? What is God saying to you? That's the question. What is God saying to you? Has anyone here ever been asked that question before? Anyone? Hold your hands high. Oh, look at that. Glory to God. Do you remember who it was that first asked you that question? Who was it? A nun, a priest? Your father, your father, beautiful, beautiful. I want to invite you throughout this weekend to ask each other, what is God saying to you? So keep that question in mind as we dive in. I have a dear friend. He's a Capuchin friar. And for some reason, walking out of a prayer meeting, he turned to me and he just started sharing with me about this silent, personal retreat he had just made. And he said, you know, Alicia, I just made this retreat and I have to say, my spiritual director was a little unorthodox. I thought, oh, OK. I don't know why he's sharing this with me, but OK. And he said, you know, I went into spiritual direction. I received the readings that I was to read for my holy hours. And he said, you know, all that's pretty typical. I went, I prayed with the readings that I had been given, came back to spiritual direction, sat down, and he said, the priest said to me, what is God saying to you? And he said, well, I think God is saying this. And the priest said, no, that is not what God is saying. That's what you think. Now go back and read that same passage again. You come back here and you tell me, what is God saying to you? I thought, oh, OK. He said, you know, he wasn't as gentle as some retreat masters might have been. I thought, OK. So he comes back. He goes, he reads, he comes back. This time he has prayed with expectant faith that God will speak to him. So that's first. And then, excuse me, for just one moment, OK. And then he comes back in to reading and praying, expecting to hear God's voice. And when he goes into spiritual direction the next time, he's ready. His director asks him, what is God saying to you? And he immediately, with authority, proclaims God is saying to me. And he shared. The retreat master said to him, good. Now was that God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit? Wow, this is a very intense retreat. And he said, you know what? I have to tell you, the rest of the retreat, let me back up for a second. So his response to the retreat master asking him, was that God the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. He said he was taken aback, as you might imagine. And he said, I don't know. And the priest said to him, then ask in Jesus' name. Then ask in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, who is speaking? So now he's going back with expectant faith. And he's praying in the authority of Jesus, asking who is speaking. He said, Alicia, you would not believe it. As I made that retreat, there were so many times when I would hear, it's me speaking. Or I would hear, this is Satan speaking. But he said, by the end of that retreat, I could recognize the voice of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit speaking to me as I prayed with scripture. Glory to God. Amen. Amen. You know, for me, the first person to ever ask me that question, what is God saying to you? It came when I was a child. And I have to say, when you first hear this question, maybe like my Franciscan friar friend, it's a little intimidating. And I have to say, I was about eight years old. My father and mother would tuck us all into bed when we were children. And they would ask us, did you read your Bible? Did you say your prayers? And one night, they asked me a question I couldn't answer. Great, Alicia, you read your Bible. You said your prayers. Now, what is God saying to you? And I was devastated. I said, I don't know. I don't know. And this is coming from a little one who I knew God was real. I loved him dearly. I had given my heart to the Lord when I was about five years old, praying with my mom. I had experienced complete healing from allergies through prayer ministry. I knew God was real. And like many children will walk around talking to their imaginary friend, I talk to God all the time about everything. So when my parents asked me that question, I have to say, I was devastated. I said, I've never heard God talk to me. By the grace of God, my father said, Alicia, then ask God to help you hear him. It wasn't a big deal. Okay, so every day for about nine months, I prayed and I asked everyone I knew to pray for me to hear the voice of God. Every day, nine months might not sound like a long time, but to an eight-year-old, I had a birthday, turned nine. A lot happened. And one day, I audibly heard Proverbs 3.3. I had no idea what that was, but I knew it was not me speaking. I ran to my mom and said, mom, mom, I think God just spoke to me. She said, Alicia, Proverbs 3.3, that's in the Bible. Let's look it up. We looked it up and it said, forsake not truth and mercy. Bind them around your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart. I was overjoyed that night. My dad came home from work. I couldn't wait to tell him, dad, dad, God spoke to me. I share with my dad and he said, you know, Alicia, it's only to those of little faith that the Lord speaks audibly. And he said, don't worry, God speaks audibly to me too. You know, when we pray to hear the voice of God, God has the best sense of humor. And even in the way we learn to hear the voice of God, it's so intimate, it's so personal, but that is the foundation for exercising the gift of prophecy. So we want to be aware of, even from the time you were a little one, how did you first see and hear and sense the Lord? It's important for us also to have this understanding that the way the Lord speaks is so intimate, so personal. Jesus says in John chapter 10, verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. When our heavenly Father speaks to you, he speaks to you as your creator, he speaks to you as your provider, he speaks to you as your protector, he speaks to you as the one who disciplines you, he speaks to you as the one who prunes you, that you might bear abundant fruit. Your heavenly Father speaks to you as a Father might speak to a newborn baby, adoring you, adoring you. When God speaks to you, God is speaking to you in a way that allows your heart to receive how he loves you, how he knows you. And so we wanna know who God is when he speaks. When Jesus speaks to you, he speaks to you as a friend, as a brother, he speaks to you as your deliverer, delivering you from all evil. He speaks to you as your deliverer. Your healer, your Lord, your master. And ultimately, as your husband, that is the most intimate relationship. We can see as a sign of heaven here on earth and that is how Jesus speaks to you. He speaks to you as your husband. We are the bride of Christ and so we need to be aware of Jesus speaking to us with that kind of intimacy. When you recognize who God is and how he speaks to you, you need to have an awareness that you are a temple of the living God. The Holy Spirit dwells within you. Dwells within you. The Holy Spirit is your helper, your teacher, your advocate, your comforter, your consoler. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes manifest here on earth the power and the presence of the living God. All right, so far we know, we have to ask that question. What is God saying to me? What is God saying to you? We know we have to walk in expectant faith like our friends, the skin fryer did. We know that we have to be aware of who God is and that he loves us intimately and personally when he speaks to us. After that experience with my parents really encouraging me to hear the voice of God, something happened. The eyes of my heart were opened to recognize God's voice in my everyday life. Not only present, but actually I could look back and I could see how God had been speaking to me. You might think, well, how far did you have to look back? You're eight years old, nine when I actually heard. But I could, just suddenly I could see, oh wow, when my parents and the teacher and our priests all say the same thing, God's trying to tell me something. All right, Lord, you have my attention. I'm listening above all as a little one, I was encouraged to read the word of God to read my Bible. We had family Bible studies, but suddenly I was aware that when I read Proverbs God was teaching me. So as little ones, we had family Bible study, but then I was also homeschooled kindergarten through fourth grade. During this time, first class of the day was always Bible study. And so I would with my child's imagination, I would think, oh Lord, just like Solomon, I don't wanna ask for power, for riches. I wanna ask for wisdom like Solomon. I'm as a little one, it's almost this genie moment where the Lord's like, you can ask me for anything. Lord, I will ask you for wisdom. And so as I'm reading my Bible and I discover Proverbs soon after having that experience of hearing the Lord, I'm very interested in Proverbs. And you know, a lot of people aren't always excited about Proverbs because they're kind of like the vegetables. They're good for you, you know you need them, but it kind of hurts to eat them sometimes. You know, now I love vegetables, but as a child that was my equivalent. You know, I started seeing trends as I read Proverbs. And of course my eyes were always open to see wisdom. I started seeing that wisdom and understanding often appeared in Proverbs together. So I would just watch that and see, okay, wisdom and understanding. I'm gonna pray for understanding too. And so in this childish way, I'm embracing and asking for wisdom and understanding. And then what happens? The Lord shows me wisdom and understanding have a direct correlation throughout Proverbs to wisdom, to fear of the Lord, and understanding to departure from evil. I was like, that's what I've been praying for. Fear of the Lord and departure from evil and by God's amazing grace, that's what I started praying for. I realized the Lord was teaching me. Even as I was just reading my Bible as a little girl, the Lord was teaching me the depth of what it meant to have wisdom and understanding. And you know, I would read the Psalms. I was a very passionate little one. And so I would see my heart right along with David's heart being moved from anger, fear, accusations sometimes, loneliness, sorrow, to a place of peace, rest, joy, thankfulness. And I was suddenly aware that the Lord was ministering to me just as I was reading my Bible. I wanna touch on a few other ways that I suddenly started seeing the Lord speaking to me and this was lifelong, but creation, the Lord proclaims his glory, who he is, and he speaks even through creation. So fast forward, I'm on a mission trip in Tennessee and we're serving at a camp for special needs kids. And one night, all the students on this student-led mission trip are out canoeing. And it's a gorgeous night and the moonlight is streaming down and all of a sudden, I knew God was speaking to me. And I could see it was almost bright as day because the earth was not overshadowing the moon. And suddenly I realized the Lord was telling me, Alisha, don't let the world get in the way. Allow the light of Christ to pierce your heart and shine through. I knew the Lord was speaking to me, not in so many words, but I received that lesson. So we wanna be aware of the Lord speaking to us even through creation, through scripture, through people, through creation, through the parables of life. I have an incredible, well, had, we'll use past tense, an incredible fear of needles. I think back, even at the age of 18, I would ask my mom to go with me to doctor's appointments so that she could hold my hand as I prepared to get a shot. My mom was very gracious, she did this with me. And right around 22, a dear friend who had a medical background, I was preparing to go to a doctor's appointment and she just said, Alisha, just relax. Before they give you the shot, relax, you'll barely feel it. And I was like, no, I have felt needles, they feel terrible. I'm usually crying, my arm is so tense, I can't even imagine doing that. She's like, just think about something that will help you to relax. Well, I tried it. I barely felt anything at all. Ever since then, I praise the Lord for that friend. But all of a sudden I was seeing, the Lord was speaking to me through a parable of life. When you go through trials, when you go through suffering, when you go through anything that hurts, pray with peace, pray with trust in the Lord. So another lesson, the parables of life, if you see every day how the Lord is working and moving, you can always ask Him just like the apostles. Lord, what are you saying? I see the story, but what does it mean? Be open to the Lord speaking to you through the parables of life. I wanna also invite us to be aware that the Lord speaks through the least of these. Jesus will present Himself to you, usually through that person who's on the outside. Or, if you're busy, through the person who interrupts your busy moment in the day. Jesus presents Himself through the least of these. I was on my way to a prayer meeting. It was my birthday. It was a bitter cold November day. I was very excited because my birthday just happened to fall the day after the Feast of Christ the King. And so, in all this excitement for the prayer meeting, I am rushing, I'm helping to lead the prayer meeting. I'm rushing to get there. I had invited friends from salsa dancing, friends who were neighbors, housemates. I lived in a household. So, all these people, family, who would not typically come to this prayer meeting when they would ask, what do you want for your birthday? Just come to this prayer meeting. So, through my mind is running all the preparations for the prayer meeting, all these beautiful people coming to the prayer meeting. And as I'm driving away from work, I'm working in the corporate world at this time. I am driving along. My mind is on what's ahead. And there's a woman sitting outside in a wheelchair at an intersection. I didn't know if she was planning to cross the street or not, but I thought, wow, if she is, I just don't have time. And so, I drive through the intersection still not knowing whether or not this woman who is sitting in a wheelchair plans to cross the street. And the Lord spoke to my heart so powerfully, so profoundly, I knew it was my heavenly father disciplining me. Jesus Christ had presented himself in the least of these. And I drove past. I immediately turned the car around, drove back. I saw, I was kind of relieved. Oh, good. She wasn't crossing in front of my path, still trying to make excuses for my disobedience. And I just apologized to this woman. I got out of my car, apologized to her, said, you know, I'm really sorry, I didn't wait to see if you wanted to cross the street. She was like, why are you apologizing to me? And I handed her gloves that I had in my car and I just said, God bless you. And then in that moment, I knew I had encountered Jesus Christ. That was the greatest gift of that birthday. And not only that, God in his amazing grace, and the timing even, I was thinking about time, the timing even, as I am pulling up to an intersection, I see a coworker who had joined a Bible study, lunchtime Bible study at the bus stop. And I just yell out to him, hey, do you wanna go to a prayer meeting? First mass, then a prayer meeting? He's like, sure. So he crosses the road, gets into my car, and we drive off to mass. So just, just share with you, be aware Jesus will always present himself to you through the least of these. And it's every day that Jesus will present himself to you every day. He wants to be with you. He wants to speak to you. He wants your heart. Give him your heart when you see the least of these. And finally, there are many, many, many other ways the Lord will speak to you. It's very intimate, very personal. But one of the most profound ways that the Lord has spoken to me is through the gift of prophecy. I was part of a core team time of very informal prayer. This is not a formal prayer meeting at all, but we are praying together. And during this informal time of prayer, just spontaneously, we start praying for each person around the circle, about eight of us. And all of a sudden, man and his wife, as they're praying for me, the man says, you know, Alicia, I just see the Lord standing on a path. He's in the middle of the woods. He's looking back at you, laughing. And he's saying, come on, keep up. Now, to most people, you would think, what kind of a word is that? But what stirred in my heart was, throughout my youth, I would go away on a retreat and I would run through the woods. My heart would be so filled with joy. I would run with Jesus in solitude. And I was so filled with joy that even as I'm running, sometimes for miles, just filled with joy, I would be laughing. This man never could have known any of that. I hadn't known him that long, but the Lord convicted me. And to this day, I remember and I take out that precious gift that was given to me. And oftentimes, I can hear Jesus saying, come on, keep up. And we're laughing and we're running together. And so be aware, be open to the Lord speaking to you through the gift of prophecy. All right, now we wanna take a look at the gift of prophecy. This gift is spectacular. Spectacular. I wanna invite you if you're writing, write down on a note to self. You have homework. Read all of 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. All three chapters. 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. Very simply put, the gift of prophecy is hearing God speak and speaking what you hear God say. We see in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse seven. Now to each one, the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good. Now this is talking about spiritual gifts. So what is a spiritual gift? A manifestation of the spirit. A manifestation of the spirit. Why is it given for the common good, for the equipping of the bride of Christ, for the equipping of the church? So this is not any of the spiritual gifts. This is not, I mean, you will be blessed, but when you're exercising this gift, this is for others. This is for others. So we have that understanding. If we read on in chapter 12, verse 11 of 1 Corinthians, all these are the work of one and the same spirit, and he distributes them to each one just as he determines. So there's an understanding that this is a work of the spirit. It's not your work. This is a work of the spirit, and he is the one to distribute the gift. So that brings us into a place of humility, deep, deep humility. St. Paul says, if I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. Again, this posture of humility and this posture of love is what we're being invited to as a foundation. St. Paul goes on to say in chapter 13, verse eight, love never fails, but where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled, and where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For what we know in part, for we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. St. Paul is sharing this mysterious manifestation of the Holy Spirit is the kingdom of heaven come. It is mysterious, and when we come into the fullness of heaven, it will pass away. And he's saying, he's giving us instructions for the gift of prophecy, for all the spiritual gifts. But he's letting us know what we know in part, we will know in full. There will be a fullness of understanding. There will be a fullness of knowing the Lord once we get to heaven. But here on earth, there is a mystery and we know in part. So even in that, again, we're now embracing mystery when we embrace the gift of prophecy. That can be difficult for some of us, maybe all of us, but we embrace mystery. What's interesting is that immediately after St. Paul says, this will pass away. He goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 14 verse one, pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. Whew. All right, so we have an exhortation. This is not only for the church at Corinth, this is for all of us. Pursue love, let your action be love. Pursue love and eagerly desire. So pursue love, this is an action. Eagerly desire, this is an act of the heart. Lord, I desire the spiritual gifts. Eagerly desire, especially that you may prophesy. Again, this is a desire of the heart. Let's just stop right there and give the Lord the desire of our heart. Show of hands and an act of faith. Who here would like to hear the voice of God more clearly? All right, who here would like to receive the gift of prophecy? Beautiful, that was an awesome act of faith. And it is an act of faith to say, I want this gift. Now let's give that desire to the Lord. We come before you Father in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. And Father, we wanna hear you. We wanna know you. Father, we come before you standing in our identity in Jesus Christ, your beloved Son with whom you are well pleased. And Father, even as your little ones, as your children, Father, we ask in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit that we would hear your voice more and more clearly every single day that we live. We wanna hear you. We wanna know you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Wanna invite you to out loud, just express your desire to hear God's voice. Doesn't have to be a formal prayer, but just out loud, it can be very quiet. God, I wanna hear you. I wanna know you. Open my eyes, open my ears. Lord Jesus, I wanna know you, Holy Spirit, know you, Heavenly Father, more and more every day. Wanna invite you to hold your hands open in front of you. And especially for those who just raised their hands saying, I want the gift of prophecy. Be ready, pray with expectant faith. And I wanna invite all of you here in this room. If you have received, if you have exercised in the gift of prophecy, please stand. If you have received the gift of prophecy, if you have exercised the gift of prophecy, please stand. I wanna invite all of you who are standing to extend your hands toward those who are sitting and we're gonna pray together. Heavenly Father, we pray in expectant faith, asking that you would send your spirit now to fall afresh on every one of us. And Father, we lift up to you our desire not only to hear from you, but Father, to speak your word, to speak what we receive in your power, in your love, that your presence might be manifest in our midst, in our families, in our churches, in our children, in our parents, in our workplaces, in the streets with strangers. Lord, with those we carry in our hearts, we desire to be your instruments. We desire to build up the body of Christ, to build up the church, and we yield that desire to you now. Come Holy Spirit, I invite you if you're holding your hands open now to just invite the Holy Spirit to come. Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, we yield to you the desires of our hearts. We yield to you this desire to receive the gift of prophecy, and Heavenly Father, even now we ask in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit that every gift and every grace poured out in this moment would be sealed in our hearts, sealed in our minds for your glory. We pray this in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen, amen. Beautiful, beautiful, thank you to all of you who joined in leading that prayer. All right, so now we're moving into a place of, okay, that was beautiful. We learned about the gift of prophecy. We prayed for the gift of prophecy. How do we use it? What does it look like to exercise this gift of the Holy Spirit? So first, it's important to understand that when you pray for this gift, it is critical for you to have a Bible nearby. Oftentimes, you will receive a word that is scripture, and you might just get part of it. You might have to use a search to find the verse, but with expectant faith, oftentimes the Lord will give us a scripture for a group of people, a scripture for a person. Sometimes it's an image that we receive, just like that picture of Jesus laughing and saying, come on, keep up. There's a picture with a prophetic word or an image. Sometimes all we are experiencing is a sense, just an incredible sense that overwhelms us, that fills us, and that's where it begins. That's the seed of receiving that prophetic word. Sometimes it's an actual word that we see in our mind. Sometimes we are given entire phrases. Sometimes the gift of prophecy is poured out in a mysterious way that is beyond any of what I just shared. So have expectant faith, be open to receive. When you receive, you might hear in your mind, so it might be a thought coming into your mind. It might be your heart, a sense coming to your heart. You might have a dream. You might hear a prophetic word spoken in tongues, and you might receive a sense, a word, a vision. The Lord is mysterious, so have expectant faith, be aware. When you have that experience, again, embrace radical humility, radical surrender to the Lord, and again, that expectant faith, oftentimes like the word of God, that prophetic word starts as a seed. It's very small, it's like a gentle nudge, and it grows. St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, he gives us very clear outline of how prophetic words are to build up the body of Christ. So we see in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, but the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, their encouraging, their comfort, strength, courage, comfort. Does that sound good? Yes, yes. St. Paul goes on to say that revelation, instruction, and knowledge, and even exhortation can come through prophetic words. So that strength, courage, comfort, revelation, instruction, the Lord can actually teach you through a prophetic word. God bless you. Knowledge, so he's saying strength, courage, comfort, revelation, instruction, knowledge, exhortation, and even evangelization. If you read through chapter 14, you'll see all of that. These are the many ways that the body of Christ is equipped. Not only that, but the body of Christ is sent as missionaries. This is kind of a secondary in the way Paul presents it, but he said, even unbelievers can be convicted of sin through a prophetic word. And so we wanna be attentive. When the Lord speaks to us, is he speaking to us to give strength to the body? And I'll share, I shared that example earlier of just that, keep up. The Lord was giving me strength to this day. He's still giving me strength through that prophetic word that was shared. To encourage. Usually when I go out to minister in any way, I will ask the Lord for a prophetic word for the people. And sometimes it's just a prophetic word to instruct how I intercede for that group. I was recently in New York City and it was a Brazilian, so trilingual retreat. So Portuguese, Spanish, English, and we had one Haitian member who joined the retreat. And as I prayed, it was a women's retreat in New York City, so as I prayed for this beautiful group of women, I asked the Lord, Lord, will you give me a word for these women? And I had fallen in love with them long before I ever met them because I'd been praying for them. And I could experience the Lord's love for them because I had been praying for them, but this is the word that I receive. So I knit you together in your mother's womb I hold you in the palm of my hand. I have formed you, I am forming you, I will form you. Incredibly, I didn't plan on sharing it at this particular retreat, but incredibly, as the worship team gathered to pray together before the retreat launched, the worship leader said, you know, I think we should just pray with Psalm 139. But confirmed, she had no idea that was part of my own personal prayer. So just be aware, especially when your heart is moved with love, as you are interceding, the Lord might give you a prophetic word, even as you pray. You're not with the people, you're not interacting with the people. Maybe you haven't even met the people yet, but the Lord will sometimes give you a specific word for those people. Comfort, comfort is something that is desperately needed in the world today. As the Lord sends you out to exercise this gift of prophecy, know that the Lord will invite you to be a voice piece of comfort to his people. A woman called me and she was crying and she said, you know, I'm just so angry at God. I'm so angry. She said, I've been through divorce. I lost my son when he was very young and I just got a message from my daughter saying that not only has she been struggling with her identity, but she is choosing to live in that identity that she has struggled with. She said, I'm just so angry. And as we prayed together, I thought, oh Lord, I can do nothing but weep with this woman. I have nothing to give her. Lord, comfort her, have mercy. Even as we prayed, the Lord gave me just this beautiful picture of our heavenly Father holding this woman as a little baby, just comforting her, just consoling her, just holding her. And then I had a sense of her, what was very much on her heart was, what do I do? How do I even pray for my daughter? Just this incredible, incredible weight that this woman is carrying in her heart for her child. So the second part of what I was receiving for her was that she was holding her daughter as a newborn baby. And she, so here's where the comfort, but also some instruction comes in, that she was to pray, to go and pray until she was quieted like a newborn baby held in the arms of her heavenly Father. And she was to pray for her daughter from the place of holding her newborn baby in her identity as her little one, as her little girl, so innocent, so beautiful, straight from heaven. And that was how she was to pray for her daughter. So there can be just a sense for you to know how to pray, but even in praying with and for someone else, the Lord might give you a clarity of how to pray when you didn't know how to pray. And the Lord might give you a grace for that person that you're praying with. So revelation, instruction, knowledge, exhortation, I know we have just a little time left, but it's important to be aware that the Lord will speak to you out of all of those places. I remember a little nephew at eight years old during a prayer meeting. He had been memorizing scripture, and when I whispered to my little nephew, hey, do any of you have a word or a scripture? He didn't hesitate. I do. He got up and went to the front of the room and he said, as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. It was so powerful. So even if you feel like, Lord, I don't even know what's going on with this gift. I think I have a scripture, maybe for this group, know that the Lord can use you even as you receive. Recently, someone shared with me so that the knowledge, she said she was praying with the Franciscan friars of the renewal, she's at a prayer meeting and she said, Alicia, I can't even tell you. I'm trying to enter into the Lord's presence, trying to pray, and she said all of a sudden I was hearing cream of wheat. She said, Lord, I don't even know what to do with this. She said, but I could not pay attention to what was happening in this prayer meeting. Cream of wheat, cream of wheat. And she was like, all right, I'm just gonna share this. So she shares at this prayer meeting, cream of wheat. She said, I don't know if this means anything to anyone, but this is what's on my heart. When she shared that word, a woman who was there, she was older, she said, I've been taking care of my mother-in-law and I think that word's for me. She said, every single morning she has cream of wheat for breakfast. And as she said, you know, my mother-in-law is actually dying right now and everything just stopped. And everyone turned to her and started praying for her, praying for her mother-in-law, and the Lord did a mighty, mighty work. So when I invite you, even as you pray for this gift and as you step out in faith, know that it might be very humbling for you. And know that the Lord, the lower you go in humility and docility and obedience, the greater glory to God. So just have this awareness. Sometimes we receive a gift and we think, well, I've got it, I have the gift of prophecy. That's it, I have the gift. What happens with a professional athlete? What happens with a professional ballerina when they have a gift? What do they do? They practice, they train, they spend hours and hours doing strength training, growing in skill, they practice, they study, and whatever area of that gift that they have received. So I wanna invite you, when you go out from here, to ask the Holy Spirit to give to you a group, maybe a prayer group, maybe family and friends, maybe this is a ministry at your church where you're able to find others who have this hunger and thirst and excitement to grow in the gift of prophecy. And I wanna encourage you to just pray with that group, be open, read scripture, study, and step out in faith and practice with that group. One of the graces that really opened my heart to the gift of prophecy was seeing a seminarian from Columbia and he said, you know, I went to a seminary called Slaves of the Holy Spirit and I thought, slaves of the Holy Spirit, that's what a seminary name. He was like, well, it could be translated servant. I was like, all so powerful. And I asked him after witnessing how profoundly, like an arrow piercing my heart, every time I prayed with not only the seminarian, but the community that he had prayed with and been formed in, in Columbia, just this discernment, this grace, this power that went out, they asked him, you know, can I ask you, how are you formed? And he said, Alicia, I spent four years praying in a small group, practicing. Not only that, but I went to a weekly prayer meeting and we had Bible study once a week as well. I was like, wow, that's fantastic. And he was like, this is not like a Bible study that you might think about where it's, you know, we're gonna read this and discuss it all together. This is a Bible study where it's, read the book of Genesis for next week. This, this was hard, core study of the word of God. The word of God is the foundation for the prophetic gift. Anytime you receive any word, there will be confirmation for that word, not only from the body of Christ and a resonating in the hearts and minds of those that you proclaim the word to, but there's a confirmation in scripture. So we wanna look for that, we wanna be aware of it. We wanna know the word of God as we exercise this gift. There are also times when the Lord speaks and you might be almost afraid to proclaim a word when it's an exhortation. Who wants to be the bearer of exhortations? Anyone? Oh, oh, we had one. Exortations, so when you were disciplined by your parents, you could have been exhorted. Exortations can also be an invitation to change in a way that maybe you actually desire. So they're kind of two sides of exhortation, but it's almost always an invitation to change. At the 1977 Kansas City Conference, Ralph Martin proclaimed a word, almost everyone I have ever talked to about that conference, one of the primary things they remember is the prophetic word that he proclaimed. That prophetic word began with the body of my son is broken, weep and mourn, and he went on and almost everyone I talked to says, you know, I was convicted. I am convicted for the rest of my life that I am to pursue unity in the body of Christ. So it was an exhortation. We don't wanna hear that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ is broken. But wow, was that word received? So be open to that. Just as our dear friend, that Franciscan friar we heard about in the very beginning was asking, it was asked, what is God saying to you? Keep asking that question. Keep asking, ask it of each other. Ask the Lord, Lord, what are you saying to me? And then wait in expectant faith. Every single spiritual gift calls for discernment. So pray for discernment and pray like that, Franciscan friar. In the name of Jesus, who is speaking? In the name of Jesus, Lord, I ask, is this a word for me or for others? Ask, does this word align with scripture and the teachings of the church? And does the word strengthen, encourage, comfort, reveal, instruct, share a word of knowledge, exhort or evangelize? Now all this can happen maybe very slowly as you begin to practice. You can take a journal and write down a word and then share it with a spiritual director, share it with your prayer group leader or this might all happen instantly. So pray for the grace to grow into discernment. All right, our time is up, but I wanna send you out with a word that is for you. And so as you receive this word, there is a particular grace that we all have as those who have been baptized. We stand just as Jesus stood, receiving the love of the Father. So I wanna invite you to stand. All right, and I have a maybe very humbling act for some of us, but I wanna invite you, maybe all of us have done this as little ones. I wanna invite you to reach up to our heavenly Father. Beautiful, beautiful. And as we reach up, I want you to close your eyes and I wanna invite you to receive just as our Lord Jesus Christ received the Father speaking over him. This is my beloved son. This is my beloved daughter with whom I am well pleased. Hear the voice of the Father speaking over you. For I so loved you. I sent my only begotten son that you might believe and have eternal life. Hear our Lord Jesus Christ proclaiming over you. Remain in me, abide in me, and hear the Holy Spirit speaking. I will overshadow you. Carry the fire of my love in the womb of your heart and you will give birth to Christ in the world. Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you. We exalt you for how you are speaking over your children, the children of God in this place right now. And Father, even as we go out from here, we ask that you would send your spirit to fall afresh on us with our every breath and our every step that we might know you, love you, serve you, and share you, Lord. That we might be ready to hear you, that we might be ready to speak. And we pray this blessing for your glory and honor as we pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen. The name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.