 Good morning, everyone. Welcome to this morning's session on prophetic ministry. Let's pray and begin. I would like to request one of us on the call to please lead in prayer. Kindly unmute and pray aloud. Jai Havani, Father, we come to the name of Jesus. We thank you for this day. We thank you for the class we are about to have. God, I give all my classmates and juniors, be with us and guide us as prophets and churches. I help us to open our mind and heart and listen to it, you know, just listen to it. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. So we've been talking about activating the gift of prophecy and there are so many things that we can do to help you. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. So we've been talking about activating the gift of prophecy and there are some key principles that we need to settle in our hearts before we flow in this gift. And that's what we were talking about. We talk about the gift of prophecy. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. So we've been talking about activating the gift of prophecy and there are some key principles that we need to settle in our hearts before we flow in this gift. And that's what we were talking about. We talked about the fact that all can prophesy similar to the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. God releases all of them. But we saw how there is something relevant for a moment or a given circumstance. And that is when, you know, we say that, okay, this particular gift is operational now and some other gift. But here is the reality, the Holy Spirit, he is given to all of us. He comes with all the gifts and all of us can manifest all the nine gifts of the Spirit. And which is why prophecy is also something that each one of us can flow in. And we saw some essential things such as releasing the prophetic word in faith because without faith, we will not see the stirring up and the operation of the gifts of the Spirit. So the opposite of this is when I have unbelief in my heart or let's say I have no faith in my heart, what happens? I cannot move in the gifts of the Spirit. So how do we develop faith? We know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So it's when we input the word and let it work in our hearts that faith will be generated. So even as we study about prophetic ministry and the gift of prophecy, one thing which is taking place right now is faith is being built up. So that also is an encouragement for us to know that you and I will be able to flow better in the prophetic gift. So we must spend time in the word of God. Now moving on, spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts, they are from the Lord. It's a gift from God. We cannot sort of make them happen on our own. That's a reality. But we also said that these gifts can be imparted and these gifts can be activated. So there is the origin of the gifts which is from God. But in our human pursuit, we can have the gifts activated and imparted to us. So that is something that we recognize and which is why training, developing, nurturing, the gift is relevant. It's not unbiblical. And of course, we can make our gifts stronger and cause it to be more effective or even take it to a level where it's very accurate and perfect as well. So this also helps us to work with the gift better. So now I'm going to some of the other key things that I had shared. We said that prophecy is impart. Nobody can read up another person completely because we are limited. We are human beings and we know that it's only God who is omniscient or God is all knowing. Now that God is all knowing, He chooses to reveal a portion of what He thinks is important. So even when we pray for someone, the revelation which we receive could be in line with what we have prayed or it could be something completely different. For example, somebody could come up to me and say, Pastor, can you please pray for my career? But as I'm praying for their career, maybe I don't receive any revelation from God about their career. Instead, I receive a revelation from God regarding their ministry. And so that might surprise the person who's praying and the person who's receiving because we were asking for something absolutely different. But we have to go with what God is choosing to reveal. And that's how it works. So it is about what God wants to reveal in those moments. And that is something we must understand. So we should get shocked and say, what is this? I wanted to know something else, but God is just not talking about a certain matter. Let's say someone's praying for their marriage and they're asking God, okay, God show me, reveal to me what would you, which way are you leading me? Maybe they don't receive any inputs in that matter. And God may want them to learn from the wisdom of His word alone. We don't know. So it depends. It really depends on what it is that God thinks is important to reveal to us. That we talked about the fact that all prophecy must be judged because prophecy is pure, the gift is pure, but the human vessel that releases the gift can sometimes make mistakes, errors, because we have our own biases, ideas and thoughts and that can rub off on the prophetic word that comes. So we must be careful about that. So we must let other people also evaluate and assess the prophetic word which is being spoken. We'll talk more about it later when we are talking about interpreting personal prophecy. Now moving ahead, we are saying that when a message is given, the way we deliver the message is in our own control. So sometimes there is this thought that when the Holy Spirit moves, He will force us to release the gifts the way He wants. So there are all these mindsets in Christian circles where physically they don't have any control or they are shaking and this and that. Well, it could happen initially when we are sensing the power of God, but then it's not like the Holy Spirit will override our will or our control. So scriptures do tell us, 1 Corinthians 14 verses 32 and 33, the essence there is the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. Simply to say that God gives us the control on how we want to deliver a certain message and prophecy can flow with other gifts. We've already talked about the gift packs. We may actually be expecting just the prophetic word to be released, but we notice that the person needs healing. And so the gifts of healings can flow in those moments or the person may really need a miracle and the gifts of healing, gifts of miracle might be operational. So it really depends on how God wants to work and we should not try to compartmentalize the gifts and think that, okay, this is how it is supposed to be. You know, diagnose it and say, okay, this is this gift that is that gift as long as the person is getting blessed, you know, we are also happy with that. And I shared how it's important for us to give the listener an opportunity to assess the prophetic word by which we are saying they should be able to trust God for a confirmation or go to somebody else to make sure that what they are hearing from us is really from God. And so when we are giving them an opportunity to assess the prophetic word, if we avoid the terms that says the Lord, it will be very helpful, especially for younger believers so that they know that there is the freedom to actually get a confirmation for this prophecy. I don't have to act on it. Now moving to the next section here, preparation for releasing the prophecy. So the most important question that we ask in anything that we do, particularly in ministry is why am I doing what I am doing? So whenever we are able to answer that why with an appropriate, you know, appropriate, let's say intention or motivation, then it makes all that we are doing worthwhile. So here we ask the question, why am I learning about prophecy? Why am I learning about spiritual gifts? Why should I get better at spiritual gifts? So the answer to that question is in 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 12, Paul wrote to the believers, he said, you are zealous for spiritual gifts. Let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel. So there it is. What does he say? Zealous for the spiritual gifts is, yes, we are excited, we are interested, we want to grow in the practice of the spiritual gifts. But the reason why we want to do it is so that we can edify the church, edify is build up. So edify the church would simply mean build up the people because who makes up the church? People make up the church. We want to build them up spiritually. We want to build them up, you know, with regard to different things that may concern them. And which is why we are saying that we need to grow in the prophetic gift. So when our motive is pure that the intention is let God's people be blessed with these gifts. Let me be more accurate so that, you know, when I say a word, see, for example, I've heard prophecies in which people have even given out phone numbers. Okay, I remember once in our weekend school, one of the pastors who was ministering, he flows very, very smoothly in the prophetic gift. And he said something like, I know that there are, and here the exact number, so many people whose birthdays are on the 1st of January. He just said that, okay. And then one person put up their hand, and then another person put up their hand. Like basically it's a group and what are the chances that he knows, and he was not related to any of us who knew our birthdays. But he actually said that and it was correct. There were those many people whose birthdays were on that day. I've heard people who even can say phone numbers and I've personally not heard, but I have seen testimonies where it is said that even bank account numbers, right? There are prophets who are so accurate, right? So apparently there's one particular prophet to get the attention of a very rich businessman. When he went to minister to that businessman, he started saying a number and he did not know what that number was. He just started saying, does this number make sense to you? And then he started saying some particular number and the businessman said, hey, stop, because that is my Swiss account number. So it's like God knows how to get people's attention. So the level of accuracy that we have in the prophetic can be incredible. But you see, even things like this, somewhere we can become very proud. We can feel that, okay, if I do all these things, then people will say, oh, so and so, look at Pastor Nancy, she's so good at prophesying. So the thing is, we can do the right thing, but we can have the wrong motivation. And that is the most critical thing where our motivation is right before the Lord. Because God can keep taking us to greater heights, but when our hearts are settled in the right place and we're thinking, hey, this is nothing to do, you know, to validate myself. But it's more for the benefit of the listener. That person is being blessed. That person is being made aware of the presence of God, the reality of God and how God loves them. So God, for that sake, please help me to be strong in the prophetic gift or any other gift. That is the right motivation. So we must make sure that we are zealous for the gifts. But our intention is the edification of the church. Okay, moving along. The next important thing here. When we minister, one thing that we must do while releasing a prophecy. And this is important for all forms of ministry. Keep our spirit separate from personal experiences. So what do we mean by that? We might have, let's say, a positive experience. And we would have seen a certain gift function in a certain way. For example, when I'm prophesying for somebody, I may notice that if I lay hands on them, then it flows better. Some small little things happen. And you notice it and then you're like, okay, fine, every time I'll do that. But here's the point. We cannot box God up. Even if it was a positive experience last time, maybe God wants to do it in a different way. Maybe he just wants you to call out something or write out a note and tell the person that this is what God is saying. So God is very creative. And whether it is a positive experience of the past or let's say a negative experience. Negative experience may mean, you know, suppose there is an example of a bad marriage. And in that marriage, both the husband and wife, they don't get along and there's a lot of hurt. There's a lot of accusation, everything. Now, if they don't receive healing from God for these matters, what happens when they are ministering? Not just in prophecies, but even sharing the word or encouraging someone. Somewhere those biases, there is a risk of those biases showing up where, you know, the lady might say, oh, don't trust men. They're like that. Or the man might say, don't trust women because they are like this. But where is that coming from? It's coming from a negative experience that the individual has had. And they have not found healing for it. And so these things are dangerous because our personal experience can sometimes bring a bias or it can hinder the true flow of the spirit. Because what's happening again, the gift is pure. The flow of the Holy Spirit is very real. But it is marred by negative emotions or hurts. That one is experiencing or let's say an experience which is maybe you may want to call it neutral like as a minister of God who has left their career. Maybe they were at the peak of their career and then they decided to quit their job to serve the Lord. Now, just because they did it and they're not separating their personal experience, right? Well, ministering to another person, if one is not careful, they might give the same advice to everybody. But then that's not how God works. Maybe quitting their job was their call. But for someone else that they are ministering to, God may be asking them to continue in their job and still serve him. So this is how personal experiences sometimes interfere. So this is like I usually do this and I'm praying for someone. I just take time to pray in the spirit a little bit. If there's an opportunity to do that, I just pray in the spirit, stir myself up. And then I just say, Lord, let me not think of anything. I try to calm my mind and then as the Lord gives pictures, words, something fresh that is coming into my mind. We'll see later on that generally the first things that appear, the first things that we pick up are from the Lord. And then we have to see how to deliver it in the right way. So these are all some things that you and I can practice while releasing the gift of prophecy. Or the best thing that happens is when you're not even thinking about it, you get a word from God. So I remember this happened. This was somewhere during COVID when COVID was ending and church services had started. So all our pastors would go and minister on the stage. So one particular Sunday, it was a common service. Our congregation had not yet started. So I had gone to Central Church and this was not even when I went on the stage and we started praying for prophetic words. Somewhere in the middle of the service, I got a prompting. Okay, somebody's right hand, right elbow. I don't remember exactly something like that. Right elbow, God is healing it. And then skin allergies, God is healing. Then I just shared that word and I was not even thinking that I should get a prophetic word. But as I was worshiping, listening to the sermon, it just came. But then I knew the moment the mind went to these thoughts, I was like, hey, that's the prophetic word. I have to release this. So I called out those healings. The very next week, I think there were testimonies that came in. In fact, one lady had made a video about how she earlier, she was not able to move her hand, but now she was able to move her hand. And also another person from another country had written and said, like I had for many months, I had these skin allergies. But the moment that word was called up, it started healing. Okay, so I was amazed. Frankly, everyone I think who gives the word will be amazed themselves because we are not the source. God is the source and he's giving us these words. Okay, so when we pick it up and try to separate our thinking from this, that is the best way to minister. And as I said, calm yourself down, come to a place of stillness and then you will be in a better position to receive. Or even nicer is when you're not thinking about a matter and God gives you a word because you're not biased when those incidents happen. Okay, let's go on. So there's quite a bit to talk about here. Separate your spirit from personal prejudices. Prejudices is, again, it's a bias where, you know, we might have our own mindset. Like, let's say we think that people who wear a certain kind of outfit are holy. Others are not, you know, or people who have a certain way of grooming. Let's say a young person comes to us with a mohawk and a lot of, you know, earrings, piercings and everything. We might look at him and think in our hearts be very judgmental and think, oh, what a sinner. You know, somewhere we have our own way of assessing people and judging them and saying this one's holy, that one's not holy. But that is our own personal prejudice. So we have to get rid of that. Now, God may, we may not know the person with all the piercings and weird-looking hairstyle and everything. For all you know, that person's walk with the Lord might be much more purer than the so-called person who's wearing, you know, like a white and white. So this is how we think. And if we are not careful, we will give preference to the people we think are holy or we think are important or think about this. You know, some leaders come to the church, political leaders come or you may have some celebrities coming to the church or even a rich person comes to the church. And you have some, you know, people you know they are not well to do. When we are prophesying, we could have this tendency where we want to give a long prophetic word to the rich person or the political leader and not the poor person. But what does the Bible say? It says, don't show partiality. So these are all personal prejudices that one must be careful about. Now even this happens, sometimes as individuals, we carry a very critical or a judgmental spirit. If we don't deal with that, every prophecy that we release will be condemning for others. Like, you know, yes, God is using you today, but, you know, he's warning you if you're not careful, then he's going to bring you down so much calamity will come on you this and that. But you see, sometimes some folks repeatedly it's only warnings, judgments, punishment, calamity. So that is somewhere indicative of a critical spirit that one is working with that critical spirit and so every prophecy is like that. Or, you know, sometimes people are perfectionists and they expect perfection from themselves and therefore they expect perfection from everyone else. And so, again, they are very critical of others. So we have to see as to how our spirit is. If it is not in a place that it has received healing from God, we too can be releasing judgmental prophecies or be very self-righteous, isn't it? Where we put others down, we hold others to very high standards, whereas our own lives are not, you know, proper before the Lord. So these are things to be careful about. Now, other things to note when we are prophesying. I told us that not always does God reveal. So there can be times when we pray and we don't hear anything. Now, that doesn't mean something is wrong with the person or something is wrong with us. It doesn't mean that. It may simply mean that God wants to speak another time. Okay? And so what do you do? Imagine, you know, somebody has called you to minister and they think, wow, so and so you are flowing beautifully in the prophetic gift, please come. You go there and they say, okay, give us a word and you pray for them. There is no word. It can be so embarrassing because you're like, oh, what will they think of me? But here's what the Word of God says. So that is a scripture portion here. Could somebody please read it Jeremiah 23 verses 16 and 28. It's in the notes. PDF is page number 126, but maybe your number is different. Jeremiah 23, 16 and 28. In Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 16, this is what the Lord Almighty says. Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you. They fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. Verse 28, let the prophet who has a dream tell his truth, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. What has straw to do with the great declares the Lord? Okay, thank you, Jeffina. So as we can see here, it's saying that when we say something which is not from God, what did God tell his people? Don't listen to those words of the prophets because they make you worthless. They speak a vision which is their own, from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord. So we have to be very careful. When we prophesy it has got, we have to test our own hearts and see, okay, is it from God or is it from me? So when I am convinced that this is from God, that's when I release it. Okay, now if I don't hear anything from God, see the next verse, verse 28, the prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the beat says the Lord. So if there's a prophetic word, release it. If there's no prophetic word, we have the written word of God, we have the instruction of God's word, maybe we can just pray a blessing on the people and stop with that. That should be fine. So the test is not only to accurately prophesy. The test is to be right at the source. So if I'm not receiving anything from God, actually the bigger test is keeping silent. Can we be silent or do we feel the pressure? You know sometimes we feel pressure, isn't it, that people are expecting. I have to give a good word or what will they think? What will they think about me? Like this Sunday, I remember this Sunday it happened. Generally at the ministry time, we call out words, isn't it? So as the Lord puts, the Lord is healing people of back pain, the Lord is healing this and that. So I prayed and really I didn't get anything. And I thought, oh goodness, what am I going to do? Because towards the wrapping up of the service, I don't know what to call out. All I did was I just prayed a blessing on the people. I just said, okay, this is what the cross has done and you are blessed and this and that. I just prayed the word. That's fine. What if people think that, oh, look at this pastor, not spiritual enough? Well, it shouldn't bother us because we have to be faithful. If I heard from God, let me say it. If I did not hear from God, let me not manufacture anything. Okay, so that is the test. What is the problem? If we manufacture something, one is we are not honoring God. We are being disobedient. It is obviously sin because we are lying. It's not from God. Second is, you see what that passage said? These people who prophesy things from their own heart, they make you worthless. So we are hurting people. That is the danger. We have to be careful. Okay. Now moving ahead, it says when it comes to prophesying, build and maintain Godly character. So when we look at the word of God, the word says that new wine can be poured in new wine skin. Because if new wine is poured in old wine skin, it will burst. So what does God say? He's saying that God is ready to pour out his spirit, but for us to contain the work of God, for us to release the work of God, we need the wine skin called as character. If character is strong, okay? If character is filled with faith, established in God, grounded in integrity, then what happens? Then we are able to serve God appropriately. But if the character is not fit, then what happens? There are all these tendencies to manipulate and that's very, very dangerous. In fact, you know, Paul, when he talks to the Corinthian church, something so beautiful, you know, we see a church which is flowing in the gifts of the spirit. So what is our conclusion? This church is a spiritual church. It must be a mature church because God is giving them all the gifts of the spirit. But that's not true because Paul writes to these same Corinthians and says, you know, he rebukes them. He says you are carnal and he tells them stop behaving like ordinary men. So here is this contrast. You have the flow of the gifts, but you have carnal believers. Okay? And that's a bad combination. What does God want? He wants the gifts to be operational, but he is calling the believers to maturity. So that would be the best combination. Now, God does not withhold the gifts because we are still, you know, very young in the Lord. We are still growing in God. God is very gracious that way. He lavishes his gifts on all his children, but then the responsibility will follow us. And as much as we work on the effectiveness and the accuracy of the gift, we must also work on the character. So when I become grounded in the faith and develop, you know, perseverance, integrity, strong identity, what happens? I'm able to flow in the gifts better. And it will be a blessing to the people. Now, the next thing here, I'm just moving on with whatever is there in our notes. But if you have a question, then you can always stop me. Okay? Just unmute and ask. So here's the next thing. It says, do not base your identity in spiritual gifts. Now, even in the course Code of Honor, we would have studied this, that our identity is not our ministry. We are more than our ministry. Okay? We are children of God. We are loved by God. Now, you know, we are blessed. So many things that we learn of who we have become in Christ Jesus. That should be the most important thing. But when we make our identity, spiritual gifts, okay? And we want people to know that, oh, look at this brother. It's very good with prophecy. Look at this brother. He flows in healing. And if people don't recognize us for that, we get hurt. We say, oh, come on. They're not giving me the respect or they're not valuing me for the gifts that God has put on my life. Or for the anointing that God has given. There are people who completely base their identity on the ministry or the flow of spiritual gifts. But that is actually a sign of insecurity. And misplaced identity. Now, we will see later there is something known as prophetic teams. So when we work with others, there will be times when let's say we are very good at hearing from God and flowing in the gifts. But when we are working in a team, we may have to give the next person the chance to prophesy. Or we may have to give the microphone to another person. And here's what could happen. The microphone may never come back to you. But are you okay with that? Or does it make you feel small that, oh, people couldn't see me prophesying? So this is all, for us, we may think, oh, why is pastor using an example like that? But this is the reality because within us, we go through these questions and struggles. But when we are grounded in Christ, you remember the time when Jesus commissioned people. He said, go cast out devils in Luke 10. I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and nothing by any means shall hurt you. They come back and they tell Jesus, we saw Satan fall like lightning. So what were they saying? They were saying, we saw the downfall of Satan. We saw the defeat of Satan. It was spectacular. But then Jesus says something like, don't rejoice that you saw all this. But rejoice that your name is written in the book of life. Was Jesus saying that ministry is not important, gifts of the spirit are not important? No, no, let's not interpret it like that because we know other portions of scripture give a lot of importance for ministry and gifts of the spirit. But he's making a deeper point and that point is about security, identity. Where he's saying, beyond all the things that you can do, rejoice that you are my children, you are with me. So that's how we flow better in the gifts of the spirit and know what the word of God says. So when we know the word of God, when it comes to interpreting of prophecy, we will be very, very accurate. Now, take for example, if there is a prophetic word, I remember I've heard somebody say this also. This was when I was in my professional career and I had a certain friend, she was from another country. And in their country, I think it was culturally okay to leave marriages and you can just move on to the next person, something like that. So I was talking to her and she said that another good friend of mine that God gave her a word that the person that she was with right now, that that's not the right person and that she has to go with somebody else. Okay, and she was already married. Okay, so when I heard this, I was so shocked. I said, how can you even say that? How can that even be a prophecy? Because the Bible talks about the covenant of marriage. So if you don't understand the Bible, then in the name of prophecy, people talk many things and it messes up lives of men and women. So I was immediately alerted because it's going against a fundamental principle, fundamental covenant in the word of God. When somebody is already married, how can God give a word that, okay, I want you to be with somebody else. So this is why knowing the word is so critical. The foundation of God's word has to be very, very strong for the accurate practice of the release of the gift of prophecy. Another important thing is when we prophesy, we will see that God speaks through visions, pictures, symbols, parables. Now, when we get those symbols, we may not know what it means. For example, if I see a tree and I see a river and I see the tree is so green and has fruits, I can immediately connect it to someone. Oh yeah, it talks about the tree planted by the rivers of water who bears fruit in its season, whose leaves will not wither, whatever that person does will prosper. So God is talking about a godly person who prospers. You see, I'm able to interpret because the word is in me. But if the word is not in me, then even when it comes to identifying those symbols or interpretation, I'm not able to interpret it according to the word of God. So it's very, very important for us to be established in the doctrine of God's word and to also know how to interpret. We will study later. It's kind of a self-policing. So I'll get the word and then we'll see how the word comes into my senses. And then in my renewed mind, I have to go through this process of reasoning, analyzing, interpreting. And then I pull out, okay, this is what God is saying and then I choose to release it. So that's the whole process of prophecy. It's not just, okay, I heard something. I'm saying it. No, there will be this second step of analyzing the word. And to analyze the word, I cannot function with a carnal mind. I need a renewed mind and that is what will help me interpret with accuracy. Okay, so let's stop here. Let's take a break and we shall come back in 10 minutes. Yeah, God bless you all. Thank you.