 Sometimes you receive a prophetic word and then become discouraged because it doesn't seem to come to pass right away. I want to show you from Scripture how to activate a prophetic word that has been spoken over you. Maybe you've heard something and you're wondering was that a word from God or was that just the individual making it up out of their imagination? What am I doing wrong? So what do you do when you receive a prophetic word? How do you cultivate that word? How do you steward that word? How do you treat that word with honor and reverence that will ultimately bring it to pass in your life? Number one, the first step, you have to weigh it. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 20 and 21 say this, Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Here we see the Scripture presenting to us a balance. Do not scoff at prophecies, but also test them. So don't despise the prophetic. Don't be cynical in regards to the prophetic. Don't be filled with doubt in regards to the prophetic, but also at the same time, don't be gullible. Don't receive every word that comes in the form of what seems to be the prophetic, but instead weigh each word with discernment. Compare each word to the word of God. Compare every prophecy to what the Holy Spirit has spoken to you and then receive it if you know that it's the Lord. But also on the other extreme, while we are weighing prophecy, we ought not to mock the prophetic. We ought not to be skeptical when it comes to the prophetic, at least not an unhealthy form of skepticism. Don't obsess over prophetic words, but also don't be dismissive. Sometimes believers become obsessed over prophetic words that were spoken over them that made no sense. They hear something, maybe a prophet spoke something to you and you don't quite know where that fits. You don't quite know how that clicks with what God is doing with your calling. You're not quite sure how that applies to your everyday life. Maybe the prophet said, I don't know what this means, but I'm just gonna say it, then the prophet speaks to you and you're going, well, I don't know what it means either. That happens sometimes. There are seasons in life where God will speak clearly and then there are other seasons in life where maybe because of matters of the flesh, matters of emotion, maybe someone speaking out of turn will say something that wasn't the Lord and then it causes believers to be confused and then they obsess over things wondering, God, was that you? God, am I gonna miss this? God, did I do something wrong? And then it becomes a point that's unhealthy in their lives. They start to become filled with fear because they don't know what the prophecy meant. They start to become filled with doubt because they're wondering what they're doing wrong. And then it becomes a focal point instead of them focusing on the relationship with the Lord or Jesus or the Word of God or prayer, these things that are spiritual foundations. Now they become focused on a word that maybe wasn't from God. Maybe they didn't really hear from God and they just said something that they thought was the Lord. Maybe they spoke out of their imagination. Maybe they spoke out of their own understanding. Maybe they spoke out of the emotion of the moment and that's something that we have to be willing to accept as a reality. There are times that people speak out of turn. So how do you know when a word is truly from God? If you're weighing it and you're trying to biblically balance your approach to prophetic word spoken over you, you know that you don't want to be cynical and have an unhealthy skepticism. But at the same time, you also don't want to be gullible and just take everything that everyone tells you and then obsess over it when you have no understanding and when it causes confusion. You ask yourself these three questions. Number one, does this align with God's word? The Holy Spirit will never contradict himself. The Holy Spirit will never speak something that goes against the truth that he spoke in the Scripture. That is the more sure word of prophecy. The written word of God is the foundation of our understanding of the voice of the Holy Spirit. Number two, does it align with what God has spoken to me personally? Now, there are some times when prophets will speak something to you that come out of left filled and completely surprise you and take you off guard. However, the Lord will confirm that to you personally and very often through other prophetic voices speaking to you often in my life. When the Lord wanted me to go in a certain direction that seemed out of left filled to me, he would use a multitude of voices, a multitude of prophetic giftings to confirm to me threefold. More often than not, prophecy does confirm with the Holy Spirit has already been speaking. Though there are some instances when prophets will speak something that's a completely new form of direction for your life. And number three, does this align with other confirmed words from the Lord? So sometimes the Lord will speak something that's a seemingly new direction for your life and other times he will confirm that word through various prophets, at least in my life personally. It doesn't have to be the same thing with you. Usually the Lord will confirm something to me three times from three separate people on three separate occasions. And these three people usually don't even speak to each other. And that's in addition to him having spoken it to me personally. So number one, does this align with God's word? Number two, does this align with what God has spoken to me personally? And number three, does this align with other confirmed words from the Lord? So that's number one, weigh it. If you want to see that word come to pass, you want to see the fruitfulness of what was spoken over you actually come out in play in your life, then you're going to need to learn to weigh that word. Number two, weight on it. First Corinthians 14-29 says, let two or three people prophesy and let the others evaluate what is said. There must be an evaluation period. Evaluation requires waiting. You cannot evaluate something in the short term, at least generally speaking you cannot. Now there are going to be exceptions to every general rule. There are moments when God will speak and he'll want you to move immediately. But remember this, when God speaks urgently, he also speaks very, very, very clearly. And by that I mean that he speaks to us in ways that we are certain that he's speaking. This isn't to say that God speaks unclearly in other times, but he will put emphasis on certain words that require us to move with immediate action and he'll make it very plain, very clear. Why? Because he understands our humanity. He understands our weaknesses. He understands that sometimes that's what we need. But there must be, generally speaking, this evaluation period, this moment of pause, whether that be 24 hours, whether that be years, whether that be minutes, there has to be this pause, this moment of waiting, this moment of evaluation. When someone speaks a word over me, if the Lord has not already confirmed that word very clearly to me personally and through others, I will allow for this evaluation period. But then there are times when the Lord has spoken to me, I know that I know that I know that he said it, then he'll speak to a prophet, then to another prophet, then to my pastor. And by the fourth individual, I'm not even evaluating it anymore. I'm just going, yeah, that's confirmation I receive it. And I don't really necessarily have to have that evaluation period. But when you begin to hear these instructions from the Lord, it's good, generally speaking, to have this evaluation period to really pause and consider what's being said. When a prophetic word is unclear or unconfirmed, wait on it. Number three, water it. Now Proverbs chapter 18 verse 21 says, the tongue can bring life or death. Those who love to talk will reap the consequences. Let's say you hear, you're not wanted. You're not wanted. You're not wanted. You're not wanted. Well, what's that going to do to your mind? You're going to begin to believe that you're not wanted. You're unloved. You're unloved. You're unloved. Those words being spoken over you program the way you think. Here's how it works. Words become thoughts. Thoughts become thought patterns. Thought patterns become feelings. Feelings become actions. Actions become habits and habits are what produce life results. That's the power of words. Words have the power to kill or create faith. Why? Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. When you hear the truth, faith is produced for that truth. Faith is produced when you hear the truth of the word of God. The word of God produces faith for what it promises. Just on the opposite end, if I'm hearing the lies of the enemy, it can kill my faith. So when I talk about watering the prophetic word, I'm not talking about this hocus pocus magic approach that is imaginative in what it teaches in regards to our ability to speak things into existence. Rather, I'm talking about being responsible with your words because your words dictate your thought patterns. And so when you speak those words, my question to you is, are you watering what God has promised to you? Or are you killing your faith for it? Be careful by the way, who you come around. People can speak things against what God has spoken for you. Whereas God may tell you, I've called you to the nations. I've called you as a prophet. I've called you as a teacher or evangelist or pastor or apostle. I've called you to operate in the gift of healing. I've called you to do great things. Others might say, why don't know that doesn't seem like you to me. Why don't know that doesn't seem like something you would do. Why don't know you, you of all people and they begin to tear you down. Be careful who you allow around you when God has spoken a word. Hebrews 11, one says, now, faith is a substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not saying faith is a substance. In other words, if I can have the faith for it, it's as good as me holding it. Well, think about Joseph. Now, nothing could stop the word of God from coming to pass in the life of Joseph, but people sure tried. Think about the fact that because Joseph spoke his dreams out because Joseph spoke aloud the realities of the word that he had received. Suddenly people came to try to destroy his destiny out of jealousy and anger and pettiness and now instead of protecting what God had given to him because he just told it to everyone. Now there were others who were coming to try to kill his faith. God said they're going to bow and they said, who are you that we would bow? God said, I'm going to raise you. They said, who are you that God would raise you? God said, I'm going to give you a favor. They said, who are you that you have God's favor? You're just our brother. Who do you think you are? And they kill the faith for the word. You have to learn to protect the promise that God gave you. The promises of God are based on the sovereignty of God, but your participation with those promises is based on your decision and your decision is based on you. And sometimes we can become very weak if we allow others to speak things that distract from and kill our faith to receive it. That's what blocks prophetic words from coming to pass. You have to choose faith. You have to choose faith no matter how it looks, no matter what the circumstances are dictating to you, no matter what your bank account is dictating to you, no matter what your family life is dictating to you, no matter what your health is dictating to you. If God promised it and you believe it, it's going to come to pass. And then number four, walk in it. Matthew 13 22 says, the seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God's word. But all too quickly, the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth. So no fruit is produced. So we see there how worry and doubt chokes out the life from the word. This is why we must choose to walk in it. James 226 says, for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Do something with the word that was spoken. So many blame prophets for unfulfilled words when in action was to blame. Well, I don't know why it's taking so long. Why don't know why it hasn't come to pass? Why don't know why nothing's changed? What are you doing with what God promised? The promises of God give you the permission to step out, but the promises of God won't step out for you. There is a responsibility that lays on you to step out and do something. After you've weighed it, after you've watered it, it's time to walk in it. Faith without works is dead. Once it becomes clear what God is saying, make a move, make a move. We imagine that because something is difficult or because something is challenging or because something maybe takes a little bit of work that somehow that means God is not in it. That's just not the case. That can't be the case. There is a participation that we must use. There's a participation that is ours when it comes to the promises. Participate with the promise by stepping out in faith. Do something with the word he spoke. Stop waiting for God to do all the work. Stop waiting for God to align everything perfectly before you take a chance. If it wasn't risky, it wouldn't require faith, but if it didn't require faith, it wouldn't please God. If where you're going doesn't require faith, you're not headed toward the will of God. If where you are doesn't require faith, you're not standing in the will of God. The will of God will always require faith and faith means there's risk, but risk is there that we might grow our faith when God speaks. We step out on that promise fully believing that God is able and in doing so we receive the promise of the prophecy. The Bible is full of many promises that are never realized by many people. Simply because those many people won't budge. They won't step out. They want everything to be perfectly aligned. That's not how it will be. At some point you're just gonna have to step out and walk in it. Thank you for watching EncounterTV. Don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell. Also, help us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Make a one time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now.