There are different ways a person can be hurt or wounded in connection to the prophetic gift or ministry. The two most common ways that this can happen is criticism and disappointed. Have you ever been criticized or disappointed in your gift or ministry?

Criticism

Criticism can occur in several ways. The most common one is from genuine mistakes in the use of our gift. However, the leadership in the situation handled it badly. Maybe you were publicly shamed or maybe you were not guided or restored as you should have been. Criticism can sometimes be aimed at the level of maturity a person has in his gift. We do not criticize or judge babies who are

learning to crawl or walk. We don’t hold it against toddlers if they cannot control their emotions or if they cannot do complicated math problems. However, it’s amazing how quickly believers are judged because they are still stumbling through the learning stages in their spiritual gifts. In the School of Prophets I have established, I respect the level of maturity where a person is at, but I also help them to grow into the next level of maturity. The balance between respect and guidance must be present so as to avoid causing unnecessary pain in the ministry.

Accusation and judgment are also related to criticism. People have been accused of being like Jezebel. This accusation causes a deep wound in someone with a prophetic gift. Whatever we do, we must do it out of love. People can be hurt in the process of such careless words.

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Identifying a potential barrier to the growth of your gift is good news—for it is the first step to overcoming these limitations. If you can identify these limitations, then there is hope and the Holy Spirit is truly at work in your life, even in this prophetic “dry spell” you’re going through. As much as possible, the enemy does not want you to know about this barrier, and so that you’ll end up in frustration and self-doubt. Being courageous to identify this barrier is an empowering step towards breaking free and entering into more of God’s presence, as well as claiming His abundance for your life. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you can turn whatever obstacle or hindrance you are facing into a stepping stone to greater growth and faithfulness in the prophetic ministry.

Experience the Power of Prophecy as a gift to open your mind to receive the Mind of Christ.

The seventh and last river in which the Spirit of prophecy flows is of course, the Body of Christ, the church of Jesus Christ. Being a member of the church of God allows you to flow in the prophetic. In the church, there are apostles and prophets who hold a special office and a more intense anointing in the prophetic realm. It is the Body of Christ, the believers, who can truly access the prophetic realm because the Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. The testimony of Jesus is the only reason why the church exists.

The body of Christ, if it moves corporately, can powerfully move into that seventh powerful river of the river of prophecy. The last two rivers were not available in the Old Testament. The seventh river is reserved for the family of God on earth, the church of Jesus Christ.

So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?

But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in

while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted

of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as

the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will

fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is

really among you!” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25)

The whole church can move into the river of prophecy. Paul was talking about the rivers of prophecy, flowing as a church, is corporately united together. All would be sensitive to God and to each other. When each member of the body is doing whatever God wants him or her to flow in the things of God, there can be such a strong prophetic element that when an unbelieving person comes, his heart is revealed, and he is convicted to give his life to Jesus.In the local church, there are usually prophetic presbyteries that allow this river of the body of Christ to flow. It is not about a single person’s ministry; it is about a corporate prophetic ministry (1 Tim. 4:14) that we want to establish in the church.

Experience the Power of Prophecy as a gift to open your mind to receive the Mind of Christ.

How can the church keep the prophetic river of the Body of Christ flowing?

The fifth river is the last and final river by which the “Spirit of prophecy” flowed in the Old Testament. The other two rivers flowed in the new. The fifth river is the river of drama or acting out the prophecy. This implication means Spirit of prophecy can flow through acts as well as through words.

The Prophet Ezekiel lived in Babylon during and after the time of Jerusalem’s destruction. He was in captivity while Jeremiah was in Jerusalem. In the account below, you’ll see Ezekiel, a man of God. One day, God tells him to go and build this siege. He went in the middle of this Babylonian captivity, and he started building a city. He was acting out the prophetic word. Imagine how God commanded him to lie on one side for 309 days.

Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

“Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in

front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it.

Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it,

build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and

put battering rams around it. Then take an iron

pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the

city and turn your face toward it. It will be under

siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign

to the people of Israel.

“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the

people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear

their sin for the number of days you lie on your

side. I have assigned you the same number of days

as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will

bear the sin of the people of Israel.

“After you have finished this, lie down again, this

time on your right side, and bear the sin of the

people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a

day for each year. Turn your face toward the siege

of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against

her. I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot

turn from one side to the other until you have

finished the days of your siege.

“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet

and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them

to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during

the 390 days you lie on your side. (Ezekiel 4:1-9)

In Isaiah 20:2, we see something similarly strange. The Lord spoke to Isaiah, to go and remove the sackcloth from his body and take off his sandals. He walked around naked and barefoot, which comes to show don’t make up any word of knowledge from the Lord. Even in Acts 11:27, we see prophets come from Antioch to Jerusalem. Agabus stood up and was led by the Spirit to say that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. If you read carefully the word “show,” the Holy Spirit meant to “act it out.” While there sure was spoken prophecy, there was a demonstration drama kind of prophecy that took place. The prophet dramatized something that would happen to Paul.

After we had been there a number of days, a

prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his

own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy

Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in

Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will

hand him over to the Gentiles.’” (Acts 21:10-11)

Moving in the prophetic and giving the word of God is an act of faith. When a prophet speaks forth the word, even though he doesn’t understand it, he knows it’s from God. If you ever move into the prophetic anointing, you realize that sometimes God shows you the person first and then give you the prophetic word. Sometimes, God gives a prophetic word then He shows you the person to give the prophecy to. There can be times when God moves you in the river of prophecy, God give you an action to do first, and then give you the understanding of the action. Thus, drama has been of the ways in which a prophet flows into.

Experience the Power of Prophecy as a gift to open your mind to receive the Mind of Christ.

Ask God to reveal to you a prophetic word through action. You must be willing to act out what God is telling you to do. Write down what God revealed to you.

The third river of prophecy flows through music. Music is one of the rivers by which a prophetic flow comes from. Nevertheless, prophecy can flow even without music, because there are six other rivers. However, one of the rivers of the Spirit of prophecy is music.

In other words, music creates a space by which prophecy can flow. Old and New Testament prophets are different from each other because not everyone has the Holy Spirit. The role and authority of the prophets have decreased in the New Testament because individual believers can receive a prophetic word from  God for themselves. In the book of First Samuel 10, there is an account of a group of  prophets prophesying about Saul and his future kingship. In Verse 10, when they came back to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet Saul. The Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied among them—because he was in the presence of these prophets. What else was present?

The group of prophets were at the Philistines’ garrison, which Samuel called as the “hill of God.” It was the favorite meeting place for prophets during this time. It was so common to pass by the hill and hear the prophets playing musical instruments.

“After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where

there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach

the town, you will meet a procession of prophets

coming down from the high place with lyres,

timbrels, pipes and harps being played before

them, and they will be prophesying. (1 Samuel

10:5)

It was like a prophet band; a music team made out of prophets. The musical band of prophets, over which Samuel was the leader for, understood that in order to tap into the prophetic flow, there should be music. Music does something to a person’s soul. It opens up a person’s spirit, not necessarily to prophecy (e.g. creativity or inspiration), but it is one of the flows that can open up to you.

When Elisha was asked for a word from the Lord, what did he do? He asked for a musician to be brought to him (2 Kgs. 3:15). When the musicians were playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha and he prophesied. This instance was the time when there was a fight going on and the king of Judah asked if there was a prophet whom they can seek a word from. Elisha said yes, but he asked for musicians first. It was understandably difficult to organize a band in the desert, but somehow, they were able to comply. Elisha tapped into the prophetic river and he prophesied.

King David was also a musician himself. He always sang. He sang even when he was sad. As a result, he tapped into the river of prophecy. In Acts 2, the author called David a prophet. David had a secondary call. Aside from being called to kingship, he was also called a prophet.

In Acts 2, Peter quoted a prophetic word from the Book of Psalms. In fact, the book of Isaiah and the book of Psalms are the most quoted books in the New Testament because they are full of Messianic prophecies. In Acts 2: 29-30, Peter said, “Men and women let me speak free to you of the Patriarch David that he is both dead and buried and his tomb is with us to this day.Therefore, being a prophet.” David tapped into the prophetic flow through his music. There were things he sang about in his psalms that he did not fully understand, but he indeed moved in the prophetic.

Experience the Power of Prophecy as a gift to open your mind to receive the Mind of Christ.

Opening the Prophetic Flow

1. In your room, put praise music on.
2. Allow yourself to listen and flow in the music.
3. Pray in the Spirit as you listen and sing along to the praise and worship song. If you play a musical instrument, join along.
4. Ask God for a prophetic word. Speak this prophetic word.
5. Write down what impression, vision, or message God has given to you.