Category Archives: Prophesy and the prophetic

Some current prophetic words and some teaching on prophesy, including notes from the Wildwood Church School of Prophesy.

Prophesy and the prophetic

A Beginner’s Guide to prophesy

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By Jacob Dominy


What do you see ?

You may see a canal, you might see a lovely day by a canal, you feel beautiful countryside. You might see a dirty canal surrounded by lovely landscape. Whilst all these are true, the answer I would give is that we see  a poor but amazing reflection of the of the sky and landscape in the canal. As Jesus said the disciples: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” What we “see” in prophesy is a reflection of what the Father is doing, and even then it’s a poor one, because as Paul says in 1Cor 13:12 “We see through a glass, darkly,” or as another translation puts it “What we see is just a poor reflection in a mirror.”

This is a very important principle that one must understand when stepping out into prophecy, whether you have been called to be a prophet, have a gift of prophecy or are just finding out more about this gift. 

Jesus asked his disciples a similar question in Mark 8 27 –29

“Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

Simon Peter had the revelation and the prophetic insight to see that Jesus is the Messiah.  This passage points out that we are to look beyond the natural and more towards what the natural is pointing us to, so that we can understand what the Lord is wanting to show us in the spiritual realm.  This brings us back to my original question: What do you see?  The reason I gave the answer I did can be found in 1 Corinthians 13 v 8 –10, where the apostle Paul aptly writes:

“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.”

We prophesy in part: what we see is like a poor reflection in a mirror.

This must remain a core value to hold to when we prophesy. In fact the whole of 1 Corinthians 13 is key. Prophesy should never be “look at me!” The whole of this passage is about what love is, and prophecy is a love-gift from the Holy Spirit to the church to build, encourage, warn and guide. If we were then to try and do this from the wrong motives we would not be acting out of love but out of pride or ambition, trying to gain position or get noticed. This return will actually damage and destroy the church.  WE MUST ALWAYS PROPHESY OUT OF LOVE FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST.

“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Cor 13:2)

We can all prophesy, but not all called to be prophets.

There are many gifts to the church, and most of these we can all seek after. In 1 Corinthians 14:1 Paul specifically encourages us to “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” However not all of us are called to be prophets, just as we are all called to evangelize but not all of us are called to be evangelists.

There are many forms of prophecy. Jesus says “my sheep hear my voice,” and in essence prophecy is simply hearing messages from God for other people. Some can hear from the Holy Spirit better in the quiet place; others hear from the Lord through creativity, others when out in the countryside. Likewise prophecy can be  encouragement in the form of a picture from the Lord, discernment on how to handle situations  with wisdom, or it can take many other forms. Prophesy should never contradict the Bible, and should always be in keeping with the guidelines given in 1 Cor 14: 3, “He who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.”

But does this mean that we should only continue listening to the Holy Spirit in the way that we are used to and are good at? I honestly do not believe this. God is a God of endless variety, so I think that we should learn to hear from the Lord in many, many other ways. This not only keeps us more open to what the Spirit is saying, but also will bring us a more immersive experience, a deeper understanding of the Lord, and greater joy in our hearts.

In John 10:10 Jesus says “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.” Part of having life and having it to the full is to be able to communicate (listen and talk: it is a two-way thing) and enjoy walking with the Lord in all that we do.

 A Spirit of Praise

Another principle that I have come to realize on reflection is that the Holy Spirit tends to use us more when we have a spirit of praise. This can be as simple as thanking God for who He is. Just a starter is to say something like “Thank you Jesus for Loving me” a couple of times  a day, and see where that leads. If you don’t feel that way inclined, Isaiah 61:3 says that God will give “a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness,” so you can ask Him for it.

This brings us back the start: what can you see? We should aim to only do what we see the Lord doing. After all, if Jesus Himself had to see what Our Father was doing, how much more should we be earnestly seeking to see what the Father God is doing.

Saying that, if you thought you have heard from the Lord the most important thing is to act on it and step out. Give your word from the Lord and do not to be afraid, or think “What if I get it wrong?” We all have to start somewhere. When you do step out make sure that you do it under the covering of the leadership. In the current circumstances share via email, text or on the phone; or once your church meets again as a body bring it to the person overseeing the meeting.

Prophesy and the prophetic

where is Your fire?

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I felt a warm gentle breeze blowing, slowly getting stronger, and felt the Lord say: “It’s the breath of my Spirit on coals that were once so on fire but have let the ash slowly build up, so that all that is left is a lump of coal glowing underneath the ash.” The ash represents life’s worries, sin, and settling for a comfortable mediocre Christian life.

I feel the Lord is saying that the warm wind of His Spirit is blowing the ash off the coal, and as His breath becomes more intense the coals will burst into flame – as long as we allow Him to agitate us like one does with a fire, or BBQ, to keep the flames burning hot.

So the Lord is asking again: “Where is your fire?”

(Jake Dominy)

Prophesy and the prophetic

Love your neighbour as Yourself (and more…)

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Love your neighbour as you love yourself…

We were considering what we had learned individually during lockdown and the various journeys it has brought, when the Holy Spirit prompted the question “How much do we love ourselves? Because if we don’t love ourselves much, we can’t love our neighbour much either.”

When we asked Him what He meant, I felt He gave an answer. I’ll put it into the First Person, although it wasn’t received as a direct prophesy, more an unfolding revelation of how, and why, we can – and indeed should – love ourselves. God would say something like this (some of it is in psalm 139):

“You can love yourself because I created you in my image, and you are fearfully and wonderfully made. I knew you before you were formed in the womb, and what I saw was beautiful. Although sin and the powers of darkness have damaged you in the flesh, I have lifted you out of the miry clay and you are seated in glory with my Son in the Spirit. Through Him I see the perfection I put into you. I want you to see, and love, what I see: holiness, light, truth, and life. I am not asking you to love what is dead in you, which is your body if sin and death; but what is alive in you: the uniqueness and beauty which I created and which my Son has redeemed. This you can love, and when you do you can reach out to your neighbours with the love for all that I have created and purposed for them as well.”

If we will let the wind of the Spirit blow the ashes off our coals (see “Where is your fire?”), we can see, and love, what God has put into us and what He has created us for, and burst into flame again. Marion reminded us that repentance precedes revival. Let’s repent of letting dead ashes cover our glowing hearts, in the words of the David Ruiz song from the 1994 Toronto revival: “Come, sweet wind, come and blow over me!”

In various ways and through different journeys, we have all felt that God has been drawing us closer to Him so that His character can be more formed in us, and so that we can hear His word more clearly, whenever He wants to speak to us – not just in the parts of the day that we have set aside for Him. Our hearts need to be the good ground where His seed can take root and multiply, as we heard through the preaching recently. But for that to happen, we have to allow the gardener to pull up the weeds that grow all to easily.

A key question is this: what is GOD’s call on our time? If the devil can’t tempt us with worldly distractions, he will try and weigh us down with seemingly good, spiritual ones so that we end up burdened with a lot of fruitless running around and “hard” praying that is not Spirit led and just causes weds to grow in the good soil. We are exhorted not just to pray at all times, but to pray “in the Spirit” at all times. (Eph 6:18)  Muyiwa put it so succinctly: if we aren’t praying in the Spirit we are just “worrying on our knees.”

In this context we talked a little about Elisha and the Shunammite woman: we need to “shut the door” on what is troubling us and seek Jesus; not try and break through the cloud of troubles and fears by praying harder than them! (See John 14:1) Sometimes a fear we need to leave behind is actually the fear of our prayers not being answered. When the presence of the Lord is real, this fear evaporates. But every situation has a different prayer, and this only comes from the presence of God and not from a formula we have learned or a habit we have formed. So to pray in the Spirit at all times, we need to be filled with the Spirit at all times, and walking with Him at all times, not just in our quiet times.

Shalom!

Living by Faith, Prophesy and the prophetic

The mantle of Elisha

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“Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over. Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him. Then they said to him, “Look now, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Please let them go and search for your master, lest perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” And he said, “You shall not send anyone.”” (2 Kings 2: 11-16)

Elisha was possibly the most complete type of Christ in the Old Testament. His name is a clue: it means “God is salvation.” Among other things, he broke a curse (Jericho 2 Kings 2),
He raised the dead (2 Kings 4: 19-37),
He spoke with authority and healed at a distance (Naaman, 2 Kings 5),
He taught love for enemies – (the Syrian raiders 2 Kings 6 22-2),
He multiplied food (The jars of oil , and also bread, both in 2 Kings 4),
Even His death brought new life (A dead man was raised to life when he touched Elisha’s bones (2 Kings 13:21).

The Bible is full of transitions: Egypt to Promised land, Judges to Kings, Saul to David, Kingdom to Exile, Exile to Restoration, The Law to Grace, Crucifixion to Resurrection, Flesh to Spirit – Jesus brings Life; life is dynamic, and dynamism means change. We go through many and various transitions in our own lives, until we all come to the final one where we move from the dimension of corruption to the dimension of immortality. We pass through some by choice and some by accident, but the changes to our body as life takes its course in us are inexorable. And so it is, I believe, with the Body of Christ.

The church is in transition. The spirit of Elijah now rests on Elisha. Christians the world over have been taking an unprecedented opportunity to spend more time with the Lord, not letting go of His presence, and following Him to a place separated (by the Jordan) from the commerce of the world (Jericho). Now that season is drawing to a close, and the time is coming for us to bring Jesus and His salvation back to Jericho. But we cannot go back over the Jordan unless we pick up the mantle and strike the water, in faith that the God of Elijah will part them for us. And to wear that new mantle, we need to take off our existing clothes and tear them in two. What we have been in the past will not serve us for the future.

What matters now as we stand before Jericho is that we don’t follow the inclination of the “sons of the prophets” and go up into the mountains to look for Elijah. If we look for our old ways and expect to carry on just as we were we will find that the power and authority – the Spirit of Elijah – has gone; we’ll be stuck on the other side of the Jordan and will have no impact on Jericho. I believe that this transition is as inevitable as the physical changes that take place in the human body on its journey through life. Either we move into Jericho wearing the mantle of the God of Salvation and cloaked in His miracle power, or we waste our time in the mountains looking for what is no longer there.

Elijah (“Jehovah is God”) has a strong association with fire: not only the fire of God that consumed the sacrifice on the mountain and demonstrated that Jehovah, not Baal, was God (1 Kings 18:38); but also the fire that fell twice on the captains and cohort of fifty men that Ahaziah sent to arrest him (2 Kings 1:10). Elijah comes before Elisha. The fire of God comes before the salvation of God. Jesus said “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished.” (Matt 17:11-12) As John the Baptist came and prepared the way for the earthly ministry of Jesus, so the fire of God will prepare the way for the Body of Christ to minister again in all the restored fullness of His authority and power.

In the book of Acts it wasn’t just the leading apostles who saw the power of God confirm the preaching of the Word.  “Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.” (Act 11: 19-21) Some of us have felt the fire already, and if we haven’t, we soon will. Because now is time for the whole of the Body of Christ, not just the leaders but also the “men from Cyprus and Cyrene,” to pick up the mantle of Elisha, cross the Jordan, and bring salvation to Jericho.

Be prepared; hold on., Prophesy and the prophetic, Walking in the Spirit

“My Body is not in shape.”

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Jake received this word earlier in the week, at about the same time as the Lord was speaking to me about the golden shields. It is worth reading them together.

Jake writes: I saw the Lord weeping. I asked the Lord why He was weeping, and He said this: “I am weeping over My body, for it is not in shape.”

I asked the Lord what He meant by this, and I felt Him say: “Large parts of My body still love sin and only dislike the consequence of sin. I am using this time for a spiritual self -examination, where busyness has hidden the real you.  I will be highlighting motives and thought patterns that are contrary to My way.

I am doing a new thing: I am putting in my people who seek my face an aversion to sin and I will be restoring a JOY to my people that will be far greater than the short lived joy of sin.

My church for far too long has not heeded the warning from the Israelites in the desert, where I supplied them with manna to eat, yet they took their eyes of me and became complacent, took my provision for granted and became greedy. Trying to provide for themselves they forgot I had provided for them.  And hence I caused the food I provided that they had stored up to become inedible, to bring then back to me.”



Holiness: You shall be perfect, Prophesy and the prophetic

The Golden Shields

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“It happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields which Solomon had made.   (1 Kings 14: 25-26)

I felt the Lord spoke to me through this passage. He said: “What golden shields do you have in the temple? There should only be one shield, and that is the shield of faith. All of the others are made from the gold of this world, and belong to the ruler of this world. You need to remove your golden shields from My temple.“

The shields can take many forms. But they all have the same purpose: we look to them for safety and protection, and hiding under them we keep ourselves away from the Lord. We can let them become our security. They can be financial security, emotional security, reputation, religious systems, our traditions – any number of things. But the Lord wants us to clear His temple so that He can come and fill it with His glory.

God gave Solomon wealth and wisdom beyond measure, but in the end his heart went after other gods. He, and He alone, is our strength and our shield; His presence and not the gold He gives is our security. This is our shield of faith. If we wrap ourselves in him and place our trust in Him alone, His glory will eventually come and fill the temple. And then the answer will be “yes!“ to the question that Jesus put in Luke 18:8: “Will the Son of Man find faith on earth when He returns?”

I received this word around the same time that Jake received the prophesy posted as “My body is not in shape.” It is worth reading them together, as they convey a similar message.

Be prepared; hold on., Prophesy and the prophetic

Red Letter Days

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When we were praying in our breakout groups this morning I felt the Lord say that the next few days are “red letter days” on His calendar. The battle in the heavenlies is intensifying (see Jakes post “The Battle Belongs to the Lord”, if you haven’t read it already). On the surface it can seem like there are two groups of people emerging in this lockdown: those who have more time on their hands and therefore seem to be in a better place to respond to the words about “preparation for the next move of God” that are around, and those who are so overwhelmed by the situation that they are now finding themselves in, that just surviving is a victory. But for all of us, whether we have more time for God, or whether we are run off our feet on the front line, 1 Cor 10:31 applies: “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” We are never too busy or exhausted for the Holy Spirit to break in with a word for us, so If we can remember this verse during these “red letter days” we can be sure that our hearts are “good soil;” and then if God sows a word into our lives it will bring forth that extravagant fruit that we heard about in the service this morning.

Bob.

Prayer and Spiritual Warfare, Prophesy and the prophetic

The Battle Belongs to The Lord

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This is a series of three visions given to Jake Dominy, a member of our School of Prophesy. Jake also created a picture to represent the first of the three, which you will find at the end of this message.

Part One

Exodus 17: 8-16

I saw in the natural the wind blowing the trees this morning, and the sky dark, with very occasional sunshine.

I felt the Lord saying that there is a real spiritual storm brewing in the heavenlies, a major battle in heavenly places. And as I waited on the Lord I felt him liken this battle to the one against the Amalekites (Exodus 17: 8-16): when Moses was holding up his hands the Israelites were winning, but when his arms tired and he let them drop the Israelites started to lose. He needed support holding his hands up. I felt the Lord was saying that Moses holding his hands up was a symbol of three things. One is prayer and praise, another is that they point to the Lord as a prophetic symbol of victory, and thirdly it means that we must keep our minds and spirits focussed on things above and not on our current situation.

We must pray unceasingly for our leaders in the church and in the nation. We are their support. I saw that the more we prayed, the longer the sun shone, and as our leaders tired and we eased up on praying the darkness and storm clouds with stormy winds came. I felt the Lord say now is the time to pray and praise unceasingly and my name will be known in the land, and my glory will shine forth like the sun across this nation and all nations. I will break down some of the spiritual strongholds in the Earth; I am the Lord and the victory is mine. My name will be known and praised in all the Earth.

The second part of this came later. I saw the Lion of Judah, and standing behind him were defences: these defences were the angels, and behind the angels was God’s human army with full length shields and shining spears between the shields, at least 7 feet high. And behind that was a vast, vast army: some on horseback, and some foot soldiers. As the enemy drew close I heard the Lion roar “Now!” and as He roared the front few lines of the enemy were no more, through the sheer volume of the roar of the Lion.

But I also felt a warning in my spirit: the enemy will try to draw us out of our defensive position, with other spiritual distractions that seem right, but which give the enemy a chance to outflank us. We are to stand in defensive position, in anticipation and braced for the battle to come, not getting caught up in other things, holding up the arms of our leaders in prayer, looking to Heaven and praising God for His greatness and for the victory of the Cross. This is our position until the lion roars “Now!”

Jake Dominy

This picture roughly represents the prophecy I had, as close as I could get it. The circles of roman soldiers at the back are protecting the leaders holding the standards of the Lord. In front of that you have a double height of troops, standing on the shields of the lower soldiers. That would stretch miles and miles back. In front of them is the angel army as I saw them, then the Lion of Judah in front.

Prophesy and the prophetic

The Fruitful seed

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S.O.P 30th May 2020

Much of what we covered in School of Prophesy this week can be found in the article “The Cup and the Baptism“

The bones of the meeting were this: Pentecost brings multiplication and fruitfulness through the power of the Holy Spirit. Fruitfulness comes from the seed that has “fallen to the ground and died” (John 12:24). We cannot expect the Holy Spirit to multiply the life of God through us unless we are dead to our carnal nature, but when we succeed in this – if “succeed” is the right word! – the life that is in us becomes life-giving for others.

We also considered some of the material covered in the article “He loved them to the End” – Jesus removed His outer garment to demonstrate Love to the disciples by washing their feet. Our outer garment represents our self-image, our status – everything that covers our flesh, in fact. We cannot love one another unless we remove it. It’s only when we do love one another that we fulfill the “new commandment” (John 13: 34-34); unless we keep His word we do not stay in the vine; and unless we stay in the vine we do not bear fruit and bring glory to the Father (John 15:8).

After Jesus was arrested He was dressed in a purple robe and given a crown of thorns. Our authority (the purple robe) in Christ comes with a crown of thorns. If we try and exercise authority in the prophetic without the crown of thorns we can become proud and arrogant; if we maintain our humility but forget that we speak “as the oracles of God” (1 Pe 4:11) we deliver the word of the Lord without power.

Prayer and Spiritual Warfare, Prophesy and the prophetic

The call to Praise

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SOP 23 May 2020

Exodus 17: 8-16

Jake shared a word from this passage, in which Aaron and Hur held up Moses’s arms while Joshua fought the Amalekites. While they were up, the battle went Israel’s way; while they were down, the Israelites lost ground.

As we move towards the ”Pentecost” that God has prepared, with its coming revival, there will be a great battle in the heavenlies as the enemy tries to prevent it. Storm clouds are gathering in the spirit realms now. This is a season of unceasing prayer to support our leaders, spiritual and temporal, and to call in the revival. The raised arms stand for three things:

  1. Prayer and praise.
  2. They point to the Lord as a prophetic symbol of His victory.
  3. They keep us focussed on the things that are above, not our current situation below.

Moses stood, then sat, on the hill, supported by Aaron and Hur, with his arms raised up until sunset. We need to keep praying for the light to overcome the darkness. As we pray, the light has the supremacy. If we stop praying, the clouds gather.

This is a strategic call to use the weapon of PRAISE. Praise declares the greatness of God. It is different from worship, which expresses our personal devotion to the Lord. Praise lifts us into the heavenly realms, from which we get the understanding that leads us into worship. Pat shared from a testimony how when we praise God for His greatness we get rid of everything that holds us to the earthly realm; as we keep praising we sharpen our focus on Jesus and His victory. Anne pointed out that the Israelites were fighting for their lives here. When we engage in warfare praise we don’t know what enemies we are up against, but we do know who has the victory!

So while worship is a channel for our intimacy with God, It’s praise that is a weapon against the enemy. Psalm 149 vs 5-9 makes this clear:

“Let the saints be joyful in glory;
Let them sing aloud on their beds
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand,
To execute vengeance on the nations,
And punishments on the peoples;
To bind their kings with chains,
And their nobles with fetters of iron;
To execute on them the written judgment—
This honor have all His saints.”

As we waited on the Lord, I saw a river of fire coming down from heaven, and then then a tree – one of those whose leaves are “for the healing of the nations.”  Elaine saw the fire of our praise going up, then in some way transformed in the Spirit and coming back down to Earth to bring a harvest. David confirmed this from Scripture with Psalm 67 vs 5-6:

“Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Then the earth shall yield her increase;
God, our own God, shall bless us”

So let us commit, as an army, to let our praise ascend to the heavenlies then come down, transformed into God’s Pentecost fire, to bring a harvest of revival to earth. And as we do so, let us support our leaders in prayer, and to reach out to one another for support if we find ourselves getting weak.

“I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.” (Ps 18:3)