Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, 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.” (John 5:19)
Receiving prophetic guidance about what God intends to do, and then acting upon what He shows us, is foundational to living a supernatural Christian life.
And as Jesus went about doing what the Father showed Him, miracles broke out, healing took place, lives were changed, and people received God’s word and believed in Him.
Prophetic Revelation in Everyday Life
Ways in which we can ‘see what the Father is doing’ can include:
- Hearing from God through our Bible reading and devotional life,
- Walking and talking with the Father and receiving insights as to what His desires, plans and purposes are
- Prophetic dreams
- Being aware of the prompts and nudges of the Holy Spirit throughout the day
- Other prophetic means such as visions, impressions, ideas, words, intercession, supernatural knowledge and insights
- Recognising Divine appointments
The word ‘revelation’ in the NT Greek means ‘uncovering’ or ‘disclosure.’ When we receive a prophetic revelation through any of the above ways, the Holy Spirit is sharing with us something that we could not know by natural means.
You do not need to have a gift of prophecy to lead a supernatural lifestyle and hear God speaking to you. Hearing from God and living in relationship with Him is available to all of His children.
Staying on Track in a Prophetic Lifestyle
Having a close relationship with God in which we receive prophetic guidance (instruction from the Holy Spirit) and then act upon it—or to put it simply, ‘hear and obey’—is foundational to living a supernatural Christian life.
So how can we stay on track, having an effective prophetic lifestyle that is bringing glory to God and drawing people to Jesus? How can we foster an environment in which we continue to grow and develop in our walk with God?
Last week we looked at 3 vital ingredients of living a supernatural life:
- Knowing and expressing the Father’s love,
- Staying filled with the Holy Spirit and
- Following Jesus
Following are 8 more keys to a healthy prophetic lifestyle:
1. Don’t make a Distinction between Spiritual and ‘Non-spiritual’ Times and Places
‘So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.’ (Rom 12:1 MSG)
When you realise that God is present constantly—and have an expectation that He wants to speak to you, and impact people through you wherever you go—it changes the way you live. [1 ]
2. Start in Your Personal Devotional Life
A prophetic lifestyle begins in our own intimate relationship with God. He wants to commune with us and share what is on His heart for our life. Further, if we cannot receive His personal encouragement to us, how can we expect to have it for others?
Journaling is one way to explore what God is speaking to us personally. [2]
3. Be Natural in Your Expression
Jesus related to all types of people and ordinary people loved Him and hung on His words. (Mark 12:37)
In the same way that Jesus shared truth from the Father in a way that people related to it, we also should be natural and culturally relevant (1 Cor 9:20) in our approach when we are sharing about our faith or passing on prophetic insights to people.
4. Look for Good Fruit
The outcome of living a prophetic lifestyle is not only that we draw closer to God, but also that others around us are impacted. We should be able to point to the good fruit—the outcome of what God is doing in others and us. (John 15:8) A true prophetic lifestyle will result in testimonies of God’s goodness.
5. Remember the Filters
Questions that can help us put any prophetic insights to the test are:
- Does this agree with what the Bible says?
- Do I have an inner witness that this is from God?
- Does it line up with the nature of God? In particular, with the nature of the Father as expressed through Jesus?
- Am I willing to submit this to spiritual oversight—and would my leadership be comfortable with this?
- Will responding to this prophetic guidance bear good fruit?
6. Embrace Accountability
Accountability is vital; not only to staying on track in our prophetic gifts, but also to help us to grow in our Christian life. This means having spiritual oversight that you relate to—an appropriate leader or mentor who:
- Will encourage you in your prophetic journey
- Has the ability to speak into your life, and
- Can bring adjustment in a caring way when necessary.
7. Be Actively Engaged in a Church Community
God designed for us to live in Christian community and for our church life to be a place where we develop and grow in our gifts and maturity. (Eph 4:11-13, 1 Cor 12-14) The benefits of our church life spill over into our everyday life—and what God is doing in our personal lives can feed back into our church life too.
8. Keep it Simple
Living a prophetic lifestyle starts with believing that God is ordering your steps and taking opportunities to share His love along the way. This may be as simple as speaking a word of encouragement, or offering to pray for someone in need. Prophetic evangelism is one expression of this and can occur naturally as we go about our daily life. [3]
Notes:
[1] For more on this subject, read The Secret of Living An Undivided Christian Life
[2] Read more in the journaling category or learn about SOAP journaling here.
[3] See Enliven Blog’s podcast page for the MP3 workshop session ‘Prophecy in the Everyday,’ along with a downloadable PDF worksheet.
Related Posts:
You Don’t Need To Have A Special Gift To Be a Supernatural Christian
Give Yourself (And Your Spiritual Gifts) Permission To Shine
Jesus Is Lord: What Does This Mean In My Daily Life?
How To Share A Prophecy With Someone Who Is Not A Christian
© Helen Calder Enliven Blog – Prophetic Teaching
Enliven Ministries: In the David McCracken Ministries family
Helen Calder is a prophetic minister and writer, and founder of Enliven Ministries. Helen has a unique gift of equipping in prophetic ministry and prayer. She is known for Enliven Blog (est. 2009), an online resource that reaches thousands of people globally.
Hi Helen – thanks once again for this post which so hits the mark. Just today I was speaking with our minister about times when we have been approached by folks who are deeply affronted when their prophetic insight (“God told me to…”) is subjected to any form of scrutiny by the church leadership. We are taking baby steps in our understanding of handling the prophetic, so your blog is an invaluable resource.
Many blessings from Wales!
James
Thanks James, great to hear from you!
The aspect of accountability is one that is a core value of our ministry (as is empowering local church and its leadership), and we believe it is a key principle in NT prophetic ministry. Accountability promotes humility, sharpens our ability to hear God’s voice, honours leadership, follows the Biblical command to ‘weigh up prophecy’ and creates an environment where the whole body is working together, not just one part in isolation.
My personal testimony is that I began my prophetic journey with an independent spirit and prideful approach to prophetic ministry, and Father lovingly caused a situation to expose the issues at work in my life. Repentance and restoration followed and I will unashamedly promote accountability and honouring authority for the rest of my life! The difference in fruitfulness and influence is incredible, praise God.
Blessings from Australia!
Dear Helen – Wow!
Thank you for your openness in sharing that part of your journey and how you experienced a far higher degree of fruitfulness in ministry as a result of becoming accountable. I particularly note your point about the whole body working together. I have observed over the years that there is very often a greater fruitfulness and sense of the power of God in situations where we are working together, even across denominational lines; it’s as though the Lord cannot help but add His blessing to the occasion (Psalm 133)!
I also feel the final point in the main article about keeping it simple is really important. You mentioned prophetic evangelism – I am working out in my own life what ‘prophetic worship leading’ looks like, and am slowly learning that it does not have to be complicated!! It does not have to depend on singing the most up to date songs, having the right band/soundsystem etc, or even striving to speak out relevant ‘words’ during the worship time… I keep on having to relearn that whilst striving for excellence is important, I am first of all called to be a worshipper, to love my Lord and to love those who I’m serving! And, as you also say above, to be natural in my expression of those values.
Again, many thanks; your pages are a real timely blessing and speak so directly to things a number of us are experiencing in our fellowship; thus I hope you don’t mind my commenting.
James
Hi, Helen. I love browsing your posts and kind of getting lost in the insights and information you provide. After becoming Christian and going through some heavy spiritual warfare resulting from the transition two years ago, I asked God to take away my slightly “psychic” (for lack of a better word) abilities if He saw fit. My reasoning for this was because I was misled for a long time with a attraction to occult beliefs and practices. I already had these abilities passed to me because of my heritage. For a long time I felt pulled to these things because I was trying to make sense of all of it, but when I researched my family, I understood what I was dealing with and decided to give my life to Jesus. Before I recognized Christ as my Savior, I would experience ghost type phenomena and demonic dreams rather frequently along with premonitions. Now, I have not experienced any of these negative things for some time. The last I vaguely remember is something was bothering me in my dream and I actually used the name of the Father to rebuke it within the dream. I still have these premonitions and useful, random knowingness, yet I don’t quite know what to do with it. Lately, it has been strong with several occurrences on any given day. Sometimes it’s a dream revealing a truth when I’m being deceived. Sometimes it’s different. For example, I am a waitress and I bring things to people’s tables without really realizing it, but it turns out they needed it but didn’t tell me. A friend of mine said that perhaps these small things are God’s way of getting me comfortable with the Holy Spirit and actually finding joy and humor in the way He is working in me. I don’t know what He could be building up to and I tend to disregard that this is coming from another source anymore because it just doesn’t feel that way. I’m fearful of it because I was misled in the past, but this fear I have about it now I feel is a tactic from the Devil to scar me with the past so I can’t do the work He wants me to do, whatever that may be. The reason I am posting this here is because I have come a long way to live a healthy life with Christ in my life. I’ve purged many habits and chose to get rid of many negative people in my life. I work daily to better myself. Do I pray to God to reveal His purpose with this gift or do I let Him show me through this journey?
God bless you and Merry Christmas!!