Here in Melbourne, Australia, we are welcoming the first signs of Autumn rain, after several dry months. Growth in our garden—halted due to the extreme Summer heat—is about to explode.
It reminds me of how a refreshing move of the Holy Spirit can bring a change of spiritual season to our lives and ministries.
Whilst we may enjoy a time of refreshing, other Biblical seasons do not appear so pleasant. (Heb 12:11) In His love and tender care, our Father also ordains seasons of pruning, testing, or wilderness times, to grow us in our call, gifts and character.
Spiritual seasons apply to the overall call of God in our lives—and also to the development of individual spiritual gifts, such as prophecy.
6 Stages of Growth in Your Prophetic Gift
In my book, ‘Grow Your Prophetic and Prayer Gifts,’ I identify 6 stages of growth in the development of spiritual gifts. [1] These are:
1. The Beginning Stage
Spiritual gifts are imparted to us at our new birth in Christ. (1 Peter 4:10)
2. The Desiring Stage
We may experience a God-given hunger that leads us, either to an area of ministry where the gift of prophecy can be tested and used, or to further study or training in the use of the prophetic gift. (1 Cor 14:1)
3. The Emerging Stage
There are visible signs that we have a spiritual gift of prophecy, and that it is anointed by God. We are seeing fruit—results that honour God, help people, and build the church. Our spiritual oversight are now acknowledging our gift. (Acts 19:6)
4. The Developing Stage
The growth of our prophetic gift is accelerated as we embrace opportunities such as prophetic training, mentoring, putting prophecy into practice and other forms of learning or study. (1 Tim 4:14-15)
5. The Testing Stage
We undergo a season of trial, or wilderness season, in the area of our giftedness. Our sense of confidence in ourselves is being stripped away but will be replaced by a new sense of dependency upon God. We gain wisdom and humility and are prepared for greater fruitfulness in prophetic ministry. (Acts 9:28-30)
6. The Maturing Stage
Having grown in wisdom as well as our gift, we are experiencing fruitfulness in the use of our spiritual gift of prophecy and may have the opportunity to lead, encourage or invest (reproduce) in others who are growing in the same area of ministry. (1 Cor 14:20)
Although I have placed these stages in order for the convenience of communication, God may lead us through them multiple times, as we mature in our gifts and calling. [2]
4 Benefits of Understanding the Growth Stage of Your Prophetic Gift
There are several advantages to being aware of which stage we are experiencing in our prophetic gift and ministry call:
1. We can make the most of our Current Season
For example, in a ‘desiring’ phase, we can overcome discouragement that a prophetic gift has not yet manifested or been acknowledged and continue to respond to the hunger that Holy Spirit has placed within us.
2. We can see the Bigger Picture
We can appreciate God’s faithfulness as we can look back at the journey that we have been on. This can be especially encouraging if we are undergoing a ‘testing’ season.
3. We can Break through Barriers
In a ‘testing’ season, for example, we realise that our response and the condition of our heart is of vital importance to the fulfilment of God’s call upon our lives—and can choose to respond well. We can also identify when the enemy’s strategy is to keep us stuck in a wilderness time and take steps to break free.
In an ‘emerging’ season, we can be encouraged to steward the gift God has given to us by not taking it for granted—and investing in further training and development.
4. We can lift the Ceiling on our Prophetic Gift
Understanding the stages of growth in our gift of prophecy can help us grow even further, for each stage contains ongoing lessons.
We can prayerfully identify which attributes of each season that we should revisit on an ongoing basis. For example, God may prompt us to:
- Stir up desire for a gift or ministry (desiring stage),
- Step out and try new things (emerging stage)
- Continue to seek opportunities for training and development (developing stage), and
- Continue to respond well to trials or hurts as they occur (testing stage)
Notes
[1]
Grow Your Prophetic And Prayer Gifts‘ is written to help you grow in your prophetic gifts and break through stuck places – at whatever stage or season you are on the journey. Visit our eStore for this eBook and more resources to empower you in your gifts and ministry, or our Prophetic Training page to learn about prophetic training opportunities with Helen Calder.
[2] Can you tell which season you may be experiencing? For a more comprehensive checklist of signs related to each season, see this article:
How to Develop Your Prophetic Gift by Understanding Your Season
Related Posts:
6 Reasons Why You Should Develop Your Prophetic Gift
11 Signs that Your Prophetic Gift is Being Held Back
Break Out and Grow Your Prophetic Gift: The Parable of the Bonsai
© Helen Calder Enliven Blog – Prophetic Teaching
Enliven Ministries: In the David McCracken Ministries family
I want to know how do you get over being afraid of things that God may show you? Sometimes in the midst of praying he shows me things bad and good that sometimes scare me to the point of being afraid to pray. How do I get beyond this?
Hi there, Hope. Thank you for leaving the note. When you say some things God shows you are ‘bad,’ do you mean prophetic warnings, or spiritual warfare, or something else?
A few thoughts come to mind:
– focus on getting to know God as your loving Heavenly Father. As you grow in that understanding, you will come to trust Him, that He gives good gifts, that He loves you, that He is safe – and when He shares something with you it is for a good purpose.
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:11-13)
– do you have someone who is a church leader who can help you process what you are receiving as you pray, to weigh up that it is actually from God and if needed, pray with you about it?
– there may be some thoughts here that could help (under ‘the barrier of fear’) http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2014/02/04/4-barriers-to-hearing-gods-voice/
It’s warnings and spritual warfare. He will show me things that sometimes I don’t understand, and that’s when I go to my Pastor for answers, and sometimes I have to use my prayer partner, but there are dreams that I will have of me fitting with satan that really scares me, I’m getting a lot better with this, but I still don’t want to have a fear of anything, I want to be able to stand in spite of the dream, warning or warfare, and I don’t feel I’m quite there yet and no one can really tell me what to do.
Hi again, Hope. I understand the difficulties – I used to have them myself.
I’m glad to hear you have the support of your pastor and a prayer partner.
Have you read the articles in the discernment series? Click on here and scroll down to the first article to start off:
http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/category/discernment/
Hi Helen. At age 22 i came to faith in a local Baptist church.It was well grounded with lifestyle teaching mentoring and counselling.But something in me needed more,so i pursued deeper spiritual encounters in other places [meetings,conferences etc.] and used my church as a spiritual home.As i continued my journey with God it was becoming clear to me and others that i had a prophetic gift, in fact it was more than that,when one of the pastors started calling me” prophet man” This gift was not really recognized in my church and as i moved and grew in it more i began to out grow, beyond the church limitation of my gifting.[i was allowed to be prophetic but not too much].After just over 20 yrs in that church it was becoming clear that i was being ushered out, it was an 18 month process when i eventually left. I have now entered my 4th yr in the wilderness with no church home. In saying that i have grown enormously in the past 4 yrs moving between your stages from 2 – 6 listed above in an increasing measure. I have attempted to connect back in several other places but there has been nothing long term [just manor].I sometimes cry longing for fellowship,but i believe God is getting to my bottom line, stripping out self dependence and the like.I believe the time will come but not like it use to be, i have been to a few gatherings and out in the market place in the past 8 months and tested this new place i am in and its been lots of fun, i do long for an established home though. Thanks Helen.
Wow, David, you have so much to give and would be a great blessing to a church community. Let me know if you would like prayer about reconnecting with a church – it would be an honour.
I know it is not easy, though. When we moved from Australia to NZ, no one here knew me, the ministry I had been involved with, or the gifts I carried. It took a heart of teachability and patience to go through the process of becoming known and available to serve even in very small ways to start off with. But ultimately, God has brought more out of me (in terms of gifting) in these years since than I could have dreamed.
Be richly blessed.
There are times am praying with people and just speak a word, would these be considered a prophecy. Though i have been told by some christian friends that they see i have these gift. How do i stir it up.
Hi Sola, when you are just starting out, don’t be too concerned about whether or not you are bringing a ‘prophecy’ as such – take the pressure off. But be very open to bringing prophetic insights – this could be simple words of encouragement, timely wisdom, exhortation and comfort. The main thing is to be open to listening to the Holy Spirit and trusting that God can use you to share thoughts from His heart. So if you are interested (the desiring stage I mentioned above) keep on learning about prophecy, and it is possible that the words you are bringing are indeed the first signs of a gift emerging. 🙂
See http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2013/09/25/taking-the-pressure-off-when-you-are-growing-in-prophecy/