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The Prophetic Made Personal
Secret Keys to Unlocking Your Personal Destiny
Although many may understand that God has established certain individuals as prophets, too few consider themselves in the same league. On the contrary, every believer can enter into new and fulfilling prophetic possibilities. Author Mickey Robinson provides biblical and historical background for the operation of prophetic gifts and also explains safeguards and practical methods for prophetic ministry. Exciting discussion topics include:
Making a strong case for the benefits of the local church as a prophetic base, you will see illustrated the importance of personal maturity, mutual encouragement and accountability, prophetic worship, and the power of the Holy Spirit. "You see, the whole subject of the prophetic lifestyle begins and ends with the revelation of God Himself, as continually shown to us by His Spirit in the life of His Son, Jesus. It is always happening, and it is always personal." -Mickey Robinson Product Details
ISBN-13 9780768431520
ISBN-10 0768431522
The prophetic ministry has been misperceived as a strange, elitist ministry. This is because it appears to be the offbeat domain of spiritual specialists. God’s word has also too often been presented with sensational hyping, misleading communication, and other unfortunate elements. As a result, “prophecy” has lost credibility. To counter this misrepresentation, let me underscore these two facts: the prophetic ministry is about personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ and God wants to pour out His Spirit on all flesh. If there is anything that is inclusive about God, it is the gifts of revelation. Many of us experience them for years without realizing what they are. They came to us as part of the promise. Once we were born again of the Spirit of God, we began to feel the wind of the Spirit (see John 3:8). Prophetic, revelatory experiences are for everybody. Whoever belongs to Jesus communicates with Him, spirit-to-Spirit, in a variety of ways. Think back about your own life. Can you see how He has communicated with you? You may not have heard an audible, theatrical voice from Heaven, but you can see ways in which He has directed you, protected you, or assured you that He cares about you. As long as you keep following Him, you will be learning more about hearing His voice and following His direction. You will also grow in your understanding of the place of prophetic expression in the house of the Lord and in personal ministry. Your prophetic education will occur in practical ways as the Lord guides you through your daily life, showing you Scripture and giving you tastes of the ways He expresses Himself. It is a fact: whoever you are and wherever you live and work, you are a prophet and priest in the Kingdom of God (see 1 Pet. 2:9). Dispensations of Grace Over the eons, God has dispensed His grace in different ways. At the Creation, God expressed Himself directly and magnificently. Then the dispensation of His grace changed under the Old Covenant relationship between God and humans. For thousands of years, He expressed Himself through particular individuals. The prophetic anointing was relegated to certain prophets and kings who were set apart. God rested on them when they prophesied. Ordinary people did not have this experience at all. And there were long stretches when the word of the Lord was rare (see 1 Sam. 3:1). Then Jesus came, and He ushered in a brand-new dispensation of grace. From Pentecost on, every believer could share in the anointing because God’s Holy Spirit was dwelling in every one of them. Today we are living in a time of a particular operation of God’s grace and sovereign activity that is a continuation of the New Testament. All of these manifestations represent the same God because they show us different expressions of His nature. They do not erase and replace each other; they build on each other. The Old Testament is just as relevant today as the New Testament. To appreciate the Old Testament revelation as much as New Testament revelation, just look at the Book of Hebrews, which is like an elegant bridgework connecting the former dispensation with the new:
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:1-3). The Old Testament emphasis on the Law has not been replaced; it has been fulfilled. With fresh eyes, you can read both testaments and you can say, “This is what it really means. All of it has been leading us to God.” All that God created is being held together by the Word of God, who has been speaking since the beginning of time and who is still speaking today. “My Sheep Hear My Voice” In your relationship with God, you have to be prophetic. The Word makes it clear that “all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14), and “...it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Ps. 100:3). If you are being led by the Spirit of God, you have communication with Him. If you are one of the “sheep of His pasture,” you will know His voice when you hear it. When Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice...” (John 10:27), it was not just a sweet metaphor. Real sheep have it figured out. They know the difference between their shepherd’s voice and other voices. One time I was in Israel. I was near a well on a hillside outside of Bethlehem, where the terrain is arid. A shepherd had just taken the cover off the well so that he could draw water for his flock. A friend was with me, and he said he had been at the same spot another time when a very large flock of sheep had been milling around, grazing on the sparse, brownish-green tufts, thirsty. A man had come up to them and made a particular sound. It was a loud, guttural sound, not even a real word. Half of the sheep looked up and took off to gather around him, but the other half of the sheep never even moved. They just kept their heads down, scrounging around in the dust. Then another man came along and made a different kind of a distinct sound. Those sheep knew that one. They raised their heads en masse and began to follow him. You see, the sheep knew the voice of their own shepherd. They would not follow the wrong one. Their ears had been trained to recognize a particular voice, and as far as they were concerned, the other voice was just a noise to be ignored. They would not go with the wrong shepherd because his voice sounded counterfeit to them. Lambs follow other sheep; sheep know and follow the voice of The Shepherd.We are the sheep of Jesus’ pasture through the New Covenant in His blood (see 1 Cor. 11:25). Jesus Himself is the Shepherd, the Head of the Church. The collective “flock” is made up of individual people. The Lord takes care of the whole Church by taking care of individual members of it. Each one of us can expect to hear His voice for ourselves, even as we move in concert with others who also hear His voice. “Would God That All the Lord’s People Were Prophets!” In the Book of Joel, we find the line that Peter used on the day of Pentecost to explain how the Spirit was going to be poured out on every individual who would say yes to Jesus: It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days (Joel 2:28-29). In the context of Joel’s time, this was a revolutionary statement. In those days the blessing of the Spirit was reserved for a select few people, with very few exceptions. One of the exceptions had occurred with Moses and the 70 elders: Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. Also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and stationed them around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again. But two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them (now they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent), and they prophesied in the camp. So a young man ran and told Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
Moses was tired of being the only one who could hear from God. He knew that it was good to hear from God, and he also knew that it would change anyone who heard His voice. If all of God’s people could be prophets, what a wonderful day that would be. When you hear the voice of the Lord, it will fill you with awe and healthy fear. It will straighten you up. When you hear God speak to you, His voice will stand you up—and lay you down—in the same motion. It will strengthen you as it humbles you. The fear of the Lord is the accurate moral, spiritual, and relational compass. So when God’s Spirit was poured out as never before on Pentecost, Peter referred back to those early prophecies. What happened on the day of Pentecost fulfilled Joel’s prophecy in living color. One hundred and twenty ordinary-looking folks were speaking fluently in languages they could never have learned—declaring the truth, proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Thousands of people came running to find out what was going on, whereupon Peter began to preach an amazing sermon, fulfilling the prophetic word that had been spoken about his becoming a fisher of men. After Peter’s explanation, they gave their own altar call, saying, “What are we supposed to do now?” (see Acts 2:37). That day, 3,000 “fish” came into the Kingdom after hearing only one sermon. This was supposed to continue on through the centuries. In one way or another, it has. But along the way, most of the Church lost the theology of the Holy Spirit, in part because it was abused by people who had strayed from the heart of the issue. Our Response to This Dispensation of Grace To get back what we have lost, all we need is a heart to hear and a will to obey. I think it was Vince Lombardi who said, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” We in the Church should change that statement to this one: “Hearing from God isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” Hearing from someone is the basis of relationship. What kind of a relationship would it be if you called your spouse or your friend and you did all of the talking and the other person could not get a word in edgewise? Not only would you fail to engage in a real conversation, but also probably the other person would soon tune you out. To have a healthy relationship with God and to gain from it, you cannot be passive. You need to incline your heart in His direction, believing that He has something to say to you. This familiar proverb applies: My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment,lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God (Proverbs 2:1-5). To say it another way, you have to learn how to incline your ear to Him in order to have a relationship with God: Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house; then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him (Psalm 45:10-11). Once you incline yourself toward Him, you are more inclined to obey what He tells you. Once you get used to hearing Him, you will get better at obedient accountability and discover, as I have, that disobedience carries no rewards at all, except as a prod to seek His grace to obey Him next time. Your reward for obedience will be an abundantly joy-filled life. Hearing God is a supernatural thing, and you need His grace to both hear and obey. You need to sharpen the capacity of your perception with constant use. You have probably been doing it already, but I want to encourage you to do it more. With God there is always more. God Calls You to Do the Impossible God will rarely tell you what you already know, and He will rarely call you to do what you already can do by your own strength. I know that does not sound very encouraging, but it is true. The reason, again, is relationship—God wants you to cultivate a relationship with Him, and it must be a relationship built on trust and faith. You cannot live on somebody else’s faith, and you cannot live on the faith you operated in last year. You need to maintain ongoing communication back and forth. You need to talk to Him (which is prayer—breathing out) and then you need to listen when He talks to you (which is prophecy—breathing in). You may not hear His audible voice. Neither will He preface every word with “Thus saith the Lord.” Sometimes, just as in any relationship, He will communicate with a sigh or the equivalent of a lifted eyebrow. Increasingly, you will learn what His voice sounds like. You will learn how to wait for Him before you do something, and you will also learn to respond immediately when He tells you what to do. Sometimes what He says will not seem to make any sense, especially if He uses figurative terms. Other times what He tells you will make so much sense that it will melt your heart. He is a God of wonders and a God of wisdom, and He wants to share His abundance with you. As a result of hearing and obeying, you will be stretched. You will be inconvenienced. You may even be persecuted. But it will be worth it. What do you think it was like for the early Church when the persecutions started? They had been enjoying phenomenal growth and remarkable harmony. Except for the shocking deaths of Ananias and Sapphira and a few reprimands and beatings from the authorities, thousands of people were getting healed, sharing their lives with each other, and spreading the Good News: And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. ...The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith (Acts 4:32-33; 6:7). Then the gifted deacon named Stephen was stoned to death, and “on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles” (Acts 8:1). That single line cannot portray what it must have been like for the individuals and families who had to drop everything and flee for their lives. Because of the persecution and forced dispersion, however, the Gospel message spread far and wide, and before long the Church of Jesus Christ even embraced Gentiles. The believers kept on believing, praying, and obeying in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. Saul of Tarsus, one of the worst persecutors and probably the last person you would think would be converted, was. And his story gives us another glimpse into how much the members of the new Church listened to God’s voice. An ordinary brother, also named Ananias (but apparently no relation to the other one) received a prophetic word from God: Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” Do you see how important it was for Ananias to be able to receive prophetic input from God? He had to be willing to obey in the face of risk, too, didn’t he? What God told him to do sounded impossible for several reasons. But he heard accurately and obeyed anyway. That is radical faith, which to me seems harder than going into a strange neighborhood and doing cold-calling evangelism, knocking on strangers’ doors. But Ananias heard from God, and he knew he was being sent. Whatever Jesus says to you, do it. Do not ask too many questions, and do not hesitate out of fear. The few words that Mary spoke to the servants at the wedding in Cana should become our motto: “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5). God Will Make a Miracle Just as Jesus did when He turned plain water into fine wine at Cana, He will start with something as common as you and make a miracle out of you. In every creative miracle, Jesus used something common, whether He spit on the ground to make mud or accepted two fish and five barley loaves. He said something for somebody to respond to, and He made a miracle through the interaction. Just as it was in Cana or Jerusalem, this common thing turned creative miracle may seem like a divine interruption. It was not part of your Plan A. But if you have been listening for God’s voice all along, you will recognize it and obey it, even if He is nudging you out of your comfort zone. Let me give you a personal example. A few years ago, I was in the Atlanta airport waiting for a connecting flight. I had enough time to go get something to eat, so I found a restaurant by my gate, which the ticket agent had told me was A3. The place was packed, with a line of people out the door. As soon as I got there, I realized that the agent had made a small mistake—I was supposed to be at A33. Now I was a man in a serious hurry! I spotted one empty barstool, so I asked the hostess if I could sit there and she said OK. So I sat down and ordered. Whew. I was sitting next to a lady who was having a sandwich. She looked nice and she appeared to be about 60. As I ate, I was trying to catch the football scores on CNN and also make a phone call to make sure that somebody was going to be able to pick me up when I landed. The Holy Spirit broke through all the noise in my head and said, “Ask her what she’s doing.” I did not really feel I had enough time, but I said, “Hello, what are you doing?” Her answer was, “Well, I am going to see my daughter who lives in California. I was married for 30 years and my husband was in the military. We lived all over the world. A few months ago he told me he never loved me and that all of those years he’s had a mistress. Now we’re divorced and we sold everything and he’s retired. He’s going to live in South America, but I don’t know where I’m going to go.” Her whole world had completely fallen apart, shattered and devastated. I said the first thing that occurred to me, “Ma’am, God sent me to tell you that He loves you,” and in 90 seconds I shared my testimony about how God had mercy on me when I was in an accident. (She could tell from looking at me that it was no small accident.) Then I said to her, “What happened to you is not an accident. God is going to take care of you. Jesus loves you.” I gave her a printed copy of my testimony, and I showed her the phone number in case she wanted to call me later. She was bawling, and her mascara was running down and staining her beautiful sweater. That was all I had time for. I had to get up and leave if I was going to catch my plane. I was crying too, by then. I do not know how her situation turned out, but I do know I was able to give her some hope and a lifeline. God used a short layover and a mistake about the gate—and a quick prophetic word—to make a difference in someone’s life. It could happen more often if we were open to it. The good news is that God is loving and merciful, and He wants our attention. We are His servants, and He needs to be able to tell us what to do. Sometimes I think He goes to all these lengths to interrupt us and inconvenience us not only to get us to do things, but also to condition us to be listening for His voice. God Calls You as Part of His Church As individuals, we are part of a prophetic servant community called the Church. Here again, Jesus is our model. He called Himself the servant of all, so we are servants serving Jesus, the Servant of All (see John 13:12-16). Although Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, He came to serve men and women and to be a servant leader. Even if you think you have a big personal ministry, the biggest and greatest ministry is to be the servant of all. With Him as our example, we are humble fellow-servants, working together for a common purpose and under the prophetic guidance of God, serving as the Holy Spirit leads us. Even with the highest motives, we should not pour ourselves out aimlessly to the point of exhaustion. We need to be directed by God, and we need to obey, both individually and together. The Bible calls us “living stones” who are being built together into a spiritual house, “to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). Each of us has a divinely appointed destiny, and it includes being built together with others. As we encounter others, we will be transformed, together, into Christlikeness, and we will mature in our ability to live lives that are submitted to Him. Our message to the world will not come only in the form of the spoken or written word. For the most part, it will come in the form of our transformed lives and the powerful love of God demonstrated through signs and wonders. The Kingdom of God is both a declaration and a demonstration. Here is another example from the early Church. The apostles in Jerusalem had sent Barnabas up to Antioch to help out. The account shows that he listened to the Lord all the time; the good results of his visit prove it. When he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord (Acts 11:23-24). After a short time, Barnabas went to Tarsus and located Paul and brought him to Antioch, “and for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). Most people have been told that Barnabas’ name means “son of encouragement,” which comes from the Greek version of his name. But really, in his native Aramaic it is closer to “son of prophecy” (Bar means “son of” and nabas means “prophet”). Barnabas made a habit of inclining his heart to hear God’s voice, and he was so successful at bringing God’s life to the new believers in Antioch that the unbelievers began to call them “Christians,” or “little Christs.” The citizens of Antioch did not call the believers “the group from Jerusalem” or “the group of Jews and Greeks.” They observed their lifestyle, and they saw that these people did all the things that Jesus had done, and they did them in His name. They preached, they prayed, they prophesied, they laid hands on the sick and healed them, they spoke words of life, they loved each other. They were just like Jesus. They were a prophetic servant community expressing the love, power, and passion of God. I want to be part of something like that, don’t you? I want to be able to be part of a courageous and loving body of people that blesses everybody. It is not too strong to say that I want to be an incarnation of my Lord Jesus Christ, just as those early disciples in Antioch were. To do that, I need to be a prophetic servant. I need to be learning more about hearing the voice of God as I do what He tells me to do. I need to learn how to be humble and submitted to Him and to other people. And I want you to join me! A Sending Prayer Lord, we have tasted and seen that You are good. There is something that is burning in us that is compelling us to express Your love, to spread Your Kingdom, to bring others into a full relationship with You. Something leaps up in our spirits when we hear that each one of us is supposed to be a prophet in Your Kingdom. Your Holy Spirit fills our hearts and makes us incline our spiritual ears to hear Your quiet voice. We turn our hearts and attention to You. We want You to become our Shepherd, our Guide, our Protector. We want to learn to recognize Your voice in the midst of many other voices competing for our attention. We want to obey You quickly and completely. Right now we activate our faith, and we ask You to help us to activate our ability to hear You so that we can really be living stones, individuals who are part of Your Church and who continually pulse with Your living Spirit. Amen. |