*Prophecy belongs in family, not in the dark and not on demand.*
The New Testament knows almost nothing of hearing from God through strangers outside the life of a local church. The church is imperfect. It still keeps people safe most of the time. We are living in a generation where a great deal of so-called prophetic ministry happens on platforms that are not churches, in conferences that are not families, and through people who float. They do not have a church. They have ten churches. They dip in. They take the best.
Having ten churches is like having ten wives. You do not take the best from each and leave when you are finished. You commit. You need a family.
*And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you. (1 Thessalonians 5:12, NKJV)*
**Who Should You Receive a Word From?**
I am not against international ministry. I speak as someone who travels. The problem is not travel. The problem is having no home. God wants a base. A true community. A place you belong to, not in a legalistic trap, but as family. Most Sundays you are with your people. Gathering is not first about you. Gathering is the place where prophetic ministry can happen in a known environment.
Here is the kind of person I am looking for. Someone who has been in the church five or ten years. They prophesy when it is right. They also take the trash out. They make food after the meeting. They talk to an elderly person who is lonely. They sit in the Bible study. They do what needs doing. They are part of a family. They are not hunting a platform.
I am not looking first at how amazingly they can prophesy. Do they serve? Do they show up? Is the church richer because they are there, or do they only take? When somebody like that, over a period of time, brings words that are tested and judged as public words must be, and those words are found to be accurate, you put increasing weight on that person. Character has matched gifting. Anointing has been tested. People will listen.
Contrast that with the person who shows up on day one and wants to give major words to everybody, or a private word to me about the church. Who are you? Where is your church? Who has proved your ministry? A writer years ago asked the right questions. If this word is wrong, where do we go? To whom are you accountable? Would your own pastors recognize what you are doing?
That can sound controlling. I do not mean it that way. We need to be known before we get convenient. I do not want prophecy to be the domain of a conference you pay to attend a thousand miles from home. Keep it in the local church. Keep the family safe.
**Are You Obliged to Receive a Word?**
Somebody comes to you and says, I have a word for you. You have to receive it. That is a hard one for some people. It is not hard for me. Years ago the Lord dealt with me about being hard-hearted and thin-skinned. He wanted the opposite. Soft-hearted. Hard-skinned.
I generally have a rule. If somebody comes to give me a word and they do not fit the category I have just described, I will say no. I try not to be rude. Thank you. I am all set. If someone offers you a piece of cake and you do not want it, you do not eat it out of politeness.
I have missed that and got it wrong at times. Usually the pressure is social. It would be embarrassing to say no in church. So people let a well-meaning person, and at times a foolish person, speak into them.
I remember speaking at a church in South Carolina years ago. At the time my wife was pregnant with my son. He is a grown man now. I mentioned that night that she was about to give birth. Everybody knew. It was not a revelation. I preached my heart out. I prayed for people. My tank was empty. I sat on the front row with a glass of water. When you are exhausted, your defenses come down.
A lady came and said, I have a word for you. I had no fight left. I said, okay. She began to prophesy death. It was horrible. At the very end she said she saw a witch coming to put a curse on me. That was the only true sentence in the lot, and the irony was standing in front of me. I opened my eyes and said, you are right there. As she walked away I took authority, not over her as a person, but over the spirit behind it, pleading the blood of Jesus.
I do not want to unhear some things. You may say you are strong. If somebody speaks something dark over you, you will throw it away. Bless you. Whenever you hear the Word of God, God has an access point into the heart. Whenever you hear the word of the enemy, to some degree he has an access point to do you harm. You can take authority over those words. It is not as easy as you think.
It is far safer not to allow it. If a parcel shows up at your house with a box of rattlesnakes, do not open the box. It is easier to say, no thanks, I ordered pizza, send it back, than to open it, let fifty snakes loose, and then try to catch them. Words are powerful, even in a born-again believer. I do not let just anybody speak into my spirit that way. No thank you. I am all set.
If you want a polite path, say this. If you really feel that word is from God, write it down. Submit it to your own church leadership to pray over. If they witness to it, have them send it, not you. I do not like unsolicited words sent to me. In a way it is a monologue. They get to speak. I do not get to answer. Put it through a filter.
*You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4, NKJV)*
**What Are the Protocols in a Local Church?**
I am not coming down from a mountain with tablets of stone. This is how I operate, given the size and shape of the churches I serve. I try to hold two things in tension.
First, I will allow nearly any born-again, growing, committed member of the church to prophesy. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that you can all prophesy. Occasionally someone is under discipline or walking through a serious personal collapse. I will not embarrass them. I may tell them privately to take a break from public ministry for a season. You want to be healthy before you speak into health. Apart from that, my goal is, everybody can play.
Second, everybody can prophesy, but not everywhere, not whenever, and not however they like. If you want to prophesy in public, you join a team. Every few months we meet. We know who is speaking. We can ask how things are going. We can give guidelines and correction. There is a context.
On the Lord’s Day there is a time after worship when anyone on that team can bring a word to the gathered body. They stand where they can be seen. When the leader is ready they are given the microphone. They have a short window, often thirty to forty-five seconds. They do not bring a word of correction to the body. They do not bring a word of direction that takes over the meeting. They do not seize authority because they have the mic. They bring a word of edification.
*For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. (1 Corinthians 14:31, NKJV)*
When it comes to personal prophecy, the team may minister to individuals at the end. We do it at the front, in the open, around other people, and only to those who want it. Solicited ministry. I do not let people walk up to someone and say, I have a word for you. That is intimidating. It is hard to say no. Instead I invite people: if you would like ministry, come forward. You are giving permission.
I do not let people prophesy across the room, in the parking lot, in the bathroom, or by private text as a way of escaping judgment. Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. When somebody says God gave me a word and I do not want anybody else to hear it, I want to know why. Often they want to say something they do not want judged.
*And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19, NKJV)*
If someone cheats the house rules, I will deal with it. You can live inside the family or you can take that practice elsewhere. We will not have secret words running through the flock.
Simply put, prophecy is safest among people who take out the trash, sit under correction, and will still be there on Tuesday. I am convinced the gift is for the church, not for the dark. Be known. Be tested. Be free to say no. Seek His face. Keep the family clean. Draw near.
Let me challenge you. Stop collecting words from strangers. Plant yourself. Serve. Let your character catch up with your gifting. If a word comes from someone you do not know, you are allowed to decline the box. If you lead a church, make room for everyone to play, and make the room light enough that the word can be judged.
***Selah***
**Scriptures for Study**
1 Thessalonians 5:12-21, 1 Corinthians 14:1-3, 1 Corinthians 14:26-33, 1 Corinthians 14:29-31, 1 John 4:1-4, John 3:19-21, Acts 13:1-3, Acts 15:1-2, Hebrews 13:17, Ephesians 4:11-16, Romans 12:3-6, Galatians 6:1-2, Matthew 7:15-20, Matthew 18:15-17, Proverbs 11:14, Proverbs 27:6, James 3:1, 1 Timothy 3:1-7, 1 Peter 5:1-5, Philippians 2:1-4, Colossians 3:16, Hebrews 10:24-25.
**10 Questions for Reflection**
1. Are the words you receive coming from people who are known, or from people who float?
2. Would your own pastors recognize the ministry you claim to carry?
3. When a stranger says, I have a word for you, do you feel free to say no?
4. Where has social pressure made you open a box you should have refused?
5. Does your gifting travel faster than your character in the local church?
6. If a public word were wrong, who would be left to care for the people it touched?
7. In your church, can a word be seen, judged, and corrected, or does it live in the parking lot and the phone?
8. Do you treat ten churches like ten options, or have you actually committed to one family?
9. Would you still serve if you were never given a microphone?
10. What protocol would make prophecy safer in your house without quenching the Spirit?
