Some of My Prophecies

The First: Undeniably Prophecy

God just brought me back but I wasn't 100% sure. I was pushing my cart through Kroger. I heard a coworker's voice kind of like on the radio. It was distorted in a way that sounded beautiful. I got a mental jolt from it. Happened fast, too. Id have enjoyed it if she wasn't in pain calling out to me. The experience, if you had it, would lead you to believe one of two things is true: you experienced something supernatural; you just experienced the onset of mental illness. I wondered to myself which was more likely...

I just kept pushing the cart, looking around, and wondering if I should respond on the radio. Nobody with a mic was looking at me as if expecting a reply. I just started going toward her just in case. About a minute later, she got on the radio... clearly the radio this time... saying the same thing, same tone, same pacing, and same emotion in her voice. I said, "I'm already on the way." She looked like I imagined she would and I got her out of that situation.

I wish all of you could experience that. God used that prophecy to get me from hesitantly walking toward him to excitedly running His way. All I knew was to read the Bible, pray, obey, and serve. I was serving others 8-13 hrs a day, praying up to 5hrs, saw many signs, used them for guidance following Romans 8:28 (i.e. like breadcrumbs), and barely slept (but never tired!). I thought all that was normal since I just imitated what was in NT. God used some signs, small acts of obedience, and a chance encounter with a godly woman to bring me to Mercy Hill Baptist Church. They taught me to focus on Christ, the Word, etc. Few people in churches from there on believed in prophecies or signs, though. They kept having impact when allowed. So, I kept asking and God kept giving them.

The Rest

I asked God to let me scale up everything I learned. I needed a hard-hitting Gospel, apologetics, and other tools. I'd send them to thousands if He gave them. Most moments that appeared to be prophecy were like me getting a flow of thoughts from nowhere out of a different, better mind. The first one was the only clearly-supernatural type of prophecy, like a vision but mostly audio. Here's a few of the rest that aren't too confidential.

Next prophecy:

People in churches barely shared the Gospel, often saying it was hard. There were too many evangelism guides out there, I was lazy, and I asked God to send me good, evangelism training I could bring back to my church. At work, a sign said I needed to talk to a specific woman. Turns out she left a church that did minimal evangelism to join a group deep into it and one other reason. I told her God wanted us to talk, set my handheld down, and told her she was being diplomatic. I told her in detail why she left, why she told me that, and how she was just trying not to burn friendships. As I spoke, her face was pale, eyes wide, jaw dropped, and nodding slowly. We've never met but she confirmed it was all true. We kept talking a bit. Then, she sent me to No Place Left for evangelism training. I forgot about it or was lazy and didn't go. Something sinful.

Next one:

I tried to do my own evangelism research again, found great stuff, filtering it was so much work, and I was lazy. I also noticed Baptists in church act on exhortation from specific types of preachers and writers vs random people. I asked God to send an evangelist everyone would respect, maybe imitate in sharing. I'd talk to them to get equipped before passing it on. Like clockwork, Levi Lance shows up. I'd have to qualify my gift to him. He's asking about Acts, which I haven't read in months. Frustrated, I ask the Spirit to reveal the next answer to show him my gift before our conversation. Demoniac and Samaritan woman flow in my mind but they're not even in Acts. "He won't take those." Gotta be my imagination and false prophecy is a no no. Then he says those two things in that order (plus one more). It was the Spirit!

Although I screwed up, the prophecy doubled as Spirit confirming we needed to talk. I tried talk to him later, obstacles pile up, I persisted knowing Satan was hindering us, and get maybe 2 min of often-interrupted conversation. I use the prophecy as evidence to keep his attention. He also sends me to NPL. A train broke down on the way there, too, but drove around it. God let me help a stranded believer, too. Satan failed. After training, I put up GiveThemLife which I hand out to other Christians. It has 295 requests just today. Later, others went to NPL before coming back to encourage group members. We can see multiple prayers, an evangelist, a higher gift, strong interference from Satan to block two of those, pressing through, others joining in, and then all sorts of increase in Gospel sharing. I was grateful to see God providing those kinds of signs and results again.

Next one:

Children's ministry. I know nothing about that. I asked God to let me build a specific woman up whose character was already living up to her potential quite a bit. He provided a unlikely run-in, we talked a long time, and (time nearly out) she said something sad. Like she couldn't see her value sometimes in that ministry while missing out on hanging out with other people. My heart screamed that I will not allow that woman to feel that way. Quickly asked Jesus for a helpful message.

He gave it. I gave it. It was several points simple enough for Twitter that you could probably re-use on anyone in children's ministry. Really solid stuff despite me having no experience at that. The prophecy had the effect I prayed for. She knew her value to Him, had a beautiful peace in her eyes, and hopefully was encouraged by it.

Next one:

I ran into a recent convert with high potential for ministry. Their story would bring hardened individuals to or back to Christ. The problem was both their sinful background and a permanent effect it had made them really uncomfortable. They disdained it as a weakness to avoid telling people. I prayed to change that with any kind of upbuilding. A message popped into my head that sounded like it would work but reduce them to tears (i.e. catharsis). I decided I'd get their permission with a warning that it could be emotional. I tried and failed to get their permission several times. Quite a bit of teaching, fellowship, and one-on-one counseling with skilled people did nothing about the problem. I kept praying for an opportunity to share what I thought would fix it.

All I'll say is the most unlikely series of events led to a situation where I could offer her a prophecy. I even told her what it was with that fitting in. The message described the effect on hardened individuals, how they often want to see evidence, examples in Scripture of her situation (Jesus & Paul), and how a simple action leveraging the after-effects of her sin might do just as much. She knew it was true. She almost started crying but time passing reduced that. Providence provided her an opportunity just seconds later from another person to maybe get rid of what she disdained so much. She wanted to hold onto it for how God might work through it. I could've cried if Spirit hadn't filled me with so much joy. In under 90 seconds, one prophecy created an asset out of a liability that a pile of people's prayers and efforts couldn't fix for month or two with its effects proven right after. That is why I keep bringing it up and trying to deliver them.

One from just before I revised this:

The Spirit created an opportunity to do some watering on a tough skeptic. They've mostly stuck to their beliefs in a way that defies all challengers for decades. Lots of prayer, patient listening, and occasional prophecies are slowly removing obstacles. This time, they claimed they believe in, know, and pray to "God." Rejects "Jesus" as jus ta good man and teacher. I countered that He said He was God. She doubled down saying, if Jesus is God, she should already be good since she has been talking to and praying to Him (God). Nobody can argue with this person. I prayed for a prophecy, a specific example with high impact, that would punch through that barrier. I kept patiently listening and it came.

"Let's say that people are claiming to know you. They say they have a relationship with you. When asked, they say they know and believe some things about you, don't believe you did other things, they'd question you even more if face to face, and they never spend any time with you. When they talk about you, they have their own beliefs about who you are, who you hang out with, your goals, and so on. They describe a made-up version of you that's nothing like you. Would you then say they know and have a relationship with you? Or that they definitely don't?" (And I didn't say "And that you're irritated at this and would have nothing to do with them?" Maybe I should've.)

Result: she really, really liked that example with it sinking in a lot. Got quiet with much nodding and contemplation. Then, she told me I should write it down to share with someone else. "Sure," I said. :)

Results Summary

People wonder why churches need it, why I want them shared, and keep pushing churches on it. Let's summarize what prophecy did in just these examples.

Starts with a recent return to Christ getting set on fire for Him. There were hard topics blocking initial or further commitment to Christ in various people. God provided useful answers for many audiences that were often shared. God dramatically increased capability for evangelism in all kinds of churches with an increase in ours, too. Jesus made a woman in children's ministry feel loved in a way that will help many others. Like Saul (and me), the Spirit turned another woman's doubts into faith that may help her reach hard-to-convince non-believers. In record time with almost no effort, too. Today, He got past an obstacle nobody did for that person for decades in under 30 seconds. These are things you don't normally see happening in churches with other gifts. If they do, it's a slow, gradual process that prophecy dramatically accelerates as if it's a catalyst.

I hope the examples convince readers prophecy (or whatever they want to call these) is an important gift whose impact is needed today, is helping today, quickly does what other gifts often can't, and therefore should be encouraged in the church body.

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