Help is on the Way - Testimony of Prophecy

Three years ago I started a job at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Ind. as the director of public relations. At that time I had no clue about running an office, but one thing I did know, I needed more staff.

I could tell you all the circumstances so you could say, "Wow, you really did need help," but I'll spare the details. Just believe me when I say, I was overwhelmed by the work load and lack of resources/staff.

I remember one of the pastors at my church praying with me, encouraging me and giving me a word from the Lord. He sensed that I would receive help and he felt it was in the form of three people. You can imagine my excitement. "Wahoo! Help is on the way!"

How many us know that when God promises something it isn't on our time line?!

It wasn't right away, but he brought me student workers and interns and even still I cried, "Lord that is not help! That is more work!" But my staff and I thanked Him anyway for these "resources," and kept believing for experienced and skilled help.

People in other departments told us it wasn't going to happen. "You'll never get that proposal passed." "The school is on a hiring freeze." "There is no money here." Those were just a few discouraging phrases we heard.

My staff and I refused to listen to those words. They did not line up with what God promised and what we knew to be true. I would also receive other prophetic words where people would say, "God is bringing you resources. You are going to be given strategies." I clung to those words, especially on days when I would come home at 5 p.m. and be mentally exhausted. I would say, "Where are my staff members? You promised."

After my first year there, I received permission for one part-time staff member to move to full-time.

On my second year I received permission to hire another staff member. (It was a position my boss had been proposing for six years.)

Now I'm almost in my third year and I just received word that my third proposed staff position has been approved by some of our cabinet members and will be voted on by our board next week. I'm about 98% sure it will pass and am rejoicing and preparing for yet another transition in our office!

God is good! He has doubled my staff since I started three years ago. He has fulfilled His promise. He doesn't care about financial problems. He doesn't live by hiring freezes. He is God and He loves me. He keeps his Word. He gave my staff and me plans and proposals, the intelligence to justify our positions with cost saving measures.

It would have been easy to listen to others around me and step into their disbelief, but I refused. It would have been easy to give up and just maintain the work, but the Lord is about growth because he's all about furthing his Kingdom and bringing His reality, His initiative and His provision on earth.

Can you remember a time when the Lord fulfilled His Word to you?

The Top 15 Myths About Prophecy Part 2

This is part two of the top 15 myths about prophecy. Read part one here.

8. All words that build up, stir up and cheer up are prophecy.
Not true. Prophecy is a rhema or “now” word from the Lord. Not every word that builds up, stirs up and cheers up is a prophecy, but every prophecy should build up, stir up and cheer up.

9. Giving someone a word that is currently true is prophecy.
No. That is called a word of knowledge. Prophesy is about the future. For example – you hear the word nurse. You ask if the person is a nurse and they say, “yes.” Jesus knew about the woman at the well and her five husbands. (John1) He knew her current situation (word of knowledge), then he prophesied what she would do.

10. Prophecy is always confirming to you about what He already talked to you about. Or God won’t tell you something before He tells me first.
Not true. Ex – The story of Samuel and Saul. Samuel told Saul he would tell him what was in his heart. He told him he would be king. When Samuel went to anoint him, he was hiding in the baggage. They had to find him before they could even name him king. (1 Sam, 9,10) Samuel called out Saul’s destiny and anointed him king.

11. “Thus saith the Lord” must be said in order to let the person know it’s from the Lord.
It is not necessary to use this phrase; however, we should not mock other cultural differences in the church that use this phrase. The Bible says not to “despise prophetic utterances (1 Thess.)” Plus we don’t want to miss out what the Lord may be saying just because we don’t agree with the way the prophecy is packaged.
1. When the OT prophets said this phrase they were speaking to people that had many pagan Gods. They had to clarify which God was speaking.
2. Jesus never used this phrase
3. The only time in the OT that anyone used this phrase was Agabus (Acts 21:10, 11) and he was inaccurate.


Use words like “I believe the Lord is saying this …” or “I feel the Lord is saying this.” That way the person can judge the word without feeling pressure to accept that is from the Lord.


12. If you receive a wrong prophecy, the person who gave it is a false prophet.

1 Cor. 13 says “we know in part and we prophecy in part.” The Lord doesn’t always tell us everything about the person we are prophesying over. We also don’t always get it right either. That doesn’t mean that the person is a false prophet. The simplest definition of a false prophet is someone who listens to the wrong spirit other than Holy Spirit. We don’t judge the person giving the word, but we are to judge the word given to us. I Thessalonians 5:20,21 says we should value prophesy. Test everything. Hold onto good. Avoid evil.

13. Prophetic ministry can be used to bring judgment, consequence.
Judgment and consequence is not the purpose of prophetic ministry. 1 Cor. 14:3 says that prophesy is to edify, exhort and comfort. While the OT prophets did prophesy judgment and consequence, we are living under the new covenant. (James 4:11:12)

14. All I see for the person I’m prophesying over is darkness. I will tell them and correct this sin in their life.
Again 1 Cor. 14:3 says that prophesy is to edify, exhort and comfort. We do not prophesy negativity. We prophesy the answer to the darkness in their life. God does not dwell on our sin. He works on our righteousness and he always sees good things for our life even if we are in a mess. Never correct in prophesy, correction should be handled by pastoral leadership. The person receiving prophetic ministry should feel blessed when you are finished giving the word.


15. I must lay hands on or be in the same room with a person in order to give them a word from the Lord.
Not true. You do not need to touch anyone in order to hear the Lord on their behalf. You don’t need to see them and you don’t need to know anything about them. You can have just a name, and the person could be in another state, and you could still inquire of the Lord on that person’s behalf.

The Top 15 Myths About Prophecy

This is part one of "The Top 15 Myths About Prophecy." I'll add the other eight myths in part two in the next couple of days.

Keep in mind prophecy (in its simplest form) is foretelling and forth telling. It is one of the nine gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, and it's a grace gift that is received by faith.

Myth #1
We do not need the gifts of the spirit. All we need is the fruit of the spirit.

This statement subtly ushers in pride. We desperately need the gifts. Spiritual gifts are empowerment to usher in the Kingdom of God. Paul says in 1 Cor. 14:1 to “.. seek zealously after the gifts.” Our Father always gives good gifts. (James 1:17) Why wouldn’t we want to accept them? In 1 Cor. 1: 4-7 Paul thanks the Lord for the Corinthians that they will be enriched in every way … lacking no spiritual gift.

Myth #2
Seek the giver not the gifts.

This is not biblical. Again, Paul says “Pursue Love (God); and zealously seek the gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. (1 Cor. 14:1) We never want to seek gifts more than the giver, but we need the gifts to manifest the power of God. To reject the gifts is to reject an aspect of him. The gifts are a manifestation of Him.

Myth #3
Seeking spiritual gifts is selfish.

Gifts are given to bless others. However, it is possible for some to have mixed motives in seeking spiritual gifts. Though consider the attitude of Paul in Philippians 1. He acknowledges those with wrong motive and then goes on to say, what does it matter if some use false motives as long as Christ is preached. He says he will continue to rejoice.

Myth #4
Asking for spiritual gifts opens us up to demonic deception.

There is no scripture for this and is contradiction to what Jesus taught in the gospels. Luke 11:5-13 says, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? … If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
If we ask the Father for a prophetic word for someone, why would he give us anything but that. We can trust Him.

Myth #5
Only people with a special gift can prophesy.

1 Cor 14:31 “For you all may prophesy one by one ..” While Paul is addressing the order of the church in using the gift of prophecy, he’s also saying you ALL may get a turn to prophesy. That must mean everyone can. In Acts 2:17, Peter quotes the book of Joel when he says, “ In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on ALL people, your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, you old men will dream. Even on my servants both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” Everyone is either a son or daughter to someone. That means EVERYONE can prophesy! Additionally, in 1 Cor 1:7 Paul says “Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” That means we as Christians have ALL the gifts. Prophecy is a gift according to 1 Cor. 12:9. You have the gift of prophecy if Christ is in you!

Myth #6
You have to wait a while to hear His voice.

You can speak in tongues whenever you want, you can prophesy whenever you want. It’s just a matter of plugging into the Spirit of God. It’s actually easier to prophesy if you open up your mouth right away. Waiting too long may take you to a place where your soul rationalizes what it is hearing. We don’t rationalize God’s voice. We let Him speak through us, making sure His word doesn’t filter through us. It gets back to Luke 11:11 If you ask for bread will he give you a stone. AND will he make you wait forever till you starve to death? No!

Myth #7
Prophecy is a promise of things to come.

Prophesy is not a promise. It is an invitation to your destiny. You must partner with God in order to step into the invitation. That means it’s conditional. It is also in part (1 Cor 13) and progressive, meaning it builds.

Moving from Email Relationship to Long Love Letters

Last night I taught my first four-part class at Southgate Church, "Demystifying the Prophetic." It was great! We had lots of hungry people excited to hear from God, grow closer to Him and interested in learning how to prophesy! (Classes are every Wed. night in Feb from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., in case you're interested.)

As I was driving home from work two days ago, I was talking to God and I felt like he was reminding me about love and about relationship and how important they are. He was talking to me about our relationship! I suddenly thought of all the recent quick prayers sent up to Him like sending a quick email off at work - nice, short, to-the-point. That's how I like to have email relationship, mainly because I'm busy. The response you get with those emails are - nice, short and t0-the-point - not necessarily relational. I thought to myself - "I don't want a nice, short-to-the-point relationship with God. I want a deep, intimate relationship. Hmmmm, I think I'm getting it God. I get what I put into our relationship and right now it's nice, quick and to-the-point.

Then I was talking to Him about the class, he really spoke to me about love and how you can use the gift of prophecy without having love. It means absolutely nothing in the grand scale of eternity for the giver of the word.

OK God how can I incorporate relationship and love into this class tomorrow?

So I added some more "loving" info to open up the class. A little 1 Cor 13 and 2 Cor. 13, sprinkled with a little Matthew, James, John and Amos. We got to build a solid foundation on LOVE!

Enter in the Beatles, "All You Need is Love" chorus. doo da doo

Gotta have love or you have nothing! (1 Cor 13)

Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles.” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers!” Matt. 7:22, 23

Gotta have a relationship too. It's crucial! Jesus says so! If you don't take this seriously, He may say to you "Away from me. You evildoer!" It's key to recognize that he doesn't just say get away, he even gives you a new name - evildoer!" That tells me the seriousness of making an effort to get to know Him.

I don't want to ever take for granted my relationship with Him, and I certainly don't want to ever settle for an email relationship with Him.

Just because I prophecy doesn't mean anything to Him. He's more concerned about relationship. In a way that's refreshing. I'd rather hang out with him than "do" anything even if it is blessing someone else. (Hopefully you understand my context!)

We're meant to have relationship with Him. Then everything else falls into place and gets in it's right order.

For me - it's time to move from emails to long love letters with Him.

Prophetic Network and Community - MPTN

This is a short blog where I'm just going to pass along a group site that I joined a while back. It's called the Michiana Prophetic Training Network. It's a site dedicated to the Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan people of God who are interested in growing in their ability to hear the voice of God, and to minister the prophetic voice of God to others.

Through the site you can finds resources, videos, books, events regarding the prophetic. It's also a good place to meet other prophetic people. In fact the site is set up to be a community-oriented network.

You have to join the network by signing up. It's real easy though. Just visit: www.mptn.groupsite.com.

Do you know of any good prophetic web sites the promote integrity, solid resources and strong biblical training? Please post. Enjoy MPTN!

"Hereafter" Realty of Culture

I recently went to the movies to see "Hereafter," directed by Clint Eastwood.

"Hereafter" is a 2010 drama fantasy film that tells three parallel stories about three people affected by death in different ways; Matt Damon plays American factory worker George, who is somehow able to communicate with the dead; Cécile de France plays French television journalist Marie, who survives a tsunami; and Frankie and George McLaren play Marcus and Jason, an English boy and his brother who is killed in a car accident.

What I was really interested to see was how Hollywood would portray Matt Damon's character, George, who claims to be a non-practicing psychic. When he touches people he immediately gets a sense for death in their life. He says he can communicate with the dead, something that he says is a curse.

The movie mentions an afterlife with Christ briefly and shows a Christian funeral; the only two Christian mentions in the whole film. It's a spiritual movie, with no Biblical truth.

So I'll try to pinpoint some truth. Damon's character doesn't talk to the dead, I believe he talks to demonic spirits that know about the dead. I definitely believe people can communicate in the spirit realm. The question always is - what spirit are they communicating with? There are several types of spirits out there:



1.Holy Spirit

2.We have a spirit

3. Demons

4. Angels



The spirit I want to communicate with is Holy Spirit. He guides us in truth, comforts, protects,brings life and hope. He does those things because he is those things. I can trust what he has to say.

It's sad and yet the characters in the movie are representative of our society, hanging on to something that is dead, walking around depressed and hopeless. All three of the main characters in the movie are so focused on death they literally look like it - hopeless, lost, sad, lonely, etc. Those are the very same characteristics that demons possess, everything opposite of life.

The reality about Damon's character is he can hear in the spirit realm. The problem is, he's listening to the wrong spirits, which don't bring life. Everything Damon's character tells people brings sadness. He's sad too.

The opposite of Damon, in my opinion, would be someone who can hear God's voice and prophecy God's heart to them. Prophecy according to 1 Cor. 14:3 is to build up, stir up and cheer up. It's God speaking to your past, present and/or future. He's always in a good mood, so He always has something good to say about you. He isn't negative.

The good news is we can "channel" His Spirit. He wants to talk to us. In fact, I believe everybody can hear the voice of God. The sad reality is most don't acknowledge it's Him. Instead they get caught up in the counterfeit, and while they might enjoy the encounter they have at first, we know the enemy is deceitful and his ultimate purpose is to kill, steal and destroy.

The "Hereafter," is just a sad reality of our culture. We as a society are interested in the supernatural. Unfortunately, it's the counterfeit.


I'm confident that the body as a whole will rise up and supersede the impostors. It's not impossible. Daniel did it.


Calling all Daniels! Rise up!

A Prophetic Word Speaks to the Body, Soul and Spirit

"But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and comfort."
1 Corinthians 14:3

I recently watched John Paul Jackson of Streams Ministries International on Benny Hinn's show This is Your Day. He shared a revelation that really spoke to me concerning the verse above. I'm going to paraphrase and add my own insights below.

We know that God is hope. (Romans 15:13) He always points to hope. Edification, exhortation and comfort take you to a place of hope.

Whenever you read about exhortation in the Bible it encourages a physical/bodily response and a change for that.

The same is true for comfort. It encourages the soul, intellectual woes/the mind.

Edification builds up/establishes spiritual issues. We see edification mentioned in the Bible in regards to speaking in tongues to build up our spirits.

We are beings made up of a body, soul and spirit. Prophesy speaks to these three areas - the totality of the person.

Anytime you receive a prophesy, you should feel exhorted, comforted and edified in at least one, if not all of these areas - body, mind and spirit. Your word should point to hope. God is hope.

Dreaming Without Seeing

Last week I was talking to one of my friends about a dream she had. She was wondering what it meant. We then started talking about the actual way that she had the dream. I've always thought that a dream was visual - kind of like an imaginary, fantasy movie reel in your mind. Here's how my friend described her dream experience.

"My dream was less a picture and more an experience. Not an out-of-body experience, but a real time experience. My thoughts and feelings and perceptions were as if I were going through it right as it was happening. In thinking back, it was more thoughts and perceptions and emotions (fear, loss, hope.)"

I was really surprised. I'd never really thought to ask someone how they sensed their dream. I've always just thought that everyone dreams the same way - by seeing.

Now in the realm of prophecy we can feel, hear and see. If you are a "seer", you will see pictures in your mind. If you are a "hearer," you will "hear" what the Spirit says. If you are a "knower/ feeler," you just seem to know something and it feels right but you can't explain to anyone how you know, you just know.

Dreams are a part of prophecy, but I never thought that just like prophecy you could hear and feel during a dream and not see. I guess God instructs in the middle of the night how he wants.

I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. Psalm 16:7

How do you experience dreams? I’m assuming most people see, but anybody out there have dreams without seeing? Who knows, perhaps this experience my friend had was some type of other experience and not a dream at all.

Stress is an INSIDE Job

Stress is an inside job. Nobody makes you angry, sad, bitter, frustrated, etc. You choose those things. It's stress or rest. The choice is yours.

This past weekend I went to the Passion, Power and Purpose conference with Graham Cooke and Jason Upton at Voice Ministries in Elkhart, Ind. I don't want to say much about the either of the speakers (because you can click on their links and read for yourself) except to say that they operate in the prophetic. Jason is in the worship arena and Graham is more in the building up and training of the prophetic ministry.

Before the second session on Saturday night, the prophetic team at Voice got to have a question and answer session with Graham. I'm blessed to be a part of the team, so I was in attendance. He said some real good nuggets of info to us that he didn't mention to the rest of the 900 people who were there. One of the things he talked about was stress.

I constantly find myself talking about stress, trying not to be stressed, praying for people who stress me out and looking for ways to destress. Unfortunately stress is just in my life and it's a marriage that I'd like a divorce from once and for all!

Graham says, "External circumstances don't bring stress. The way you think about the circumstances causes stress."

SELAH, SELAH, SELAH and SELAH again.

So does that mean that when frustrating people come in my path I should:

A. Pray them out of my path

B. Punch their lights out

C. Thank God that they are in my path, because they are smoothing out rough edges and building character in me

D. none of the above

Answer: C - (Don't you know, when in doubt, pick C. And seriously, NEVER choose violence as an option for anything! B - BAAAAD.)

Sounds easy right! We'll see how this week at work goes.

Seriously though, since when did we start thinking it was OK to let other people's crazy emotions effect ours, blaming situations for why we feel the way we feel and so on? I can't tell you how many times, I've said, "She/he makes me so mad!" As if that person really wants me to feel that way, well, some people maybe do. I don't know why, but it sounds so easy. Don't choose to be stressed period.

So I decided to implement this new nugget of brilliance into my life - starting at work, two days ago. The plan would be to practice rest by reframing how I think about certain situations. If my thinking brings me to a negative place, I will simply have another thought - positive of course! (Because that is what Graham would do.)

It is now Wednesday and I think it's helped, but boy do I have a lot of work to do. I'm serious, I've got some wrong thinking patterns that need to be unravelled. Thank God for the unravelling and removing of veils.

Thank you Graham for your positive thoughts on stress and rest. I'm prayerfully asking God to show me what stress I'm internalizing so I can "have another thought." Yes, I choose rest.

Want Me to Prophesy at Your Wedding? :)

A few days ago I had a dream that I was at a bunch of wedding ceremonies sitting in the church pews with the other guests.

Now the surprising part for me was that I was enjoying myself. Strange because in the natural I'm not all that excited about weddings. I never used to be that way, but let's just say that when you've averaged about four weddings a year in 10 years, the excitement fades away. I'm just expressing my current overall feelings looking back on a decade of invites, bubbles, cake and I do's. I could on and on about why I feel this way, but that's not the point of this posting.

In case you're wondering - Yes, (ah-um)I had a great time at your wedding!

So now that you have somewhat of an understanding of how I feel about weddings in the natural,I find it odd that I would have a dream about myself enjoying weddings. Though the dream went on. I kind of knew the couples getting married, but not really. My role in the weddings was to prophesy over the bride and groom's married life.

Now I have to say in all the weddings I've ever been to, I've never seen prophecy as part of the ceremony. As I began to think about the dream, I was like, hmmm. That would be really cool. Actually how cool would that be, if on your wedding day you and your new spouse got a word about your live's together from God? I mean, what if the way we do weddings (generally speaking in the U.S.) changed by adding another tradition? So just like you'd hire a pianist, minister, florist, etc., you'd hire someone to prophesy over you as part of your ceremony?

The more I thought about it. The more I thought, yeah that would be really cool. Why don't people do that? Why have I never seen that? Then it dawned on me, because the western church overall doesn't teach or operate in prophecy very often if at all.

Do you know what prophecy is? I just found out about three years ago and I'd been faithfully going to church since I was born! I'd heard of it, but never really learned about it or saw it operating.

The main purpose of prophesy is to edify, exhort and comfort. (1 Cor 14:3) It is not your opinion. It is not harsh, pushy, controlling, manipulative or critical. It has nothing to do with tarot cards, psychics or palm readings. It is "speaking the truth in love," (Eph. 4:15) to "encourage one another and build up one another." (1 Th 5:11) True prophecy must reflect the truth of the Word of God and the nature of Jesus Christ. (Rev. 19:10)

In this case, the couple would receive a message of hope, a positive outlook for their marriage concerning the Word of God. What a great way to start a marriage that is supposed to include Him anyways!

Anybody have any thoughts? Anybody ever been to a wedding where the bride and groom received a prophetic word as part of the ceremony? Anybody want to hire me to come prophesy over them at their wedding? You'd make my dream come true - literally. :)

Angels Ascending and Descending in my Bedroom

This past weekend I visited the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri (IHOP). This place is pretty cool as they have 24/7 prayer and worship going in their prayer room. They're also known for their phrophetic ministry.

I signed up to receive prophetic ministry while I was there. One of the words I received consisted of dreams. Go figure.

The girl asked me, "Do you dream?" And I said, "Yes."

She then began to tell me how she saw me interceding in my sleep; that while I was sleeping I would be praying.

I thought, "That's cool."

Last night I had a dream that I was cleaning my bedroom and I was behind the bed sweeping up dust. Someone was in the room with me, but I don't know who. (Probably Holy Spirit.) He kicked some dust mixed with small white feathers toward me. I got a little aggitated, because I had just cleaned that area.

Then I walked around the other side of the bed and saw more white feathers on the floor. Then I saw a big white feather shoot right through the window. The window was closed. Then when I looked down on the floor again I saw tons of huge feathers. When I went to pick them up they were all connected like pom poms. I thought that was odd. Then I looked outside the window and saw more white, fluffy feathers on the ground.

I thought to myself, "Is this a bird? Nah. Then I thought could this be an angel?"

When I woke up I thought about the dream and thought Genesis 28:12.

He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

We know that this dream represents the supernatural realm where the angels ascend and descend picking up prayer requests on earth, taking them to God. Then God dispatches the angels again to earth to carry out their assignments and the cycle repeats.

I immediately thought of my prophecy about intercession during the night. That would mean that angels ascend and descend into my room -taking my prayer requests up to the Father -constant in and out.

If you go further and read Genesis 28:16, 17 it says:

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." 17 He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

Did you catch the end of that - "this is the gate of heaven." An opening, portal, etc.

Funny, I've been praying for about a year that God would open up a portal over my house. Ha could this be happening?

I prayed that God would open up his gates of heaven over my house. Would it be that he would actualy would do it - sending angels in and out to receive my intercession, take it to the Father and come back on assignment through my bedroom?

Yup, he'd do it.