John Paul Jackson’s Dreams and Mysteries
This is a fantastic show on how God uses dreams to speak to us and WHY He uses dreams to speak to us. John Paul is known to have a real gift and calling on this subject. If you’re at all interested in dreams, find out what he has to say.
I’m not an expert in the prophetic by any stretch of the imagination. I am still in a learning process and I am always searching to find new truths about communication with God and what God’s heart is in this area of gifting. I have been developing my prophetic gift for almost 9 years now. I have been a member of prophetic teams at IHOP-KC, sub-leader for prophetic teams at IHOP-KC, lead, trained and managed prophetic teams for another ministry, taught on the prophetic at conferences, and prophesied publically over several well-known national ministries and ministers (some words have already been fulfilled). I’m basically telling you these things so you know that I am not coming from a place of total ignorance. What I have written about in this blog are truths that have been on my heart lately and I hope that you can use what little knowledge I have to share.
- First and foremost, prophecy is for the encouragement, comfort and edification of the church according to 1 Corinthians 14. That’s where the heart of prophecy is for the New Testament church… that’s where it needs to come from. Anyone who knows Jesus can prophesy.
- Prophecy is not supposed to point out weaknesses and flaws in others. It is RARELY supposed to expose darkness. To be honest, I believe that some people use prophecy for this reason because they are afraid of confrontation. In order for the other person to not argue with them about their opinions, they claim “God told them”. In reality, this is a form of manipulation. There is no way the other person can argue with them if “God said it”. It is an easy way to show everyone you are “right” and the other person is “wrong”. If you feel like you do this often, maybe there is something in your own heart that needs to be healed and corrected.
- Prophecy needs to come from a place of intimacy with Jesus. This is the MOST important part of developing your gift especially if you are naturally intuitive and sensitive. Psychic powers, clairvoyance, and telepathy are real abilities but they are also empowered by the demonic. We have to make sure our abilities and giftings are submitted to the Holy Spirit and under the leadership of Jesus, drawn from daily encounters with Him.
- When in a community make sure that you are not becoming too familiar with eachother. It is so easy to see someone’s life and prophesy out of our assumptions rather than being fully submitted to what God is saying. Most of the time, I find that God might tell me something about another person that I didn’t expect Him to say at all… or that I had no idea was true about that person. Be sure to prophesy from His heart rather than what you see with the natural eye.
- Be quiet. Give time for the Lord to speak and don’t be afraid of awkward silences. Let the person know that you need to wait on Jesus for awhile and ask Jesus to come and tell you what He has to say. I always invite Jesus into the conversation when I am prophesying over someone and will ask Him questions like, “Jesus, what do you have to say about this person? How do you feel about this person?”.
- Take risks. Don’t be scared of going out on a limb and don’t constantly question if something is from God or not. We learn by making mistakes and trust me, I’ve had my fair share of practice with this. One method I have used, even though I don’t generally recommend it is to ask questions… “Do you sing? Do you have a son?… etc., etc.”. This is great for beginners but normally I would just tell you to go for it. Prophesy what you are feeling with confidence… it’s more powerful that way (if it’s accurate… haha). For example, “Brooke, I feel like you are a singer” or with more confidence “Brooke, you are a worship leader.” Feels a little scary, huh? Well it is, but it is SO MUCH FUN!
Now, all you need to go do is try it on someone! Practice, practice, practice!
There is an African-American man, about my age, that works as a delivery guy at the furniture store I work at. I’ll call him “Fred”. Fred went to jail when he was 15 years old because he got in with the wrong crowd and has now just come out of prison in the last year. He’s trying to get his life together, and I believe him. A month or two ago, Fred was going through a lot of hard stuff and I was able to pray over and him and speak the love of the Father over him. He immediately started crying. He had never experienced the Father’s love in his life. He had ever heard a father speak identity over him… kinda strange that Fred was hearing the Father through a 33 year old woman, right? Well, it still works. I told Fred who he was destined to be… not who he appeared to be at time. Jesus touched his heart that day. I’m still working on him, and praying that he will surrender his life totally to Jesus.
But now he is in another legal situation that is causing me to remember how frustrated I get with living in the south. There is a man that is angry with one of Fred’s family members and is now taking it out on Fred. This guy is constantly accusing Fred of attacking him (did I mention that Fred is also my height, 5’2″?) or stealing from him or other ridiculous allegations just to get back at Fred’s family member. The police never believe Fred because Fred has been in prison for fifteen years… for one incident. I’m also sure it has a little to do with racial profiling, but I’m not getting into that on here.
The police just assume that Fred is trouble because of his appearance and because of his past. They don’t have any hope for him at all. When they look at Fred, they see a criminal. When God looks at Fred, He sees something entirely different. The thing is, I know Fred still has issues. I know he’s not perfect. But I also know that I have a really big God whose heart is filled with hope for Fred so I want to have that same kind of hope for him as well. I’m not going to speak over Fred what I see with my flesh. He already knows this about himself. What is much more powerful is speaking what God has already destined in His heart for Fred to be.
I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot lately because it seems that my church body has been really concentrating on the subject of love, lately. It’s true that love doesn’t always look fluffy and cute and pink. Sometimes love means you have to stop enabling someone in their sin. Sometimes love means you do have to confront in love. But that’s what prophecy does to come in and heal. It speaks into existence something that is not as if it were. I’m really really passionate on the subject of prophecy and that it’s full purpose is to bring the “testimony of Jesus” that John speaks about in Revelation 19:10. The “testimony of Jesus” is a testimony of redemption. It’s not staring at the old creation so that someone can figure out how messed up they are (although there are moments when hidden sin should be exposed, this shouldn’t be common). Prophecy is speaking out something powerful over someone and calling them to rise up to their place beside the throne.
I love prophecy, if you haven’t all figured that out already. It is one of my favorite things in the world to prophesy over someone… especially someone I know absolutely nothing about. It’s more fun that way. Hearing the voice of Jesus and partnering with him to see a destiny fulfilled is one of the most powerful experiences and it is always… always… so much fun!
Tonight I was thinking about a prophetic word that someone gave ME awhile back. This word was so specific and seemed so impossible at the time but at least part of this word has occurred recently… a very specific part. The rest of it I’m still waiting on and let me tell you… it’s driving me a little crazy. You would think that if part of the word is fulfilled that the second part of the word (both supremely connected) would follow immediately afterward. Well apparently not.
I have asked the Lord repeatedly if He gave me that word to torture me. His answer is usually laughter. No, He’s not laughing at me. He’s just laughing with a little twinkle in His eye, like He knows something really awesome but He’s not telling me all of it yet because I’m not ready. Which makes me kind of mad at Him, even though I know that’s stupid. How can you get mad at a perfectly kind, generous, loving God? Oh, you can alright. But it’s probably because you are being stubborn and selfish. Like me.
For the first half of the word, I had to take steps in order for it to be fulfilled. That was easy enough; I just had to recognize when the opportunity came and then pounce on it. The fact that the opportunity came at all is miraculous enough for me. For the second half of the prophecy, I have to sit around and wait. There is absolutely nothing I can do to make it happen. Doesn’t He know how impatient I am? The answer is yes… yes He does. Which is the whole point.
I remember hearing a prophetic leader teaching one time about how there will be a season when it will look like this prophetic word won’t happen. In fact, we may go through seasons of doubt and disillusionment as we wait for it to be fulfilled. Really, what is happening is that Jesus is calling us to a deeper place in Him. He’s calling us to a deeper place of trust in His goodness. I know I sound really mature and spiritual right now but in fact, this knowledge just makes me want to rip my hair out at the root.
What I hear is simply that I have to wait some more.
See, you don’t understand how ridiculous a chore waiting is for me. I am the person who hunts down the waitress all over the restaurant if she doesn’t bring the bill soon enough. When I was much younger (not that it matters), my brother had been using my old mattress. I was moving to a new place and needed my bed so I went into his room and took the mattress… while he was still sleeping on it… just because I didn’t want to wait for him to wake up. I’m actually not kidding about that.
The truth is, prophetic words don’t happen just so that we can feel warm and fuzzy. They don’t happen just so we can know our future either. Sometimes they happen because Jesus wants to reveal the depth of His love to us. And sometimes part of that revealing has to do with a deep healing that can only come from wrestling with that prophetic word. As you wait on Jesus to bring that word to fruition… whether you take risks to see it happen or whether you are simply waiting… ask Jesus what He wants to do in your heart during this time. Ask Him how you can prepare for the word to come to fruition. What kinds of things in your character need to change? What kinds of things about your identity need to change? Maybe He just wants to see you loving Him more and placing your priorities and ambitions in the correct place (the correct place would be HIM). Maybe He is still healing you of past hurts and wounds.
I recognize now that this is exactly what Jesus is doing with me. That the whole process I see slowly… slowly… slooooowly unfolding is because He wants to walk with me through it all… my trust issues, my fears, my insecurities. All of the things I have avoided in the past because they were too difficult to deal with are now being exposed as this prophetic word is starting to happen.
So my challenge to you is what are you going to do about your prophetic word? Are you going to talk to Jesus about it? Are you going to ask Him if there is anything you need to do to see it come forth? Are you going to sit with Him and let Him heal you and set you free so you can walk in the things He has called you to? Go ahead and do it. Don’t wait!
I’ve been waiting awhile to re-post, trying to assimilate my life back to my normal routine… which by the way has never been quite normal. Here are just a few of the happenings and thoughts that have taken place since the last time we talked:
- I started a new business! Check out my blog site for Blue Quill Writing Services. I offer copywriting and content writing services for businesses, organizations and periodicals. We’ll talk of other aspirations at another time.
- An old friend from IHOP, Luke Holter along with his wife Grace, launched their own prophetic ministry called Prophetic Sheep and came to visit this past weekend providing some much-needed encouragement and prophetic insight to our ministry and to many of us individually. For myself, it was a weekend filled with hope as Luke confirmed many things that the Lord has been speaking to me about over the last couple of months and even years. My heart to travel to other nations (not as a missionary plant per se but as a messenger proclaiming the love of the Father to those with hard hearts) and also, interestingly enough, confirmed my desire for a family (more on that subject later).
- Luke gave me a prophetic word this weekend about how I was like a cowgirl and well… he prophesied that I would marry a cowboy. Some may argue how little I am like a literal cowgirl but I think that many would be surprised at how accurate this word is. Not only did I have an obsession with horses and want to be a cowgirl when I was a little girl (we won’t mention that I also wanted to be a ballerina) but I still love being out in the middle of the wilderness by myself. I love nature and camping and am probably one of the most tough, resilient people I know. I have virtually no fear when it comes to adventure. I love roller coasters and rapids and canoe trips. I’ve done things like walk through Deep Ellum in Dallas by myself many times at 2 am having conversations with homeless men and have not felt an ounce of trepidation. Despite my somewhat prissy nature, I have always loved exploring and the possibility of danger has always been exciting to me. When I asked Luke this weekend if the vision he saw of me in the jungle was literal and if I was really going to be going to the jungle with my future husband, he responded that yes it was… and I believe him. It just sounds like something I would do. Therefore marrying someone that is similar to a cowboy sounds like a very attractive idea to me. I don’t want the wide-brim hat or the boots but someone who is rugged and resilient and adventurous and maybe a little rough around the edges like me.
- I’ve had some dreams recently that have caused me to wonder what the Lord is teaching me in the area of friendship. When I speak of friendship in this particular circumstance, I am referring to friendship with men. One of the dreams indicated that I would be learning something about this and a couple of my male friends would be teaching me. Guys have always been a lot easier to be friends with than girls have. They aren’t competitive and controlling. They are fun. They don’t get jealous (unless one of them likes you and you are getting attention from someone else). Let’s face it. It’s just easier with guys. So I guess I’m wondering what it is that I have to learn. I like and even prefer to have guy friends. But as I pondered this for a minute I thought about how I have had some seriously wrong perceptions of men in the past. Without going into too much detail, I’ve been inflicted by some pretty deep wounds from men and have had to walk through some bitterness and go through a stringent forgiveness process. Maybe I still have more to learn than what I originally thought.
I’ll leave this blog as it is for now. More to come later.
