For years I thought the gift of prophecy belonged to a special class of Christian. The ones who seemed to live with one foot in heaven. I was hungry for it, but I was sure it was out of reach for someone like me.
Then I started doing inner healing and deliverance ministry, and everything changed.
As I stepped out and began to minister to broken and oppressed people, the Lord was gracious in a way I had never experienced. He started revealing the secrets of hearts. Not so I could look impressive, but so people could be set free. The gift came alive in the place of love. That is when I understood something I had been missing. Prophecy is not a trophy for the spiritually elite. It is family language.
Scripture is clear about this. On the day of Pentecost, Peter quoted the prophet Joel and said, "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and daughters will prophesy." (Acts 2:17) Jesus said it even more simply. "My sheep hear my voice." (John 10:27) If you belong to Him, you can hear Him. The question was never whether you can hear God. The question is whether we have learned to carry His heart when we speak.
That brings me to the part most people skip.
Paul wrote, "For we know in part and we prophesy in part. For now we see in a mirror dimly." (1 Corinthians 13:9, 12) Notice where he placed the most famous chapter on love in all of Scripture. Right in the middle of the two chapters on spiritual gifts. That is not an accident. You cannot separate the gift from love and humility.
I learned this the hard way. The very first time I got quiet and asked God to speak, I heard one word. Soy. That was it. I had no idea what to do with it. I wondered if God wanted me to go buy soybeans. It was not until much later that I understood. Soy in Spanish means "I am." God was speaking to me about a call He would unfold over years. The revelation was one hundred percent accurate. My interpretation was soybeans.
That is what it means to prophesy in part. I got the revelation right and the meaning wrong.
Every prophetic word travels through three stages, and error can enter at any one of them. First comes the revelation, what you see or hear. Then comes the interpretation, what it means. Then comes the application and delivery, what you do with it and how you say it. A word can be completely accurate at the first stage and still do harm at the second or the third. The vision can be right and the delivery can still wound.
This is why the heart matters most.
Jesus said, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45) Whatever fills you will shape the words you carry. Think of Moses. God told him to speak to the rock, and in his anger he struck it instead. The water still came. The miracle still happened. But his brokenness still cost him dearly. A gift can operate through a heart that is not yet whole, and when it does, people can get hurt in the name of the Lord.
So healing is not a bonus for the prophetic minister. It is a prerequisite. Jesus said to take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly to help your brother. (Matthew 7:5) Wholeness is what keeps a true word from doing harm. You cannot represent a God you do not know, and you cannot give what you do not have.
This is the heart of prophecy. Hearing God for others, out of a heart that knows Him, carried with humility and delivered in love, and submitted to other believers. "The spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets." (1 Corinthians 14:32) We hold our words with open hands. We learn to say, "I think the Lord might be showing me," instead of "Thus says the Lord, and you had better listen."
If any of this stirs something in you, I want to invite you into it.
Starting Monday, June 8, I am leading a free six-week prophetic training called The Heart of Prophecy at River Church Family in Raytown, Missouri. We meet Mondays from 6 to 8pm, in person or live online. Whether you are brand new to hearing God's voice or you have been prophesying for years, this is for you. We will build the heart, the understanding, the skill, and the safeguards to hear God and minister a word well.
You can find everything you need on the class page, including a free handout for each week. I would love to have you in the room, or online with us, as we learn to carry His heart together.