Over the past few years, I’ve had the joy of learning to hear God to encourage other people. (If you think I plan out these Jesus Sees the Wilderness posts… well, I’m a lot more likely to just sit down and say, “What do You want to say today?”) God has been so faithful to connect me to ministries and people who have helped me grow in this area.
One of the things I’ve learned is that while there are formulas you can follow, everyone receives prophetic words for others differently. This is my general practice, but God may lead you in different ways, and that’s ok. I hesitated to share my process because it’s not a one-and-done formula, and just because it works for me doesn’t mean it’s how God leads you. But I am sharing in hopes it will encourage you or something in it will resonate with you.
What You Need Before Receiving an Encouraging or Prophetic Word for Another Person
1. You MUST be a Christian. I have heard true stories of people who gave God-given prophesies before they were saved, but this is extremely rare (I’m not counting all the people in the Old Testament!) This does not mean you have to have your life completely under control, but it does mean you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9).
2. You MUST believe Jesus came in the flesh (1 John 4:2).
3. You should not be in overt sin. God is gracious, and He speaks to us even though we are all still in process. But if He has revealed a sin to you in your life, and you are not dealing with it, this situation will put in a position that makes it difficult to hear God’s voice.
4. Loving God and loving people is super helpful, as it helps you deliver any word from God with the heart of God.
5. It’s best if you have a track record of hearing God’s voice. Everyone has to start somewhere, so if you’re still young in hearing God’s voice, there’s no reason you can’t give an encouraging word from God to someone else. With maturity in hearing God’s voice comes a clearer channel for you to hear God’s voice for His heart for others. Pro tip: If you’ve never or rarely heard from God before, don’t give someone a prophetic word that has major life implications.
How to Receive a Prophetic or Encouraging Word for Another Person
1. Ask the Lord what He wants to say to the person.
All prophecy begins and ends with God. Sometimes people will ask, “Can you prophecy into this specific situation?” This kind of direction isn’t necessarily a sinful request, but I find it very limiting, especially because it puts pressure on me to give them (usually) life advice. It’s a little bit like someone I know who was given a job option during the Cold War – design buttons that make copiers spit out copies, or design buttons that set off nuclear weapons. There’s just a little more pressure when you know the outcome could change the trajectory of a person’s life (or in his case, the trajectory of the human race!). I’d much rather be free to simply sense what God is saying to them in whatever area of their life God is currently highlighting to me. That said, there is a time and a place to prophesy into a specific situation. The point is to hear what God is saying and His heart for the person, not to be a prophecy vending machine, meeting prophetic expectations.
God can reveal what He wants to say through various means. He might bring a scripture or word(s) to mind, show you a picture of something, or you might feel an emotion or sensation that is not your own (for example, a pain in your elbow could indicate that they have pain in their elbow and you have the opportunity to pray for it, or extreme sadness could indicate grief or disappointment in the person’s life).
It’s common practice to not prophesy marriage partners (just, please, no…), that couples will have babies (though I have done it and know people with special grace for prophesying exactly that), specific dates (again, I’ve seen it done well, but it’s still not best practice), or corrective words from God (done well, it’s good, but it’s very, very rarely done well – I’ll quote a post for a few months ago, “If you don’t hurt when you correct someone, you’re probably not the right person to be correcting them.”) If I sense the Lord speaking to any of these topics, I’ll double check with Him to see if I really should be giving this word, or how He wants me to give it.
2. Once you’ve heard what God is saying, ask God what He wants you to do with it.
Let’s say you get a picture of an oak tree. It’s not very helpful to tell someone, “Hey, I asked God what He wanted to say to you, and He gave me a picture of an oak tree.” Maybe it will mean something to them, but in general, they’re going to think, “Sooooo, what does that have to do with anything?” This is why we ask God what He wants to say, or if He wants to broaden our understanding before we deliver the word. My favorites are when I think, “An oak tree probably means strength,” and God tells me something completely different like, “Yes, but here I’m talking about how acorns grow into big trees!”
Be careful to not put your own interpretation on what God is saying. It’s a huge temptation to make sense out of what you feel God is saying, but generally, this is not helpful because you don’t know everything about the person or what God is trying to say. That said, if the word directly contradicts Scripture or is not in line with the heart of God, you can be 99% certain it is not from God, and you should not give it.
You should also consider the words/prophecy God gave you and how it will come across when you are conveying it to the other person. For example, if you tell a person, “God gave me a picture of an oak tree; you’re growing super slowly,” that’s not very helpful or encouraging. It would be much better to say, “You’re growing slowly because you’re really working with God to mature and grow strong for the long haul.” That said, be very careful when you put what you’re hearing into something encouraging. While most of the time, this is the very best thing you can do, there are times when God will ask you to deliver the message exactly as He said it – even if it’s just that you saw an oak tree, or that they’re growing very slowly, or another corrective word.
3. If God doesn’t say anything else, or if He does reveal more, go ahead and give the word.
It’s best to not use phrases like, “God says” or “Thus sayeth the Lord.” While this is traditional, it also puts extra pressure on the person – if what you tell them makes no sense, they are no longer just rejecting you/your words, but now they’re rejecting God! That’s a little too much pressure to receive what you say.
It is perfectly ok to say, “Does this make sense to you?” and then move in one direction or another as they give you feedback and as the Lord leads.
4. Listen to the person you’re prophesying over.
Remember, you only know what God told you – which is likely not the entire story! The listener might say anything; be ready to pivot as they explain what your prophecy means. Last week, I told someone I saw her like a farmer standing beside a farm field, and after asking the Lord what it meant, I felt God was making her fruit grow. I figured it was a metaphor for spiritual things or something in her job, but it turns out she and her family grow vegetables for a farm stand. So I switched gears and prayed blessing over her farm stand and her very real crops. You just never know how someone will respond and how God will reveal the truth to them whether you understand what is happening or not.
5. Thank God with them.
Give God thanks for what He has said – even if it doesn’t sound particularly special, it’s still from God and we get to rejoice over whatever He is doing in this person’s life.
