Three Ways To Grow In Prophetic Worship
I recently read an awesome book by Jack Deere about the gift of prophecy. In that book, Jack lists three basic ways to grow in prophetic ability. It seemed like good advice, and following it has reaped some growth in my personal life, so I’d like to offer the same opportunity to you, except within the context of prophetic worship. His three suggestions were:
Praying. Prophetic ministry is an exercise in intimacy with the Lord. It tests your level of faith, challenges you to separate the noise of the world from the small, still voice of the Lord, and offers you ample opportunity to face rejection, all of which would be impossible without a close, personal relationship with Jesus. It makes sense to say, then, that the cornerstone of prophetic ministry is intimacy with the Lord. I think we all know that it is impossible to be intimate with the Lord if we don’t pray.
If you’re not satisfied with the level of prophetic gifting in your ministry, remember what James said: “You do not have because you do not ask God.” (James 4:2) Pray for what, exactly?
Pray for the Lord to train you in the use of your prophetic gift. Pray for him to hone the accuracy of the words that you receive. Pray for the Lord to help you increase the level of your musicianship until you no longer need to pay attention to what you’re playing. Pray for more opportunities to use your gift.
Practicing. Nobody ever got any better at anything without practice. Mature prophets are those who “are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law.” (Heb 5:14) (Jack Deere, The Beginners Guide To the Gift of Prophecy, p. 147). You can practice musicianship. The only good musicians on the stage are those who started as bad musicians but refused to quit practicing. The same can be said of a fledgling prophetic gift. It gets better as you practice and learn how to hear the voice of the Lord.
The next time you hear a word or a phrase during worship, don’t push it out of your mind and continue with the sheet music. Practice the prophetic. Speak it out and see what happens, which brings me to my next point:
Risking. Here’s the big daddy. Risk. There is always the chance that you won’t hear a word from the Lord, or that you’ll say something entirely un-prophetic and people will look at you strange. Like I said, prophets get plenty of opportunities to face rejection. Fear is an ugly thing, and it’s robbed more than one person of their destiny in Christ. Fear is of the devil. Cast out the fear. Speak the prophetic.
I love a good musician as much as the next guy. God loves an excellent spirit. But, I have a small word of encouragement for you. If your musicianship is a crutch that is preventing you from venturing into the prophetic, then it’s not coming from a place of excellence, it’s coming from a spirit of fear. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever had a conversation that sounds like this…. “But the sheet music says we should do the chorus three times, then the bridge twice, then the verse two times.”
Departing from the sheet music means depending upon God to fill your lips with the word of the moment. This is not an excuse to get sloppy and play all kinds of nonsense. If your diversion is prophetic and of God, you’ll notice a strange solidarity among your musicians that can only come from the Spirit. That’s how the gift works. You have to take the risk.
So encouraging!