Article - Prophetic Evangelism

PROPHETIC EVANGELISM - PART 1

Date: 2005-08-22

Author: REVIVALIST TODD BENTLEY

This is a two part teaching entitled Prophetic Evangelism. This week in Part 1, we will define prophetic evangelism. Next we’ll discuss how to come out of our comfort zone and actually begin to walk in prophetic evangelism. As well, we’ll discover how God’s prophetic words will help unlock and soften people’s hearts so they are released to hear the gospel. Next week in Part 2 we’ll discuss what it takes to receive God’s power for evangelism—being distinct and set apart for God. As well we’ll examine the “spirit and power of Elijah.”

To receive and to activate are two different things! We can receive an anointing—a prophetic anointing or a healing anointing—but if we don’t go out and actively put the anointing to use for God’s glory we’ll never actually have the anointing. The substance of the power of God is always connected to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature . . . . and these signs and wonders will follow. . . ” (Mark 16:15-18). We have to actively use what we’ve received from God. Faith without works is dead (James 2:20, 26). So we’re really going to possess the anointing for prophetic evangelism when we go. In fact, evangelism can’t happen unless we go and do!

WHAT IS PROPHETIC EVANGELISM?

Let’s begin by defining: prophetic, prophesy, prophecy [all described in Webster’s New World Dictionary] as well as defining prophetic word and word of knowledge:

· Prophetic means: containing a prophecy

· Prophesy means: to predict as by divine guidance (verb)

· Prophecy means: prediction of the future; something predicted (noun)

· Prophetic word or word of knowledge means: pertinent information revealed by God for the purpose of blessing, encouraging or warning.

Next, let’s look at the word evangelism. It means: winning or revival of personal commitments to Christ—Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

So, based on these definitions, prophetic evangelism happens when a born-again believer receives a prophecy (prophetic word or word of knowledge) from the Holy Spirit for someone—that is the “prophetic” aspect—as they seize the opportunity to win them to Jesus Christ—that is the “evangelism” aspect.

The ultimate manifestation of prophetic evangelism is when we’re led by the Spirit of God and we hear the voice of God; that’s Spirit-led evangelism. It’s waiting on the presence of God, asking where He wants us to go and then when we get there, asking God exactly who He wants us to minister to. I believe that if we’d take the time to ask where and who (every time we say, “God, I want to win somebody to Jesus today”), that we would be effective in evangelism.

We won’t accomplish anything of eternal value if we just hear about the anointing and get the anointing, but then do nothing with it. This is the case with just about any anointing that God wants to give us. We need to be willing to go out to the people, and for instance, lay hands on the sick.

BE AVAILABLE AND BE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD

We have to make ourselves available. It’s not good enough just to have a passion and a desire or good intentions. We need to go beyond our comfort zone if we’re ever going to win souls. In fact, I believe God wants us to go way beyond our comfort zone!

Smith Wigglesworth had such a great passion for souls that he would go looking for the lost in the markets when he wasn’t ministering in conferences and revivals. He would wait in the market, even all morning and into the afternoon, until he saw the person that the Lord intended him to reach with the gospel. His attitude was: Lord, you have one that is ready. You have one that is ripe. Listen. His evangelistic fervor was Spirit-led!

Sometimes we try to be evangelistic but we’re not led by the Spirit of God. We’re just kind of launching out into the dark and hitting anywhere and everywhere with an attitude that says: Hey! We’ll just see what happens and take it as it comes. But we need to ask the Lord where to go and which person is ready. God will lead us to the right person. It might be someone who already has the seed of the kingdom planted and watered in their heart and they’re ready for it to be reaped. Some of us sow; some water and others reap (1 Cor. 3: 6-8). I’m a reaper in evangelism.

Most of us, if we do make ourselves available in evangelism, don’t make ourselves available for prophetic evangelism because we don’t take the time to wait and enquire of the Holy Spirit. He wants to tell us where to go and who to minister to and what to say to someone. Yes, there are times to go to all and just sow seeds, scatter seeds and hand out tracts, but there’s more. Let’s be released in a greater way into Spirit-led evangelism where we begin to hear the voice of God and we move in the word of knowledge.

PROPHETIC EVANGELISM IN ACTION!

So the best way to begin is by asking the Holy Spirit where He wants you to go. It may be the mall, a particular coffee shop, the streets or a park—He’ll nail it down. For me, after I arrive at the place the Holy Spirit designates I may see a crowd or I might just see one or two people. And so I’ll ask, “Who do you want me to minister to?” And the Holy Spirit will highlight somebody and I’ll just go up and begin to minister to them.

Having said that, you might be wondering how the Holy Spirit highlights who I’m supposed to minister to. So I’ll share a few stories that will help you recognize who God wants you to minister to.

After I first got saved I used to hang out with the Christian Biker’s Association in Canada. Once when I was at one of their conferences, it seemed that at every meeting, my eyes would be drawn to someone across the field. I couldn’t help but feel the urge to look over in that particular direction. There was a guy in that section of the crowd that “stuck out” more than anyone else. This went on for three or four days and I found that no matter where I was, whether I was at lunch or in a meeting, my eyes and attention would be continually drawn to this one person.

I didn’t know why, and I had no understanding concerning this until finally one of my mentors said, “Well Todd, that’s the Holy Spirit communicating to you that He wants you to minister to him.” My mentor began to tell me that when he, himself, encountered a similar situation, it was because the Holy Spirit was actually directing him. He said that quite often he would be in a meeting and the Lord would draw his attention to one person or several people, again and again. His attention would be fixed on them to the point that he realized the Holy Spirit was trying to get his attention because He had a prophetic word for them. And that’s how the Lord will use me. I’ll be led by the Holy Spirit somewhere (like the mall and the food court) and I’ll ask, “Lord who do You want me to minister to?” As I wait on the presence of God, He will begin to highlight and lead me and show me the person or the group of people.

I remember one of the first times the Spirit of God began to release me into prophetic evangelism. I had been preaching about the reality of God one night to some young people and we were pretty excited about what God had just done in our meeting. A few Mennonite kids were getting filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues and getting touched by the power of God.

Just to give you a little background, although at this point I had never received any teaching on prophetic evangelism, I was moving in a prophetic anointing in the safety of ministering in the church. But the Spirit of God was beginning to challenge me about taking that prophetic anointing outside those walls. I was beginning to get a revelation that if the prophetic anointing could work in the church, it could work with unbelievers outside the church.

Back to the young people! We decided to go to a Subway sandwich place to hang out for awhile after our meeting. Immediately, as we entered the restaurant, I just happened to overhear some talk about psychics. Well, that got my attention right away and it was like the Holy Spirit highlighted the group who were discussing this subject.

Suddenly I felt something begin to rise up within me. I thought: I move in the prophetic! I can hear God! [I realized that when we walk by faith, there are risks involved. And I’ve always been a risk taker! Perhaps that’s why we’ve seen such a release of the power of God these past few years.]

So I just blurted out, “Well, you know what! I have a gift, too. I believe that I can ask God right now for a word and because God wants to reveal Himself to you, He will share something about your life with me. You’re going to know that Jesus is real!” They were really skeptical: “Yeah, right?!”

“I’m not going to ask you for any money,” I said. “This is free. The difference between me and psychics is that I have a gift from God and I give Him the glory. I know Who is speaking! I’m going to ask the Lord for a word right now. I believe that He is going to give it to me because David declares in the book of Psalms: “how innumerable are your thoughts toward us” (Ps. 139:17). That means that the thoughts and the things that God thinks about you are countless.” I was excited because I knew that all I needed to do was to hear God; just get one thought, just one of those “innumerable thoughts” about each of these seven people in Subway.

So I lined them up, including the two Subway workers! I risked. I didn’t have a word at first. God didn’t even tell me to do it—I was just on fire about God. But He honored my efforts to glorify Him because He gave me prophetic words for each one! For brevity’s sake I’ll just share two or three encounters.

The first lady freaked out because God showed me her bedroom and I described it in detail. The Lord gave me the most intimate secret detailed place of her life so that He could move into the secret place of her heart. For the second person, the Lord showed me some things to say about his father and drug addictions. He was absolutely blown away and actually fell under the power of God. Somebody had to catch him right there in the Subway. I went to the next guy and told him about his relationship with his girlfriend and about his hobbies. By then everyone’s eyes were as big as saucers. One guy ended up getting saved in the parking lot. It didn’t stop there because they all went over to a different coffee shop and said, “Come and see a guy who is telling us things about our life that nobody knows.” A whole new group of young people came over!

So there was a real demonstration of the Spirit of God and power, and from that day forward God began to put the seeds of this message about prophetic evangelism in my heart.

STIR UP THE GIFT THAT'S WITHIN YOU

Prophetic evangelism is a exciting! When we get out of our comfort zone and go to the people, it’s great, because we get to see first-hand just how much God loves them. He wants us to bust out of those church walls and get into prophetic evangelism because He wants to reveal Himself to the lost. He’s not going to lead us out and then hide Himself. Like I just said, He wants to reveal Himself to the lost. He’s going to give us words of knowledge and help us share the gospel.

You know, sometimes we feel kind of apathetic, but we don’t have to stay that way! Listen. We can stir up the gifts that God has given us. Look at what the apostle Paul said to Timothy. “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Tim 1:6). I’ve always believed that there is a place in the kingdom of God to stir up the gifts that are within us. We can stir up the gift of prophecy enabling us to prophesy in proportion to our faith (Rom. 12:6). And guess what? A smile is a gift, too!

Paul also wrote to the Corinthians and exhorted them to desire earnestly the spiritual gifts, but especially that they may prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1). Therefore Paul is essentially saying that we all have the opportunity to learn how to prophesy if we desire to do so (of course under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit). The one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation, as well as edifying the church (1 Cor. 14:3-4).

As I studied these scriptures I realized that all of us can hear the voice of God. Also, when I discovered that Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27), I said to myself, “It’s for me!” With confidence I knew that I could prophesy by faith and I started to see that I could move in the prophetic in just about any area I wanted, because the Holy Spirit was the source of revelation knowledge. The Bible says, “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:27). Nobody knows the thoughts of God except for the Spirit of God. So I said, “The Spirit of God is in me, and the Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God. He has innumerable thoughts about me and about others, so all I have to do at any time is say, “Holy Spirit, just give me one of those thoughts.”

And so I stirred up the gift of prophecy within me and I was released in prophetic ministry. I started to travel in the beginning with Patricia King, Peter Helms and different prophetic ministries and they used to call on me when they sensed that God wanted to release me for prophetic ministry in their meetings. I would lay hands on someone, ask God for one thought, believe that I could hear the voice of God and then I would prophesy by faith.

But listen! The prophetic ministry isn’t just for me. There is a place where we can all prophesy and where we can all learn. We just need to take to heart the words of Paul that I mentioned earlier—“desire spiritual gifts but especially that you may prophesy.”

Prophesying is an important way to show an unbeliever that God is real and that He has His hand on their life whether they honor Him or not. Look at what Paul says:

“But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you” (1 Cor. 14:24-25).

The prophetic is released to help unbelievers to be convicted and convinced about God. Then they can report that God’s love is being manifested through us and among us. So there is something about that prophetic anointing that brings the fear of the Lord and that convinces and demonstrates. Paul is saying that there is a place to prophesy in the context of unbelievers.

But one of the interesting things about moving in the gifts of the Spirit is that after we stir up the gifts and move in the anointing, as soon as we walk out the church doors so often the anointing shuts off. I don’t believe that God shuts it off. I believe that we shut down. It’s like unconsciously we say that it’s okay to prophesy in church but it’s not okay in a restaurant or on the streets.

Hey! Let’s take it to the streets! I believe we can say, “God, I am about to go into the streets of our city. Please release Your power through me so that the lost will know You are real and be saved.” We can begin to pray in tongues and we can begin to stir up the gifts of God and get ourselves into ministry mode for the unbelievers in the streets and see even a greater release of the power of God and demonstration of the Spirit!

We need a release of prophetic evangelism. And it’s coming!! Stir up your prophetic gift. Exercise it! “Practice makes perfect!”

PROPHETIC WORDS UNLOCK PEOPLE'S HEARTS

Restaurants are such good places for prophetic evangelism because the waiter or waitress is going to come back to your table several times. It’s not threatening. They want a tip, so there’s some sort of communication there!

Once in a restaurant the Holy Spirit gave me and a friend of mine some prophetic words for our waitress that really let her know God loved her. The words were so precise that she was floored. She didn’t want to give her life to Christ at that time but God doesn’t waste His word! I believe that her encounter with the Holy Spirit that day will be used along with other future encounters and she will eventually get saved.

Another time when we had a crusade in Portland we went to the people on the street. There, the Spirit of God gave me a key to open up the hearts of the people we were led to. They were criminals, drug addicts and illegal immigrants (that had come up from Mexico). The Lord told me to tell them something about their Mommas, ask how their family was doing and if there was anything that we could pray for them. They were touched! “Wow! You really care about me? You really care about the things that I care about?” All their “walls” came down. “He’s praying for my momma—let’s do it!”

Maybe initially people don’t want to get saved but you want to open up their heart for the gospel. God will give you the key. “Can I pray for you? You need to give your life to Jesus.”

We just need to be open to evangelistic strategy. More often than not, we’re not going to get too far if we just open up the Bible and start preaching at people: “You’re going to go to hell, you better come all you sinners and repent.” Rather, it’s just as simple as, “Can I pray for you?” Or, “Do you have anything that I can pray for you?” Then pray right there. Don’t just go home and pray. Say, “Let’s pray now.” You ask them to close their eyes and pray with you and then you get them into the presence of God and He begins to open up their spirit.

BE READY

Windows of opportunity, to minister prophetically to people, often happen when you least expect it, so be ready! I say that because during one of our conferences in Canada I was surprised when the Holy Spirit pointed out five young guys having a meal. He said, “I want you to go over and share the gospel with them because one of them is ready. He has had an encounter with Me.”

I got up and went over to the table and I said, “I just felt like God told me that somebody here had an encounter with Him today.” One of the guys answered and said, “I did! Somebody was out on the street and they came over and gave me an invitation to a crusade. They started telling me about Jesus and they prayed for me. I started to fall down and I felt all warm and fuzzy.”

Because the Lord shared with me that one of the guys at the table had an encounter, that information opened a window of opportunity to share the gospel! All five of them (with their beers in their hand) got saved, plus the waiter. And so we left with six souls in 15 minutes because of one word from God that unlocked their hearts! I made myself available to the voice of God, but more than that, God spoke in such a way that I could hear correctly and release a word of knowledge and share the gospel. That’s a great example of prophetic evangelism!

I hope this teaching is wetting your appetite to get out there and do the stuff! Listen. Next week we’re going to discuss how to be in the right position to receive God’s power for evangelism and why it is so important to be set apart and different from the world around us.

PROPHETIC EVANGELISM - PART 2: CONCLUSION

Date: 2005-08-29

Author: REVIVALIST TODD BENTLEY

Last week in Part 1, we discovered what prophetic evangelism actually means and how this kind of ministry softens people’s hearts toward God. Then we discussed how to be active in prophetic evangelism. This week in Part 2 we will examine how to be in the right position to receive God’s power for evangelism. We’ll take a look at the anointing that rested on Moses and Elijah and discover how the “spirit and power of Elijah” goes hand in hand with prophetic evangelism.

A powerful mix happens when the prophetic anointing joins with evangelism. In the right temperature, certain elements, when they’re mixed together, will combust—spontaneously catch fire. Well, when Spirit-led prophetic evangelism happens, a “spiritual combustion” takes place! Prophetic words combined with the gospel message have great potential to spontaneously ignite a fire within lost people to the point that they want to know God.

Spiritual combustion happens because of the power of God. However, in order to be servants in prophetic evangelism, we need to be in the right position to receive the power of God for this purpose.

AUTHORITY AND POWER

God doesn’t overwhelm believers with His power when they aren’t ready to contain it. His eye is on those who are completely sold out to Him so that He can strongly support them (2 Chr.16:9a). In fact, today, God is measuring our worship, our intimacy and our passion for Him because He wants to see if we’re in the right position to receive His power.

The book of Revelation describes the Apostle John’s supernatural heavenly encounter when he was given a measuring rod (like a staff) and told to rise up and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship in it (Rev. 11:1). Right after this act he was told that power would be given to “two witnesses” for the purpose of prophesying (v. 3). The word power in this context is defined in Strong’s Concordance in the Greek as: exousia . . . . delegated influence—authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.

I believe that there is a connection between the levels that were measured and the scope of authority that the two witnesses received because right after God saw those levels, He decided to release great power/authority to the two witnesses.

With this in mind, I also believe that God wants us to rise up, too, and measure our level of worship, our prayer life, our level of intimacy and our passion for Him. If our levels are low, then we need to change that because God wants us to be ready to receive His delegated authority and to prophesy.

As well, this delegated authority goes hand in hand with miraculous power. Look at what Jesus told His disciples before He ascended into heaven. He told them to wait in Jerusalem until “you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The disciples waited in Jerusalem and in ten days they received an outpouring of the Holy Spirit which gave them “power” to take the gospel into the nations with miracles, signs and wonders.

The word power (in verse 49) is defined in Strong’s Concordance in the Greek as: dunamis, from dunamai . . . . miraculous power. There’s going to be a release of “dunamis” power as He begins to respond to the level of worship and intercession in our lives individually and in the church.

Let’s go back to the two witnesses. What is the scope of their authority? John records that the two witnesses will devour their enemies with fire that comes out of their mouth (Rev. 11:5)! They will shut up the sky so that it doesn’t rain while they are prophesying (v. 6). Also they’ll turn the waters into blood and smite the earth with plagues as often as they desire (v. 6). THAT’S BIG!

So, just who are these two witnesses? The Bible tells us that they are the two olive trees as well as the two lamp stands (v. 4) standing before the God of the earth. [It is interesting to note that Jesus was standing in the midst of the seven lamp stands (Rev. 1:12-13) and the lamp stands are the seven churches of Asia (Rev. 1:20).]

God says that He is about to grant power to the two lamp stands (Rev. 11:3-6). I do not believe that God is talking about two individuals. I believe the two lamp stands may well represent the Jewish and gentile church that will receive a release of the power of God in the last days.

In fact, I believe that there will be a big revival among the Jews and that many will receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior (Messianic Jews) and walk in the power of God. Listen. We need to see a release of the power of God in the Jewish world among the present-day believing Jews. They carry a strong anointing for evangelism but they need to rise up in gifts of miracles and healing so we need to pray for this—help to birth them into their high calling.

I believe that soon we are going to see a release of the power of God upon Messianic Jews even as we have seen (somewhat) in the gentile church. When the prophetic anointing mixes with their evangelistic fervor there’s going to be an explosion of prophetic evangelism that will shake Israel and the nations! This goes for the gentile believers too! Hey! This is the church, the body of Christ walking together in the power of unity (Ps. 133).

If we’re going to walk in the kind of authority and power that God wants to release upon the body of Christ, then we need to receive both exousia and dunamis power! Let’s keep pressing into the center of God’s will in this matter. We’re in a critical hour.

GOD RELEASES HIS POWER FOR THE HARVEST

We’re going to see the release of the power of God upon us before the second coming of Jesus Christ because God is going to have a harvest at the “end of the age!” He wants to release us with His power so that we can co-labor with Him to bring in the harvest.

God is a releaser! He doesn’t change! “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). One of the things that we need to understand about God is that He has always been in favor of releasing the saints for the work of the ministry. Look at the twelve disciples. God called them unto Himself and He gave them power (Luke 9:1). And then the 70 disciples were appointed and released by Jesus to go two by two into all the cities (where He was going to visit) to heal the sick and to proclaim that the kingdom of God was near (Luke 10:1, 9). Also there were 120 who met in the upper room (Acts 1:15) and then there were 3,000 new, on-fire believers added to the church after they heard Peter’s message (Acts 2). It’s always been about “team.” It’s always been about the release of the saints for the work of the ministry.

It’s always been about imparting the mantle. For instance, the mantle of Moses came upon Joshua (Num. 27:15-23) and the mantle of Elijah to Elisha (1 Ki. 19:19). As well, in the days of old, God took the spirit that was on Moses and placed it on seventy elders (Ex. 18:17-26; 24:1, 9). So let’s talk about the anointing that rested upon Moses and Elijah and how similar anointings will be manifested in our day to advance the kingdom of God.

Moses was a prophet. He spoke God’s words initially through his brother Aaron (Ex. 4:10-16). He was used by the Lord as a deliverer and (Acts 7:35) he was appointed and anointed to demonstrate God’s judgments against His enemies (Ex. 3:10-22).

Elijah was a prophet, too. He was one who confronted the sinful idols of his day. God confirmed Elijah’s words with signs and wonders so that the Israelites realized who the true God was; not Baal (1 Ki. 18: 21-39). He was a prophet, but Elijah had an evangelistic anointing. When I think about “power evangelism,” I think of Elijah.

Today God is saying, “I am about to release that anointing into the church again. I am about to release the prophetic and evangelistic anointing for power evangelism.” We need to have the prophetic anointing and evangelism come together for a demonstration of the power of God especially for unbelievers. As I said last week, when we begin to prophesy, unbelievers will be convinced and convicted; the secrets of their heart will be laid bare and they will say that God is truly among us (1 Cor. 14:24-25).

The anointing of Elijah is also called the “spirit and power of Elijah” and this anointing rested in the heart of John the Baptist (Luke 1:17). John was anointed to “turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (v. 16) and to “prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Matt. 3:3). John was a forerunner (for the “first coming”) and an evangelist because he continually prepared the hearts of the people so that they might repent and be saved.

God will once again release the forerunning anointing of the manifestation of the spirit and power of Elijah before the second coming of Jesus, just like He did before His first coming. God is about to release unprecedented power; there’s going to be a demonstration of the power of God. Listen. We’re going to see an increasing manifestation of mighty miracles, healings, signs and wonders as a sign that the church is getting ready and into position to prepare the way of the Lord. The church will be anointed to get people ready to prepare themselves because Jesus is about to come.

At the end of the age God is going to have one last harvest. The Bible says that we’ll put in the sickle because the harvest has come: “But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:29). The Lord knows what it will take to reap the harvest. The sickle is one of the instruments that God will use and it represents the power of God. The way that we’re trying to reap the harvest so far, without His power, just isn’t working very well. We aren’t impacting cities, regions, or nations.

It’s going to take the manifestation of the spirit and power of Elijah, the prophetic anointing that Moses had, and the release of miracles, signs and wonders—in the streets of our cities, in the malls, in the restaurants, in our workplaces—to reap the harvest.

WE NEED TO BE SET APART FOR THE LORD

The harvest is made up of souls! God is going to have as many souls as possible—those who will receive His gift of salvation—made ready to enter His kingdom. He wants this to happen continually, right up to His second coming at the end of the age.

So, in the context of the second coming of Jesus Christ, let’s take another look at Elijah and Moses. [It’s interesting to see that the notable acts they performed (when they were alive) are the same ones John describes in Rev. 11:5-6 that will take place once again (at the set time) by the two witnesses.]

The release of the anointing of the “spirit and power of Elijah” is described in Mal. 4:5: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” The phrase “send you Elijah the prophet” I don’t believe actually means his personal appearance. Rather, I believe it means God will give us the powerful anointing of the spirit and power of Elijah before “the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” which is the second coming of Jesus Christ. It will be dreadful for those that don’t know Jesus.

Remember, Elijah confronted the idols of his day and he facilitated a showdown with the evil religious system in Israel under the leadership of Jezebel and Ahab (1 Ki. 18; 21). Today, when we look around and see so much wickedness, more than ever, we need the spirit and power of Elijah to empower us to take our stand for God’s purposes when He directs us.

Now let’s take a look at Moses. He had a significant revelation; one that we need, too. At a critical turning point he had a conversation with God about an issue that was burning in his heart. Here’s what he said:

“If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, (distinct) from all the people who are upon the face of the earth” (Ex. 33:16).

Today, what’s going to make us any different from any other nation? What makes us look any different from any other religion if we don’t have the manifestation of the glory of God, the manifestation of His power and presence? How are we going to be distinct? What’s going to set us apart from the New Age movement and psychics? What’s going to set us apart as true prophets sent by God?

Here’s the answer. We need the same revelation Moses had. If we’re going to be distinct, if we are going to be set apart as Christians in North America, God’s presence needs to be seen in us and among us. His presence will make us distinct from those around us who do not know Him. And His presence goes hand in hand with His power. Listen. This power is not only a sign of His presence; it’s also an endorsement upon us that marks us as different and distinct from the world.

Jesus said, “…. though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (John 10:38). “The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me” (John 10:25). Why do so many people have a problem with signs and wonders, or with healing? After all, Jesus said that the works confirm His ministry. The works endorse Him!

THE WORLD NEEDS TO SEE JESUS MANIFESTED!

We’re closer to the second coming of Jesus Christ that we were yesterday! That means time is getting shorter and shorter and at the same time, we have work to do. Lost souls need Jesus. And they will come into His kingdom more easily when they experience a demonstration of His love and His power. So, prophetic evangelism is unto something. It’s unto salvation! It’s unto the harvest!

The prophetic and evangelistic anointings manifested through the lives of Moses and Elijah, were a powerful mix that we need today. I believe that God wants to empower us with the anointing of Moses and Elijah—power evangelism, the prophetic, signs and wonders—everything that Moses and Elijah had. When that happens, it will be like a cloud overshadowing us and the voice of God saying to the world: This is My church, they are my sons and daughters, hear them! I believe this has to happen. We need a demonstration of the power of God, signs and wonders and everything else.

You know, when the spirit and power of Elijah comes before the great and terrible day of the Lord (Mal. 4:5) there’s going to be, in that anointing, the ability to bring reconciliation between fathers and children. Wow! Don’t we need this?! So many lives have been torn apart, so many parents literally estranged from their children. I really like the way Mal. 4:5 is worded in the Amplified Bible Translation:

“And he shall turn and reconcile the hearts of the [estranged] fathers to the [ungodly] children, and the hearts of the [rebellious] children to [the piety of] their fathers [a reconciliation produced by repentance of the ungodly], lest I come and smite the land with a curse and a ban of utter destruction.”

When reconciliation happens, it’s going to be a miracle. It’s going to be a sign and a wonder! The anointing of Elijah is going to show up—the prophetic, evangelistic, healing, miracles, signs and wonders anointing. God is going to use this anointing to mark us and endorse us in North America; to set us apart from every other nation; to set us apart from every other religion. It’s going to come in one of the greatest awakenings we have ever experienced. I believe that we are beginning to model this. Even now we’re going to bring together different believers, prophets and evangelists and we’re going into the streets across North America in about 18 different cities. As we go, we’re going to have a release of prophetic evangelism in the streets of our cities, in Jesus’ name! The world needs to see Jesus manifested!

DO THE STUFF!

A few weeks ago at the conclusion of my two-part teaching entitled Harvest Passion, I encouraged everyone to get out there into the harvest and share the gospel, pray for the sick, give out tracts, invite someone to church, etc. I’m sure many of you have some exciting stories to share.

Right now I want to continue encouraging you to go out into the world to do the stuff! How many of you are excited about believing God today for a word of knowledge? Begin to ask God where He wants you to go, and when you get there, begin to ask the Lord who He wants you to minister to. Ask God for a word of knowledge about somebody and give it to them. Maybe He’ll lead you to the grocery store or tell you to go to a particular restaurant. Don’t just say, “Well God wants me to go to the restaurant because I’m hungry and I want to have something to eat” and then eat and cop out and go home. Does He want you to go to the mall? Does He want you to go where the young people hang out?

If you’re going to have lunch today in a restaurant I want you to be available for the word of the Lord to come to you for someone He will point out. Then give it. Don’t hold back. And by the way, when you give a prophetic word to somebody, don’t say a whole bunch of “thus sayeth the Lord” or “God tells me” or “thus sayeth the High and Lofty One, the Holy One of Israel, the One who inhabits heaven and eternity and the heavens of heavens can not contain Him.” You don’t have to do that. You can just say, “I believe that I have something from God maybe right now” and then tell them what it is. That’s all you have to do. You don’t have to throw in an “amen” or “in Jesus name” or any religious lingo. Try something like this: “Hey, buddy, come over here, I think I have something for you. God is telling me something.” (i.e. “You’re hurting over what’s going on between you and your dad.”) Don’t do it all religiously.

Hearing the voice of God is as easy as having a revelation of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the source of knowledge. He is the Spirit of counsel and might. “My sheep know My voice (John 10:27).” He knows everything that the Father is thinking right now about every person. So all you have to do is ask God for one thought. Let it be more along the lines of making yourself available to hear the voice of God.

What about the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:6-27)? What was it that released revival (vs. 28-42)? It was the voice of God! It was a word of knowledge! “Come see a man who told me everything about my life” (v. 29). And then everybody came to witness it for themselves.

People get offended and their walls go right up when we say, “Can I come right now and lead you to Jesus?” Or, “Can I come right now and tell you about Jesus? You need to give your life to Christ.” Use a different approach. Let them be touched by the power and presence of God first by a demonstration of the power of God—a word of knowledge about their sickness, praying for them, or maybe asking them something about their Momma. After God touches their heart, then say, “Have you ever thought about giving your life to Jesus? What do you think about Jesus?”

This is my favorite way to evangelize.

Also, it’s amazing what boldness will do! Once when we were in South Africa we had this one line of 30 young people who were in gangs and into drugs and everything else. I laid hands on them and it was like bang, bang, bang! Each one went down on the cement (under the power of God) and they all got saved. Hallelujah! Operating in faith means we need to take risks! And there may be some persecution (Matt. 10:16-23). So just get ready for it and when it happens just get over it! So let’s pray together!

PRAYER

O God, may our worship and devotion to You, satisfy and touch Your heart. We want to quiet ourselves before You so that we can hear Your voice and sense Your presence.

We know that You are passionate about seeking and saving the lost and so we want the river of what You are doing to spill out into the streets of our cities.

Today we make ourselves available to serve You and we collectively give You permission to thrust us out of our comfort zones into the harvest.

God, we’re excited about being servants in prophetic evangelism. We realize that when the prophetic anointing mixes with our evangelistic zeal we’ll be even more equipped to reach the lost in Your name.

We’re ready to hear where You want us to minister and we know that You will show us who You want us to share with. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for giving us words of knowledge for the people that need Your touch. God, we pray that they will know Your love and that You are real. We come into heartfelt agreement with Your desire that lost people come to know You and we pray that they would receive You completely.

God, we want to join with You and the angels so that together we can experience the joy that happens when people are saved!

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

CANADA Fresh Fire Ministries | PO Box 2525 | Abbotsford, B.C. | V2T 6R3

USA Fresh Fire Ministries | PO Box 1588, | Sumas, WA. | 98295-1588

TEL 604-853-9041 | FAX 604-853-5077