Practicing Prophetic Principles

Subject: Practicing Prophetic Principles Sat May 10, 2008 10:00 pm

Bill Hamon on Practicing Prophetic Principles

Is impatience and improper perspectives or impulsiveness negating your personal prophecies? Discover how to cooperate with God's prophetic word.

One of the main reasons some people have been turned off from the prophetic is that they or others have mishandled words from the Lord. Having shared, counseled and ministered to thousands of individuals over the years, I have discovered some very important principles for you to practice in order to fulfill the personal prophecies spoken over you.

First, we must keep personal prophecy in proper perspective. Personal prophecy is not designed to replace God’s written Word in our lives, but it should support and confirm His Word. All personal prophecy is subordinate to the Word of God, meaning that God is not going to speak something to you that is against the Scriptural principles of His written Word.

Personal prophecy is just one of the ways we receive from the Lord, but not the only way God speaks to us. I have seen individuals who put more emphasis on personal prophecy than on anything else; they seemingly need a prophetic word for everything they do.

While some become imbalanced with personal prophecy, still others think that personal prophecy is strictly for confirmation of what God has shown us personally and not designed to reveal anything new about God’s will in our lives or that God doesn’t speak through personal prophecy today. Remember, God’s Word says that we are to “covet to prophesy” and “despise not prophesying” (1 Corinthians 12:39; 14:1,39; 1 Thessalonians 5:20).

I personally feel each of us should have a desire to hear God’s voice clearly for ourselves, and one of the primary purposes of personal prophecy is to confirm what the Lord has already spoken to us personally. However, because many have difficultly hearing God clearly, He will speak and reveal His will to us through personal prophecy.

There are several Scriptural examples in both the Old Testament and New Testament that show that God does reveal new things to us about His plans for our lives through personal prophecy. Apostle Paul is an example: God revealed a calling and plan for Paul’s life that was not already previously confirmed to Paul.

We also must realize that personal prophecy is conditional, whether or not conditions are spoken in the prophecy. Personal prophecy requires a proper response from us. Moses received several prophecies from the Lord revealing and confirming His will for Moses’ life. Not one of these spoke of any sin in Moses’ life. But after Moses had received a prophecy about being the deliverer of Israel, God sought to kill him because he failed to circumcise his children.

Moses also failed to fulfill all of God’s will through his disobedience of striking the rock instead of speaking to it, and did not enter into the Promised Land. I believe when God prophesies something to us, He intends for us to have the fulfillment of His prophetic promise, but it is our responsibility to fulfill God’s will.

Not only is personal prophecy conditional, but it is also partial. Remember, each personal prophecy is designed to reveal a part of God’s will for our lives. When we understand that prophecy is partial, then we are not offended when God doesn’t speak to us the things that we want to hear. We can also understand that just because the Lord doesn’t reveal something to us through personal prophecy doesn’t mean that He doesn’t care about that area of our lives. Nor does it mean He is giving His approval and blessing to every area of our lives. (Remember Moses).

We must also understand that personal prophecy is progressive, meaning that it unfolds over a period of time and does not necessarily come to pass in the timing that we think it should. Sometimes we can become frustrated, discouraged and impatient as we wait upon the fulfillment of God’s prophetic word. In my own personal experiences, it seemed that many times my personal prophecies took years to come to pass, while others’ prophecies came to pass almost immediately. (I still have prophecies I received years ago that have not been fully fulfilled as of today.) I have said numerous times that God doesn’t seem to be in a hurry, but He is never late.

Think of the progressive nature of prophecy this way: our lives are like a book, with different chapters and pages within each chapter, and prophecy reveals what is on the different pages. One prophecy is not designed to reveal the entire book of our lives, or even an entire chapter. You may be walking on page 27 and you receive a prophecy about something on page 61.

Don’t become confused, but simply walk with God. As we walk in intimacy with Him daily, when we get to page 61, we will begin to understand what He was prophesying to us earlier. There is freedom in realizing that prophecies are progressive, that they will build on one another and will unfold throughout our lives with God.

Keeping personal prophecy in proper perspective and understanding these three principles of prophecy being conditional, partial and progressive is the basis for receiving the fullness that God has for each of us through personal prophecy. Now we are ready to respond to the Word of the Lord.

In order to properly respond to personal prophecy we must have a proper attitude. A truly inspired personal prophecy is God’s specific word for an individual and should be treated with the same biblical principles as His written Word. Just as we must have faith in order to receive a promise from God’s written Word, we must also have faith to receive the fulfillment of our prophecies.

Hebrews 11:6 states that without faith it is impossible to please God. In Hebrews Chapter 4 we read that the Word of God did not benefit the children of Israel because they did not mix it with faith. Prophecy will sometimes speak to impossible situations in our lives and we must receive the Word by faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, meaning that we must believe our prophecies are coming to pass before we see the natural manifestation of the prophecy coming to pass.

Next, we must be obedient, willing to do whatever the Lord desires to see His Word come to pass in our lives. We must be “doers of the Word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). We are only willing to do what we believe. As we believe and do, then God will reveal more of His will for our lives. For example, if someone receives a prophecy about God’s call on their life, but is not willing to properly prepare to fulfill that call, then how can it come to pass? Noah demonstrated obedience by not waiting until it began raining to build the ark. Obedience demonstrates cooperation with God to see His will accomplished in our lives.

We must also have patience to see God’s will come to pass in our lives. Hebrews 6:12-15 shows us the importance of patience: by faith and patience we receive the promises of God. Impatience produces Ishmael whereas patience produces Isaac. We must realize that God’s timing is much different than ours, and if we keep a proper attitude of faith and patience we will inherit the promise of our prophecies.

Humility, meekness and kindness are also important attitudes for us to have regarding the Word of the Lord. Sometimes we fail to receive a personal prophecy because it’s not what we want to hear. When this happens we are actually demonstrating immaturity. Prophecies can sometimes be “adjusting” or correcting, and if we fail to receive the Word with humility, meekness and kindness, we can negate the prophecy. Keeping these principles in mind will greatly aid our understanding and application of personal prophecy to our lives.

Dr. Bill Hamon founded Christian International Ministries (CI). A prophet for 50 years, he has prophesied to more than 50,000 people and provided training for over 250,000 in prophetic ministry. He has authored six major books, specializing in the restoration of the Church and what to expect next on God’s agenda. He serves as bishop over 600 ministers and churches and CI’s headquarters on five continents. Bill and Evelyn, his wife of 49 years, have three married children who co-labor in the ministry with him, eleven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.