Four keys to enhancing your prophetic gift
Do you have a prophetic gift? Have you ever felt led by the Holy Spirit to speak a prophetic word about another person? Have you ever wanted to increase your anointing by giving a word from God to someone? Do you want to improve your gift?
Key 1: Love
The best key to becoming an effective witness and bringing strong, impactful words to other people is to show your love for people. Anyone can have a gift of prophecy and operate in that gift, but the release of the power and depth of the gift by sharing it with others is closely tied to the love that the prophetic person has for others.
When you don’t feel love for people, you will be afraid to step up and give precise but risky words of knowledge that are very specific to one person. However, when you have the love of the Lord Jesus in your heart for people, then you will not allow the fear of being wrong to stop you, and you will step forward and prophesy even when your words sound strange.
I heard Shawn Bolz share that he was having dinner with a skeptical businessman who did not believe in God. Shawn asked God for a specific word for him and then began to recite a twenty-digit number that was made up of numbers and letters and all kinds of characters. The man stopped him in the middle of the recitation and asked him how he knew the number. It was the businessman’s private business account number that only he and his attorney knew. This man’s wife didn’t even know the number.
Shawn told the man that God had told him that number, and he did not realize its meaning. Man believed in God from that day on.
Key 2: Compassion
Many people are saved, but not all carry with them the compassion of the Lord Jesus. Your love and compassion will make you prophesy to a stranger you meet as you go about your business each week. When the Lord gives me a word for a stranger, love and compassion for that person allows me to reach out to them, interrupt their conversation, and share a prophetic word.
Jesus had a great deal of compassion for people, and because of this, He ministered to many more people than a normal person would. To grow in anointing and power, you need to grow in your compassion for people.
Key 3: Practice
Shawn Bolz has an amazing word gift of knowledge, but the gift does not sit idle. Every time he ministers, he approaches with very specific words of knowledge that has been given to him by the Lord as he spent hours before the Lord.
Shawn is not resting on his laurels and his reputation. He regularly throws very risky words of knowledge when ministering, and is confident that the words of knowledge refer to someone in the audience.
Personally, I have given about 20,000 prophetic words: 10,000 to non-Christian strangers and about 10,000 to Christians. Every time I prepare to give a recorded nine-minute prophecy to a person through my website, I get a little nervous under the weight of responsibility.
If I hear a verse when I prophesy, I share it, and they often tell me that the verse is their favorite verse or a key verse in their life. God uses me regularly with words of knowledge that build trust in others. You can only become adept at releasing words of knowledge with a lot of practice.
Key 4: Outsourcing
I would not be telling you the truth if I told you that impartation does not play a role in the strength of your gift. You can also receive the mantle of another prophet through the gift of impartation. If you are moving forward in the prophetic and whenever you have the opportunity to have a prophet pray for you, you must be brave enough to ask for an impartation.
I hope this article has helped you.