Chapter 1: You Don’t Need a Gift to Hear God Speak

“Ye all may prophesy”
1 Corinthians 14:31

Roasting Chestnuts

Right off, let me dispel this little chestnut: No, you DO NOT NEED a Gift to hear God speak to you. It sounds shocking but it’s absolutely true. The gift helps! Seek the gifts, especially prophecy and don’t forget the interpretation of tongues! But the Holy Spirit in you is already more than enough to do all of that and more.

The Father loves you so dearly, do you really think he would only let a few of his precious children hear his tender voice? Do you really think just a few, special people are chosen for this secret relationship while the rest of us are doomed to sit outside in the cold as the ‘also born’ children of a forgetful, neglectful God? Is God too busy working to spend personal time with all of us equally? How else would we ever get to know him personally if we can’t hear his voice? How else would we ever be able to know his will and obey it, if he won’t even tell us what it is?

And I’ll just say it but most of what people say, believe and teach about ‘gifts’ is wrong. They think it’s God way of saying they are special to him, more special than other people. Or it’s God way of endorsing their behavior, lifestyle, doctrines or leadership calling. It never is any of those things. They also think it is an indication that they are more spiritual than other people. But none of these things are true! If you were really so spiritual you wouldn’t even need the gift! But I’ll get to that in a minute. These common but wrong ideas are the result of carnal thinking.

So while yes, God does speak to everyone in their own way, Jesus even told me EVERYONE can hear his voice if they would just quiet themselves down and listen—Hearing is EASY—it’s what you DO WITH IT that determines all the rest.

But let’s start dealing with the Gift itself first before we get bogged down in too many other related ideas.

The Great Divorce Finally Reconciled

Going back to Adam and Eve, they enjoyed unbroken fellowship with God for a time. What went wrong? Sin. Sure. The Fall. OK. The Great Divorce! Now you’ve got my attention.

So the breakup of God and Man was not like someone just blocking you on facebook, or throwing away your engagement ring into the lake and grinding your photograph into the mud with a sharp heel. Those things, as bad as they are can be easily apologized for and simply undone. The Breakup of Man and God was so severe because it altered the very NATURE of Man. Mankind fell in nature and was no longer the same kind of being as he was previously. This is really why there was a gap.

But even before Jesus was crucified and provided a remedy for this chasm, God was telling people he was going make it all go away like it never happened. But people don’t see their depravity clear enough to understand the remedy God was providing. They think it’s all just a matter of being forgiven. It’s not. What Jesus did was not to just forgive us, he made a way for us to be restored back to the nature we would have had if there had been no fall at all.

What’s more is for him to do this he shared HIS NATURE with us and elevated us to sit with him in his realm, on his level, on his very throne. We are now allowed to share the very Nature of God within us; we are not just being forgiven, we are being transformed into his very character and image and that’s why we can be seated with him in Heavenly places, that’s where we now belong, that’s the natural consequence of sharing his nature.

This is why so many verses mention the CHANGE we undergo when we return to God. We are now Born Again, born of a new seed, there is a New Self, we are in fact a New Creation. That we are now seated with Christ in heavenly places, as he is so are we in this world, and in John 17 Jesus even said he was giving us to share in the Glory he had before the world began.

The remedy of God is much more than merely forgiving us, and even more than just restoring communication with us—he is restoring communion, spiritual fellowship, making a family bond with us because our fallen nature is being reformed so we are no longer alien to him, no longer alienated from him. Can two walk together unless they agree? God is making us think and act like him so we can be in agreement, on many levels and with regard to a great number of things. It is more than just being forgiven.

God Talks to Everything Else; Why not Us?

Communication with God is not a problem because we lack the means. The rift that separates us and God is more about a fault in our nature than a lack in our ability. In fact the Bible clearly records God being able to communicate to ALL CREATION. Some of the things he talks with include the wind and rocks, water and rain, the Sun and stars, (which granted may refer to angels) but he also talks to weather, the animals and the Earth itself. He talks to nations, kings, but also servants and slaves. But what gets my notice is God talking to Satan. And I realized wow, if God can talk to him what would ever prevent him from talking to people, especially those of us who are now his children!?

So we can settle any questions we have whether the communication gap we suffer in our relationship with God is broken on his end. It’s not! If God really wanted to hide himself from us we would never even know he existed in the first place and simply have no way to wake ourselves out of our darkened ignorance. He clearly doesn’t!

In fact God is constantly reaching out to Mankind, speaking to Mankind, revealing himself to Man—the Bible’s existence alone is clear proof of this fact.

So all I really want to make clear is what Paul said in Athens. That God is not as far away from us as people think; and in Romans, that even the creation itself reveals his existence to us in hopes that we would reach out to find him and understand why there was a separation between us to begin with. Once they understand it they can quickly fix it because Jesus already did the hardest part! Now all they have to do is believe.

So the ultimate reason for the separation was sin, but Jesus already provided a fix for that. The next problem is simply our nature, human nature, and what the Bible calls the Flesh. This is a mindset, old habits, bad attitudes, Jesus told me it’s our memories of our past life on Earth. And if you are a believer in Jesus, have been water baptized to profess your repentance from sin, and especially if you’ve been baptized in the Spirit, clothing yourself with Him there is no longer ANYTHING separating you from being able to enjoy a rich and rewarding personal relationship, intimate friendship and open communication with him—nothing except the old mindset, the Old Man and all its ‘stinkin’ thinkin.’’

Growth Accelerator

So to help accelerate the transformation we are undergoing God has decided to bestow ‘gifts’ on people while they were yet unspiritual babies and while they were yet too immature to operate freely in the fullness of the Spirit. What I am mostly or maybe only talking about are ‘spiritual gifts’ which give a person a supernatural ability, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and for the purpose of restoring people into mature Christ-likeness.

We don’t have random super powers like superheroes in the movies who merely have power over physical elements but still operate according to the fallen nature. We aren’t given cosmic powers without a clear moral directive I mean. And our powers are not just to ‘do good’ in a general or abstract sense. These gifts are specific ways God wants to empower us to transform people into his image: to heal, liberate and enlighten them. Yes, there are just raw miracles over nature and supernatural money and finding scientific discoveries that bless mankind at large because his blessings do touch every aspect of human endeavor—but lest we get hopelessly sidetracked, we want to keep clear in our focus that these ‘gifts’ in the Bible are for a higher purpose than just making money, becoming famous or doing nifty magic tricks.

Let me leave all that for someone else to discuss.

So the ‘spiritual gifts’ of God have a divine purpose, and it certainly spills over into our mundane, daily lives, but this is merely the overflow, the main purpose is spiritual, eternal and about the Kingdom of God advancing in our hearts and minds.

Seek the Greater Gifts

So one of the most important spiritual gifts is the gift of prophecy. In fact when Paul explains the diverse ways God empowers people to serve him and his people as he does in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, he always tempers the uniqueness and diversity of individual roles with the need for Love and unity since we are One Body even with such different bodily functions. Envy is sure to rise, and discouragement and rejection tempt to take root. But we are One Body, One Team, One Family and need to all get along. We can’t very well have the hand fighting the elbow, can we? That was the vision God gave to Mitt Jeffords and he even saw the elbow cursing the other joints because they were UNLIKE the elbow and at one point was accusing them of being ‘Possessed by the spirit of the Anti-Elbow!’ Fie! Plague be upon you! … No, we must have a divine sense of unity of purpose ESPECIALLY when we are dealing with diverse functions of the One Body of Christ.

So in this discussion, finally he gives us the Love Chapter, which would have to be Chapter 13, since 13 is the Hebrew number of Love—in other cultures 13 is shunned and considered a curse and ‘unlucky,’ whatever that means, but in Hebrew no such stigma exists as 13 is the sum of the values of the letters in the word for One and Love and invokes the blessing of unity.

Anyway, in Chapter 13 Love is the Most Excellent Way … and in Chapter 14 he then says, so follow the way of Love but also to EAGERLY desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy but also the interpretation of tongues.

So I ask people if they want to prophecy. They often say, ‘Yes, of course!’ So I ask, Did you ask God for the gift? They say, ‘Oh … No, I never thought of that.’ One person in a great many may say, ‘Yes! I did.’ So then I ask, When? How many times? And they often say … ‘Well, once, ten years ago.’

So I don’t know how in Greek to say EAGERLY DESIRE, but I bet it looks different than never asking God for something, or asking God once ten years ago and never bringing it up again.

EAGERLY DESIRE spiritual gifts, especially Prophecy. Follow the Way of Love but also get those gifts!!

Many people don’t have simply because they don’t really seek, ask or knock. It’s simply a confidence issue. It’s not having a very close actual relationship with God, certainly not like a child asking his dad for ice cream—”Please, please, please, please, PLEEESSEE.” So before you set your mind to wallow in depression and self rejection, why not try to seek for the gifts you really want instead? Love is still better. But why not have both? And this response on your part would make perfect sense if you just knew God’s heart better, so maybe before all that seek to know him better. Seek to become his child and stop thinking like you are his orphan! Woe is me!

You can have a Gift but Not Even Know It!

But here’s also what I found. There are people who already have a gift of prophecy, but don’t even know it!

The desire withheld stirs so deeply with in their hearts and leads some to despair—hope deferred makes the heart sick after all—but sometimes it’s because they already HAVE the gift they so desperately want, but it’s existence is being denied by people around them or even by their own doctrines or feelings of rejection, and this is why it rises up so strongly in their emotions—their passion is being stirred up because this touches a raw nerve regarding their own personal calling, and when they do finally realize that it’s not being withheld from them and it’s actually God’s original design and chosen purpose for them—well, hope fulfilled is like a Tree of Life, isn’t it!?

That even happened to me in a way. I was having frequent prophetic dreams, and they were clearly so. I also had a range of spiritual senses activated and would ‘feel,’ ‘know’ and ‘sense’ things around me, often with very specific clarity before they ever happened. I didn’t get frequent visions when I was awake and never shared a prophetic word in church, and so I was told I was unfortunately not one of the prophets now, and in fact would never be because my calling was merely to teach, nothing spiritual or supernatural about it! Now I see things very, very much differently and understand that even a ‘lowly teacher’ must only teach the spiritual wisdom the Holy Spirit has revealed to them, so even those who ‘merely teach’ must do so from supernatural revelation. It is never OK to merely teach Man’s Ways in church.

But that’s not how we used to think and not what I was led to believe, so I often asked the leaders to pray for me for the impartation of the gift of prophecy. And they did!—but nothing ever happened!

I didn’t suddenly have visions, or begin to share long prophetic words in church service, or get theophanic visitations at night, or have lightning bolts shoot out from my eyeballs while sitting at the breakfast table.

So I figured God wouldn’t give me the gift of prophecy after all! But I really wanted it, everyone around me had it, and I asked for it, they laid on hands to impart it—but nope, I guess I just wasn’t chosen to be close to God in that personal, interactive way.

Only later I understood that me just having prophetic dreams alone, that one thing alone is proof that I already was functioning in a prophetic gift! The other spiritual manifestations of discernment, word of knowledge, spiritual vision and other types of spiritual gifting should have been evidence all the more convincing that not only was I already gifted but already functioning in many spiritual gifts. But that’s just not how we saw things. It turns out, what I needed wasn’t an impartation, more anointing or stronger gifting. What I needed was simply some confidence. A safe space to practice. Acceptance by the leaders. Maybe some inner healing and more personal time in prayer.

It was both my lack of confidence and maybe the lack of training or ‘equipping’ that put me into a very difficult position where I was denying the reality that was already strongly manifesting through me.

Yes, I write a lot about that in my other book, 8+Splash, because it affected me so much during a very important developmental season in my life. But also it has made me now very sensitive to seeing this self-imposed blockage in those I am sent to develop or equip. Self-doubt, self-defeat, self-sabotage can be very powerful obstacles but are equally as easy to overcome with a little nurturing encouragement, a little confidence, recognition by leaders and even some simple guided practice in a safe space.

You can have a Gift but Not Want to Use It!

And what I also see are people who are gifted but are too shy or nervous of the attention or warfare it will attract and don’t want to use it. I think some people may even feel ashamed and so not ready to co-labor with a God so Holy and aloof as they imagine God to be. But why then would God give them the gift … if he didn’t want them to use it, I ask? But that logic is usually beyond their internal dialog. Usually they have a lot of deep feelings of fear of failure, rejection, etc. Inner healing helps people like this SO MUCH to come forward in their gifts and callings. Jesus told me, “Healing ALWAYS brings Hearing.” So many things interfere with our hearing actually, it is not all solved with asking for more gifts or more grace or ‘anointing.’ So much of it is simply because of our attitudes, doctrines, fears, pride and ignorance—Man’s Ways, our choices, our mind-sets. But God can fix all this as well.

I did meet one man who had a gift, but it was a healing gift, and he didn’t want to use it anymore. I heard God say if he didn’t get back into ministry and take up his mantle again God would just find someone else to do his ministry for him. It turns out he was praying for healing for a relative who was demon-possessed and drunk and the man stabbed him! I wasn’t there and can only guess what a messy situation that would have been, but it was enough to scare him out of the ministry all together.

Prophecy can be just as scary and to be attacked by a drunk cousin is one thing but to be accused of being demonic, and a false prophet and kicked out of church by a teetotaling, mostly sober and unrelated pastor can be just as traumatic—I assume. I’m probably sure I never experienced that more than just a few times, maybe. But the point is less what happens to us than how we react and handle what happens to us. Someone said being hit by a car accidentally or on purpose both hurt the same but one is easier to forgive. No trauma can overwhelm our souls that divine love, healing and confidence cannot conquer.

But I also recall hearing the testimony of one of the most well-known faith healers in modern American history. I can’t find this written testimony but heard she was doing major miracles on a weekly basis, and on TV and radio, and I think she asked God why he favored her so highly as to give her such a powerful gift of healing and miracles. And God said something like, ‘I offered it to six other men before you, but they all said No. You said Yes.’

God won’t force us to get saved, repent, say sorry, stop smoking or anything else, let alone seek, stir up or use a ministry gift! If we hold onto bad habits or attitudes we can’t ascend higher and be used as ‘vessel of honor’ because only if we purify ourselves does this become possible. Yes, I didn’t say that right. We have to purify ourselves but it’s mostly our will submitting to his power to purify us that makes that possible and actually quite easy. It’s not self effort, but it is dependent upon our self-will and our actions reflect our will—faith without works is dead. There has to be an act that comes from our walk of faith, but it is not something we somehow self-create. I don’t want to talk about it right now because it sounds like I’m trying to split an atom into two here: so there is a part we do, but it is only to enable God to do his part. We draw near to him and then he does the miraculous to save, purify, transform us, etc. OK, that was easier to say than I thought it would be. So God is waiting for our ‘YES’ and then he adds a VERY MIGHTY ‘AMEN’ to it! How’s that?

So sometimes all we lack is our willingness and obedience. What we largely lack is Will Power, not gifts, or a calling or anointing actually—and you’ll meet him soon if you stick around.

And yes, I also know that story I just shared, which I only heard once and I hope was an accurate retelling of it, but it was with regards to the gift of healing and it also opens up a much bigger topic people often misunderstand about gifts and callings and losing them, which I will talk about later. In Matthew 25 a rich man gave gifts of ‘talents’ to three servants: 5, 2 and 1. That’s an exponential series, not 3, 2 and 1 talents, so the faithful are increasing in faithfulness exponentially. But the people who received the 5 and 2 talents used them faithfully and acquired twice as much again. The last one who received a gift of one talent, hid it—and God took it away from him—he lost it! It was taken away from him and given to someone else more faithful than he. Can you lose a gift God gives you? Absolutely. Romans 11:27 does mean what people think it means. But I’ll discuss this controversial doctrine of man a little bit later on.

You can have a Gift but Not Know How to Use It

Still one more point comes to mind on this general topic of having and using gifts and I learned it when I was watching a lady with a gift of prophecy and she was doing the opposite of the previous faults: she was using it all the time in any way she could, revving it to the max! Instead of being shy or introverted she was constantly pushing it to infinity and beyond! When ministering I try to be careful and hear much more prophecy than I ever share. I am also very concerned with people (myself included) understanding a word correctly and if I hear something very symbolic or that is easy to misinterpret I do my best to explain what I saw and what it did NOT mean, as much as what it DID! She was not like that at all and just shared continually, seemingly off the cuff, off the top of her head, what we used to call ‘shooting from the hip’ meaning acting like a cowboy shooting a revolver out of the holster as fast as possible without even aiming it first! I met her with her fourth husband and she was also very overbearing to her adult son who I already knew and who already had a genuine gift of prophecy which I saw as a blue flame in his heart when I first met him. But this man’s mother was just way too much to deal with—especially in ministry. I only bring this up because of what God said about her. He loves her, she’s a kind woman and I have nothing against her in any way, but God said about her that “There are people who have a gift of prophecy and just don’t know how to use it.”

I am very slow to compare myself to anyone and don’t quickly use my standards as a rule of best practice. So I don’t want to compare myself against her, and she’s not here to explain her side of the story or defend herself so it’s a one-sided opinion, but God did say she was gifted but was not using it in a right way. Take that back to Jesus in prayer if you need more information.

In that vein I often think of some YouTube prophets who post horrible words but with a picture of themselves smiling broadly next to it, dare I say pridefully. Yes, I dare. Others who are all about the ‘likes and shares’ and do more promoting of their ‘brand’ than any substantive prophesying. Others turn a five second prophecy into a 30 minute video and I just think … well, I better not say out-loud what I think. But there are people who have a gift but don’t know how to properly use that gift. Just bear that in mind. God will reward us according to how we serve him and what we do while in the Flesh, and there is no reward for having a gift of prophecy itself. The reward is only about what we do with it. To whom much is given much is expected. There are people who are being judged by a lower standard and others who are being judged by a higher one. It is a personal judgment. I want you to be rewarded and so be wise, be sober-minded. Be humble. Be faithful. Be successful! Be rewarded. So first, behave!

Is the Gift proof that you are Spiritual?

And I began to comment on this point before because I used to think having a spiritual gift meant that we were spiritual. But the opposite is more true. I mean having a gift of prophecy does not mean you are spiritual. It more means that you are not.

I mean, having a gift is not an endorsement of your character or attitude, be it Christ-like or otherwise. The way I see it now, having a gift is mostly needed BEFORE you mature. Once you mature you can work with the Holy Spirit in ANY area, no gifting required. Did Jesus have ‘gifts’? Of course not! The Kingdom comes and the impartial is swallowed up in the over-abundance of provision that even the shadow of the Almighty brings blessings. The Spirit is given without measure.

Prophesying does not mean you are mature. It does not even mean you are right. I think of Caiaphas who prophesied truthfully by the Holy Spirit that Jesus would die for the nation both for those at home and those abroad—and so he set about trying to kill him. We prophesy in part and know in part for sure, but that’s such a wrong application of what God wanted him to do with this true word it almost frustrates the entire reason for telling him that word to begin with.

So be more careful and humble when you share prophesy, we prophesy in part and we know in part and we are all learning and don’t want to presume or assume or we’ll end up looking like a raccoon. And I’ll explain more why I came to this understanding in a bit, when Jesus told us that EVERYONE can hear his voice if they would just quiet themselves down and listen. The gifts are still important he said, but there is a realm beyond the gifts. But I feel like I need to address a few more points about the gifts before I do so.

Must you be Related to a Prophet to have a Gift?

Another nugget I used to hear a lot was that in order to have a prophetic gift, you needed to be related by blood to a prophet, or at least someone who already had the gift. So I suppose people who are first generation Christians were flat out of luck? That certainly was not the case in the early church!

Anyway this is often a persistent doctrine that prophetic gifts are hereditary, genetic or somehow based in the carnal or natural family bloodline.

I used to belong to a ‘Five-fold’ church that believed this, that prophetic gifts were mostly inherited from our parents. There are a few verses that talked about Old Testament prophets being the “sons’ of prophets,” yet even in this there are prophets who are NOT the sons’ of prophets, like Amos! Or Elisha. Or David.

I think this is mostly misunderstood because people think it meant they were somehow ‘direct blood relatives’ of a prophet but in fact, first, every human is, especially every single Hebrew certainly was! How far back do we have to go before we make that connection? Not very far! Second, this is not a New Testament concern. We are grafted into the family tree and blood line of Christ and HE was certainly a prophet! See how easily the wisdom of man perverts the freedom and blessings we have in Christ?

But third, the term ‘sons of the prophets’ seems to be used more like how they called James and John the ‘Sons of Thunder’—it’s an identity based on association or belief not literal biological son-ship. Unless someone wants to argue that indeed these children were ostensibly birthed from a union of their mother … and a storm cloud. As electrifying as that possibility may seem, the witness of the Spirit telling me this was not the case leaves me firmly grounded. They were called ‘sons of thunder’ simply because they were bombastic or what we call in the Philippines being ‘high blood.’ Hotheads, quick tempered, impulsive.

Consider Peter preaching in Acts 3 reminding them Moses said a prophet would come and if people didn’t listen to him they would be cut off. And the prophets from Samuel on spoke of these days we are now living in! Then verse 25—

²⁵ You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ ²⁶ To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

So these others in the History books were called the ’sons of the prophets’ simply because they hung around with the prophets. They were fans, groupies, hangers-on. I think this is what it really means and conveyed no intended biological or family connection.

But fourth, EVERY believer in Jesus is given the Holy Spirit, at least a ‘deposit’ or what used to be called the ‘earnest’—and many have also received the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ like Jesus had. So God is IN and therefore able to speak TO EVERY believer—My sheep hear my voice!—Ye, all may prophesy, etc. This is what Moses said, that he wished all of God’s people would prophesy—how? That God would put his Spirit on all of them—those close at home (the Jews, the ‘other brother’ in the parable) and those afar off (the Gentiles, the ‘other’ families of the earth, the ‘prodigal son’). After all Galatians 3:14 says this too, that Jesus died on the cross, being a curse for us—

¹⁴ that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

What was the promise to Abraham that we have so much to do with? It was the promise from the Spirit, the promise of the Spirit! This was all Moses said we needed to prophesy­—and we already got it!

What about the Four Daughters of Philip?

But then someone will jump up and say, “Well what about the New Testament’s example of prophecy being hereditary through Phillip.”

Well, let’s take a look at it to see if it really is!

So this is from the reference in Acts of a man who had four daughters who all prophesied. And that would be Philip who they called the Evangelist, and who was one of the first seven deacons appointed in the church to oversee food distribution. He also personally brought revival to Samaria (something none of the Apostles did until later), and he did many miracles, and later even baptized a certain Ethiopian Eunuch and was translated away afterwards in the Spirit to Azotus. Yes, his four daughters all prophesied, but is this proof that the prophetic gift is inherited genetically from our parents? I don’t think so. I think anyone living in Phillip’s household would start to prophesy, including the milkmaid, waterboy and candlestick maker.

This is after all exactly what Joel prophesied would happen foretelling of Acts 2, that God would pour out his Spirit ON ALL FLESH and our sons, daughters—even our servants and handmaids, which must mean our household employees which in our day means the domestic helpers, gardeners and chauffeurs who are clearly not related to the parents genetically—and it says EVEN THEY would prophesy.

And what is poured out was not the Gift of Prophecy but the Holy Spirit which caused them to prophesy. More on that in a minute, but you can prophecy with the gift but when you are more yielded, with me it was when I was more healed emotionally, more restored in my heart, that like this verse says I began to hear God openly from the indwelling Holy Spirit, not only with my gift.

So using this reference to Philip’s daughters as evidence that prophetic gifts are genetically passed onto our children is not the right reading of this passage or the right reading of the covering verse from Joel 2.

Not to mention, and to be a stickler for the Word, but that even in his revival in Samaria the Bible never says Philip ever did prophesy. Look it up! He did miracles, preached and baptized but I don’t see where it said he ever prophesied. He is also never called a Prophet, but an Evangelist. So, OK I am sure he did prophecy at some point since it’s such a common manifestation of the Spirit, but to use this verse to prove what it does not say, and to be so sloppy with the text for what it does say, does not do us a service in making good doctrine.

What ‘bout Yo’ Momma?

We also will hear someone raise the point of Timothy, whose mother and grandmother are mentioned. However Paul only said to Timothy he knows his mother and grandmother had strong faith and so he was confident Timothy would have strong faith as well. He didn’t say it was a ‘gift’ nor was it prophecy nor did he say it was due to their genes—it’s more likely it would be from family culture and a mother’s prayers and upbringing.

Then again in 2 Timothy 1:16 Paul said to fan into flame, or stir up, the gift of God which was in him … how was the gift there? … through the laying on of Paul’s hands. Ooops! That does not sound very genetic! So this gift was not there from birth, or by his family lineage, regardless of how much faith his mother and grandmother had!—Paul gave it to him!

And note that the very next thing Paul said is that God did not give us a spirit of fear—so what can block the manifestation of a gift is simply fear, insecurity, shyness. By this time Timothy already had the gift but was too shy or timid or insecure to let it blossom! Cast out the fear, fan into flame the gift, and ‘Look Ma! I can prophesy. It’s so easy!’ Anyone can try this at home!

So I think it’s clear that there is also no discussion or emphasis on the value of human lineage regarding having spiritual gifts in the New Testament. None.

So why is this mindset so persistent? I now believe it’s because people think as mere humans and use carnal wisdom applied to unseen spiritual things and so come to carnal, and by that I mean wrong conclusions. Not to mention they often say this intending to block, disqualify and discourage others. You can judge by human reasoning of the text, or you can judge by revelation of the Spirit of it. Only ONE will lead us to correct understanding of God’s heart on the issue.

What I think is really going on here where you see a gift strongly represented in a particular family, yes, may be a blessing God gave to the children of a praying parent, something may be passed through a family line somehow, that is certainly possible, but it still would not be ‘genetic,’ because the gift is inherently SPIRITUAL not somehow of the flesh and ‘in the genes.’ The flesh counts for nothing, Jesus said in John 6:63. It is the SPIRIT that we need to focus on to understand gifts, even when they are strongly represented in one particular family lineage.

In my thinking the most likely explanation is that a mother or grandfather or someone behind the scenes was a man or woman of prayer and simply asked God to bless all of their kids, and their faith was in receiving that particular gift! And the girls were all very close to each other and when one began prophesying the others all went off as well! Prophecy is contagious, don’t you know!? But I think it was something more like that. We don’t know, but that’s what makes more sense to me now.

Don’t have a Gift? Seek It! He will Add!

All of this talk of needing to be related to a prophet to have a prophetic gift, needing to have it at birth, the importance of human lineage is of course bad theology. Paul said to ‘eagerly desire spiritual gifts, ESPECIALLY prophecy.’ And to pray in tongues and then to ask God to let you interpret! This clearly means you start out NOT prophesying and NOT interpreting! And if you simply ask … God will add it to you! Why? Just because you want it! The Kingdom advances by force (or violence) and the forceful (or violent) lay hold of it. Jesus told me it is not human violence but the ‘force’ or ‘violence’ of a faith that won’t be denied—a faith that won’t take ‘No!’ for an answer. So ask, seek, knock! He will answer, reveal and open!

Again in 1 Corinthians 14 he even tells us to EAGERLY desire and to seek the gift of prophecy specifically! Why would a Christian reading this verse ‘seek it’ if they already ‘had it’ at birth or God would pass them over for it and not grant their request? Why be told in the Word to SEEK what God would never give you? No, we seek what we DO NOT YET HAVE, and we ASK for what WE WANT in clear and obvious hopes that HE WILL GIVE it to us as he said he would. The true theology of this issue is to eagerly desire simply because God is willing to add it to you.

The answers we are looking for will be found in the Spirit and in faith, not in the genes, the bloodline or inscrutable fate. And I think this is the correct heart behind Moses’ statement in Numbers 11:29 when God let many elders prophesy and one of his chief helpers (Joshua by name) ran to him and said, Moses, make them STOP! But Moses said, Relax about it! And the NIV continues with Moses saying, “I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”

I think this is a foreshadow of what has now come.

And before I get to the real treasure I want to share I think I have to knock one more idol of man’s theology off it’s pedestal: God’s decision to give gifts ‘as he pleases.’

God chooses as WHO wills exactly?

Again, diversity in the Body is mentioned in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. And it does clearly say these gifts (or callings) are distributed as God chooses. So it means if you don’t already have a gift, or calling at birth then God didn’t choose you. So just sit back down and be quiet!

1 Corinthians 12:11—All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. (ESV)

And … 1 Corinthians 12:18—But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

Case closed. You lose!

But wait! On appeal don’t you think we ought to KEEP READING and Ooops! We then get to …

…. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Why ‘earnestly desire’ what either you already have or what God already chose to NEVER GIVE YOU? No, you desire what you do not have and in hopes of soon getting it. Why are we encouraged to do this if God has already made an inscrutable decision NEVER to give it to us? Unless no, it is because God is more than willing to give us those things we do not now have simply because we ask, seek and knock! Even gifts and callings.

Someone will always say, “No he means desire the greater gifts like faith, hope and love, not prophecy, healing and miracles.” But no, keep reading. The Love Chapter intervenes and people lose their train of thought. But keep reading and then we’re back again into Chapter 14 where he openly says:

1 Corinthians 14:1—Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. (ESV)

So yes, pursue Faith, Hope and Love AND ALSO PURSUE prophecy, healing and miracles. And then we read …

1 Corinthians 14:5—Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

Paul is building his case for how important the prophetic gift is to the people of God, what an important service prophecy gives them. And then he says …

1 Corinthians 14:12-13—¹² So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. ¹³ Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret.

An interpreted Tongue is basically a kind prophecy by the way. It is a human-language revelation of what our spirits are speaking directly to and from the Holy Spirit. Then …

1 Corinthians 14:29­32—²⁹ Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. ³⁰ If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. ³¹ For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, ³² and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.

… and the final word is—

³⁹ So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. ⁴⁰ But all things should be done decently and in order.

People who are trying to limit God moving in other people, especially younger people, people outside their chain of command, people not within their family dynasty or leadership inner circle read the same passage and focus on “God gives gifts as he has chosen, as he wills. If you don’t have, then God didn’t choose you. We win, you lose!” End of story!

Our ATTITUDES affect how well we allow God to flow through us more than our GIFTS. People may be gifted but refuse to speak, be too shy, be mixing the prophetic flow with too many human doctrines and opinions, or if they are told if they prophesy they will be kicked out of the church—all this affects our ministry more than our gifts alone!

Dad, can I have some Ice Cream? Please?

But there are people who know God as a dad, and want to ask him for ice cream but he says “No, it’s past your bedtime,” but they say, “Pleeeeaaassse ….” but again, “No, it’s too late. The ice cream store is … OK, it’s open 24-hours actually but it’s still too late! Go to bed.” … But then with a deep breath you lick him with, “Pleeease, pretty please—please, please, please!!!” And it becomes an apology, “I can’t bring you to get ice cream at 9 pm on a school night!” But you were ready for that with, “But we stayed up till 11 pm last week to watch the game with you,” and you can hear the castle walls of the fortitude of his position crumbling down as he says, “Yes, but that was … different.” But then you take your best shot with, “P-leasssse, pppp-lease … I won’t tell mom! Please, please, please, please, please,” Oh, now you brought MOM into it! And you know how this conversation ends! …. One scoop or two?

So people who know God as their Dad ask him for stuff. They persist as Paul says to do and as kids naturally do anyway with adults they love, who they know love them back. It’s raw manipulation, I admit it, but it certainly works, even with God. Not the heart of manipulation mind you but the pure heart of a child who has a genuine, close, family bond with their parents.

My wife is like that with God and I’ve learned a thing or two from her! “God, we have no money but I want a nice dress.” Bingo, where did that come from? Or “We have no money but I want a nice meal tonight.” And a few hours later we’re eating pizza and pork chops! How did that even happen? “God always takes care of me,” she says simply with a cute smile. We’ve faced serious trials, I can even call some of them persecutions and crises, but God got us through, extended our range of authority, we grew in faith—it’s not all been a bed of roses on a sunny day—but I also learned she does not need to be in a crisis to ask for a miracle. “God, we have no money but it’s Jenny’s birthday and I want to give her a cake and spaghetti!” Boom, it’s party time!

The question is only are you a child of God or do you still think of yourself as his orphan? And in fact the kids who are close to the dad like that get what they ask for, they get a lot, they get a lot more than anyone else simply because “… please, please, pleeease.” This is actually the best, ideal model of faith and the key dynamic to spiritual gifts people just misunderstand.

God apportions as he chooses. Sure. God chooses to give gifts as he wills. Sure. But people who are close with him help him decide what he chooses and make up his mind about what he wills because “Please, please, please, please, pleeease!!!!” …. “Well OK! Have a double portion—two scoops!” …. You see, the missing dynamic that makes all of this great darkened mystery of prophetic gifts become clear as crystal is simply the fact that God answers the prayers of people who love him and pray to him with a pure heart and eager expectancy. Go figure!

Theologians without a living relationship with God as a dad always miss this vital truth. Don’t expect them to teach you faith. They can’t give you what they themselves do not have.

The Final Word

Yes, God has the final word. He may say No, especially to a geographic calling or highly specialized commission or something dangerous or on a very large scale—maybe, but again, why not you?! If you are willing and obedient why can’t God use you even as an apostle to the nations? Someone has to do it! But concerning hearing his voice, having a gift to help his people and things like this, no, I’ve not yet seen God say no to that. It’s more often that I’ve seen God give even more than people were asking him for, which also is scriptural.

So eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy. God will add. Case overturned on appeal! Ye ALL may prophesy!

Prophecy … is Contagious!

What I also want to say is that prophecy is contagious. This happened to me a few times.

One time I was in a large meeting with a visiting prophetic minister in Manchester, New Hampshire and he spread his ‘prophetic mantle’ over the entire crowd of over 2,000 people and everyone prophesied under his anointing. It’s like what Jesus did when he sent out the 70 who did miracles, healed the sick and cast out devils—yet none of them had the Holy Spirit baptism yet, only Jesus did! So how did they do these miracles? They did it under Jesus’ covering, under his mantle, or under his anointing, whichever way you want to say it. It was not until Pentecost that anyone could receive this same anointing for themselves, which we can still receive today.

Another time this happened to me with a visiting prophet from England when I was in Hong Kong. He was a lay minister in the Church of England and had a small office in Westminster, and yes, I think it was actually in Westminster Abbey itself. Anyway he had a prophetic word for Hong Kong and he held some meetings before he gave his word, and when I got near him I suddenly started having prophetic visions.

A third time too, also with him and I wanted to pray for him before he gave his main prophecy for the city at the Sunday service of our large church and when I got near him I suddenly had a vision of the Lord’s hand holding an elegant crown on pillars. When he finally shared his word it was from Isaiah 62:3 that Hong Kong was … a royal diadem in the Lord’s hand!—A diadem is crown. That’s exactly the vision I saw when I got near him! Incredible!

He’s also the guy who I wanted to pray for to help strengthen him before his message but when I reached up to lay hands on his shoulder, since he was a really tall guy, I stretched out my arm and suddenly saw that he was already standing in a heavenly council chamber. It was round and there were many tiers of arched booths that each looked like they were made of carved stone. He was standing right out in the middle and getting revelation and feedback from a host of saints and even some angels. I realized it was an actual council chamber in heaven and it blew my mind. I saw myself there but I was hiding in the passageway behind the wall so no one would see me but I felt like some did anyway.

So anyway, all I want to say about this is again that prophecy is contagious. You can prophecy sometimes just by being physically next to people who are prophesying. This is maybe one reason why it is so easy to prophesy in a church service, but also just because the Holy Spirit and many angels are already there I think as well.

Choose Substance over Form

So the anointing oil overflows and it spills over onto us when we hang around other people who are prophesying. That can happen even when you read a lot of prophecy from other prophets too. I used to read about 500 pages a month of prophecy so I could select the key words to publish in our prophecy journal, the HKI, and I did if for several years. Wow, that’s a lot of prophecy when you think of it like that in bulk—and what I saw was certain people were very consistent every month to share a few paragraphs of God’s prophetic word with zero opinion or commentary attached. Then there were people who shared only one prophetic word only one month and never again but sometimes it was the exact same word one of the regular authors also shared. There were also people who would write pages and pages of thoughts and opinions but only one sentence of all of that was what God actually said. I still wanted to read everything so I would not miss anything but almost always ended up publishing the same 15 people’s words. So actually you could get most everything God was saying in a season by just following those 10 or 15 faithful people.

So for me, when I find a person sharing a 30 minute video based on one sentence they heard God say, I steer away. When someone talks a lot about what they think, or what they feel, and actually can’t quote more than a few words of God’s actual prophecy, I just don’t have time for that. And when a person tries to wear a “camel hair and leather belt” kind of costume, or speak in a spooky tone or over-act with strange mannerisms, I have learned to distance myself from them. God’s Spirit makes us unique, and weird sometimes, sure, but it’s an authentic weirdness, there is real substance, a weight of Glory they carry not just a form of it based on an act or wearing a funny costume.

People Abandoning their Gifts and Callings

I also say this because I had a dream and as people heard ‘news from a foreign land’ they began leaving their apartments and school dormitories, which God had provided for them in his Kingdom. In fact they left empty-handed but their old ‘habitations’ looked ransacked. God said when people choose to leave him they do not do so in a right frame of mind but have many scattered thoughts and unanswered questions. If they come back, as many of them will, they will have to face this confusion and disorder but it will at least be with new insights to help them deal with the questions they could not solve when they left.

In the dream a few of us stayed behind, I was in the dormitory (a place for training), and suddenly realized there were hundreds of abandoned rooms and people just left everything of value behind! We started going through things and found so many very valuable items that we could now just take for free! I asked God what this meant and he said it was “Gifts, mantles, callings that are now being left undone. They will be given to the faithful few, a redistribution of wealth!” But wasn’t it wrong that we were going through everything and just taking whatever we liked? And he said, “No, it is in my word. Those who have much will get more, those who have little will lose what little they have. Look it up!”

I did and found several references to this ‘wealth re-distribution,’ here are a few: Luke 8:18, Luke 19:26 but at the time I saw Matthew 13:11-12 and of course, Matthew 25:28-30—

¹¹ “He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹² For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.’”

Matthew 25:29-30—²⁹ “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

He said the Great Falling Away is upon us and he had given many people gifts and callings to serve him and his people with but they left him. “As a man thinks in his heart, so IS he. They are far from me since their hearts are cold towards me,” He said adding, they will, many of them, still refer to themselves as believers, Christians, what have you, “but their hearts have left and are far from me.”

So I put it this way, MANY jobs, duties, callings, gifts and ministries are not being done right now because people have fallen away in heart from the Lord and have stopped building the Kingdom in people’s hearts. So basically there are MANY JOB OPENINGS right now! In a way God is recruiting!

I’ll talk more on this in the chapter on Gifts, Callings and Mantles, but just open your mind about what is available for you to do right now because we are in a season where literally the sky is the limit! Can I hear an ‘amen’?

The Realm Beyond the Gifts : Spiritual Communion

But anyway let me serve up the real meat in this prophetic sandwich, uncovering the real treasure in this field concerning hearing God speak to you because like Jesus told me, EVERYONE can hear his voice—everyone.

This is what I like to call Communion—not the food ceremony which ought rightly to be called the Lord’s Supper, but I am talking about spiritual fellowship with the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart—the enjoying of two-way conversation with the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, and only not hearing his voice based on having a gift.

It started for me when I met some missionaries from Ireland and the leader was in constant, and I mean it—constant, non-stop two-way conversation with the Holy Spirit. He also ministered in powerful miracles and I saw many common miracles occur around him just because—one time the Lord gave me half a tank of free gasoline. Why? Again, just because.

I already had a gift of prophecy but could not hear the Lord’s voice whenever I wanted to like he did. Not until many years later when I went through an inner healing seminar and then led some small groups a second and then a third time as well. And oddly every time I went through the seminar two things happened: first, my prophecy gift became quieter and quieter; and second, I began to be more able to hear God deeply in my heart because of his presence in my heart if I would only quiet myself down and listen.

Jesus even told us at this time that he speaks to everyone in their own way, “But EVERYONE can hear my voice if they would just quiet themselves down and listen.” That’s what I finally began to walk in and my ‘gift’ got quieter and quieter until it was basically not functioning at all. If I wanted to hear his voice now, I had to instead go right to him in my heart, in the Spirit, and there he always was, every time, already waiting for me!

For me, practically speaking, I developed better habits and set aside more time to spend with him intentionally, and just set my mind to purposefully draw near to him and to press in to actively listen to him because spending time with him was more and more richly rewarding! This effort on my part, combined with the inner healing I had gone through, brought incredible benefits. He even told me at that time this kind of inner healing ministry always helps because ”HEALING always brings HEARING.” Make the effort to undergo and minister inner healing! Press in, he’s there.

It was also in that season when we were still learning that the Lord asked me to start an equipping ministry and to name it Prayer Mountain and we had mid-week meetings where every single person who came prophesied and I asked God how was it possible? Did every person who came to the meeting just have a gift of prophecy? He said, “No, it was because there was a realm beyond the gifts.” He then added, “The gifts are nevertheless still very important.”

I share this long journey in my other recent book, 8+Splash, and do not have time now to explain all these issues. It is such a profound experience or prayer discipline or revelation or whatever you call it that it literally changed my life.

So no, you do not need a gift to hear God speak to you—you can hear God speak if you would just quiet yourself down and listen. (And next chapter I’ll go one step beyond that and discuss the Mind of Christ!—if ‘communion’ or ‘direct fellowship’ is blowing your mind, the Mind of Christ will simply send you over the moon!)

I could write a whole book on this topic alone, and well, I did. You can look on-line for my teaching or book on Communion, Enjoying Spiritual Fellowship with the Holy Spirit, but many people these days have discovered this wonderful way of interacting with the Lord for themselves and may describe it better than I can. He also said, “You call that communion, but I just call it having fellowship with me.” He even told me that he was going to open up this kind of interactive prophetic experience all over the whole world. Experiencing personal fellowship with the Lord is something God wants to draw EVERY believer into. It used to make us very unique but now is very common and thank God for it. Like Moses, I agree, I wish ALL the Lord’s people were prophets, would hear his voice and have his Spirit!

A Helpful Word of Caution

Take note because there are however MANY counterfeit voices, counterfeit spiritual experiences and I’m especially cautious dealing with people who aren’t solid believers yet. So while I’ve seen God speak to Muslims, people in cults and strong and weak Christians alike, I still don’t like to intentionally lead weak or unstable people into a deep spiritual encounter! No way! But I obey God, and he has a different opinion sometimes. He looks at the heart which I can’t see.

Anyway these people I mentioned above simply came to our meetings and afterwards when they shared how God spoke to them too, I was simply floored! I have no idea what is going on in people’s hearts really, good or bad. I ASSUME most professing Christians are ready, but many are not, and I assume the unsaved are not, but that’s not always true either. Nevertheless, I prefer teaching people in churches not in public places, and always want there to be a solid foundation of repentance, a knowledge of Salvation in Jesus, and ideally people being Spirit-Filled before I bring people deeper. But God does not speak to us only once we are whole, but in order to make us so. He does not speak to us only because we are mature and already transformed into his image, he speaks to us to bring us there. I even know people who got saved by having conversations with Jesus about all kinds of topics—before they were even saved! How? Why can’t God just follow our rules!! I mean, come on!

Seek It, You Will Find It!

So you really want to prophesy? Good! Seek the gifts, but seek the Giver more.

Pray for gifts and anointing, but also open your heart to inner healing. Healing always brings hearing, he told me.

Fasting helps, but so does just being humble and quiet.

You can learn more about what I call Communion, enjoying direct spiritual fellowship: no gift, no gimmicks, just your spirit and His Spirit in open communication. Look for our teaching on-line and learn to enter into the Lord’s fellowship directly. He’s waiting to be able to have that kind of open communication with you more than you are—I assure you He is! Simply fix the eyes of your heart on Jesus, open the eyes of your heart so you can see him, look to see him High and Lifted up! He’s right there waiting!

And if you are having trouble it helps to ask a friend to back you up as a ‘co-pilot’ as I used to call it. Go pray in a nice church, go to the pastor’s house mid-week, purify your habits, put facebook down for a while—all of that is very helpful, but ultimately since everything Jesus has already done and since he has already sent his Spirit to live within us, actually now hearing his voice is just a matter of your choice. Do you want to hear his voice? You can if you want to. It’s ultimately THAT easy. It’s really now just a matter of your choice.

But yes, Satan may try to trick you, so be vigilant. But God is stronger and his presence is within us and that is the key to all Good Things. Get to know his presence, open your heart, and don’t be afraid of so many things. Trust God. Resist the enemy. Seek the gifts. Walk in your authority. Become intimate with the King. It’s all going to be OK.