1. Cleanness Before the Lord

Confess Your Sins. Since prophecy results from the combining of the human and divine, it is your responsibility to have your heart clean before God prior to both receiving and giving a prophecy. All of those who intend to use this gift should make it a habit of confessing and asking forgiveness for any area of our life or act we have committed against the Lord. Asking forgiveness acknowledges your debt to Yeshua and commits you to turning away from that sin in the future. God knows the intent of your heart. If you've asked for forgiveness, but not purposed in your heart not to return to it, please do not prophesy.

2. Unforgiveness

Unforgiveness is one of the major sins that blocks the flow of the spirit in prophecy. Unforgiveness not only blocks you from getting a prophecy but is chief reason why false prophecies occur. Typically when one is asked to think about their sin and repent of it, the sins brought to mind are usually the more blatant ones. Unforgiveness is more subtle. Here's how you can work on this one. Think of your relationships with others. Right now mull over in your mind how you feel about people. First start with those here right now; next consider your immediate family and relatives, other members of your congregation, or perhaps your co-workers and boss, if you have one. There may be someone from your past, perhaps it was a former friend, co-worker, or boss who wronged you. Perhaps you were the victim of a crime and can't forgive. Think now of all the possibilities and forgive them or make a commitment to work on forgiveness.

3. Worship

Prophesy is poured out in worship. There is a close relationship between worship and prophesy. 1 Chron. 25:1 - certain people are set aside "for the ministry of prophesy, accompanied by musical instruments." ("The King Among Us," Kissell, p.50) So we need to learn how to worship in a way that creates an atmosphere that invites the Ruach to fall upon us in power.

Worship should flow from praise to intimacy with God. This may be loud, soft, or even in silence. Your body position is not important except in the fact that it should reflect your commitment to submit to God. Some may stand with hands raised, others sit, some kneel, while other lie on their back or even face-down - prostrate. These positions were not uncommon in biblical times. The underlying attitude of Tenach worship was that we are to bow down before God. Such a response is a sign of submission to God. It is an act of homage, awe, reverence, and above all, humility. A striking example is the scene portrayed when Solomon dedicated the Temple in 2 Chron. 7:1-3. (p.39)

New Covenant worship adds something to this reverence and humility before God — intimacy. Yeshua encourages the disciples to worship God as one might approach a loved one in order to embrace and kiss them. God is not a distant power, held at arms-length from us in awe, but a close and trusted friend, but more than that, a loving and kind father. (p.40)

4. Insecurity

A major block to receiving prophecy is the "soil of insecurity" ("Settled Accounts," Day, p 29). The soil of insecurity comes because you might have been emotional hurt in the past and feel, perhaps unconsciously, that you'll be hurt in the future. While God's intention is that the "soil of our hearts" are to be tended and nurtured first in a solid family life and next in our early interactions with others, it's a sad fact that often this isn't the case. The "soil of insecurity" provides a fertile ground for the "seeds of future hurts and disappointments to take root quickly (Day, p. 32).

Negativity Towards People and Life

One result of this is behavior and lifestyle that becomes negative. You avoid people and people avoid you (Day, p. 61). Your approach to life becomes defensive — an avoidance of intimacy with others. Sadly this leeches into our relationship with God. We avoid the intimacy with him too. But this isn't the only way we react to hurt.

Control

One other impediment to receiving prophecy flows from another type of defensive action-- control. The hurt person seeks to control their environment as much as possible. They want to know exactly where the body is going with a flow of the Ruach. They gain comfort in a predictable structure. But the nature of the prophetic gift is surprise. If we knew what God was saying all the time, we wouldn't need prophecy.

Worship frees us from some of the insecurities we might have. It helps us to act in an attitude in which we trust God. The worship which God delights in flows freely from the heart. (p.45) Prophecy flows out of worship and adoration of God.

5. Faith

Prophecy is poured out in an atmosphere of faith. The Ruach is unleashed by our worship. We need to allow time to sense that the Ruach is fellowshipping among us. We need to believe with absolute faith that God is with us right now. He is among us right now. While this is happening, tell others to bless the work the Ruach is already doing. This increases the intensity of the power of God upon them (p.43). Prophecy emanates from the anointing of the Ruach (p.44).

6. Love

"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire the spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy (1 Corin. 14:1)." Prophecy's purpose always stems from love and comes forth in an atmosphere of love.

Love Builds Up

The purpose of the gift of prophesy is to edify - to build up worshiping people. It's for "edification, encouragement and comfort." (1 Corin. 14:3). Prophecy can't be separated from its loving intentions.

Servant's Heart

Love in the New Covenant sense emanates from having the heart of a servant. If we're servants of the King, we'll do his work. And his work is poured out through showing the love we have for others. Prophesy is no different from other acts of kindness. Other evidence that prophecy is an act of love are that it can be used to bring unbelievers to the Lord. (1 Corin. 14:24-5) or to provide a revelation of the future that aids a believer.

7. Desire It

"Do not quench the spirit's fire; do not treat prophesies with contempt (1 Thess. 5:19). It is a person's faith that allows the power of God to be manifested in prophecy. "If a man's gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith." (Rom. 12:6).

Paul Cain said that there are 3 secrets to keeping the anointing: "love the anointing, love the anointing, love the anointing."

8. Judging It

Focus on God, Not on Receiving a Word

How do I identify a word from God amidst the many thoughts that will go through your mind when the time for prophecy begins. If all can prophecy, which I believe is the case, then there must be a way to teach others to do this. Usually the first step in receiving a prophecy begins with an attitude that focuses on God, not on getting a word from him.

Forms of Hearing

The Ruach will impress something upon your conscious mind. It may come in a verbal form (a particular word, thought, Scripture), visual form (image, picture, scene, vision), mood form (words, scenes, or feelings that convey to you a particular emotion or mood. i.e. image of God's wing of love over a person. Here the intent is to God wanting to show his love for that person. The prophecy may be given either by words or by describing the visual image. Both convey the emotion), other forms of sensation (touch, temperature, smell, or taste).

Change of Forms

When you begin you receive one form, it may transfer into another as the anointing increases. Here is a real-life example with the sequence of transformation given. The sequence began by an "inside non-verbal" thought of "block":

Then "block" was transformed to "hardness" to "the word 'safe'" to "an image of a safe" to "an image of a person pounding away at the safe with a chisel" to "the sense that the pounding was ineffective since the walls of the safe were too thick" to "the sense that the person had the key to the safe, so the pounding wasn't necessary to break down the barrier provided by the safe's walls."

Submitting What You Receive

Prophecy needs to be judged and the prophet needs to be a person under authority. It is necessary for those who speak in Lord's name be accountable for what they say. This is best done when people are known by the leadership (p.55). The prophet is a humble person.

9. Scripture

A prophecy must be consistent with scripture–bringing "edification, encouragement, or comfort," or it shouldn't be given. Congregational prophecy generally must be in the flow of what the Ruach has said in the preceding prophecy. Its content may be different, but words from God proceed in an easy-to-follow flow. (Ex. If the Ruach gives a word of comfort, other words of comfort will follow. Next, words may take on a character of instruction for the purpose of edification.

10. Timing

Most prophetic errors coming from humble, submitted, emotionally-stable, repentant, and righteous people are the result of problems with timing. When we enter the spiritual realm, there is an immediacy to the experience. A prophecy seems to yearn to be given so that the earthly realm might reflect the reality of the spiritual. The mature prophet recognizes two errors in this realm. First, certain words are to be given immediately while others are to be held internally, either till a "release" is given to the prophet or the realization that the purpose is for them to intercede. Secondly, the sense of immediacy in prophecy may lead the prophet to believe that the fulfillment of the prophecy is imminent. So they give the word and it doesn't seem to come to pass. If we watched for a long enough period of time, we could appreciate the truth of the word. The error was that the giving of the word made it seem that the fulfillment would be more immediate.