Prophetic demonstrations

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Have you heard someone talking and all you heard was Blah-blah-blah, Learning to communicate so others can listen and understand can be challenging.

Communication is speaking with purpose and listening for results.

We have all had classes in college that were required in order to continue with your degree program. For me, it was a class on communication in business. One of the first things the professor stressed in class was businesses rise and fall on their ability to communicate. He went on to explain what types of mediums to use for different types of messages. Knowing what to say, how to say it, and the method to be use could make the difference between success, and failure in business. But, many times it’s when we don’t communicate or communicate poorly, causing failure in any relationship, business, family, or church. God wants us to succeed, so His communication is clear, and He uses many forms, and styles to speak. Leading to our favorable outcome.

God is continuously communicating to people. He has the right words to say and the right way to say it. Through nature, teachers, ministers, reading His Word (the Bible), by a word through a brother or sister speaking , and there are times when God gives us a prophetic demonstration. Each of these methods should bring comfort, encouragement, or exhortation. Far to often we only receive reading His word and ministers speaking an inspired message. We become sceptical when it come to areas of demonstration. We don’t seem to understand the significance of a prophetic demonstration. There are times when God demonstrates His word by showing the truth about who He is and what He wants us to understand. The Bible has many examples by prophets showing God’s power and authority both in the natural and spiritual realms. His word, power, and demonstration affect both the natural and the spiritual. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:4 “. . . my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive word of human wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power”. These were some of the teachings I received in Bible school and wanted to utilize them in ministry.

After I graduated from Bible School my wife, June, and I went to Syracuse, New York to plant a church. During a time of praying, and planning for this adventure God spoke to two other ministers to start a church in the same area. It was there where I saw my first prophetic demonstration of God. There was a prophetic word given during the song time of worship to the effect saying march around the camp (inside the church) and I will bring many to Myself. The evangelist speaking that evening got up to preach and said we need to march around the church. We all got up and marched around the room we were meeting in. After this prophetic demonstration with no preaching he gave an altar call and many came forward to accept Christ. There were several parts to this event we need to examine. First, the freedom to allow prophetic declarations to happen. Second, courage to act on the word given, and lastly to lay aside personal agendas. This became the first of many prophetic demonstrations June, and I would witness.

Later in ministry I was an associate pastors in a large church in Rochester, New York. During this time God began speaking to me in a fresh prophetic way. He began to show me a church plant from the 70’s the main church had started. The church was an outreach to the Spanish community in the city. This outreach ultimately became a separate local church, but the main church continued to own the building. The pastor of the outreach church had passed away and the main church wanted to sell the building and use the money to help with some of its own debts. This sets the stage for what was going to happen for the future of this church.

One morning during prayer God spoke to me to go and buy a box of salt and pour the salt around the property. Salt is used in the Bible in preserving, flavoring, and as a covenant. This action led to a series of events. I poured the salt around the church property waiting to see what God was going to do in the life of this church. The main church received an interest from someone wanting to buy the church and turn it into a laundromat. The people wanting to buy the church had to have the zoning board change the zoning to commercial before the sale would go through. At the zoning board meeting people got up and voiced their complained they didn’t want a laundromat in the housing area. This complaint caused the zoning board not to change the area to commercial. The sale was nixed and the church remained, but the story continues. The main church’s financial leaders let the existing church buy the church with the main church holding the mortgage at interest free financing as long as they kept up the payments. This allowed their church to go on, but the main church still had financial problems. At one point of this journey the senior pastor said they needed to give the church building to the people with no strings attached. After this happened the main churches finances begin to turn around. I believe prophetic acts have distinct outcomes. We see some immediately and some not in our lifetime. The church is still in operation today. Serving the community it was planted in.

Bible examples

The most prominent demonstration happened when the children of Israel marched around Jericho and the walls came down. The children of Israel had spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness. Not heading in the direction of the promised land, but now they were facing the Jordan river just as their fathers did 40 years earlier. They heard the stories of how their fathers told Moses they couldn’t win the war and there were giants in the land. It is the offsprings of the fathers facing the same Jordan and giants. For the exception of Joshua and Caleb all the men of war died in the wilderness. The men were inexperienced in war. Joshua faced a leadership challenge to cross the Jordan, and possess the Promised land. What actions did the children of Israel take to win this battle? First, Joshua heard from God and led the people as directed by God. Second, the people obeyed all the commands from Joshua. Walking in a specific order and without talking. They walked around the walls once daily. On the seventh day they marched seven time around and then shouted. As I look at this story the shouts by themselves didn’t bring down the walls. It was the obedience of Joshua taking charge and the people following him. The walls of Jericho fell flat. They didn’t topple over rather they fell into the ground. This would look like a sink hole we have seen happen in Florida. This action showed the people God provided the miracle. That Joshua was in charge and God was speaking to him.

In the New Testament a prophet named Agabus tied his own hands and feet hand and prophesied over Paul. We find the account in Acts 21:11 “… he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, . . thus says the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt”. When Paul went to Jerusalem he was bound by soldiers and sent to Rome. There he preached and wrote many of the Epistles found in the New Testament. What was demonstrated by Agabus came to pass.

I want to encourage you to allow God to show Himself through His word, the prophetic, preaching, and demonstration. God has much to say. We only need to act on His word in obedience. We have no reason to fear HIs demonstrations. He has our best in mind.