Part of the prophetic protocols at our church (Stairway) is that prophetic words are recorded. It is common and usual to hear someone ask a person for permission if they can share with them something that they sense God is showing/telling them about that person. The other common and usual protocol is to then see that person about to receive the prophetic word pulling out their smartphone to record what is about to be said.
During prophetic presbytery’s when people come forward for a prophetic word, I will ask people if they have a recording device ready to record what I am about to say.
If I am prophesying over complete strangers in a shop, I don’t ask them if they want to record it as I couch the prophetic word in complete non Christian terms and don’t want to presume that they will value it or want to work with the prophecy. During those times, I want to communicate the heart of God. That He sees them, that He knows them, that He understands what they are going through and that there is a future for them.
Why record a prophetic word?
- Accountability
Recording a prophetic word keeps both the receiver and the deliverer accountable. When I give a prophetic word, I am accountable for what I am sharing. If it is wrong, negative, discouraging, totally inaccurate, etc then I need to be held accountable and spoken to, and then receive training in how to deliver a prophetic word. The receiver also is then accountable for what they do with the prophetic word. Hopefully this is to listen to it again several times, pray through it, type it out etc.
Six years ago, I gave a prophetic word to a team member about her ability and future leadership. Several months later, I was asked by the leadership of the group if I could remember what I actually said. This person had challenged the current leadership and communicated that I had prophesied that they would be the overall leader of the group the following year. Thankfully, for my sake, there was a record of what was actually communicated.
- Accuracy
Our memory is not 100% perfect. We all have selective memory. How many times have you thought or believed someone said something, when in fact, if you had an opportunity to play back what was actually said, it was slightly different? Not only hearing what we think versus what was actually communicated but also the lens through which we interpret.
When we returned from Mozambique seven years ago, I can remember saying that the prophetic word we had received said ‘the real reason we went to Mozambique was because of our daughter’. A close friend read the actual prophetic word and challenged me as it said, ‘going to Mozambique had a lot to do with our daughter’s future’. Slight difference in wording but a massive difference in meaning.
- Personal responsibility
Please do not come up to someone who has prophesied over you and apologise for not recording the prophecy but ask them if they can write down what they said to you. It is your responsibility to record any prophetic prophecies over you. Once the person has prophesied over you, they are no longer responsible for that prophetic word. It has been delivered to you.
I have lost count of the number of times someone has come to me and asked it I can remember what I said to them as they didn’t record it. I’m sorry but usually as soon as I give the prophetic word, I forget most of it. I may remember the exciting part or a sense or picture of something I said but not the actual wording or tone or feel. I feel o’kay about that since I have fulfilled my part. It was their part/responsibility to record it and then deal with it. Thus, now days, usually before I give a prophetic word to someone, I ask if they have a recording device handy.
- The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelations 19:10)
When two or more people prophecy the same thing over you, then you definitely know that there is an accuracy there that you can rely on as truth and use as a prophetic weapon for your life. One of the benefits of recording your prophetic word is that you can write it out and see the accuracy of it lining up with other prophetic words you have received.
- Growth in giving prophetic words
Every so often I find it helpful for me, as someone prophesying over someone else, to ask their permission if I can record what I am about to say so that I can learn from it and use it as a tool for growth. Listening to what I have prophesied afterwards, I can hear if I have rambled on, excessively repeated myself, hit the target and been definitive and accurate or massaged the message to allow leeway etc.
- Prophesying over children
We always record prophetic words spoken over children (under 16 years of age) and make sure that an adult (parent or guardian or children’s leader) is also present. We then give the recording to the parent of the child. This helps to keep us accountable in our ministry to children and keep all children safe from emotional harm.
Conclusion:
For those people giving Prophetic words, please encourage the person to record it. For both your sakes. Accountability and accuracy for yourself. For encouragement and accuracy for them.
Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:
Every week I list 5 prophetic activations/exercises under children/family, group, beginner, intermediate and advanced. The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and see and sense God and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy! Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.
1. Children / Families Activation: Write the names of everyone present on individual slips of paper. Fold each slip of paper and slide it into a separate balloon. Everyone then has fun blowing up a balloon, tying it and then bursting it. Unwrap the piece of paper and find whose name is on your slip of paper. Ask God what He wants to tell that person. Communicate that to that person.
2. Group Activation: Play musical chairs. Place enough chairs (or if space limited, place coloured pieces of paper) in the middle of the room for everyone playing minus 2 people. Play music and ask everyone to move clockwise around the chairs. When the music stops, everyone runs to sit on a chair. The 2 people without chairs are out. Whilst the music plays for the next round and you remove two more chairs, have those 2 people just out prophesy over each other. The next two people out then prophesy over each other until the remaining two people are the only ones left in the game. They then give each other a prophetic word.
3. Beginner Activation: Take a $50 note out of your wallet (or the highest value note in your wallet) and spend some time prophesying over the people whose hands it will pass through. Place it back in your wallet and try and use that note next time you are shopping.
4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to give you a name of a book to buy and who to buy it for. Ask God for a prophetic word to write on a slip of paper to put inside the book before you give the book to that person.
5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you someone struggling with purity in their life. Spend time crafting a prophetic word for them about how God sees them, remembering to keep it encouraging, comforting and edifying.