PROPHECY LESSONS!--THE NEW SPIRIT REVOLUTION!
--Staff sharing at Sunday Fellowship after 1984 Birthday Prophecies! (See "God's Gifts!", DB2)
DO 1743                   2/84

         1. (Sara: It was so wonderful that the Prophet was there to direct the prophecies because it was so encouraging to see that Dad would encourage it, & he directed & praised & prayed & he COMMANDED & he rebuked the Devil, & this really freed everyone to stir themselves as opposed to some situations. Maybe it's a rare occasion. Elsewhere people may spend so much time judging situations that it also stifles people, & maybe there's a difference. Maybe the Lord was just really pouring out so there was nothing necessarily to judge. But you didn't feel so much like it was WHAT you gave or if it even related to the last thing necessarily, but that whatever you said was of the Lord.
         2. (So that was a real lesson to me, how Dad was so carefully directing the situation & encouraged it so much & it made it so easy, & also how he rebuked the Devil when the prophecy seemed to slow down a bit, & it was a real freedom to see the power of prayer, & commanding the Lord to speak was a real powerful example! Perhaps in some places, especially maybe since the RNR, people in a way tend to somewhat resent leadership or not know who would rise up as the prophet.)
         3. (Fam: TYL! Yes, it was a real liberation for me yesterday because for years & years I've only given verses, & Lord forgive me, which is a bad sample, but I held back things that the Lord gave me & I'd pray desperately that somebody else would get the message, or I'd write it down & share the lesson afterwards or whatever, but I was really afraid of giving what the Lord had given me. Someone had really squelched my freedom by making me think it was too emotional to prophesy & give more than verses.
         4. (So yesterday it was a very heavy experience because in the beginning I thought, "Okay, I'll just listen." I guess I had gotten lazy spiritually in prophesying, I just didn't consider it, & so when Dad started encouraging us to speak it was like he spoke straight to my heart in rebuking the Enemy, & I knew it was like a spirit of fear in my heart. I asked the Lord to really set me free & liberate me & give me what He wanted me to give, no matter if it was nothing spectacular. I just needed to step out, & the longer I waited the heavier my heart got. I KNEW I had to give it or it was not giving myself to Jesus.
         5. (So when I finally did it was such a liberation & it was like a new start in my life to let the Lord pour through me, & to do it by faith & look to Jesus & not to my own weaknesses, so that was really a blessing, TTL!)
         6. (Fam: Well, at first it was a real fight! Besides, I had never prophesied before in my whole life, except for getting Bible verses & MO Quotes, & sometimes it's hard to believe what you're really saying, if it's just your own thoughts or if it's of the Lord, but usually in a meeting like that it HAS to be the Lord because you're all in the Spirit & you're all listening to Him.
         7. (But at first there was a spirit of pride & I wasn't completely set free. So I'd start to say something & then suddenly it would all go blank! Then I really thought it was the Devil completely attacking, trying to make it not work, & it would go blank & then Dad would say, "Come on, there's more!" because he KNEW. So finally when I did get it the whole way the next time, I really felt a spirit of freedom & liberation & I was shaking all over & it was super exciting! From then on, once we got free & after Dad had really just rebuked the Devil, then you could flow freely the whole time.
         8. (I noticed that almost everybody who was not used to prophesying had to lift up their arms when they were prophesying, like reaching up to Heaven for power, or for faith or for the Holy Spirit. Like Dad says, just reach out & She'll come land on your hands & bathe your hands in it.) (Sara: The hand of faith which reaches out & receives.)
         9. (Sara: Did this happen to anyone else?: I know I was about to speak when someone said the exact same first sentence that I had, the exact same thing, & it just thrilled me because I knew it was the Lord, it just stunned me & it was thrilling!--More than one line even. It was really wonderful! Did it happen to anyone else?) (Fam: Yes!)
         10. (Fam: I mainly learned that if you want to get something from the Lord you have to really want it. I heard somebody get this beautiful prophecy & I thought, "Well, I never could get anything like that!" But then I just really WANTED it, 'cause I saw how Dad was so much encouraged by it, & how it really edified everyone & everybody profited, how the Lord must've been so happy about it, & then it just started to happen, TYL!)
         11. (Pearl: I thought it was very encouraging that some people prophesied for the first time, & especially when this goes out to the Family, it will really encourage them, because it was kind of like you were put on the spot & you knew that you had to get something from the Lord or you would disappoint Him last night, that you HAD to give something, & so when you do it the first time it gives you so much more faith to do it another time.)
         12. (Fam: I learned from seeing so much of the living Word coming out last night how God is not just restricted to verses, which has always been most of the prophesying sessions that I've been in before, & it's really the first time in my life in the Family that I saw something like that, or even got a prophecy myself which is not exclusively a verse but something new & fresh & the living Word! So that's really something you have to exercise & take it by faith. It's something that came from the Lord because it's right there & I feel like it's a gift I haven't exercised enough before maybe for the fear of being misinterpreted or something. I thought, "Well, if I use the Word I'll be safe all the time!" & the living Word prophecy like that was reserved for, I thought, "Well, Dad is the Prophet", but I didn't have the faith I could get something like that myself. So that's what really encouraged me & what I learned last night too, to not always be limited to the written Word but also let the living Word flow freely.)
         13. (Pearl: Each time, you always have to overcome your fear again till you get a little bit more used to it, so the next time you have to exercise your gift again & give something again, it's easier. So next time there's a real desperate prayer meeting you'll have to continue to exercise your gifts again. A few times last night or sometimes when I'd get something, I'd give so much and then I'd abruptly stop, because then all of a sudden you start to fear and you think, "Oh my! What if I don't get any more! What if I stop, everybody's gonna think I'm a fool!" But the moment you fear you won't get more, then your fear comes upon you (Job 3:25), and that's when you lose it. If you continue to practice, even though it's real hard, you'll get better at it.--Just like memorizing or quoting or whatever. It will get a little bit easier each time you exercise the gift.) ("Stir up the gift!"--2Tim.1:6)
         14. (Fam: Something I thought was really beautiful & spiritual & supernatural is how all these prophecies can affect you physically. As all these prophecies would come out, the Lord would give them & each & every one would move me so much you're just showered with something, it's almost like an orgasm & you start to cry! It's amazing! It really shows that it's from the Lord by the way it can affect you. I thought it was real beautiful!)
         15. (Fam: Another experience last night for me was a feeling of real unity with everybody, like never before in my whole life, I think, that I really felt like one with everyone & there were no separations or personal difficulties with others. It was a really wonderful experience!)
         16. (Marianne: I was really thankful that Dad was encouraging us, as this was the last place I'd ever thought I'd be able to prophesy! Ha! But that's the only place I think I could have learned, because when I started to speak he was confirming & he was saying "Hallelujah!", & then he gave me the faith, because you overcome a lot of pride to start talking, but afterwards it was also an attack of your pride & your faith at the same time, but he encouraged my faith & he kind of coaxed me & then gave me the faith to get something, which I thought was even more important for me. I got later on that it was "a time of preparation, because we're going to be sent forth to battle". I don't know, maybe it was just for me or for a few people, so I was really really thankful that he was there to teach us!) (Sara: That's so important! That's such a standard for the Family how he went about that!)
         17. (Marianne: I know personally leading meetings, a lot of times I spent more time wondering if it was really the Lord what people were saying or why they were saying it, & actually not getting things from the Lord myself but analysing people's prophecies. But he was just receiving it all & priming & wanting it & encouraging us that he was expecting it & not trying to judge, & that was just a real lesson!)
         18. (Fam: On the personal lesson side, I learned about prophecy & how it works, because before I had always thought, "Well, it's not my gift". Or sometimes I'd get verses or visions & I had the faith for that, but to actually prophesy, that had been one of my questions, if I could do it or not or how it works. I didn't realise that when you're getting just a phrase that that's the Lord speaking to you & that you don't have to get more than one phrase, but I always thought, "Oh my! Well, that's only just a little bit, should I give that?" or "Is this the right time?" Or "If I give that, is it right?" So I didn't know.
         19. (So I learned last night, especially when Dad was commanding the Lord to speak, & us too, that it was the Lord putting that in my head & I didn't have to think about it or try to reason it out, but that He'd give more. So I did it, but then I thought, "Well, is that it?", & I squelched the Spirit myself, when I could've given more. Then what I was going to give but didn't give it all, somebody else just about one or two prophecies later gave the exact words! So that was a real good lesson to me about prophecy, as far as understanding it & how it works--that that phrase that the Lord's given you is the Lord & He wants you to GIVE it, & THEN He'll give you the rest. "Give & it shall be given unto you."--Luk.6:38. So that was a personal lesson, that was exciting, TYL!)
         20. (Peter: It was a tremendous personal victory for me, as for many years I've pretty much squelched the gift of prophecy. When I first joined the Family I used to prophesy often, but I eventually went a bit overboard & got a little tripped off, & since then I've always been very careful, actually TOO careful. I would still prophesy, but very rarely. But Dad's coaxing, commanding & rebuking the Enemy really set me free & gave me the faith once again. As always it took his Words to liberate me, to loose the bands of pride & fear.
         21. (I remember the first time I prophesied when I was at babes ranch, it was after the Letter "Faith". The words of that Letter spoke to my heart & above all, gave me faith to GIVE OUT what the Lord was giving. That's how it was last night as well. Dad's words & prayers renewed that in me & gave me faith to speak out. God bless him for not giving up! His faith & persistence set me free & helped me overcome these fears. God bless him!
         22. (It seems like Dad's birthday night was a new awakening in the Spirit, & I'm sure the Family will benefit not only from the beautiful prophecies, but from the sample of his shepherding us through it all. I believe it will help the Family to get set even more free in the Spirit & have more faith to hear from the Lord. PTL! I thank the Lord again & again for Dad, his love, faith, sample, obedience, patience & all he's done to make us all useful vessels in the Lord's hands.
         23. (Also it was such a victory! I can even see now in looking back, not so much here but in other places, heading up meetings & things like that, & because as the leader of the meeting, I was squelching that in myself, therefore it sort of tends to squelch everybody else. Because if everybody gets quiet & starts to pray & gets soft & quiet the Lord can speak & it's so convicting. I know in my case I wasn't willing so much to do it myself, therefore you just sort of don't make room for it. You think back now about all the times that were missed, but I was so thankful for Dad! He just didn't give up, & because he didn't give up & because he persisted & he knew the Lord had it, it really helped me, that's for sure!)
         24. (Pearl: The thing that Marianne got about "the day of preparation", I got something like that too, like it's a new day! The Lord doesn't want to give the whole Family just prophecies but He wants to give ALL the gifts & He wants to give faith & He wants to give wisdom & wants to give discernment, but He wants to pour it out like never ever before, He gives power for the hour! But in the days to come, like Dad said, for Heaven's Girls & Heaven's Boys for the Tribulation we're going to need those powers & be able to have faith & prophecy & healing, but we're not just gonna get it instantly. It's something that we have to grow into. You don't become an adult overnight, & the Lord really wants us to have the faith for healing & have the gift of faith & the gift of helps & all these, & boldness & power & exercise it every day in our walk with the Lord like never before! So that when we're called on to do whatever God wants us to do in that time that's coming we'll be able to do it.)
         25. (Fam: I feel it was another victory in "letting go & letting God" & not stopping up the Spirit, but letting it flow! Dad's prayers & encouragement were a tremendous help as well, GBH for literally COMMANDING us to prophesy & not letting go until each one of us had gotten something from the Lord.)
         26. (Fam: Through Dad's example I saw that it's the leader's responsibility to really get desperate in the Spirit & just let the Lord take over, & He will either prevent anything weird from happening or if something does happen, will certainly give the leader the anointing to handle the situation and perhaps have some lesson for all to learn. I believe that I could have gotten more if I hadn't waited as long as I did to give some things.)
         27. (Peter: It was really a blessing to have people getting it all down & had they not, boy, we really would've missed it, 'cause all those tape recorders never could've picked it all up! But it was really good because they really worked together in unison, 'cause one was on one side & he couldn't get over there fast enough, but another was getting it all down in shorthand. So I just thought that was really special that they did that.
         28. (And the other good thing about it was, these are all technical points, but we used two tape recorders. Then one of them didn't work. So it was just the Lord that he took two, & that was really being Spirit-led & really being faithful in recording, because otherwise we would've missed it. That would've been a real shame!)

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         29. Maria's reaction: I thought, "Maybe I'd better, because Dad really wants EVERYBODY to participate." I was surprised he didn't TELL me to say something or do something. I knew I could give a message in tongues any time & that was the only thing I could give. It wasn't any big burst of emotion that I couldn't hold back. It was like I could give it or I could hold it back. ("The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet"--1Cor.14:32.) But I got convicted at the end that I should give something, so as time got shorter & shorter & Dad was about to close, I thought, "Well, I'll really fail the Lord if I don't do it, so I should do it."
         30. It's a good lesson, that even things that SEEM little are so important! It is SO important to obey! It wasn't that I just felt the message bursting forth, & I held it back all evening long, but it was just a LITTLE thing or a LITTLE urge or a LITTLE feeling that I should or it would be good or it would be a good sample. The Lord doesn't always bang you over the head to tell you, "Look, if you don't do it, something major is going to happen or not happen!" But He waits for YOU. Because otherwise if it was so obvious & you KNEW, you'd do it. But He just sort of waits for an extra step of willingness, & a step of cooperation & being willing to do it. And THEN He shows you what He's going to do as a result. Like Dad says, big things are hinged on very small things, & small keys open big doors.
         31. So it's a good lesson, how important obedience in the small things is. I thought at the end, "Well, I really should give what I've got. Even if I don't have as much as anybody else"--that's exactly how I felt! But it shows that even if you don't feel this huge urge to give, maybe just a little thing that you know you ought to, nevertheless it may be very important & the Lord may be waiting on you to show you or to do something major. He doesn't always want to tell you it's so major because then you'd go right ahead & do it because you know you need to, then. He wants to see if you'll just obey that LITTLE check, that still small voice.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family