I have permission to quote this conversation, and it seemed like it might be helpful in answering questions. -Editor.
-----Original Message-----
Good morning,
I am a relatively new Christian, but have experience with the "charismatic" side of things (I go to a Vineyard church), and I'm just curious...how accurate do you claim these words are? As in, have they been "tested" (as
Thanks,
What a joy to hear from you. I’m glad that you’re willing to ask good questions!
The website (http://www.northwestprophetic.com/) is not an attempt to judge the prophetic words. I am a longtime believer and a native to the region, but am in no way qualified to judge all the words for our region: I’m one of many believers in the area, one with some decades of experience with God, but not, probably, more than your pastors.
I do run a few of the words past some of the prophetic folks I’m in relationship with, but generally it’s pretty obvious whether a word belongs or not. When I am considering a word for the site, I’m looking for three things primarily: credibility, relevance, and attitude. I think all of the words have passed those three tests in my own mind, though I reserve the right to make mistakes. J I make the assumption that I’ve overlooked some words that should be posted, and posted some that are maybe more fluff than content.
For the credibility question, I’m looking for a word that comes from a “recognized prophet” with a proven ministry (not that there’s any National Registry of Prophets or anything J), or that the word comes by way of another leader with whom I have enough relationship to trust (for example, through their website, or perhaps they sent the word to me), or that the word comes from someone whose character and prophetic ministry I know personally and have reason to trust. That’s actually a pretty broad circle: I work pretty hard on not being exclusive to one “stream” or denomination or such.
The relevance question is a little easier: either the word will be about the Northwest (in one degree or another – and sometimes I only post the relevant portion), or it will be from someone in the Northwest, or it will be a word that is targeting a larger audience, but which I believe has significance in the Northwest region. I try to identify these last ones as “Not exclusively for the Northwest” or some such, and I try to identify the words that I’ve edited, and post a link to the un-edited version.
The attitude question is about, “Is this loving?” or “Is this ‘comforting, edifying and/or encouraging?’” If a word strikes me as judgmental or self-promoting or excessively “religious,” I may be inclined to hesitate. In reality I try to give folks the benefit of the doubt wherever possible, trusting you to judge as you need to. More on that in a minute.
I don’t solicit prophetic words at this point and thus far I have never posted a word that someone has sent me asking for publication. I have had some folks approach me recently with their prophetic words, and I will look for credibility, relevance and attitude before I consider any of their words. I also have not posted any of my own prophetic words, though that may also change at some point (if it seems credible, relevant, and has a good attitude J).
I want to avoid being legalistic about these things; that’s how I do it for now.
The site is designed first of all to be a tool for intercessors. I know there are many people praying for our region, and praying according to God’s revealed plan is likely to be the best kind of prayer. The first and most important revelation of His plan is the Bible of course, but we already have Bibles published. A lesser source of revelation, but an important one, are the prophetic words over our region, and I have been unable to find any place where those had been gathered together, whether in print or online. So I began the task of gathering them myself. I’ve been startled by the interest in the site.
Beyond intercession, I aspire to have a reference by which Northwest believers can build realistic expectations of what God has said He wants to do in our region, and to respond to Him accordingly; I’m both getting and giving some training based in part on some of these words.
I didn’t have this in mind, but I find that the “Northwest Prophetic” website has helped some people build a sense that this really is “our region,” and nobody else is going to take responsibility for it. I consider that to be a good thing, especially if it translates into prayer for revival, or hunger for God, or other yummy things. Eventually, I expect that we’ll have other resources specifically for the church in our region, or at least I’m praying (and planning) that direction.
But you are correct: I leave judgment of the words up to the recipients of the prophetic words; in this case that’s you and me and the rest of the believers in this region. If a particular word doesn’t work for you, that’s OK: don’t pray that one; there are many others to pray! I trust the Holy Spirit in you to guide you accurately. For myself, I tend to look for trends: I see several words about healing in our region, so I can ask God with some confidence to release healing gifts in our region.
If you know of some prophetic words that you think should be included, by all means, please send them. If you’d include things like who gave the word, and when was it given, and such, it will help me evaluate credibility, relevance and attitude better.
As to if someone disagrees with a word, well, I don’t know what I’d do. Never had it happen yet, or at least they’ve never spoken to me about it.
Bless ya!
