PROPHETIC WORDS
THE STRENGTH AND THE SELF GIVING LOVE OF JESUS
by Jill Smith
April 2025
Lately I’ve been sensing a persistent invitation, God calling His people back to the heart of Jesus — to see Him and know Him more fully, not just in part.
He’s both the Lion who roars with authority and power, and also the Lamb who laid down His life in love and humility.
This is a time of realignment for God’s people
God is inviting us to walk closely with Jesus in both His strength and His gentleness. To know Him as the conquering King and the suffering Servant. Not one or the other — but both.
There’s a fresh move of His Spirit that’s calling forth a healthy integration. Where sometimes we’ve leaned toward boldness without compassion, or gentleness without courage.
But Jesus is calling us to carry His heart fully — to speak truth with boldness, and to love with selfless grace.
For those of us who are called to speak for Him — prophetic voices — there’s a deep reminder: our authority must come from lives laid down. Our roar must rise from a place of surrender.
Power that doesn’t flow from love can do more harm than good, love that doesn’t speak up and step up as Jesus would, is not true love at all.
But when the strength of the Lion and the self-giving love of the Lamb live together in us, we’ll carry a voice that shakes the earth and heals the broken. People won’t just hear our words — they’ll encounter His heart.
This is not a time for silence
This is not a time for silence. Love doesn’t stay quiet when injustice reigns.
Truth isn’t passive in the face of chaos and confusion.
We are being called to speak — not with harsh judgment, but with heaven’s clarity. To lift our voices not to overpower, but to awaken. To declare what is true, and to do it from a place of deep connection to Jesus.
So let’s stay close to Him. Let’s watch how He moves —how He advances to drive off darkness, how He stands firm, and how He kneels to serve.
Let’s allow Him to shape us into people who know when to speak with boldness, when to arise and move forward, when to pause and trust, and when to serve with self-giving love.
This is how the world will know Him — through people who reflect His fullness. Through hearts that carry both courageous strength and self-giving love. Through lives that manifest both the Lion and the Lamb.
BIO
Jill is a New Zealander of pakeha and Maori (Tainui) decent based in the Franklin Region, just south of Auckland. She is married to Don and together they have a boisterous and greatly loved family, 4 children, their spouses and 11 grandkids. Jill has worked as a teacher, counsellor, art therapist, bible school lecturer and church minister. She is also a practicing artist, currently researching the potential of art to shift people’s focus and create space for encounter with God. She has ministered prophetically and encouraged, trained and mentored others in the prophetic over a number of years. She is currently developing a prophetic hub based at Uplift Church, Pukekohe, where she and Don have ministered for nearly 10 years. Recently stepping aside from pastoral leadership responsibilities, Jill is now freer to travel, focus the developing prophetic hub, write, and spend more time in her studio, one of her favourite places to spend time alone with God. She can be contacted at https://www.jillsmith.co.nz