ARTICLES

WISDOM FOR PROPHESYING OVER SOCIAL MEDIA

by Lyn Packer

The gift of prophecy is a blessing from God, a gift given to let people know that God is with them in every circumstance, and that He cares and wants to help them navigate life. It's a gift that I’ve been privileged to use for many years, and during that time it has blessed many. But I have also seen many unwise things, and done some things myself over the years which I regret, as I've learnt to use the gift wisely and maturely. Most of those were because I didn't understand the gift and the way it was to be used.

Over recent years many Christians have become captivated with the gift of prophecy – with receiving prophetic words from others, and also with giving prophetic words. This attraction has led to many people actively seeking prophetic words from people, and many seeking to hear from God, or claiming to hear from Him. This has, in turn, produced a tsunami of revelation being shared. The use of social media platforms has magnified this, and made room for what was an expression confined largely to within church walls, to become widespread and global in reach. As I look at social media I see a lot of people who don’t know how to use the gift of prophecy maturely or wisely. This is leading us to a crisis point regarding the gift of prophecy.

The sheer volume of prophetic words that we currently face has come about by several things…

• A legitimate hunger that people have to hear from God.

• A legitimate God-given need by genuine prophetic voices to share what God is saying to them.

• A soulish need and fascination with the gift of prophecy – the desire and appeal of having other people hear a word from God for their life. Collecting prophetic words like treasures and trophies etc…

• A soulish need by people to share the revelations they are receiving. There may be many reasons behind this one.

Those sharing revelation all claim that it is given to them by God, and much of it is presented as such, however it is often presented as vague generalized prophetic words for someone somewhere out there, the church at large, or for the nation. While some of it may be valid prophetic words, much of what is shared is either not given by God at all, or is immature, not well processed, or unwisely shared revelation. And, sadly, this applies to much of what we see released on social media. It is often either revelation that was purely for the person receiving it, or it is wishy-washy, generalized, feel-good prophecy, or given with a harsh, judgmental tone.

Prophetic fascination

In some ways the fascination many Christians have with seeking and receiving prophetic words is in danger of becoming a Christian version of horoscopes – generalized spiritual predictions that may, or may not, fit our circumstances, and whose purpose is to draw us into agreement and alignment with the words spoken so that spiritual forces can go to work on our behalf. The generalities in wording usually make them easy for us to fit them to our circumstances.

Prophetic words and horoscopes are attractive because they both rely on people’s spiritual hunger for spiritual realities. And both have a similar effect on the brain and body, especially when you approach them with faith (belief in them). Reading, or hearing, them often causes a physical and emotional response through the release of hormones such as…

• Dopamine – the feel-good hormone which causes a reduction of stress and anxiety.

• Cortisol – which works with parts of your brain to control your mood, motivation, and fear.

• Oxytocin – this is often called either the ‘love hormone’ or the ‘moral molecule’ (prompting behaviours). It brings feelings such as empathy, and awareness of social cues.

Prophetic fatigue and disillusionment

The influx of prophetic words on social media, while not in itself necessarily bad, has in some cases worked against the true gift and purposes of God. It has contributed toward stirring up unhealthy fascination, while also producing a prophetic fatigue (tired of seeing another prophetic word), disillusionment (I’ve been hearing this for years) or worse, a despising of the prophetic gift and function. This has been seen over recent years with excesses and mistakes made in prophecies, causing many to become disillusioned with prophecy and prophets.

Social media mistakes and excesses

While social media platforms are a great way to share the gospel and prophetic words etc, they also have the potential to be mis-used. And if the people posting, or the people reading, aren’t discerning then problems can occur.

Here are a few of the potential problems and shortcomings we often see in social media prophecies…

• A lack of understanding regarding prophetic processing and protocols – We need to process the revelation we receive before sharing it, to make sure that we have not mixed our opinions in with what we’ve heard from God, to check if the revelation is for us alone, if it’s a prayer assignment, or if it’s for sharing. Some of the things we should be asking God are…

  • Is its message clear and not ambiguous, or could it mean anything that people want it to mean?

  • Is it clear who the word is for?

  • Does it encourage, build up, and comfort, or does it sound harsh or judgmental?

  • If I share it, who do I share it with?

  • Do I need to share it with others first, for confirmation and weighing?

  • How much of it do I share?

  • How do I share it?

  • When do I share it?

    These are just a few of the things you can discuss with the Lord. The following verses are some of the scriptural protocols found in the Bible for the gift of prophecy. (1 Cor 13:1-9; 1 Cor 14:3; 1 Thess 5:19-22; 1 Cor 14:29; 1 John 4:1)

• Confusing revelation you receive, and words of encouragement, with genuine prophetic words – Just because we hear something in our quiet time doesn’t automatically authorise us to post it on social media as a prophetic word from God. Much of what is posted is either personal revelation given by God for that person’s own life, or general encouragement, rather than a true prophetic word.

• Assuming that you have the authority and mandate to share a word to the nation – The gift of prophecy does not give you automatic right to expect the nation to listen to you and do what you think they should do. In the Bible we see that prophets were assigned spheres of influence and authority from God. They did not automatically have the right to speak into everyone’s life, anywhere, or all the time. Neither do we. We grow in influence and authority, in favour with God and man, by proving ourselves faithful in character, wisdom in the way we live life, and in the way we handle and use our gifts. This was true of Jesus, and it’s true for us (Luke 2:52).

• Non-existent accountability – Do you allow for people to speak into your life, bringing correction where needed, and giving advice to help you grow? Scripturally, accountability is about responsibility, not about control. It’s about considering the consequences of what we do and making wise decisions. If we don’t allow for any relational input and accountability as part of the body of Christ, then we will act as lone-ranger prophets who are out of biblical order. Often prophetic people have an unwillingness to be held accountable by ministry peers for their predictions, especially ones that have time frames, are highly directional, involve certain people, or have specific warnings etc. attached to them. You are responsible for the words you release. You can’t blame God. He didn’t make you do it!

• Highly directional words – All too often we see highly directional words, warnings etc. that have no specific aspects to them that allow them to be confirmed or judged.

• Words of judgment and wrath – As prophetic ministers we minister from God’s love, not from any sense of judgment. Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. All sin was taken upon Jesus on the cross, judged and forgiven, therefore we are in the age of reconciliation. Our ministry as Kingdom ambassadors is that of announcing that God is here, now, with us, in love and forgiveness, and is establishing His Kingdom amongst us. Sin still has consequences, and at the end of this age there will be a day where all mankind will stand before God in judgment concerning how they lived their lives, but that is not today, and that judging is not our job; it’s God’s.

• Overly generalised words – e.g., “God is bringing breakthrough into your circumstances today”, or “Miracles of provision are coming your way”, “Church, God is calling you to repent”. Words as generalised as these show a lack of processing before releasing, and could be made to fit anyone’s circumstances, anywhere, whether they are an actual word from God for that person or not. Also, a word like this is so vague it doesn’t allow for any accountability – What circumstances? Whose circumstances? Provision in what area? Repent of what? When is the breakthrough coming? What is their part in seeing the breakthrough? Are there any conditions etc…?

When prophecies are overly generalized, not processed well before being released, or don’t come to pass, it can cause a prophetic fatigue and a hope deferred to set into the Body. The same can happen when prophetic ministers take no responsibility for what they release, and don’t apologise when they get something wrong, or don’t allow people to speak into their lives, thinking that they are above correction. We are currently seeing many people becoming tired of prophetic statements, and many are disillusioned with prophetic ministry and prophets. If we don’t mature in using this precious gift we will see a despising of prophecy set in to the general church populace.

God is calling us to maturity in prophetic ministry, to learn how to rightly use the gift of prophecy, and to be accountable for what we share. And, as leaders and prophets, we need to own our part in the mess that’s happened – it’s happened largely because we haven’t equipped the church properly in how to use this precious gift. We often haven’t taught them how to discern if a revelation is from God, when, or if, it is to be shared, and with who it should be shared, etc.

How we move forward from here will largely determine whether we raise up healthy, mature prophetic ministers, or we live with a mess that brings disillusionment and a despising of the gift of prophecy.

For the gift of prophecy to continue to be a blessing we need to look at several things…

• Good training in our churches on how to hear God, and how to discern and weigh revelation.

• Training in how to give well-processed, clear, prophetic words.

• Training in the personal responsibility associated with moving in the gifts.

• Training in knowing the difference between the use of the gift of prophecy and the role of the prophet.

• And more…

According to what we are taught in the Bible, the prophetic gift was never about releasing revelation here, there, and everywhere. Prophetic revelation is given in specific situations for specific purposes – whether that is for a particular person’s life, or to build up and establish the church. Its outworking is to bring people to maturity, not just as sons and daughters, but as those endowed with kingly authority, and who walk in ambassadorial authority, provision, and power.

If you are called to prophesy and to release prophetic words publicly, please learn to do so in a wise mature manner; that way you will honour God and the gift, and not bring dishonour to it, yourself, or God. Let’s show the world a true expression of mature New Covenant prophetic ministry, and release the solutions of Heaven, soaked through with God's love and power.

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