Only Sometimes Clever

I remember a conversation I had with a friend, oh, about 13 years ago, about communication.  I was bemoaning the fact that the English language, in all its beauty, is under-used.  I was intent on using it more completely, and was making efforts to increase my vocabulary.  I had been spending time looking for words that aptly expressed exactly what I was trying to say, and often, those were “fifty-cent” words, as one of my English teachers used to say.  I had a problem, though, with all the dumb people out in the world who didn’t understand me.  (I hope you’re rolling your eyes at me.  )

This friend that I was talking to is the most exact user of English that I know.  He is very careful with his speech, and he listens thoroughly to what is said.  He has an immense working vocabulary, and I thought that surely he’d lend me an ear that was sympathetic to my plight.

But he responded, “But isn’t the purpose of communication to communicate?”

That was a revelation.

Effective communication is largely the responsibility of the person communicating, not the person listening.

Before that revelation, I had patted myself on the back for being the “same” person, using the same speech, no matter who I was with. 

But my friend showed me that if my goal is to truly be understood, I need to alter my speech according to my audience.  That can be accomplished many different ways, but in my book, the easiest to alter is vocabulary and subject matter.

Fast-forward to current times.

My dad had 12 kids in his family, 10 of whom are still living, and with my Grandma, the in-laws, and many of we cousins, much of our keeping-in-touch is done through an e-mail loop.  Between all involved, there is an extremely wide variance in religious convictions, personality, political viewpoints, etc.  *Everyone* thinks that *they* are right, and of course, that results in frequent verbal explosions.

I have an aunt, who calls herself a “seer of the Lord.”  That phrase right there, for other family members, renders what she says as either an opportunity to fight, or an opportunity to excercise the their right pinkie as they stretch it towards the DEL key.

The sad thing is, many times, I think she’s right on.  She does have a lot of, in my observation, keen insights into the collective heart of my extended family.  However, the language she uses gets her pretty much completely ignored, even by me, and I believe in the prophetic!!!  It takes a supreme act of the will, and an effort based soley upon the fact that I value her, for me to plow through what she says and try to extract the worth from it.

It seems to me that she uses the language of whatever church and/or prophetic ministry/ies that she has learned from.  It takes effort to translate the language used into “normal” English, and it appears that virtually no one wants to do that exercise.  Also, she uses a lot of Biblical references, apparently assuming that everyone is familiar with (and values) both the verses that she quotes, and with Biblical symbolism.  There are some on the e-mail loop that value the Bible, but not everyone does.  There are some that probably understand much Biblical symbolism, but may or may not agree w/ her application.

In short, the language that she uses assists others in their willingness to ignore her.

The instruction I’ve received regarding communicating prophetic words has been that one should communicate it in as natural-as-possible-sounding English. 

Also, one should be very careful about using the authority of God in the delivery;  that is, no “thus sayeth the Lord” kind of thing.  In I Thessalonians 5:20-21, Paul makes it clear that when we speak the prophetic, that we need to “hold on to what is good.”  IOW, there *is* going to be some bad, immature, untrue, or faulty words in there from time to time, and it would be wise to allow some wiggle room between our words, and the Word of God.

It’s wise to understand how much favor is being extended before one launches into a prophetic word.  If there is no favor, one is just wasting time and fueling fire that damages relationship and credibility. 

In one trip to Scotland, the team I was with was ministering at a Teen Challenge center.  When we came into the room, I immediately got a sense about a certain guy, a staff member.  We had a time of worship and teaching, then were released to pray and minister prophetically to the folks there.  I went to this man, and as the issue was sensitive, used pretty vague language.  I asked him if he was following what I was saying.  “No,” he replied.  I tried it from a different tack.  “No.  I have no idea what you’re talking about.”  I went around from a different angle.  “No.  I don’t understand.”  After about the fourth or fifth rephrasing, I just gave up, somewhat bewildered, as I had felt very strongly about the accuracy of the content.

The whole thing was a blow to my confidence.  I mulled it over, somewhat depressed, the rest of the day.  Late that night, I decided that I would humble myself, and ask my pastor what I did wrong, and how it could have gone better.  I timidly knocked on his door, as I could tell I was interrupting an intense conversation between him and a man we call The Irishman (he’s from here).  I laid out the story, and both Dennis (pastor) and Andrew (Irishman) started nodding.  They both confirmed that the prophetic insight I’d received had been accurate, with Dennis even filling in details that I had known, but not communicated to the two of them.  They both thought that the man just didn’t want to receive the word from me, both because of its content, and because I’m a woman.  They were certain that the man was playing stupid just to shut me down. 

Dennis instructed me that just getting the word isn’t enough — I have to have a sense of the person’s receptivity.  He suggested that if a situation like that happens again, instead of taking a different tack, just say, “OK.  Thanks anyways,” and walk away.  It doesn’t work to pound a prophetic word into anyone, even if the word is right on.

There’s also the whole world of timing and detail.  Sometimes, someone can have an accurate prophetic word, but now is not the right time to deliver it.  Sometimes, someone can have an intensely detailed prophetic word, but it’s unwise to bust out with the whole thing, especially when sensitive issues are involved.

I don’t know if any of this makes sense to anyone reading, and if  you *are* still reading, thank you.

It just makes me sad that my aunt’s words are completely being ignored because she uses imflammatory, obscure speech, presenting herself as infallible, when what she is saying does have quite a bit of truth in it, and could be of use to my family if she laid it out differently.

Here’s part of what she said:

About our family. . .there are two major spirits that wreck havoc in our family and it is a planned satanic thing to shut us up and down.

We ALL have a high calling on our lives.  The two spirit are Leviathan and the spirit of Python. Leviathan is the ruler of all the children of pride and the python spirit is desparate to squeeze life out of all of us. . . Look, just humble yourselves and ask the Holy Spirit to show you how it has operated in us and repent of it and bind it from you. . .but because these are both high level beings  be careful not to pronounce a reviling judgment on them (Jude 9) and ask the Lord to send His angel to do battle with them on your behalf.  . .also everyone in your families.  These two have spiritually paralized most of our family and locked us into contention.  We are in a tremendous SPIRITUAL battle over our souls and destiny.

Let me talk about being deceived a minute. . . this is an area where the word says. . Satan has deceived the whole world (Rev 12:9) and there is not one of us who has not been deceived. . . .look for the area that makes you the maddest if someone attacks it. . .that is

the main area. . . in our family the most deceiving spirit has been . . a spirit of religion. . . which keeps one bound to rites, rituals, and traditions and the status quo. . . the cloud moved on (as in Mose’s time) and we failed to move with it when it move.  Here goes another fireball . . .after I was baptized in the Spirit in Alaska and was over in  Europe, God asked me if I would leave the catholic church. . His words to me were . . .”If you want to go where I want to take you,  you must walk out and not look back.”  That was startling and

quite difficult but I made it out. . . I would not be where I am today in the Lord had I not gone through Catholicism. . .I learned the word

from that and learned about God that I might not have, but I thank God what everything in my life and move on.   I learned to imagine an

altar and just go lay everything on that altar. . .all hopes and dreams, all teachings, all desire, everything I have,  had , or want.  and I walk away from it. . .Many times I have gone back and picked things up again for awhile until I can truly leave them behind. Romans 8:1 says. . “There is therefore NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. and  8:28 says. . We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.   Our family has a powerful purpose and it is to be public but we all must quickly get into alignment with God’s plan for our family. . .that reminds me of the word God had for the family at dad’s funeral,  we have done nothing about it. . .I don’t have a copy on this computer or I would foreward it again.  Have we moved into the place of intimacy with God, have we gotten out of the outer court? (Rev 11:1).  Are we in a Jonathan position and following David or Saul?  These are hard questions. . .but absolutely necessarily.  If this is the year for Tabernacles to be fulfilled will we  be ready in three weeks?

It is the 14-15 of October.  My prayer for years is for every member of our family to be in right alignment with God.  The place of honor is

still available for the firstborn.  All of us need to admit deception, repent, and get humble and align ourselves with God.

  I really don’t want to hear any negative comments come out of this message.

 Re-reading what she’s written, I could expound on several other areas as to why her words are totally ineffective, but I won’t.

LSS, if anyone wants to be effective in delivering/saying anything prophetic, it would be wise to

• Use normal language.
• Make sure the person is receptive to hearing what you have to say.
• Ensure the timing is right.
• Check in with the Holy Spirit to make sure that neither too little nor too much is being said.
• Don’t present yourself as infallible.

I think people need to operate *more* in the prophetic, not less.  But the above is an example of why prophetic ministry seems to suffer a perpetual black eye in the Western church today.