Guidance
Personal Prophecy and Hearing
God's Voice
By Craig von Buseck
CBN.com Contributing Writer
CBN.com
– I was not having a good day.
I had put in a request to have a videotape duplicated at the Christian television ministry where I was working. I needed it by 5 o'clock to meet a deadline. Somehow the order form had gotten lost, and the job was not done. The tape would not be ready until the next morning.
So much for the deadline. I had to admit that I was having difficulty maintaining my joy.
Suddenly one of my friends walked into the duplicating room and called out my name. "Craig, here she is," she said with a smile. The "she" whom my friend was talking about was one of the hosts of the national Christian talk show that this ministry produced.
Earlier that day, my friend had called and said that she had a friend who was going through a difficult time and needed prayer. She asked if I would be willing to pray over her - but she didn't tell me who it was. I said, "Sure, I'd be happy to pray for her. Call me later and tell me when and where to meet you."
Several hours went by, and I did not hear from her. And then the crisis emerged over the deadline and the missing videotape. Suddenly, in walked my friend with her friend, a nationally known Christian "celebrity"! I was certainly not in the mood to pray over anyone at that moment, especially not someone of her stature.
I smiled and greeted them anyway. "Do you have time right now to pray for my friend?" she asked.
"Sure," I responded, deciding to trust that when we are weak, He is strong. "Just let me finish what I'm doing here, and I'll be right with you." After I completed a new request form, I rushed out to meet them. In my heart I quickly repented for my frustration and silently prayed what I always do before I minister: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer.
We went into what is called the "green room," the place where guests sit and wait until they are led onto the set of the talk show. I shook my head at the thought of what was happening. Here I was in the green room of a national Christian talk show, getting ready to pray for this highly respected host. For a kid from Erie, Pennsylvania, it was spiritually heady stuff. Lord, let what I say be from Your heart, I silently prayed.
Almost as soon as we sat down, I received a very detailed prophetic vision from the Lord. I saw this young lady holding a baby in her arms, trying to protect it from a huge demon that was attacking them with a sword. The demon continually swung the sword at them, but an invisible force field was protecting them from the blows.
I had been trained in the prophetic ministry under Dr. Bill Hamon. One caution he always gave us is to be very careful with prophecies about major geographical moves, marriages, and babies. These are such highly-charged emotional issues that the minister must never put his own interpretation onto what God may be saying.
Because the vision I had involved a baby, I decided to put it on the shelf, concerned that it was just my imagination. My friend prayed over the young lady first, and then it was my turn.
I laid my hand on the young lady's forehead and started to pray. Tears ran down her cheeks as the Spirit of the Lord ministered to her heart. It was obvious that what God was saying through my prayer was reaching to the depths of her being. When I finished, my friend prayed for her again, and as she did, the same vision once again flashed in front of my eyes, exactly as it had the first time - with the same details and intensity.
This time I could not hold back from sharing what I saw. "There are certain things of which you need to be cautious when you minister prophetically," I began tentatively. "I have been taught to be careful about giving prophecies concerning marriage, babies, and geographical moves. The Bible says to test all things and hold on to what is good. So I want to encourage you to carefully weigh what I am about to share with you." The young lady nodded her head soberly as she wiped her eyes with a tissue.
I paused and then began to describe the vision. "I saw you holding a baby in your arms" I hadn't even finished the phrase when she burst into uncontrollable sobbing. I waited while her friend rubbed her shoulders, comforting the young woman.
After a moment she grew quiet and I continued. "There was a large demon with a sword that was trying to attack you and the baby. The demon continually swung the sword at you, but you were surrounded by an invisible force field of some sort and the blows bounced right off. The demon was enraged that he could not harm you or your child, and he kept hacking away to no avail. The whole time you were crying out, 'Why won't my husband come and defend us from this attack?' But your husband was nowhere to be found."
I shared with her that I sensed the Lord wanted to give her and her husband a child, but the enemy was trying to thwart God's plan. I also sensed that the husband was not completely in agreement with God's plan, and wasn't even walking in right relationship with the Lord. That was why he was not defending her against the demonic attack. I prayed for God's perfect will to be done in their lives and in this situation.
When I finished praying, the young lady wiped the tears from her eyes and told us that the prophetic words were very accurate and timely. She had wanted to have a baby for some time, but her husband had been opposed to the idea. In the last year he had fallen away from the Lord and was seeking worldly pursuits. In the past few weeks he had come around and was now open to the idea of having children. In fact, she thought she might have been pregnant, but she had just started her period and was concerned that she may have lost the baby.
When she finished speaking, I asked if we could pray for her again. We prayed for her marriage, for her husband, and that the Lord would knit the two of them together in love for each other and for the Lord. Then we prayed that God would bless them with a child in His perfect timing.
Several weeks went by and I heard that this young lady had some news. I saw her after chapel, and she gave me a giant hug. "I just found out that I'm pregnant!" she exclaimed.
"Praise the Lord!" I responded.
"And not only that," she added with a big smile. "The doctor said that I have been pregnant for more than three months. That means that I was pregnant when you prophesied over me! Maybe the fact that I thought I was having my period was a sign of the attack that Satan was waging against the baby and me?"
"How did your husband take the news?" I asked.
"He was actually excited," she answered. "The Lord has really done a work in our marriage since you prayed for us."
I saw this young lady in the hall a few weeks later and asked her again how things were going. "God is 'the bomb'!" she replied as she whisked passed me on the way to a meeting.
I couldn't agree with her more.
Christians are faced every day with the difficult task of making decisions. Those who have asked Jesus to be Lord over their lives desire to know that they are walking in the will of God. The Bible gives us principles and general instructions about how to live our lives. But when it comes to making specific decisions about critical areas of our lives, Scripture is not always able to speak precisely to our circumstances.
Today, God can communicate with any believer through the Bible, and directly to his or her heart through the Holy Spirit. As he did with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, God desires to have a daily personal relationship with each of His children. But sadly, not all Christians understand how to recognize the voice of the Lord. They are like Samuel, the boy prophet who thought he was hearing the voice of his master, Eli, when it was really God speaking to his heart.
Even Christians who know how to hear God's voice at times may not respond to the Lord in a biblical manner. Sometimes the circumstances of life can be so stressful and confusing that a believer needs outside confirmation to know for certain what God is saying to them.
Personal prophecy is one of the keys of God's guidance that can bring that confirmation.
I go into much greater detail in how to receive and respond to personal prophecy in my new book, Seven Keys to Hearing God's Voice. Order your copy from Shop CBN
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Related articles:
Seven Keys To Hearing God's Voice
Gifts
of the Spirit
The
Baptism in the Holy Spirit
The
Nature and Purpose of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Other articles and
interviews by Craig von Buseck
Used with permission. © Hensley Publishing.
 I want to hear from you. Share your testimony of how you have grown to know
the voice of God. Are you having trouble discerning God's voice from the other
things you hear? Did you know that you could hear God's voice? Send
me an e-mail with your comments.
Craig von Buseck is Ministries Director
for CBN.com.
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