When I was a kid, I went to a youth camp that had a “prophet” come speak.
He excited me and scared the be-jeebers out of me at the same time.
It was exciting because he kept calling out different kids and telling them what their future was going to be. As a kid, I thought that was pretty cool. But I was scared because he KEPT CALLING OUT DIFFERENT KIDS AND TELLING THEM WHAT THEIR FUTURE WAS GOING TO BE!!
I was petrified that he was going to pick my tender needle out of the proverbial haystack and fire off a bunch of dates that would leave me exposed as a poser and a failure.
Since then I’ve come to understand a bit more about prophecy and prophetic giftings.
There are two key expressions to prophecy:
- Prophecy is Foretelling: this is the common perception of what a prophet does–telling what’s going to come.
- Prophecy is Forth-telling: this one is often overlooked. Prophecy is also declaring what is true right here and now.
Truth be told, unless a prophet is willing to tell me what is true here and now, I’m not much interested in what they have to say about the future.
Deeper worship involves prophetic worship.
What is this, you ask?
I view prophetic worship as moments where we express the reality and truth of God. We declare His holiness, His righteousness, His grace, His justice…how many facets to God can we speak of? We call forth what already is. These truths we are taught from His scripture. But there’s something deeper about declaring them aloud with our mouths that enforces the black and white symbols we see on the page.
I believe we need to take our worship deeper by not simply singing songs with a cool beat that gooses our music bone when we hear them; we need to begin declaring the truths of God. Calling aloud what already is. I also believe that when we do that it will give the songs we do sing a peanut-butter-like consistency that sticks to the roof of our soul.
Because when I’m in a tough moment, I’m not interested in a catchy song. I want the truth of heaven. Prophetic worship begins to get me there.
What does prophetic worship look like in your own experiences? How are you working to bring prophetic worship into a regular part of your worship life?