Unwasted Pain
Join us on a thought-provoking journey as we delve into the depths of human experience and explore the intricacies of unwasted pain. In our podcast, "Unwasted Pain," we tackle the universal yet often misunderstood topic of pain and provide insights, support, and guidance for those seeking to navigate the challenges it presents.
Unwasted Pain
The Power of Prophecy
Our conversation today takes us on an exploration of the promise of reconciliation and restoration, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Drawing insights from Zechariah 4:6-10, we reflect on our faith journey and how moving mountains is not by our might but by His Spirit. Tune in as we share our heartening revelation that occurred on the anniversary of Dr. King's assassination in Atlanta.
Our discussion then leads us on an exploration of prophetic words. We delve into their significance and the importance of discerning them to ensure they are genuinely from God. With reference to 1 Corinthians 14:1-5, we examine the purpose of spiritual gifts and their capacity to build up faith. We take a closer look at how prophecy serves as a powerful tool for spiritual growth. Through revelation, interpretation, and application, it's a journey into the extraordinary manifestations of God's gifts, particularly prophecy. Join us and uncover your potential in this enlightening discussion.
Hello and welcome to Unwasted Pain. I'm Karen Conley, I'm here with Chris Conley and it is great to be back with you, chris. On our last episode of Unwasted Pain, you and I kind of walked into a new space. It's not actually new to us anymore, but in terms of just in the sequence of our journey, the kind of first I don't know how many episodes of this really is kind of the storyline of your journey and our journey. Fortunately, in the category of Unwasted Pain, we're almost to the end of our pain.
Speaker 1:We're going to interview other people and have other guests that can share from their journey and, again, just knowing that pain is a common denominator in a fallen, broken world, it's a lot of times that, if we can be prepared ahead of time, there were things that we can look back and say, wow, thank God that we had these kind of anchors and these roots and these things that we knew to help us navigate when a storm came.
Speaker 1:But then there's also things that, honestly, until you get to a place where you really need help, you might not realize some of the ways that God is there to come alongside us and to strengthen us In our journey.
Speaker 1:That was something that, though the prophetic and though being in a more of a spirit-led context, was something that the God had been doing some work in your life for at least since 2010.
Speaker 1:But maybe the fruit of it, I think, really came during our crisis of where we realized that this wasn't just like an optional add-on that some people dabble in, but a way that God can really strengthen every believer, kind of taking us from that place of, okay, life is upside down and everything as we had known, it was no longer what we knew and we were kind of at a place of a clean slate in the worst kind of way. Everything was kind of white, clean, and then we began to see God show up in a way that we didn't expect, and you alluded to that and we discussed that a little bit last time. But today I think we want to take it a little bit further and give a little bit more explanation, because, if you're like us, it wasn't something that was ever a part of our previous orientation and you can kind of stand back a little bit and go. I don't know, that's not a part of my thing, but we really want to encourage you to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, most things that we're unfamiliar with, we can be a little bit afraid of Most things that, and especially sometimes when it comes to the Holy Spirit, people tend, unfortunately, to talk in extremes, and so you'll hear the extreme on this end of the equation or the extreme on this end of the equation, but you rarely hear from the people that are kind of just, balanced, reasonable people in the middle trying to, you know, apply the word of God and the spirit of God together to live this life that God has given us. And so, you know, when we were in our crisis and we were at that place where we had lost everything, and what's significant about this is we had been incredibly blessed for 18 years, and in being blessed, I think it was a situation by all means that we saw the favor of God, the hand of God upon us. None of that could have happened apart from God. But at the same time, we were people that tried to do our very best to, you know, learn leadership principles, to practice those principles, and there's a sense that in each of us that you know, there's that work ethic and just kind of. You know, if you put your mind to it, you put your heart to it, we can do anything, but we got to a place where we were in such a mess we couldn't do anything that we couldn't lead our way out of the problem. We had even lost our name, so to speak, and your name is important for anyone, but it's especially important in ministry, because it's your reputation and you have to live this life in order to truly lead others to live this life.
Speaker 2:And so I found myself in a place where, though we were both consistent in the Word of God, consistent praying, I needed to hear from God in a way that, quite frankly, was just desperation, and things felt hopeless because every type of adversity imaginable was coming against us, and it felt like doors were closing instead of opening, and so I felt like God came along like, right there, even honestly, before we were fired, he kind of preempted things, where he began to speak to us in prophetic ways through people that were brand new to us, and you know we were trying to discern like, okay, I mean, there's no way they could have known this. It only appears that God could have shown them this. What they're saying is consistent with God's Word. It seems to be consistent with, you know, god's will. It seems to be consistent with God's heart. I trust that's from the Lord, but we've just not really been in these circles before and we've not really had this interaction.
Speaker 2:But I would say what is true for anyone who's in their own place of needing to hear the voice of God that when someone speaks a prophetic word to you and it begins to resonate with your spirit and it begins to align with your life, there are certain types of agreement and alignment in place. It just gives you hope, it just says oh my gosh, god sees me, I'm not alone, you know, he is sovereign, he is good, he is in control and because of all that, now I can trust him. And now he's letting me know that he sees me. And if he sees me because he is a good God, he's gonna do something to walk me through this.
Speaker 1:You know, chris, this it's kind of weird, but there's a little bit of a parallel that I think you and I in. You know, the early days of High Point, there would be people that would be like you know this whole perfect place for imperfect people. I don't, I don't really know that I like that, like and and then we saw multiple times where, honestly, something happened in that person's life that, whether it was them or their, their adult child, or their, their children that are younger or whatever the case may be, where all the sudden, you know, kind of the glossy social media picture was was interrupted that's the best word for it and it was like in that place of humility wow, I'm so glad that there is a place that will take me with my imperfections and
Speaker 1:in some ways I feel like this has been a very parallel kind of to that, in the sense that I think in a, in a place where you can kind of be like I, I've got my things together, I've got my act together, I've got my walk with God together, it fits within this, this nice box, and it, you know, everything that looks lovely, that there was probably a little bit of ignorance and a little bit of pride on my part that like, well, that's just, I don't do that thing, I don't know who that is or who does that thing, but that's not us and I don't need that.
Speaker 1:And and yet then when you are at a place, again I think it's a, it's a humbling place. But I think if I could encourage anyone, like, don't wait until you have to be humbled to be able to access all that God is like, you know, to know that he, you know, so many people are like does he speak? And I don't ever hear from him and I don't even know, and then to realize, no, he wants to speak to us even more than we want to hear from him. Yeah, and so I. Just in that we needed hope and it was a level of hope or a level of hopelessness we hadn't had, and so you're right there is something when you're in those places where you just need to know God hasn't forgotten you well, you know, I've heard people say there are no atheists in the foxhole, that when you're in that place, everyone begins to believe in God.
Speaker 2:You need someone to deliver you, and I do believe, and there's an opportunity here for us to operate in a way that we hear from God in the good times all the time, but I do think there are those moments where you just need a sense of direction, and he began to give that to us and and I want to share some of these just so that people can put the prophetic into a context of just everyday language. You know, it's very much. God is speaking through the word of God. Oftentimes when someone gives a prophetic word, they're using scripture in that prophetic word or they're using principles and pictures that are consistent with scripture. But one of the verses that God had prepared us with and and really has been foundational through this and has given us so much hope, and it's a verse that people would quote time and time again, not knowing all the ways that he had already spoken to us, is the Zachariah, chapter 4, verses 6 through 10. It says this then he said to me this is the word of the Lord to zero ruble, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of host. Who are you? Oh, great mountain, before zero ruble, you shall become a plane and he shall bring for the topstone amid shouts of grace, grace to it and throughout scripture.
Speaker 2:Mountains, are these immovable objects, kind of impossible objects? They're these problems in our life and we definitely were in the midst of, you know, facing a mountain and it definitely felt immovable. But yet here he says wait a second. Not your own leadership, chris, you know not your work ethic, you know not all the ways that you have, and some of this is good, this is not necessarily all bad stuff, but you're not going to get out of this one the way that maybe you've worked yourself out of other things. And and he says, not my might, not my power, but by my spirit. And we understand that intellectually. But do we really understand that relationally? Do we really understand that the Holy Spirit is given to us by God? That when Jesus ascended, ten days later, the Holy Spirit came and fell upon us and dwells within us and leads us and gives us the ability to walk by the spirit we all would agree with that and the fruits of the spirit, but also gives us the ability to the works of the spirit. And so here, what just begin to be a promise that I hung on to is that this mountain would become a plane. But notice how he says it by shouting grace to it. Not by complaining, not by yelling at others, not by pointing the finger, not by blaming others, not by being the victim, not by all that kind of stuff, but just shout grace. And so this became kind of the driving force of our life of how do we move this mountain.
Speaker 2:But then he continues. He says, in the word of the Lord came to me saying the hands of Zerubal have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also complete it. And I really believe that God entrusted us with his vision for the city of Memphis. And we're not the only ones. We totally believe we've got to come alongside other great men and women of God, other great churches, other great nonprofits, other great business leaders. But what we saw here is he says and your hands shall also complete it. And so I really felt like I had this promise from God that it wasn't over, this promise from God that there was gonna be restoration. And then he says then you will know that the Lord of Host has sent me to you.
Speaker 2:For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice. I have a love hate relationship with that verse. You know we have definitely been in the season of small things. There is a certain sweetness to it, but there is a humility to it, if I'm gut level, honest. And he says for whoever's despised the day of small things shall rejoice and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubb. And so one of my words to people is by all means, as you're discerning the will of God, as you're needing direction this word was spoken thousands of years ago, but it was also spoken freshly to us that hang on to the word of God, let it be the foundation. But this is something we had not done before. Then allow God to speak through other people, with the word of God and with you know, inspiration from the Holy Spirit, with even revelation from the Holy Spirit, to speak into the precise and specific circumstances of your life in the right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and one of the things I would say and again this is it's a little uncomfortable, it requires a little bit of effort, it requires a little bit of humility.
Speaker 1:But I think it's parallel with you know, if you just started learning how to have a priority time, you don't know exactly what you're doing. I mean, how many times do you know people are like yeah, they told me to read my Bible and pray, but what does that really mean and how do you really do that and why don't I get anything out of it? It's very parallel in our experience of like okay, so somebody just gave us a very, there was a verse that God highlighted for them to give to us, or there was a picture or something that the Lord put upon their heart to come and articulate to us. And it's like well, how did that happen? Right, well, there's a learning curve, there's a. In the same way that there are people who have learned how to steward the word and how to spend time in the word and you can you learn and glean from them. There's also wisdom in saying, okay, I wanna learn more and be in a teachable place.
Speaker 2:Well, and so now I wanna take us to a place that's just kind of. It's one of those things that's like no way, like seriously. Are you honestly telling me this actually happened?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So this was when we were in Atlanta. It was April 4th, you know, that's the day that Dr King was assassinated. In that particular moment I was not thinking about that, that was not on my mind. I was not, you know, kind of living in that awareness that particular day. That night, I was having difficulty going to sleep and just trying to pray myself to sleep. And as I was praying- Sure God appreciates that. How do you?
Speaker 1:get to sleep, I pray.
Speaker 2:But as I was doing that, the words racial reconciliation kind of formed in my mind's eye differently and I saw the words race for reconciliation and as soon as it was like literally seeing them on a sign, and as soon as I saw that I was like ding, ding, ding, like I've like felt like this the spirit of God is saying something to me, and I slipped out of bed you were asleep and I went in the other room and I just began to pray and journal at the same time, just right, right, right right All the ideas that were coming to my mind and I felt like God gave us the vision for race for reconciliation. And when we talk about that today this is about to be in its third year of existence we talk about healing, honor, hope, healing from the past, honor in the present, hope for the future, and so this was on April 4th that I received this and we began to immediately believe that this was from the Lord and began to try to take the baby steps of seeing what's next. Well, on April 23rd I'm in Reading, california, I'm at Bethel Church and I am working with the Bethel Leadership Network Team and we're just doing some work together, talking about vision type stuff, just a little bit of coaching, consulting type stuff. And as I'm doing some teaching, dave Harvey, who's one of the leaders of the network, says to me Chris, this is great, enjoy it. But if you don't mind, I just feel like I need to interrupt this for a moment.
Speaker 2:I feel like God just gave me a picture, a vision. I feel like we're supposed to just take a moment to pause and pray for you and so, kind of, seven, eight, nine people begin to kind of gather around and then he said I actually feel like in the picture that God's given me, I'm supposed to pray over your feet, okay, and he says this, and I voice memoed it, and this is like literally, like word for word. He says I see the starting blocks behind your feet. I just heard the word. They're not jacked up, they're not messed up, but they are jacked up for a race that was designed for you before the world ever began.
Speaker 2:God knew this moment and he set you in place. This is a race that has been set before time. There are many who will follow you because you have started off these blocks. Others will start off these blocks in cities, in nations around the world. This is the start of a race, but it is a race for complete reconciliation. And that was literally 19 days after God had given us the vision. I had not articulated that vision. Explain that.
Speaker 1:Right. I remember the phone call.
Speaker 2:You're not gonna believe this Exactly, and so don't we all want a God that is so in tune with us and leads us in such a way that he can connect the dots like that and that he orchestrates those sets of circumstances and that he speaks to other people to affirm and help us actually have the faith to step out of the boat and do what he tells us to do?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is those kinds of experiences that do expand your understanding of who God is.
Speaker 2:Right and bring that into fullness just for a moment, so people see how words fulfilled. So maybe you speak into this, since you are the CEO of R for R.
Speaker 1:How did?
Speaker 2:that word come into existence.
Speaker 1:So, honestly, it's one of those things that, as you had said, we had begun to take a few steps. And honestly, I look back and think if we had had a full agenda and a lot of other things going on, would we have put the time and focus and attention to it that we did? I don't know, but in the way that God had unfolded it, that was front and center and we felt like our calling was to the church as our central hub. But that we've always felt like to be just internally focused is not our calling, that we wanna be involved in helping a city and particularly helping our city. And so here we were. We were living in Atlanta with a huge heart for Memphis and feeling like that was where our life calling had been.
Speaker 1:But we're now having stepped away from Memphis to just kind of hear from the Lord and just allow the clutter to kind of calm.
Speaker 1:And so we just started taking one step in front of the other, going God, we're not exactly sure what this is gonna look like, but if we don't take some steps we're never gonna find out. And so that's a whole other podcast of a crazy journey, but literally, in just each step going forward, like, okay, well, let's prepare what this would look like, let's kind of map this out, let's go ahead and for those of you who are familiar with a brand script, you had done some work. Really kind of diagnosing is a wrong dissecting racism when we had been in Memphis before, and so we had kind of a foundation that we began to build off of. But then we just started praying and asking and knocking on doors and sharing this with a few people, and the most immediate step was somehow, some way, us unemployed living in Atlanta, georgia, having felt like God's given us this picture for this event, we end up being invited out to Portland, oregon, to the Nike headquarters, to present this vision.
Speaker 2:We have no money, we've never had the event, but God opened the doors and that and in that here's something that's important amazing experience, incredible experience, still doing some work with Naki. They haven't come along and sponsored yet or endorsed yet. We're hopeful and believing they will, but that's where we've got to. Just you know, take every step in the journey and go. Okay, here's what you're doing is you're just sewing into this and trusting that we'll get a harvest at some point in time. But also speak to the reason why this is an educational nonprofit.
Speaker 1:Well, in kind of the context of of this vision, we feel like it's important to change the narrative of a city, to change the reality of a city, and so we have the event, but we also the dollars that we raise as an education nonprofit. What we say is that we have an annual event to remind the community of the work that needs to be done daily to build towards unity, to bring healing into existence in our city. But to just come together is not enough, that we have to acknowledge that, because of generations of racism, that there is an education gap, there are wealth gaps, there are different gaps that exist. Because of that, and for us as an education nonprofit, the way that we've decided to be a part of solving that problem is to identify who are the organizations in our city that are doing great work on a daily basis to close the education gap, and so our resources, some of the profits from our event, go to help support those.
Speaker 2:And so in this whole world of God communicating to the through the prophetic you know I'm praying one night he speaks and gives us the vision. 19 days later he confirms that through Dave Harvey in a prophetic word. Then we are taking baby steps of just trying to kind of plow the soil, create some good soil, plant some seed and see. And then here's another amazing story.
Speaker 2:I'll keep the name anonymous, but this gentleman, a friend of ours here in town, who's been incredibly faithful to us and just a loyal friend, his brother. He recommends kind of our podcast to his brother. His brother lives kind of in the Chicago area and we've still to this day never met him in person. But he is so generous that our far wouldn't exist the last two years, apart from his investment in it. And so you can't make this stuff up that here's someone that you've never met in person who his brother recommends, who we have a zoom call and he says I feel led to invest in your ministry in all of a sudden. I present a couple of different options but he chooses the nonprofit, that is, r for R, the way that he wants to invest, and God brings all of that together.
Speaker 1:And I think you know one of the the lessons in this and if I could encourage someone else that you know, even obedience in your low times it bears fruit. And not everything that we have taken steps ends up the way that we think. And not you know, but like even in our crisis though it was that we couldn't see it at the time, god gave us work to do, that was for a bigger picture than then. Maybe we could see right then. And so, just again, in that world of don't despise the days of small beginnings, even in your, in your weakest moments, he still is speaking and you can still take a step, and it may be a series of steps before you see anything come above the, above the ground.
Speaker 1:But you know, I was talking today to the race director as we're preparing for year three, and I mean I just remember that first conversation and he probably thought I was crazy, like we're gonna have the city-wide event. And today I'm talking to him and it's like, yes, you are, and it is amazing what's happening and so don't give up wherever you are on the journey. Not, you know, there's been a lot of days that are not the. You go, get them. They're like. Can I leave one foot in front of the other?
Speaker 2:but God never gives up on his visions and he never gives up on his people, and so, as long as we can stay in tune with him, that means he never gives up on us, and as we think about this and never giving up like, I want to share just a couple more of these. There's a friend of ours named Jenny Lynn Button powerhouse of a woman like just such a someone I respect so much, and she kinda came into our life just at the right moment and begin to speak some amazing prophetic words into us, and this was in May of 2019. She said here's what I see you have a massive key chain around your neck and people are going to see you and even seek you out and they're gonna bring keys to hang on your key chain and you will receive the keys and you'll put them on the chain. Once all the keys are on the chain, he will unlock you and unlock everything through you. The Lord is going to use you to tear down some of the most massive strongholds in our country, to unlock racism in the poverty spirit through this work. Alright, so that's in May of 2019, alright?
Speaker 2:On Friday, june 7th, I'm in Reno, nevada, of all places. To my knowledge, I'd never been in Reno, nevada before. I'm speaking at like, this just gathering of local pastors and as I'm speaking, this host pastor came up to me afterwards and said, chris, I've never done this before, but God gave me this picture of a key that you, I'm supposed to give you, a key to our church, and this is the key, hands me a literal key to his church. This is the key to the church, but it's also a symbol of everything that God is going to use to unlock through you I. You know I'm at a loss for words. I mean you. You cannot make that up that someone is talking about this and listen.
Speaker 2:I've received prophetic words that haven't come into fulfillment yet. I've received some prophetic words that probably weren't accurate. That's okay. We see in part, we don't see in whole. In I've choose to focus on the ones that really kind of resonate and seem to have that alignment and agreement. But that inspires so much hope, it restores your faith, it makes you just believe. Okay, god, once again you see me. Once again you're not quitting on me. Once again, this is about you. It's about your vision and your commission commissioning us to do what you want us to do.
Speaker 1:And I would also say again, being newer in that journey there's a healthy degree of skepticism, there's a curiosity factor, there's a wait and see factor and there's a part of that that's responsible.
Speaker 1:There's definitely been it doesn't matter what area you're talking about that sinful nature.
Speaker 1:People abuse things, people take them out of context, people go to extremes.
Speaker 1:It's exactly what you said earlier, but at the same point, in that kind of curiosity factor, in the same way that there are times that maybe you're comfortable with people praying for you and just someone hey, can I pray for you? And so they pray for you and maybe they don't know you and maybe they pray something that you're like that's just wrong, like I don't want that relationship to start or end, or I don't want my child to do this or that, or that's not their gifting, and you don't give up on prayer. You know like, well, that's it, we're never going to pray anymore because that person was a little off, like you just don't. And I think in the same way, again, there's discernment and the more that you are learning and familiar, then you are able to be a little bit discerning yourself. But again, as you and I are having these conversations, like I mean, this isn't the enemy, like if it's not, like if it's in alignment, if it's, if it's an encouragement, if it's strengthening and building you up.
Speaker 2:Wow, I mean, I think that's who our father is, right, and so because it says in 1 Corinthians you know, edification to build you up, exhortation to call you nearer, call you higher, consolation to increase in joy or gladness, that's the purpose. Who doesn't need more of that? But again, sometimes we just need to hear testimony to actually believe that. Wait a second, maybe I'm willing to hear this differently today, maybe I'm willing to consider today, maybe this is making sense today, and so let me share this one. This is November 2019.
Speaker 2:I'm at Bethel Church in Reading, california, at a leadership conference, and I meet a random person that I've never met before, all right in their coffee shop, and, just you know, say hello. It turns into a conversation. We're standing there and he says hey, I feel like God's giving me a word or a picture for you. Do you mind if I share it? And I was like no, of course not. That's great.
Speaker 2:And I see this like Hiker's backpack. It's like this big, massive backpack. And he says you've been on this long journey and you've been carrying this bag, but it's full of rocks, but there's no fire for it. He says Lord, take the weight off right now of this man and restore everything that has been stolen. It's like the backpack is just going to fall off. He says I bless you with the weight of excuse me, says I bless you with the weight upon your life disappearing and it will be replaced with a backpack full of vision, hope and anticipation.
Speaker 2:This is crazy and I told this person literally right before I walked into that coffee shop. All right, I was walking across the street, I had my back always have a backpack had my backpack on my shoulder and for some reason, like the plastic latch or something, broke and it literally just fell to the ground and I picked it up and was like just carrying it like this, not on my shoulder because the latch was broken and I walk in it's the first person I meet and see when I walk in the door and gives me that word and he did not see the backpack fall off my shoulder. Okay, if you're being a skeptic and it's okay to be a skeptic I understand that.
Speaker 2:But, again, sure. So what do we want the takeaway to be? God speaks and he gives you what you need, and he speaks enough to build your faith. That word faith means confident trust. Confident trust that God is who he says he is and that God will do what he says he'll do.
Speaker 2:So there's more words that we could share, but what I want to do is just for a moment, we'll close out this podcast, and this is where I'd like to give just a little bit of teaching on this subject matter, just so that it's not just testimony, but you get a little bit of clarity on a few things. And so in 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, and I'll just read verses one through five pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts. And I say this every time I read it so like do you really earnestly desire? You know, a lot of times we desire a lot of other things, but the spiritual gifts aren't about us, they're about building others up, they're about building the body of Christ up. He says pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. Isn't that fascinating? Well, why would he say, especially that you might prophesy? Because, again, it's designed to build you up, draw you near, call you higher, increase joy, he says, for the one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, and he's talking about like a prayer language there, but for no one understands. But in his spirit he speaks mysteries. But one who prophesies speaks to men, slash, women, for edification and exhortation and consolation. So that's the purpose of prophecy. But he says one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. So there's a mysterious way that God builds up the individual through a prayer language, but one who prophesies builds up the church, the people of God, the body of Christ. Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy. And greater is the one who prophesies than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church might receive edifying.
Speaker 2:And so in that, just want to encourage people to consider this that a prophetic word kind of has three parts there's revelation, there's interpretation and there's application. That God will give you some type of revelation. Maybe he gives you a scripture to speak to someone and if my memory is correct I may be off a little bit there's like 33,103 verses in the pages of scripture and for some people to pick, like we started with Zachariah, chapter 4, 6 through 10, and it fits our like. This isn't just lucky. There's something there. And so what we see here is in that revelation, god's going to give you some type of knowledge that you did not know previously, some type of word of knowledge, some type of revelation to be able to see something from God's perspective and speak it into that individual. And now, sometimes in the prophetic word, it just needs to stop with revelation and you trust the other person to do the interpretation and the application. Sometimes God will also give the person who's giving the prophetic word, you know the ability also to apply some interpretation, some application.
Speaker 2:Now, honestly, that's where we have to be a little bit careful.
Speaker 2:It's sometimes easy to over speak.
Speaker 2:You just kind of want to try to say what God says and when God quits speaking to, you, stop talking, all right. But you know that revelation is what is the word I've been given, interpretation is what does this word mean? And then application is how can I make it actionable in my life? And so the application is where we really have to then collaborate with the word in order to bring the word into its fulfillment. It's where we've got to be good stewards of the word, and one of the things I would encourage people to do is, when you receive a word if at all possible, if you know that someone's saying, hey, may I share this with you voice memo of the word and then go back and transcribe the word. I probably have 250 pages worth of transcribed prophetic words and I've reviewed them consistently, trying to put pieces of a puzzle together to see what God has said, to see how it's coming into existence, to see what I've obeyed or not obeyed and to see how these puzzle pieces come together to form a picture.
Speaker 1:And in a lot of ways this is almost like a 3D version of what happens in your priority time. You know if you're in the Word, you know you can read something, but then it's like, okay, god, how does this apply to me? And so, just in that way, this is God choosing to engage His children in being a way to edify and lift up and the body of Christ. And so it is a beautiful thing that again there are times where you just think, wow, how did that person know that verse, that word, that picture?
Speaker 2:And a lot of times when you give a prophetic word, you just have a picture or a scripture to start with. It's not like you have paragraphs already preformed in your head, you know. And so it's so important that when you give that prophetic word, that what you've got to do is it's not like you're necessarily hearing the audible voice of God, but you have a leading of the Spirit, an impression of the Spirit. And again, sometimes the Spirit will bring us into remembrance of scriptures, so maybe the Spirit brings a scripture to your mind for this particular person. Sometimes it's a word or a phrase and there's just this phrase that, like you know, if we go back to Dave Harvey, he's like talking about starting blocks, like an erase, and he had this imagery of a race and he used the term starting blocks, and then at the very end he says erase for complete reconciliation. It wasn't race for reconciliation, but it was weaving its way in there and he had no idea. All right.
Speaker 2:So sometimes when you're the one speaking the prophetic word, god gives you a scripture, gives you a word or a phrase.
Speaker 2:He might give you a picture or image and like for me, the way my brain works is kind of in a visionary way, so like that's a very common one.
Speaker 2:For me it's like I'll see something in almost like it's finished, completed form, and then I have to work backwards and kind of speak that word.
Speaker 2:You know more in its beginning form versus its finish form, and so you know, sometimes it's that picture image, sometimes it's just a gut feeling or a sensation and you kind of just have to trust it and go with it, or then it can be a dream or a vision, and so these are ways that God envisions that the church would be more participatory than passive. And what I mean by that is all of us have the spirit of God, and because all of us have the spirit of God, we all have the ability to tap into different manifestations of the gifts of God, and especially prophecy. And how helpful is it that we didn't have to go through this journey all by ourself, but God strategically positioned people, whether we were in Atlanta, whether we were in Cleveland, whether we were in DC, whether we were in California. One time we were in London, he put people wherever we were to speak to us, to get us where he wanted us to go.
Speaker 1:Well, chris, as we round out this particular podcast, is there anything else that hopefully this has? If nothing else, if this is an introduction made you curious, made you hungry, made you, and I think one of the things that I would recommend is, again, there's so many parallels that, in the same way, it's important to write down things that you are praying and to write down what God is showing you in his word. This kind of sense of being a steward of the words that are given to you prophetically is also important. You talk about the voice memo and those kinds of things, but hopefully this is what your appetite to say. This is not just something for a certain group of people. This is something for every child of God that he wants to speak to us, he wants to use us, he wants us to be usable vessels that build each other up in the body.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I would close really with what the scripture says in 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 39 and 40,. It says therefore my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy and do not forbid to speak in tongues, but all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. And I find it fascinating that he begins this chapter by saying be eager to prophesy and he ends the chapter by saying be eager to prophesy. And yes, guess what? Some people have taken it out of context, some people have misused it.
Speaker 2:But let's not throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Let's trust that God is true to his word. God speaks to his people. God has our best interests at heart. God wants to accomplish his will and God is gonna do whatever is necessary to speak to us. We just need to have ears to hear and then eyes to see and a mind to understand and a heart to obey. And so you are not alone. If you are in a place of pain. You're not gonna be left in that place of pain. He's gonna take you from a place of pain to a place of peace. He's gonna take you from a place of pain to a place of promise, and that's what this is all about.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much. I hope that, as we've shared our journey and the different ways that through that, god has proven his faithfulness, that you will know that same God loves you and he is full of grace and mercy, and that, whatever season you're in, it will not be forever, and that he sees you. And hopefully this will give you some tools to just even say Lord. I don't necessarily understand that, but I need to hear from you today. Would you just use your people and use all the ways that you have designed for us as your children to hear your voice. And so thank you for joining us for another edition of Unwasted Pain. We can't wait to be back with you next time. Until then, we'll see you later.