Prophetic Prayer

Hey everyone, this is Dr. Ray Self. Episode 176. Hard to believe I've done that many episodes, thank you, Jesus. Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self. In the show today, I want to talk about something a little different. I call it prophetic prayer. The impact of this type of praying is so supernatural and so miraculous that you've just got to listen to the show. Tell your friends about this show. The show is sponsored by, you know my baby, the school I've birthed, International College of Ministry at icmcollege.org. Please also go to the website for the podcast and subscribe and give us a review, that really helps us a lot. Uh, that's icmcollege.org/selftalk. My new book is out, it's out, yay! It's called The Call by Dr. Ray Self. It's available on Amazon or if you want an autographed copy, I'm going to give you the directions at the end of the show how to do that. God bless you, thank you for listening to episode 176 of Self Talk with me, Ray Self.

[Music]

Okay, let's get started. First things first, prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this time together. I thank you for each person listening to me now, listening to my voice. I pray, Father, that um, you would intervene and let your Holy Spirit speak through me and speak to each one listening to this show. We give you praise and honor. In the wonderful, amazing, glorious name of Jesus Christ, we pray, amen. Amen. 

So what I want to talk about today is what I call prophetic prayer. And what do I mean by that? I just, I just did a prophetic activation conference in Buffalo, New York, at a wonderful church called the Buffalo Dream Center pastored by a good friend of mine, um, Eric Johns, and his beautiful wife Michelle Johns. Incredible church, just uh, amazing church in inner city Buffalo New York. They feed over a thousand families a month which is incredible, a lot of missions especially to Honduras, just an amazing group of people. Anyway, in the prophetic activation, one of the purposes of the prophetic activation is to teach people about the gift of prophecy. 

So what I do in, in prophetic activation is I go through the biblical mandate to prophesy. Usually, I start at 1 Corinthians 14:1, “Pursue love, earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you would prophesy.” Then I'll go down to 1 Corinthians 14:39, “...do not forbid speaking in tongues, but covet to prophesy…” as a matter of fact, in the book of Corinthians, 10 times Paul talks about the gift of prophecy, and so, you know, I believe that all of us have a mandate and a commandment to prophesy. You say, “Well, I can't do that,” well, yeah you can, yeah you can. “My sheep hear My voice. They know Me and they follow Me.” To me, speaking prophetically is simply hearing the voice of the Lord and when God speaks something to you about you, that's, that's prophetic, or He may speak something to you about another person, that's also prophetic. He may speak something to you about your community or about your family or about your job or whatever. He's God, He can talk about whatever He wants to talk about, but prophetic prayer is something that is so powerful and so life-changing, I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've seen people touched by prophetic prayer.

So going back to this conference, and this is all going to tie together so be patient with me here, in this conference after I taught about the mandate to prophesy, the prophetic gift, what the differences between the office of the prophet and the gift of prophecy, and went into a lot of detail about it - I love teaching about the prophetic gift. I tell them that everybody can do this, we can all prophesy. So what I do in these conferences is I'll, I'll actually pair people up at the– near the end of the class I'll pair people up and I'll have them prophesy to one another and people will prophesy to one another who've never spoken prophetically in their life; and it amazes them. You, you say, “Well how can that happen?” Well, I'm going, I'm going to tell you how it happens. It happens through what I call prophetic prayer. 

So here we have this conference, maybe 50 or 60 people in this particular class, and I had them pair up and I, then I prayed for the spirit of prophecy to fall, let the Holy Spirit begin to speak to us, and then I had them prophesy to one another. But what I want to do in this show is, I'm going to tell you how we do this. So in the conference, after I had people pair up and uh, make a long story short, almost every single person in this church, in that class, gave a prophetic word. And I've seen this happen time and time and time again. I've done this, these prophetic uh, activation impartation conferences all over the US and done some overseas, and every time I see people prophesy who've never prophesied before. And prophecy is, is so critical to our life. Prophecy is God speaking to us. I mean, the Bible is a prophetic word to us, right? I mean, that's– what would we do without the Bible? But God speaks to us and speaks through us prophetically. 

So one of the key ways to do this is what I call prophetic prayer. Let me tell you how this works and the way it works is this. I had the people in this class pair up to one another and I had them spread around the sanctuary and um, you know, get quiet. And this is what I told them to do: I said, “I want you to look at the person in front of you and I want you to begin to pray for them.” And I said, “Do you know how to pray for someone? I mean, does everybody here know how to pray?” Everybody: “Yeah, yeah, I know how to pray.” “Well, can you pray for a person in front of you?” “Well, yeah, I can do that.” “That's all I want you to do. I want you to begin to pray for them. You can say something like, Lord, I just bless my friend Susie here. I bless Johnny, Father, I just ask you to touch them I ask you to, to give them the desires of their heart. Lord, we just ask you to touch their family and touch their, their job. Lord, we thank you.” So you begin a natural prayer but you do something a little bit different that a lot of people don't remember to do, or don't think about doing. As you are praying naturally for someone, what I want you to do - and this is what I instructed the class to do - I want you to begin to learn how to listen as you talk. In other words, pray for the person in front of you. This is what I was telling the students in the class, pray for the person in front of you, and as you pray, listen to and pay attention to thoughts that come out of nowhere, words that seem to pop out of your mouth, pictures or first impressions that you get, and I want you to speak out that first impression, I want you to speak out if you get a thought or a picture or a feeling that seems to come out of nowhere. I want you to speak it out and I want you just to say something like this, “Uh, Johnny, I believe I hear the Lord saying…” and just speak out these impressions that you have, especially your first impression. 

And, and the, the way I teach it is this: first impressions are very important. God speaks to us with thoughts that are not our thoughts. The book of Isaiah talks about this, His thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways are not our ways. So when you have a thought and idea and a picture that's not something you would normally think about, you speak it out. Now, all you're doing is you're praying prophetically, you're praying a natural prayer and as you're praying a natural prayer for someone, you're tuned into and you're listening to the supernatural voice of God through the Holy Spirit intervene. And He does this a lot. The point is so many times we're so busy praying and talking and the sound of our own voice drowns Him out, but if you kind of get another ear going, talk and listen. Pray and listen, you'll be amazed at how many times God will interrupt your prayer, intervene in your prayer, and give you thoughts, ideas, impressions, and feelings that you would never think of. And then what's really cool is as you begin to speak out these thoughts and impressions and feelings, it's like a river that begins to flow. You may have just a few words and you speak out a few words and you get more words, you speak out those words and you get more words as the river begins to flow through you. “Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water,” as Jesus spoke about, and it is so amazing and so powerful. 

Now, why do I say pay attention to first impressions? Well, the reason I do that is because your second, third, and fourth impression is probably your analytical mind trying to figure things out and it's simply you and it's not God. It's your brain trying to understand what you're thinking or trying to understand your impressions and you, you, you analyze it, you think about it, you, you chew on it. Let me tell you, by the time you finish, it's all you and it's not God. What I've learned is just speak it out, just speak out your impressions, and be humble. Say, “This is what I believe I heard the Lord saying. I could be wrong but this is what I believe and I want to share this with you.” And time and time and time again I've seen God speak this way and the people, the– or the person that you might be praying for, gets incredibly blessed with a word of Direction, a, a, a confirmation, uh, comfort. Matter of fact, the New Testament says in Corinthians he who prophesies edifies and exhorts and he brings comfort. And it's just amazing how powerful prophetic prayer is. 

So what is prophetic prayer? It is praying and listening. Praying and listening to God. You're praying for someone, you're praying about someone, and as you're praying, you're allowing God to interrupt your words, you're allowing God to interrupt your thought processes, you're allowing God– or what you could do is you could pray and then just get still and listen for His response. Some people have said over the years, pray in the spirit, pray in the spirit, and then be still, wait for God to answer. You know, when your spirit prays you don't even know what you're saying but your spirit does. You pray and you listen. Pray and listen. Now me, I'm praying for someone. As I pray, I just get these divine interruptions all the time as I'm praying. And I speak these divine interruptions and it impacts the person I'm praying for in powerful, powerful, significant, amazing ways, supernatural ways. 

So many times prophetic words are confirmations of something God's been trying to tell us all along, but don't we need a confirmation? Don't you need to know for sure that what God's been trying to tell you? I know in my life so many times I get these thoughts and impressions and I'm not sure if it's God or not - to be honest, I'm really not. Then all of a sudden, somebody gives me a prophetic word and it's a confirmation of these thoughts and impressions I've had all along. See, prophecy builds our faith. Jesus said, “I will tell you the things that are to come to pass, so when they come to pass you will believe.” I want to tell you something. when you get a prophetic word and it comes to pass, it's an incredible, it's an incredible faith builder. 

You know, I've been married now for 17 years to my beautiful wife, Christie. Let me tell you a prophetic word that I received that just changed my life forever, forever. So I'm actually in class one night and I received a prophetic word. And I was kind of praying and I– all a sudden the Lord spoke to me prophetically. And at this time I had met Christie but we were just friends and she lived in Orlando, Florida, I lived in Memphis, Tennessee. I was a single dad up in Memphis, Tennessee, pastoring a church, and um, Christe's a single mom in Orlando, Florida. And we had become friends, we had just emailed back and forth and talked a few times and that was it. We were just friends. And then one day, in class, I got this word. And it said– it was, it just– like something I wouldn't have thought of. And the word was, “Ray, Christie is My perfect gift to you.”...or maybe it was…let me– it was, “Christie is God's perfect gift to you.” And I just…I don't know, I, I, it shocked me, it just shocked me. So the next day, I'm out playing golf - I like to play golf every now and then when I can. You know, I don't get to play as much as I used to. Um, so I'm on the golf course and I get a call from Christie. Now, I'm up in Memphis, Tennessee, she's down in Orlando, Florida. I get a call from Christie and now I'm thinking, do I tell her what I heard God say? That she's my perfect gift from God? I mean, how do you how do you say that to a woman who's just your friend, you know? And so I was kind of shy and I was not sure. And so finally I said, “Christie, I have to tell you something. I think God spoke to me prophetically and He said that you were His perfect gift to me.” And uh, I, I was kind of, you know, I was sort of a little bit embarrassed about it to tell you the truth, and all of a sudden, Christie gasped. She goes, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, hold on a minute.” She runs and she grabs a journal. And several years before, she wrote in her journal, “The man I have for you will say these words to you,” and they were the exact words I spoke that she was God's perfect gift to him. She had written it down and I spoke it exactly the way she had written in her book. It was a prophetic confirmation that changed my life forever, changed her life forever. Matter of fact, that's the reason I'm doing this podcast. I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't have moved to Orlando, Florida. But prophecy can change your life forever and ever and ever. 

So…but the way to prophesy, the key to prophecy is prophetic prayer. It is simply pray. Start talking to God and then listen as you're praying to what God is saying to you or to the person you happen to be praying for. Maybe the person you're praying for is not in your company. Maybe they're, they're somewhere else like I got this word for about Christie who lived 800 miles away. Maybe you're praying for a person in front of you. Christie and I do a lot of what we call altar ministry. It'd be when we're ministering at a church and we'll be at the front of the church and we have an altar call and people come up for prayer. And I usually I'll say, “Is anybody– would anybody like Christie and I to pray for you? We'll be happy to pray for you.” And people come up for prayer. And usually, I'll put my hand on their shoulder and I'll begin to pray for them. And as I'm praying for them, all of a sudden, I get this divine intervention, and all of a sudden, God will start speaking prophetically to this person because I did a prophetic prayer. I prayed and I listened for divine intervention. I listened for the voice of my Shepherd as I was praying. And time and time again, actually hundreds of times, God has given me prophetic words for people in front of me that have just rocked their boat, and it all came through just praying prophetic prayer. And what, what I'm trying to tell you today is pray and listen. That's what prophetic prayer is. Pray and listen. If you can talk and listen at the same time, hallelujah. But pay attention. Again, if it's something you wouldn't think about, if it's something you would not normally say, if it's an impression and all this seems to come from nowhere, thoughts that are not your thoughts, ways that are not your ways, pay attention. So many times that's God. 

Now listen, you stay humble and say things like, “You know, this is what I believe I hear the Lord's saying, but you pray about it.” And you know what, what I found out is it's kind of scary because you– you're afraid you're going to miss it. But what happens is you may be afraid you're going to miss it and not say anything which actually can get into the area of pride. You don't want to go there, right? “I'm– I'm going to keep my dignity, I don't want to be embarrassed,” that's pride, “I'm, I'm afraid, I'm afraid that they might think I'm crazy,” that's pride. You're more worried about your own self-esteem, that's pride. Or you could be a fool for Christ. You can say it and maybe you miss it, but what if you don't miss it? And here, let me tell you something. I've had people give me prophetic words over the years that have just changed my life forever, I received them, and I've had some prophetic words that I knew weren’t from God. I don't worry about it. If it's not from God, it's not from God. I'll drop it, let it fall to the ground. You know, sometimes people will say things - I had a prophetic word, oh, maybe 15 years ago I'd be ministering in um, New Mexico and Arizona. I kind of dropped that one to the ground, said, “Yeah, I have no plans to go to New Mexico, Arizona.” I just let that one fall to the ground. Guess where I ministered a few months ago? New Mexico and Arizona, amen. 

So you may miss it but you may not miss it. You may make a mistake, but it's worth the risk because you could change someone's life. I, I– a few months ago, actually about a year or so ago, a friend of mine at church comes to me and he says um, “Dr. Ray, I've had this– I think I've had a word for you for about 6 months but I didn't know whether to give it or not because I was afraid I was wrong,” and, and I said, “Just give me the word, I can judge a word, I know how to judge a prophetic word,” and listen, you people who are listening to me, you know how to judge a prophetic word. Does it line up with scripture? Is it something Jesus would say? Does it witness in your spirit? Is the Holy Spirit in you in agreement with the Holy Spirit in them, okay? I mean, there– you can judge a prophetic word and if you're not sure if it's from God, just write it down, which is always important. Set it aside, put it in a file, and see what happens. You never know, you never know. Prophetic prayer is an incredibly powerful gift from God. I want you to– I encourage you to practice it. Pray and listen, pray for– you can even pray for your spouse, for your children, for your boss, and listen and the Lord will intervene and give you prophetic words for them time and time and time again. It is so powerful so powerful. 

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for everyone listening to the show. I pray, Father, that uh, that we'll learn that prayer is a two-way conversation. Lord, we want to hear your voice more and more and more. I pray for everyone listening to this podcast that they will be open to you, to your voice, sensitive to your voice. Holy Spirit, even now speak to us, speak through us. Speak to us, give us prophetic words for our family, for our friends, for even the strangers, Father, on the street, Father, in the church, Father, however you want to do it, Father. You're Lord, you're King, you're in control. Father, we love you, we praise you, and we thank you, Father. Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, I ask you to allow the spirit of prophecy to fall on everyone listening to this podcast right now. Holy Spirit, touch them right now. Let the spirit of prophecy fall right now for those who are willing to receive it. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Lord, we receive your word, we receive the gift of prophecy now, Father, to use for your glory, to build your kingdom, to edify the church, amen. The manifestation of the Spirit is for the common good, you said in the book of Corinthians. Father, we want to work for the common good, for the good of your body, for the good of your kingdom, for you, Father. All for you, Lord. In the name of Jesus, I pray, amen. Amen. Thank you, folks, for listening to this episode of Self Talk. I just pray that uh, it's been a blessing to you. God bless you.

[Music]

Well, folks, that does it. That completes episode 176. Thank you so much for listening and I pray and believe that prophetic prayer will change your life, amen. So thank you so much for being a part of today's show. I'm also excited to announce that my latest book, The Call, is out and it's, it's an amazing book and I really think you're going to like it a lot. It– the– it's called God called, you answered, here's what you need to know. And I'm– I've got copies in the office and I'm sending out autograph copies. It's kind of a fundraiser for the school but if you'd like an autographed copy, if you'll do, if you'll Cash App me, that's $drrayself, all one word. Dollar sign, dollar sign d-r-r-a-y-s-e-l-f. $15 minimum. $15 and I'll send you autographed copy out. Hope that blesses you. Don't forget the college, our college, icmcollege.org is now enrolling and check it out or get a free evaluation, you know. Thank you so much for being a part of the show be sure and uh, share this with as many people as possible. Help me get the message out, that could really benefit the kingdom. And um, it's just– I just want more people to hear, that's all. I appreciate you again for being part of Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self. God bless you.