When Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 22:10, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you”, He was calling into being an upper room, all furnished for the Passover. This is a powerful aspect of ministry. In I Samuel 10:3-4, the prophet Samuel instructed Saul as to what would soon happen: “Then you will go on further from there and you will come as far as the terebinth tree of Tabor, and there three men going up to God at Bethel wil meet you, one carrying three kids, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine; and they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you wil accept from their hand.”

To be in the center of God’s move in the world today, we must understand how the Holy Spirit ministers in the prophetic. The prophetic move of the Holy Spirit is meant to convince a person that God is going to do powerful things. Samuel knew that Saul needed to be convinced of the presence of God in his life. All of us need this assurance as well. If someone tells you that something specific will happen and then it takes place just as the person said, your faith is built up. Anything that comes from God has power built into it. One powerful movement of God through the mouth of a believing person will accomplish what has been said.

When Jesus saw Nathanael He said, “Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile!” (John 1:47) He had discerned the real heart of Nathanael. Jesus added, “Before Phillip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” (John 1:48) This was a word of knowlege operating through Jesus. The Holy Spirit moves on a single track of revelation in order to convict. These words were powerful enough to convince Nathanael deep in his heart and make him one of the disciples of Jesus.

How does this work? Very simply, God reveals a truth to one who believes. When the one who believes what he or she has heard from God expresses it verbally, it can change the life of a human being. How do you hear the revelation from God? God speaks in very determined and pre-set ways, through discernment, words of knowledge and words of wisdom. This is not confusion or Pentecostal exaggeration. It is biblical.

What do you do when you hear such revelation from God? You simply do not doubt. You recognize it as the word of God because it is impregnated with truth. What happens when you speak it forth? For you, nothing. The fact that you spoke it is enough to perform powerful miracles in people’s lives.

Why is this so important to a preacher such as me? It is vitally important, because I have known what it is to preach without hearing God, and I do not ever again want to serve Him without first hearing Him. I think it is very important.

Rick Bonfim