I never dreamed that someone could hear God so intimately. It feels at times that I am simply hearing and communicating what I hear. A leader who does not hear should seek the face of God, for ministry without hearing is very difficult.

When Jesus told Nathaniel that He saw him under the fig tree, it was enough for the” Israelite in whom there was no guile” to be fully convinced of the nature and presence of God. Most of us want that intimacy and the ability to hear. What causes someone to stay deaf spiritually and never able to approach the throne of God?

SECOND-HAND REVELATION

This is very popular. Since Sister Roberts can hear from the Lord, we simply depend on her to get the Word of the Lord for us . This is lazy and can be the reason why the Holy Spirit does not move  in a congregation. The leader is supposed to hear and press on to acquire intimacy with God.

REJECTION OF THE  FIVE-FOLD MINISTRIES

When a pastor or a leader quenches  the presence of God in others, this leader has become inoperative  in the hands of God. Pride comes before the fall and the fall is from the presence of God in church. A teacher might have something to impart, but cannot say it because the pastor feels it is not appropriate.  At times the evangelist is taken for granted because the pastor thinks he knows better. Pride makes the leader think that he or she should have the upper hand on every issue. This leader has been reading the commentaries of the Bible  too much and has become useless in the hand of God. No fruits, no joy and no dancing.

COMPANY MEN

When you become a respecter of men, God cannot use you.  Not even the company wants us to become idolaters of the company. However, we have become company men and women. Whatever pleases them the most, whatever can be done to get some attention, whatever it takes to get a better appointment, we will do so in order to get more money. This kills revelation from God. The gifts do not operate, the presence of God leaves the building and you become a programmed leader. Book reports take the place of the revealed Word. Jokes come to entertain, stories substitute for the Word in order to become popular.  (In most cases,when these leaders leave their churches, the people leave with them).

Wait upon God. Without revelation from God you are dead in the water. Require of yourself a moment to hear what the Lord has to say. Be still and wait. Respect no person. Preach to convict. Exaggerate in joy and peace. Read the whole text. Walk in the middle of the congregation and stop hiding behind the pulpit. Shower them with blessings. Speak the truth. Condemn no one and do not judge!

Rick Bonfim

In all my life I have never heard of a self-made prophet. Any gift you might have it is not yours and has never been. A prophetic gift is not yours to own. It is for the common good. Now, you can have a self-made millionaire, a self-made star or the like, but never will you be able to find a self-made prophet.

The key to serving God in a special call is to die to self. Today, after over 50 years of serving the Lord, first as a youth director in Brazil at the age of 14, to becoming an evangelist, I have arrived at nothing, and that is how I want it.  No respect of man, no money, no big ministry as a church, no fame, but what I have in this world is many friends. The truth is that a person with a prophetic gift must serve others and not himself or herself. You lead nothing, you know nothing and you are nothing.

When Paul spoke in 1 Cor. 14:3, he meant that all of us can prophesy. Prophesying is defined as exhorting, comforting and bringing strength into the life of the church. The prophet only speaks what God tells him to speak. It is not glamorous, it is not pretty and it only benefits those for whom the prophet came.  The main problem here is that we who serve the Lord want to be accepted and recognized by others as men and women of God. We forget that if God called us to serve as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher, we are simply servants of God without the right to require anything from anyone.

Are you a self-made prophet? Self-made prophets want their way in a dispute. Self-made prophets are not servants, but have their feelings hurt easily. Self-made prophets are not used by God, they are self-serving.

How do you get your breakthrough if you have been called of God to serve as a prophet and still have not as yet been able to serve Him? First, check your age.  If you are still under 40, wait on the Lord and seek Him. After 40, you need to do three things:

1-Ask forgiveness of everyone you have offended for one reason or another.

2-Make sure you speak out of revelation from the Holy Spirit and not your own theology.

3-Make sure the fruits will confirm what you speak.

If the third item is not present in your  ministry, the first and second really do not matter.

Rick Bonfim

When George Bush used the words, ” Get it Done, or Get ‘er done,” he meant, this job has to be finished and there is nothing that will prevent us from doing it.  I am trying to get this job done. It is my call.

I am in Brazil with a group of people who came to get it done.

One man has been for years hurting and suffering for years. This week the Lord Jesus healed him and he has a chance at a new life. The pain, the past and the questions will now be addressed in a different way. He had several operations on his shoulders and the pain kept on coming. My mother prayed for him and the pain left. For fifteen years he has suffered many operations and medications and his body needed relief. He is receiving healing here.  Hallelluia.

At the age of two, her father abandoned the family of seven children. Today this eighteen-year-old girl and her mother work to supply the family. She has been healed of the past rejection and rejoices with us for a better future. A musician of excellence, graduate of Vila Lobos School in Brasil, came to her yesterday and prophesied an anointed move of God upon her life.  She will be hearing music from God to share with the nations. God really blessed this girl.

A mother found healing from dark things of the past. The Lord visited hurt and pain which no one knew about and has caused her to rejoice again after living in shame for many years. Pain, depression, and timidity are all gone and she is restored as a child of God, forgiven and blessed. The secret pain is now given over to God and the sin is forgiven forever.

A businessman who for years sat in the pew of a formal church, without hope and  without direction found his Savior again. He had departed from the faith, even stopped attending church. He sat on Sundays without joy and peace and feeling empty of the presence of God. Today he is easily moved with tears and rejoices with God about his life and the future with the Living God!

Then there is the dear woman who lost her parents at the hands of her brother. The hole in  her heart grew bigger by the years. Pain of abandonment, depression and despair drove her to try to escape the pain. God spoke to this woman during a Bible study here in Brasil and uncovered the real truth about her parents and her small family. The Lord taught her what a Christian must do to keep up relating to God daily. The vice, the pain, the agony, the hurt is gone and this soul is free to live and bless the lives of others.

Aother is an anointed teacher who found freedom from condemnation from the past. A new heart to face family and friends without doubting and questioning her validity and purpose. The anointing in her has doubled. Her outlook in life has changed. Now, she will bless, really bless her family and stay in her place without feeling alone or without purpose. She will sing, she will dance, she will take part in community to be a blessing. The past is forgiven and the future is blessed.

This young man always carried within him a secret past. His mind was always pointing toward confusion and discouragement. Today this man found forgiveness. His life will change. He will work with a new mentality and a  new heart for God and a new outlook in life. The Holy Spirit traveled backwards for years and searched his soul and found where he missed God and suffered for it. Now he is restored and healed. A new day has come in his life.

Finally a man without purpose found that his heart has been abandoned by family long ago. His longing has always been to serve God. However, he had no drive to do anything with his life. Today is a new day. The Lord Jesus healed his broken heart and gave him  a new heart. Now, he waits for the voice of the Holy Spirit that can in the next 24 hours talk with him in details of what will become his call. Where there was no hope, hope has come. We are moving toward the will of God!

The names and details are not given to protect their identity. But the facts are real. I can say this to you: God and his Holy Spirit visited us and blessed us this week with fire from above.

This is what I have been doing the last 12 days. Pray for me and my staff.

Pray about joining  us on the January Brazil trip. The Lord will be here to heal you and change your life.

Rick Bonfim