Voices of Destiny 6 Prophet

[Music] Uh, good morning, guys, and welcome back to our final session together. Uh, what a journey! Just so thrilled to have you on the call in the course with us. Looks like a few other folks are still just beginning to join with us. So, uh, thank you so much for the last, I don't know, how many weeks it's been. It feels like we've, it's like we've done the month of September together. So thank you for your engagement with that. Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. And, uh, this morning and today, we're going to look at, whatever time it is with you, we're going to look at the voice of the prophet and dig in there in a moment. But before we do, let's just pray and we'll jump in.

Father, we're so grateful to you. We're so grateful for your voice governing our lives. We're so grateful for the people and the moments that you position in our lives that awaken us to the fullness of your character and your nature and your future. God, today we pray as we again gather around this material, that you would awaken our hearts even more to the assignment that you've placed upon us. We pray that you would remove every barrier, every hindrance. That you would establish us in your purpose. And we declare that the steps of a good man, the steps of a good woman, are ordained by the Lord. And we recognize your ordination in this season of learning together. And we recognize, God, that you have a purpose in mind. And so we pray today as we conclude this, that your grace would be with us and your spirit upon us. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Well, guys, one of the things that we've said as we journey together is that your strength for one season becomes your weakness in the next season. When we begin in a season of great connection, it actually adds restriction to our life. When we are with the, uh, priest, the results, when we, all we have is connection, we lack examination. When we move into the season of examination with the priest in our life, it creates this restriction around our choices, and our vision begins to sabotage your future. And then we come into the season of the king that brings this beautiful permission to who we are, this understanding of what God has intended for us in the realm of freedom. But if we spend too long with permission, we end up in distraction. We're unfocused in what we're doing. We don't have any compelling attraction or vision to our life. And in comes the voice of the warrior, and it gives us this compelling action to what we do. When we spend too long in that season, the season of expansion, it creates a satisfaction at a core that actually hinders future vision, that hinders imagination in our life. When we look around and we're settled and we're comfortable, it gets difficult to believe for anything further, anything greater, and anything better. And as we move towards our destiny, we begin to realize in the season of warfare that actually it was designed to release greater measure in our life. It wasn't designed to increase our accumulation or our possessions or our satisfaction. It was actually designed to weakness for the future that the Father intended for us.

And, uh, just picking up and concluding last time and moving into this one together, your warfare is the process that allows you to become the person upon whom the weight of heaven can rest. So there's a process to the warfare that we engage in so that heaven can rest in us in fullness or in greater measure. So we're going to talk today about leaving the season of success and moving into the season of significance and recognizing the nature of the voice of the prophet in that. Because God wants to shake us up a little. He wants to move us forward in what it is that he has for us. And there comes a time, no matter how much you honor, you handle the season of the warrior with, no matter how much fullness it brings, because there comes a time when imagination needs to be reawakened, where we need, if you like, to come into more complete destiny. We might enjoy the fruit of our labor that comes from the various cycles and seasons that we've been in, but we need something a little bit more. And so the voice of the prophet comes, and it brings that re-imagination so that we can begin to imagine things that we never even thought were available, never thought were possible. And we begin to open our hearts to those.

And the voice of the prophet actually will introduce to us almost a new language, a new lexicon to our life. We begin to think, we, we read the Bible in a way we're like, I have never read this before. I've never understood this before. I've never heard this before. It's like a whole new language that comes. It's not even that we carry a yearning or desire for the season that they introduce. They plant it in us with their words. We're going to see that this is a voice of introduction. There are things that come through the awakening of their voice that do not come in any other voice. It's almost like the prophetic voice and conversation stands above and apart from the other voices. And that's why I wanted to tweet this one a little bit differently. They plant in us the echoes of our future. So the prophetic conversation just put something in us that we didn't even know we had a longing for. It's the future moving towards us. And it emerges onto the canvas of our life, begins to speak the words of heaven with the sharpness and the sweetness of calling. And it's both the sharpness is almost this dislocation from what we've experienced previously, and the sweetness is the invitation into all that God has for us.

So we find ourselves in the season of the prophetic. Of course, the warrior longs for the prophetic voice. They long for it because they long to hear the execution of their enemies. They long to hear what God has to say about the execution of their responsibilities. They see the prophetic as bringing this sense of direction, even further expansion of the territory that they've been able to occupy so far. And the prophetic voice will do that. But often it becomes to wakens to the land that we've stopped short of. So it comes into the, the season of the warrior and it says, "Yep, well done and taken the territory, but you stopped way before your time. There's way more that God has for you. There's way more destiny in play." And so the prophetic voice introduces to a new reality and a new destiny. It introduces fresh territory into our life and it speaks the word of the Lord over the heart of the warrior and beckons them to move on. Now, of course, it speaks over other seasons too, but we're just, uh, moving forward through this sequentially. It almost says, "Look, it's time to disengage from that season. It's time to begin your new future."

So, so think about this voice today is a little bit unique. It's a little bit different to the others. It's, it's the bookend voice. It comes at both stages, and we'll see that, uh, but it is just, I'll list it here and then we'll dig a little bit deeper into it. It's a voice of introduction. So prophetic conversation, a prophetic voice, it introduces us actually to another realm at times. It introduces us to ourselves for the first time. Like, "Oh my goodness, this is who I am. This is how God sees me. This is what God has for me." It's, it's a voice of introduction in our lives. It is a voice of immersion. It immerses us with the weight of his presence and immerses us with the weight of heaven upon our life. I should, uh, highlight this because I might forget to see it, say it later, is this is not a voice that is with us frequently. This is an occasional voice in your life. You'll get, you might get lots of prophetic words, but it is rare that you'll have lots of prophetic voices in your life. Rarely, you'll have lots of prophetic conversations for the simple reason that you don't need them that often. They birth something in you, and the rest of the destiny is working out what they place within you, what it is that they've framed, not through the communications. It's a voice of immersion. It's a voice of interpretation. So it will help us, and we'll cover this together, it will help us understand what is going on in our life. Will help us understand what's happening now. Will help us understand the process and the pain that we've been through and understand where our relationships and our vocation intersect. That will help us interpret the rhythms of our life, the seasons of our life, the moments of our lives. The voice of interpretation. Of course, the one that is most known for is a voice of insight, helping us perceive and receive what's coming next and to understand that, to move with that and engage with it. It's a voice of instruction. Again, this is around the next part of it. Sometimes the, the prophetic will come in in our life and they'll say, "Here's what you need to do next." And I think most believers, that's what we settle for. Like, "Just tell me what I need to do next. What, what I need to start and explore, where they need to go next, what does God want from me next? What does he want from me now?" And so it's the voice of instruction. We'll see that as we look at the text today. It's a voice, and primarily a voice of imagination. It's a voice that baptizes an imagination. It's a voice that catalyzes imagination. And it's, it's a voice that awakens imagination. And with that, at the same time, there's a voice that brings impartation. So it actually releases the thing in us that it calls us to be. Because the prophetic isn't for an outcome. That's the mistake that most people make when it comes to prophetic words. They're looking to see the fulfillment of the word and they don't realize that when God makes you a promise, he's making you the promise. You become the symbol. You become the very essence of what it is the word is to change who you are. So that when the spirit of the Lord comes upon us in a prophetic conversation, it changes the very nature of who we are, the nature of our relationship with him. And so it carries this beautiful impartation. We'll see that as we journey through.

So I hope that wets your appetite for a little of what we're gonna journey into together today. There's a lot to cover. You know, we're going to try to get to break through, uh, break out, not break through. Here is the voice, the prophet. Let's get to breakthrough. We're going to try to get the breakout groups together. That's what we're going to try to do. And we're going to pick it up in the, the conversation that we have in the book of Samuel there. And, uh, yeah, let's just, let's just journey.

So for Samuel 22, verse 5 says, "But the prophet God said to David, 'Do not stay in the stronghold, but go into the land of Judah.'" And again, just taking that little grid that I just gave you there, you can see that in that moment, it's the voice of insight and the voice of instruction. Here's what to do next. Here's the instruction around that. A little bit previously in that passage, David has spoken to the king and just said, "Hey, could my family stay with you for a while while I find out what God will do for me?" And that's the sign that he is entering the season up to the prophetic. He's like, "I need to know what it is that God is releasing from heaven in this season for me." And so it becomes the indicator in that. So that's verse 5 there.

And then the other prophetic conversation that David has that is the catalyst for the whole journey for him is the conversation with Samuel. And so I've taken that there and just put it in your notes. Um, "So Samuel sent for him and had him brought in. David was glowing with health and he had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, 'Rise and anoint him. This is the one.' Or 'Rise and immerse him in oil. This is the voice of immersion. This is the voice that drenches us in our new story, in our new destiny.' That's what it means to be." And I think this is the one we'll touch on that a little bit later in that. So Samuel took the horn of oil, he anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on, the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.

Now again, if you were to take that little grid that I just highlighted with you, you would see the impartation of that moment. From that day on, from that moment, from that very conversation, there was an impartation. There was a power available to David that he had not experienced or known or been exposed to in his life before. Because that's what the prophetic conversation does. It immerses us in our future and it brings an impartation so that we are empowered to engage the future. And whether the different seasons that we experience in that. So every voice moves us forward. The voice of the prophet is crucial in establishing vision and purpose in our lives. It apprehends us and arrests us with the divine intention for our lives. Suddenly, we're aware of, "This is what God has for me. This is the promise that lies within me. This is what God intends for me." It reminds us of the future that we were made for and the significance that is resting on our lives. And that's really the word that the prophetic conversation awakens, it's our significance within us. It often, as I mentioned, it appears at the conclusion and the introduction of the seasons. It is the completion, continuation, and ignition stage. It runs all the way through, but it kind of sometimes it'll stand apart or stand aside and watch what's happening. And it won't always, it actually won't always engage with us in the season as we go through. Uh, there are times when we would wait for its direction and it won't bring it, but it will bring correction when there's misalignment with our assignment. It'll be a voice that emerges in that moment, they'll speak into in that way. It's the voice of grace. And, uh, by the word grace here, and and meaning the dynamic enabling to enter a preferable future, as the biblical understanding of grace, dynamic enabling to enter preferable future. So it is a voice of grace. This, but it's also a voice of hope that unlocks our unique assignment on the earth. And so the Lord says, "Rise and anoint him. He is the one." Not, "He's the one among many," but "He is the one." There's a uniqueness here. There's, there's something in him that I have not put on anyone else in terms of my fulfillment of my purpose and the earth in these days. There's a unique component of it. There's in the unique portion that I've given to this one. Anoint him in the thing for which I've raised him for, the thing to which I called him. And so we recognize there's a uniqueness to the assignment. And that's what prophetic conversations bring to us. They don't bring necessarily always clarity. They do bring that, but they don't always bring clarity to our life because their focus, if the focus of the warrior is on our establishment, and the focus of the king is on our enlargement, and the focus of the priest is on covenant, and the focus of friends is on movement, then the focus of the prophet and the prophetic voice is on our assignment. They care about the assignment. They're looking to see heaven established through the efforts of our day. So they speak the language of promise, vision, and inheritance. Which means sometimes they sound like they're speaking from another world. They're not always easy to track or to follow. They've got, like, uh, a language about them and a lexicon about them that not every, it's not an everyday use. They are, if you like, the uncommon vessel. They're the noble vessels set apart. And so they are sparing with their words. They're not as scattered in their words. They're strategic in their words. They understand that their words have weight and they understand that their words set worlds in motion. And so when you're speaking with a prophet, you can sometimes hear a prophetic voice. And I want to be careful in that because if I say the word prophet here, I mean as in the person who carries that prophetic voice into life. To understand, we may take that and think, "I mean profit by it." But when we're speaking to that person in that way, it just, at times, it doesn't even feel like they're plugged into this dimension. At times, it feels like what they're seeing is nothing like what the rest of the world is seeing. And so there's awareness in that that they are carrying something for us that is. And the reason there's that kind of dislocation in it, sorry, the reason that's there is because they're speaking from the future to the present. Now, most of us want a prophetic word that leads us from the present to the future. Most of us live in that orientation of time. We live linearly from now to the future. Prophetic people don't live that way. They live from the future backwards. It's like, "Here's God's purpose. Here's what God is establishing." And they speak from that perspective. And so it sometimes feels out of time and out of sequence when they enter our life in that way. They are immersed in our hearts with fresh hope for our future. Which is why a prophetic person will speak in a prophetic conversation will speak something that feels miles off the radar from our life because they're not seeing us as we are now. They're seeing us as God sees us in the future. And they're calling us from that place into that place. They're saying, "This is who you are. Come on in and live this in its fullness."

So the rising of the prophetic voice in our lives represents the introduction of a new realm. It helps us engage with that. They speak to your distinction in the earth and they provide the function to move into the completeness of your calling. It's a catalyzing voice. This is the voice actually that sets all the other stuff in motion. We'll see this as we go through today that it's because of the prophetic word in your life that the enemy begins to appear. Your, your assignment is what awakens your adversary. And so the moment you get awareness of your assignment, your adversary is awakened. Your adversity is awakened. It becomes the very thing that sets it in motion. Which is why sometimes I smile as people plead for a prophetic word and I'm like, "Well, how much more of the enemy activity can you handle in your life? Do you know what you're asking for when you're asking for revelation? You're asking for opposition. You understand that? That's how it works. When the word comes, the words of the enemy and the arrows of the enemy begin to fly." And then, yeah, yeah, so much, so much to see in that, so little time.

And the prophetic is not a settling voice. There is really not a settling voice. And I think we, I think we misunderstand it sometimes in that way. It's a catalyzing voice and it's a commissioning voice that weakens us to God's world and the world around us. So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers. From that day on, the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. You can see the impartation in that, the catalyzation in that. It shatters satisfaction in our lives. I've alluded to that already. It pierces through that. It questions our contentment with our success and with our fullness. It arrests and engages us to take hold of that which God has taken hold of us. And it's the indicator that God is moving us beyond personal success to kingdom purpose. I, I remember a few years ago when we were very happy in our life, and we still are very happy in our life, but I remember at that point, uh, receiving a prophetic word that did that very thing. That moved us to what appeared to ourselves and to others, perhaps, as personal success to the Lord, shattering the satisfaction in that. I'm beginning to witness the whole new destiny journey. So it, it essentially, in framing this, it essentially summons us into a greater story. It says, "That story has been amazing and wonderful, but that is not the wholeness of your story. That's not the completeness of the story. Don't stop at the end of that chapter. Keep moving forward in the story." It summons his integrator story, greater renewal, and greater purpose for our lives. And it really is the voice of hope that schedules the season of renewal. And that renewal is not, uh, only renewal of our perspective. It is actually renewal of our very souls. It's, there's something about, I, I don't even know how to articulate it particularly well. It puts a newness within us. It's not just a new season. We become a new person under the voice of prophetic conversation.

So obviously, we need the invitation of the prophet. Uh, it doesn't come. Samuel invites David. It's the invitation. We can't, like the other voices, it's a few of them that we've said you can go find this person, but there's some of them you're like, "Yeah, they just appear in your life." And this is one of those. It appears in your life. Which again, helps us when we are chasing down words, like, "Yeah, don't worry. God knows where you are. And when the time comes, he will introduce the prophetic conversation that will awaken it." Uh, we need the insight of the prophet. We need the immersion of the prophet. And we definitely need the instruction of the prophet. Now, hopefully, that's helpful, guys. All of that can be slightly frustrating. I don't want to spend too much time on this part of it because the prophetic voice manifests in God's timing and not in our time. And the reason that's frustrating is this, that have you ever noticed in your life that you hardly ever get a word when you feel like you most need a word? You notice that? Like when you feel like you most need a word, you'll hardly ever get one. When you feel like you don't need one, it's like they're coming at you from all angles. What's going on with that? How does that work in our life? They seem absent and silent in times of struggle. Like, "Where's the prophet when David is running from Saul? Where's the prophet bolstering and strengthening and encouraging and exhorting?" Nowhere to be found. Nowhere to be found in that moment. And the reason that is is because in times of struggle, part of the prophetic domain is to awaken imagination. And in times of struggle, our imagination runs right, usually with fear. It's usually running riot. Anxiety is high in our lives. Sometimes of struggle and in desperation, and we're imagining all sorts of scenarios and developing all sorts of strategies and plans in that moment. In times of success, though, we hardly imagine that life could get better. Like, "This is as good as it gets. We are living the dream right now." And in those moments, the prophetic voice will come and it will come with a fresh imagination and say, "Oh, you haven't even begun. You haven't begun to see the vistas that the Father has for us." It's when we're strong in our warrior season, often, that the prophetic voice and conversation will cut across the patterns and the rhythms of our life. Those rhythms of self-invention will interrupt us with provocative interruption, just like, "Oh my goodness, I, I didn't want to hear that." And so it's a voice that introduces the clarity, the energy, and the urgency of fresh imagination. Yes, they speak courage to our heart when we're faltering. Prophetic words will do that. And they speak comfort to our souls when we're languishing. But rarely in those seasons does the prophetic speak to the vision. And that is the primary commitment of the prophetic conversation. So the people who we begin to look for their voice when we're struggling for vision, because the Bible says, "Without revelation, the people perish." And so we begin to recognize we need them.

So all of that really long introduction to say, okay, let's, uh, understand this, that it's tempting, it's tempting to settle for prophetic words and ignore the prophetic conversation. And I think that's probably what most people do because the voice of the prophet takes us beyond the measurable and the manageable. They take us into something in our life that we just cannot measure and we can't manage to utterly alter the worldview of our lives. It's, it's like a complete shift, almost like a 180 shift. And they do that to bring us into the world that God has hidden in our heart. That, like from the moment you were born, there was a destiny. The moment you were born again, God planting the destiny within you. And the prophetic voice will keep uncovering that destiny. They'll keep unfolding that with you. There's a directness and a forcefulness to the conversation. It is a lot of sharpness with the prophetic. There's almost a demanding nature too, because there's an urgency that it comes with. There's a recognition of what's at stake for the prophetic voice. Everything is heaven or hell, right? It's like, whatever you do, either fuels the agenda of the enemy or fuels the agenda of the Father. So there's a great intensity to the prophetic person and the prophetic voice around your life. It's a future-oriented conversation. So you kind of know that it speaks to who you will be. It speaks to who you're becoming. It speaks to the process that's going on. It speaks from the future lens. And it speaks about the promised land, your inheritance, the thing that you were made to occupy, the area that the Father longs to establish again. And so because it speaks of the future and the promised land, it speaks the language of promise. Which is why sometimes you'll hear a prophetic word and you're looking at the person and think, "They're nowhere near that." Like, like this guy or this woman has got that soul wrong because it's speaking of their promised land. God speaks of Israel when they're slaves, and he speaks of their promised land. He speaks of them when they get poverty mentality ruling in their life, but he speaks of them as ruling in their own nations. Because the promises that the prophetic conversation invokes in our life actually rewire us for a future. They rewire us for a future and they rewrite the future of our lives. It's almost like it's being written over us in that moment. Before one of my days came to be, David says, "Lord, you knew them completely. You knew them completely." What he's saying is, the prophetic voice has been around my life, God, the whole journey, the whole journey. And so our promise that comes through prophetic conversation contains the purpose. It reveals what God has concealed. If the king conversation is invaluable in understanding royal identity and authority in our lives, and the warrior conversation is empowering in embracing and establishing victory in our lives, the prophetic conversation alters the very fabric of our reality. It's life, Jim, but not as we know it, I think was the old Star Trek saying. It's like, "Jim, but not as we know it." That's the prophetic conversation. Like, "Yeah, that's life, but as far as we know." And there'll be like a resonance that happens within that. There'll be, there'll be something. Even though we don't understand fully what they're saying, and even though we don't have the same articulation or lexicon, there'll be like a resonance. There'll be like a life that comes through the prophetic voice that we like, "We just know this is the way." Pulling out all the, all the Mandalorian and Star Trek analogies, but we all know this is the way, but we don't know why it's the way, or how it's the way, or how that way will unfold. There's just a resonance that comes from that. If the priest's conversation brings conviction, and the king conversation brings permission, and the warrior conversation brings expansion, the prophetic conversation brings direction to our days. It just begins to open that in a whole new way. It is the voice of guidance and significance in our lives. It's a voice of guidance and significance. And ever, as I've mentioned, it drenches us with story and destiny. The voice, the priest signals and triggers the season of restored innocence. The voice of the king signals and triggers the season of restored abundance. The voice of the warrior signals the season of restored excellence. And the voice of the prophet signals and triggers the season of restored significance. They have a different component that each of them play within that. And so with the voice, the prophet, you're not just one of many. You're the one who's known, chosen, and called by heaven. When you leave a conversation with a prophetic voice or prophetic conversation, you come out about thinking, "I am God's gift to the nations." Like, "Yes, I am God's gift to the nations." It's almost like, because that's the very thing that they want you to catch. You are God's gift to the nations. You are what God has raised up in the earth for these days. Your life has significance beyond your neighborhood. It's significant for the nations of the earth. And they awaken. There's a galvanizing effect that a prophetic voice and a prophetic conversation. You command, "Come out of the priest conversation," like, "I don't know if I'll ever be useful to anyone ever again in my life." Come out of a prophetic conversation, there's a humility, but there's a new reality on it and a new significance. You're like, "Oh my goodness, I, I think I could actually change the world. I think I really could. I think God might have put something in me that could change the world." So there's a beautiful process that happens where the prophetic voice comes upon us.

I cannot believe we're already half an hour through and I've talked ten to the dozen or nine to the dozen. So let me just take a few questions at that point, guys, just at least mix it up a little. And then we'll, we'll dig in. We'll get a lot to cover and want to try to, uh, get through it all. So if there are some questions that are, uh, coming to mind on this voice that awakens us to the world that God has for us, go ahead and just fire those up in the chat there. If not, we'll continue on through. I'm just going to give you a moment more than that. Then my assumption is what has happened there, guys, and it may not, is that that's like drinking from a fire hose, right? It's like, "Yeah, that's a lot to take in and to process already." So let me try to slow a little my speed in my speech. In that conversations with prophetic voices baptize us with fresh calling and fresh expectation. Like, "Oh my goodness, there's a new calling coming into my life." It might be a calling to leave full-time ministry and engage in a different vocation entirely. Might be calling into full-time ministry. It might be, um, a calling into marriage. It might be a calling into raising children. Could be all manner of callings that come with it. And it comes with this fresh expectation that actually God is with you to advance that assignment, that God is near you to advance that assignment. It immerses us in heaven's perspective and reality. And it's one of the benefits of a prophetic conversation is that they help us connect those things that have just seemed so disparate in our life. The experiences, the environments that we've gone through. It actually helps us tie in what was happening with the priest and the king. It pulls together our resource history, our relational history, our mental capacity. It ties all that in a bundle. It's not always neat, but it will say, "When these things were happening in your life, here's the pattern that was in play. Here's the process that was at work." And so it's a voice that almost connects the dots for us. And every other voice has a piece of the picture, but the prophetic voice almost operates with the fullness of the picture. It's like they see you. They see your destiny. They see what you're moving into. And they're able to connect that in unusual ways, in insightful ways within that.

All right, couple of questions. Can you speak more about the difference between having a prophetic word and finding a prophetic voice? I'm in community with lots of prophetic words and people. Cara, I love that. I love that you've people around you are able to speak into that. A prophetic word will be something that might just strengthen and encourage and comfort you. It will be something that, um, benefits you, that leads to greater awareness of God's nearness and presence with you. Prophetic voice is pretty different. It shapes the whole of your world and it resets the landscape of your life in a way. It immerses you in a brand new story. It's, it's a conversation that awakens you to the destiny you've always had. Now, a prophetic word might come along and it will carry the prophetic voice. And one of the, the distinctives about a prophetic voice is that it creates in-built acceleration. So it almost gives, it almost sets you off and running. Like you're running with the revelation from the moment you get it, even though you don't know the fullness of it, but you're like, "Oh my goodness, something just shifted in me." And not only that, something shifted for me, and I'm moving already towards this thing. And so they're very different in their outcomes, but they're also very different primarily in the process that they set in play in our life. So if you hear a word and you're like, "We'll see." That's not a prophetic conversation. Okay, a prophetic conversation is, "I now see. I see things that I never thought I would see. I never saw that before. I don't know how I missed that before." It's like, it's like the scales fall from our eyes in a prophetic conversation. It's a very different dimension to the conversation. And I think we've settled for prophetic words because they're usually less disruptive. They're more confirmation rather than dislocation. They're more confirmation than they are interruption. But those are just my thoughts on it, Carrie. I'm sure you have your own in that. And I wouldn't write off, just to say, I wouldn't write off those people. That's a great prophetic, those could be great prophetic words, really helpful, really beneficial, really insightful. But prophetic conversation, when you're having that ongoing interaction with them, they're almost resetting the core of our lives.

And Janet, great to have you with us today. Miss you and your lovely man and your boy. Do you think in times of struggle, we don't hear many prophetic words because that's the time? Yes, that's exactly it, Janet. That's the time the word is getting worked out in our lives. You know, the Bible says that when opposition, Jesus in one of his parables, he says that when opposition comes because of the word on the parable of the sower, in other words, the opposition is actually attracted to the revelation that we've been given. And so opposition, those times of struggle, is the outworking of the word because the Father uses the works of the enemy and the strategy of the enemy to reposition us so that we'll move into the destiny. It's a little bit like the church being scattered. So that's exactly it, Janet. You've nailed it.

Uh, Cynthia, great to have you in the call. When you operate in this voice, does it feel somewhat sovereign? Yeah, yeah. There's, there's, uh, most of the time, uh, so, so there are a lot of times when I'll operate in this voice and, and honestly, there are times when I'll do this and I won't even tell the person I'm doing it. I want to see if they can see it for themselves. And so I'll, like, I'll do it covertly. I'll do it in questions. I'll do it in suggestions. But primarily, when I'm operating in this voice, I'm pretty direct. Like, I'll even full force interrupt them to lay, like they might be chatting about something. I might say, "Isn't that?" They might have a quizzical look of, "What do you mean, 'isn't that?'" I think I know me. And I have this kind of thing like, "You think you know you, but I'm about to introduce you to you. I'm about to introduce you to who you are, not the life that you've been living, but the life that heaven has for you." And so there's this, the prophetic person is in our answer to your question, said they're aware. They're aware of the capacity that those words have and the capacity that they carry to do that. And they sense the sovereign thing. And they can just see, they just see the dimensions. They see the rhythms, the patterns, they see the activity of the enemy, they see the activity of the individual, they see the activity of heaven. They see the convergence moment and the emergence moment in that. And, and they speak out of that voice. Now, because if they're healthy in that, they won't say, "Now listen to me, I am God's assigned prophetic voice in your life." Right? They won't do that. But they'll hope for that. They hope the people can see that in them. They hope that there's an awareness in that. But they're never going to blow their trumpet because that's not what they're there to do. They're simply there to dance. And so when a prophetic voice has announced the word of the Lord to you, they then turn the responsibility over to you. So they don't mind what you do with it. They're like, "Lord, I did what you asked me to do." A little bit like the priest in that, they don't take responsibility for that assignment advancing in your life. They take the responsibility for the announcement of that assignment in your life. So whether they do it overtly, as in interrupting, "Here it is," or covertly, as in, "Hey, have you considered?" Whatever way they do that, they won't then take full responsibility for it. So, yeah, I hope that's helpful, Cynthia.

Paul, good to have you in the course, my friend. How do we develop or grow into people who can facilitate prophetic conversation for others? I don't think I've had any conversations like this. I'm not sure what it looks like. Yeah, maybe Paul, some of what I just highlighted will help in that a little bit. Um, it's, some of this is, you know, when we talked about the king, we said these are people of influence. These are people of abundance. These are people who have success in their realm. It's the same with, uh, prophetic voices in our life. They have a capacity to hear from heaven and to see patterns in the world that is kind of unique. They have a unique perspective in it. And there will be times, I don't know what you do, Paul, there'd be times when you just have clarity of your own business. They'll have times when you have clarity looking at the patterns where you know what you need to do next. You're able to interpret the data in a particular way. You're able to interpret the seasons on that in a way that maybe sets you above your companions. Or if you're involved in in ministry and engagement, that they'll just be times where you have clarity and awareness of urgency around that. And that might be the emergence of that voice. But the truth is, you become that as the Father assigned you to a particular people or as they become attractive to you. So they just begin to look to you for that in their life. And I have a few people that I would look to in my life in that way that almost become an assigned prophetic voice. There are people who are assigned to my life that are prophetic in the sense that they give me words, and when they give me those words, it, I immediately start building. But there are few. And, and honestly, this is an infrequent voice in our life because they, they put something in us. I, I like a clever or clear language in this, this like the birth something. So it's a little bit like when my girls were born, generations were within them. Like, like it's already there, and everything else is just the expression. So this is happening every week, that's probably not a prophetic voice or conversation. Daniel, Daniel, Samuel, I think has won maybe two conversations with David like this. Nathan, a couple that are recorded, but he would have had lots of prophetic instruction around his, uh, life. So hopefully some of that is helpful in that.

The, if the friend weeps with you, and the enemy wrestles with you, and the king works on you, and the warrior works with you, the prophetic voice gets the job done with their words. Friends will use words just to pass time. It's like, "Yeah, let's chat. Let's hang out." Prophetic people, prophetic voices, they rarely use their words just to pass time. They're, they're putting something into the fabric. They're clothing us with a new mindset, a new mandate, a new mentality, a new ministry. They're clothing us. Their words are actually dressing us with what we need for our future. They're putting something in us and on us. And as I mentioned, it's going to be unfolded in the journey.

So, um, I'm going to speed this up here, guys, because there's a, a lot within this. Um, one of the phrases that David uses is, "I, I just want to see what God will do for me." And what he's saying there is, "I need to separate myself from existing connections until I've crystallized the vision for my life." And that's a good sign that you're ready for a prophetic conversation when you feel the need for crystallizing a vision, when you're like, "I need to see vision clearly again. I need purpose again. I feel like I've completed a season." You can see the lack of the prophetic in Solomon when he's completed a season in his life and he's ready for reignition and reimagination. It was just the absence of imagination in his life and his season of meaninglessness because he's got no purpose any longer to his days. He doesn't know what he exists to do any longer. And he needed baptized in a fresh imagination. But instead of that, the prophetic voice becomes a voice of correction in his life because of the choices that he's made. So those, those voices come in moments when we need a renewed imagination. And their voice primarily doesn't only bring protection or direction, but that new imagination. So David has seen the kingdom of Saul and he's seen the kingdom of access, but he's never seen his kingdom. He's never seen what the kingdom looks like in his heart or in his hand. And the prophetic voice, it separates us from our peers. And it separates us from our past. And sometimes there's a season of isolation that we rush through to get connection with others, when actually it's a season of separation for the Lord is going to impart something for our future. And our, we short circuit the season and we're running around and we're hoping for something just to end our isolation when actually the Lord is setting us up for a governing voice. And that's probably a good way to think of the prophetic, not a controlling voice, that would be the dark side and the shadow side of it, but a governing voice in our life. It's the voice that sets us up to govern the territory that the Lord has for us. They've separated us from our peers, our past, our success, and our failure, from our wounds and our world. And they'll lift our thinking to a whole new level. They're basically saying, "There's a world coming for you that you're not ready for. There's a world coming for you that you have no capacity." Your mindset needs to change. Your relationships need to change. Your character needs to change. Your permission needs to change. Your ability to fight needs to change. And they set up this new world that every other season will play a part in that. And really, they're saying, "God has an upgrade for you, and you need to upgrade to receive it." You need to, who you are today does not fit the future that God has for you. And of course, warriors, um, look around, they're like, "What do you mean? I have everything that I need." People with the priest are like, "Oh, that's so true. That's so true. Everything in my life is lacking." People with friends are like, "Hey, good word, thanks mate. Catch you next time." And people at the, the king, they're just looking at it pretty differently again. But they're about the prophetic voice about releasing your original design and your ultimate destiny, which is phraseology until it's reality. Like, "Oh my goodness, I get what this means." That so they cast the horizons of hope much further in our life. I've written in our notes here, they take all of your heart and breathe into it. They take all of your soul and they pierce it. They take all of your imaginations and your mind and they set it apart. And all of your strength, your skills, and weapons at your disposal, and they energize them for a new task and mission.

The voice of the prophet is the anointed and appointed voice of God to drench us in our divine story. So, the aspect of God's nature that they're embracing us in is the aspect of the living Word. In the beginning was the Word. That the Word comes before all things. The Word sustains all things. It cuts through all things and empowers all things. And this is who the revealing is to. They're like, "God is a God of revelation. God is a God of mystery. God is the God who dwells in eternity." And they lead us into that realm. And they do that in very practical ways.

And I think this is, um, even though I've talked about the lexicon, I think this is part of the misunderstanding sometimes when we look for prophetic people. Is that we expect it to be dreams and visions and and uh, let me just say it's not in my heart, but sometimes weird experiences and ecstatic experiences and all of that stuff. And all that may be helpful or not. But actually, when Samuel comes to David, it's really clear. It's really practical. There's nothing weird. He doesn't go into the whole backstory of how he got the word and why that validates him as a prophet. He just tells him, "Hey, God's anointing you for this next season." And again, maybe that's just me, but I think that's the sound of a healthy prophet, right? If you need to validate what you say by "an angel of the Lord has told me," you can just tell the story with that and just leave that part out of it. It doesn't, it doesn't make it more powerful to healthy people. Healthy people just want to know what the Lord is saying, not how you got the word. It, it doesn't in any way shape that.

So when the voice of the prophet is missing from our lives, we replace holy imagination with life of self-invention. I see this sadly. I see this in so many church leaders just doing their thing, working their stuff, and and trying to make it work. And and just the, the absence of imagination. We abandon our sense of vision. The echoes of the eternal are suffocated rather than embodied in daily rituals. And we become stuck in despondency. We're like, "Why isn't this working for me?" rather than arrested by our purpose. In our conversation with them, the prophet wonders, "What is God speaking over your life?" That's the question. Always. They're listening on two levels to the conversation. "I hear what you're saying. What is God saying? I see what's happening. What, what is God saying? What's God speaking over your life? What is the divine inscription engraved at your core?" The costly wondering that God, "What have you hidden in this person's heart? What is, what is their unique assignment on the earth? What is the one thing that they can do?" And we need conversations with prophets to launch anchors of hope in our heart. We come out of those conversations with hope coursing through our veins.

I remember, I won't reference the couple because some of you would know them, but I remember meeting, uh, with a young couple and, uh, them them pretty much struggling in life and, uh, struggling to see why what they were doing wasn't working. It was very clear. They were capable. They were competent. And I was able to meet with them and just help shape and steer them towards a new direction for their days. In that instance, it was relocation. And I was helping them understand the patterns of their life and why relocation was important, why they had to break away from a certain friendship group that was largely cynical in its approach if they were going to enter a new season of imagination. I remember sitting with another couple who were really struggling. Marriage was in difficulty, all matter of things. And helping immerse them in a new story. And and today, they're shaping some of the church landscape in the UK. But I still remember sitting and drenching them in new possibilities, in new story, in new formation, and new revelation, in new patterns that helps people pick up the pieces and the fragments of their experiences and their skills and their qualifications and their understanding. And Andrea actually does this beautifully, tying that all together and saying, "Now, here's what this makes available to you in the story of God. These are not disparate. These are connected. And here's what they open up in possibilities." And and and anytime you're in that conversation, it just launches hope. You never leave a conversation with a prophetic voice feeling condemned. You always leave that conversation, yes, feeling challenged, yes, knowing that things need to change, but really energized by it. Within that, they open doors of personal and local transformation. That's what they do. They open doors of personal and local transformation.

However, there is an arresting provocation at the heart of a prophetic conversation. It will not let us remain or stay where we are at all. And that it disrupts our life strategy to bring us into our renewed destiny. And it does so with a sense of urgency. And so, what are, what are some of the questions that we want to look at when we're, uh, thinking this through? Questions that indicate, ignite, and inform the season. And I'm not suggesting that you go along thinking those, but every now and again, they may surface in your soul. "What is the future that I was born to manifest? What is the future? What is the future I was born to manifest?" Or, "What's resting on my life right now? What's resting on my life right now?"

Thank you. Um, you know, we came into this COVID season. I, I've been in a period of anonymity, deliberate anonymity, trying to stay away from moments like this, actually. And I looked around, and I have a prophetic awareness. And I looked around, and I looked at what people were doing. I looked at those who had been reliable cultural exegetes, and I, I couldn't hear anything coming from them. I looked at some prophetic voices, and honestly, it wasn't helpful. What they were saying wasn't helpful. And I, I realized, even though I didn't want to be coming out of anonymity that quickly, I realized, "Oh my goodness, I need to speak because I don't hear in the voice of culture right now what needs to be said. Nobody is saying what I'm seeing." I don't say that with any degree of arrogance at all, at all, quite the opposite, actually. And but I realized, "Nobody's saying what needs to be said. Why aren't people speaking?" And and why is the church just echoing and repeating and doing what everyone else is doing? Is there no one? Is there no one who's speaking with a different perspective? And and the reason I say that is because sometimes you've got to look and say, "What's resting in my life right now?" And what was resting in my life and that moment was a frustration that I wasn't hearing the voice of the Lord in the noise of the church. Like, yeah, there's a lot of noise out there. There's a lot of people saying stuff, but I'm not hearing the voice of the Lord. I'm not hearing people speak with heaven's perspective. I'm seeing, uh, the things that I said earlier.

So sometimes you go to Luke and that catalyzes a season. You're like, "Okay, it's time to embrace this. It's time to engage again. It's time to do something different." "What is my life purpose?" Key question. The eternal question. "What is my life purpose?" And "Who do I need to become to embrace my future?" We've asked that question before, but "Who do I need to become?" This is not just a certain actions that I need to do, but "Who do I need to become?"

Is this a season of renewal? There are times. 2007, 2008 for me began a season, a seven-year season of renewal, where God came through the front door for seven years. Like, "Oh my goodness, it was astonishing." One of the greatest seasons of my life. I wish, I wish it was ever that way. I wish it was the rest of my life, but it was, it was just beautiful in every way. And you know, when you're in a season of renewal, when we landed here, my wife, Catherine, went into this beautiful season of renewal. I was ever so jealous. Over you, you just, it's when you're in a season of renewal, you're going to get prophetic voices and conversations around you. It's like they're just attracted to you in that season. There's God calling me to step into a fresh story.

Another key question is, "Why am I that dissatisfied? I have everything I ever wanted. Why am I dissatisfied?" I've everything. A little while ago, and I'm trying to anchor this because I know a lot of this conversation has been a little, um, high. But I remember a little while ago looking and realizing and writing down, I think it was 18 or 22 things that I'm doing now that I would have dreamed of in my early 20s. Like, there were literal dreams for my life. Like, things that I dreamed of. And and asking the question that I would ask him, that is, "Why am I dissatisfied then if I'm living the dream and actually beyond anything that I thought would have been possible? Why am I dissatisfied?" That's maybe a sign that the story is not yet here in its fullness, and that there's a limit in my imagination. Or is, and Andrea beautifully, crazy, your imagination bucket, you might not be as full as you would want it to be.

And then the other key question is, "What is God doing in the world?" And this is, um, again, the, the prophetic awareness of what's going on in culture, in the story of the nations. And the deeper question in that is, "Who will introduce me to what God has for me?" That's that gateway conversation. So I want to pause again there, guys, for a little, a few questions. And then we'll, I think we'll break into breakout groups and then we'll, uh, we'll tie it up, maybe do a little on the shadow mission of the prophetic. So if you have any questions there, fire them up. And if not, um, we'll begin to look at breaking into breakout groups there in that moment. And and what we're looking at there, I think what would be useful is again, where we started in this, having gone through the different voices and the different conversations and different moments, is now armed with that knowledge, again, just coming back to, "What season are you in right now?" Like, "What is your season?" and "What is the voice that you need to hear?" "What is the conversation you need to have?" And then within that, and with the awareness of the season that you're in and the conversation that you need to have, with that, "Who in your life is that voice? Who's the person who represents that?" And maybe just having those conversations in our groups. We'll do that for the next, let's go for, let's go for 13 minutes on it. So we'll gather together again at 8. And I'm tied up for the 10 minutes after that. So I think James. Hey guys. Hey guys. We were, we were together a few weeks ago, I think, is that right? The three of us? Yeah, I think so. Good, good. I'm doing well. I missed the, uh, I missed the, the questions were supposed to be. I was typing a question in the chat and then we got, I'm not sure what we're doing. Go ahead. Keep going off. I keep falling asleep. What I think is, "What season we're in?" is one of them. And I don't remember the last one. "What voice do you need?" Yeah, that's it. Anybody want to, anybody? Is it, I think it's sometimes hard to discern the season you're in until you're out of it. Yeah. You look back and yeah, you're like, "That was a really hard season." That was a. But sometimes when the season changes, you become more aware of the season you've just been in. Um, what would you guys? You guys out? Yeah, I missed the last two, but I was able to watch the recording. And just, I was in a very busy two weeks. We have events going on with our nonprofit, Youth for Christ. I work on. And, uh, I had a conversation with somebody, uh, last week late, and I realized that he was, I think he served the voice of the king. And I'm in a season of really ready to kind of move into the next season. It's been, uh, really challenging 18 months. But, um, so this, this study has been incredibly timely. Just, um, you know, I didn't know it was going to be the voice of the king, but as we sat there, I realized, um, he kind of brought some things out in me that I, that just haven't been awake for a while. So I'm really curious. I want to have the voice of the warrior now. And so I'm, I'm ready to go. Um, so yeah, that's, that's kind of where I'm at right now, just asking the Lord for the sermon and that. And, um, and I know sometimes you don't go fabricate that. Oftentimes, he just kind of brings those voices to you. So, but I think I'm ready. I'm hoping he's thinking this thing. So.

Now, um, for for me, um, I think I shared when I was with you guys last time, I feel like I have, I've shifted a voice from the role I'm playing in our, in our church community and just where I am right now, from kind of that friend to warrior. And as I process through what we've been going through, actually a number of years ago, I felt like I, I had a word that was affirmed by many, by many other things, that the Lord was going to take me through a season of, uh, of shepherd to from warrior to king, mirroring like David's life. I really have a grid for what that meant. Um, and so now, as I look back, kind of like what you were saying, Craig, as I look back, I can see I've, I have played that role of shepherd in the lives of many people, led through the lens of a shepherd. I feel like I'm in this season of warrior now, calling, calling out, um, things I see, kind of helping people rise to a greater level of excellence. But it's uncomfortable for me. But I ultimately think that my divine design is more of a kingly role than even friend. Uh, so I think, I think that that's that's written in my heart. I think that that's where God has me. I just don't think that I'm there yet. So today is helpful for me to think about, uh, embracing the season that I'm in, from the prophetic voice of the past that's clearly said, "This is what is going to happen." And, um, and just being able to be where I am, knowing that God has, he has the next season on the other side. And so, um, so, so it's been helpful for me to clarify. I think at my core, I play the role of king best as far as my voice in other people's lives. Uh, and so I long to be there. That's my, I long to be in that place. That's where I long, the role I long to play. Um, but I'm not quite there yet. So this warrior role is really uncomfortable, um, at the moment. So yeah, I'm probably similar to you, actually, in that day. I probably, in this season, I definitely have realized I'm the warrior. Um, I'm the guy who was like, "Journal, lockdown, we need to get back to church. You know, why aren't you coming back?" And where the first church have kind of reopened that we're, John, like everything's kind of gone into acceleration mode, actually. Um, and, uh, and our youth group, we started that back last night, and that has doubled since before lockdown. And so it's just a season of acceleration, I guess. Um, yeah, again, like you, I played the shepherd for a while. I was in a very pastoral role, probably more by, by the role, just as opposed to by my personality, but I played it okay. And and now I would say I'm in a very, yeah, it's a, and as a church, would be kind of a warrior church. And so would be always kind of pushing the boundaries a little bit. But yeah, probably years ago, again, like you, I had that, I had a spirit of David on my life. And and I see that, I see some of that starting to emerge in terms of just, I guess the king is a voice of influence. The king is a voice of, um, yeah, just a, I guess I'm trying to think. So I actually have been so tired here. I didn't sleep much last night. Yeah, I guess a voice of influence. If a king is an influential voice, it's a voice that, that speaks with authority into people's lives. And so I guess that's, yeah, that's what I'm beginning to see, I guess.

So what do you mean then at that point? Yeah, yeah, that I feel, I feel a little stuck. For me, I almost feel like maybe, I think Roger, you said this, like I feel like I almost need the voice of a warrior to to help coach me in this season. What is it? What does it look like to lead as a warrior? You know, lead from this place in a healthy way? Because I don't know what it, I really don't know what it looks like. I've not, I've not led in that way. It was very disorienting to the people I'm leading alongside, which then, you know, I question my motives, I question my own, my own sense of drive, you know, all of that. So, so I need another warrior kind of in my life saying, "No, that's okay. Then one that's got mature, that's mature to say, 'That's okay. You're doing the right thing. Stay on the path.'" You know, I almost feel like I need, I need that voice of a warrior in my life right now. What about you, Roger? What do you need? I, I think, uh, exactly that, the voice of the warrior. You know, I actually messaged the guy this morning that I thought, you know, I think maybe he could be that person. But, you know, as Alan talked about, he's the kind of person that, you know, we talk about, "Here's what you need to do." And if he ends up seeing that you don't act on it, he's kind of like done with the conversation. And I think that's who this guy is. And like, I need that right now. I think I just need that bold voice. And, you know, like, it's time to move. It's time for action. So in the meantime, you know, just, uh, as I do that, I want to make sure that I'm where I need to be with the Lord, that my spirit's ready. And so, you know, doing my own spiritual formation work, that when I hear the voice of the warrior, then I'm ready for that. So, yeah. Yeah, I feel like at times, I think we all need the priest periodically, in fact, just to, particularly when there's change and transition happening. I feel like we need the priest just to come in and check the state of our souls, to probe around just about our motives. So I probably do. I would say I need a priest, but I would say I probably need a prophet more, um, right now. And that we're in a really good place right now, probably as a family, the best place we've been in since we got married. You know, I'm 11 years married, got an eight-year-old kid, and we're just in such a, we're in such a steady place that it would be very easy to go, "But like Alan said, we've ticked off the list." Yeah, I guess there's just, yeah, there's a lot of things going on in terms of just so many things that we've kind of longed for or even couldn't even have imagined are starting to happen. And we're just kind of like, "But deep down, there's probably some dissatisfaction of the sense of, yeah, even if I get all that, there's more." And yeah, so I guess I probably need, because we're in a healthy place, I need that prophetic voice to call and speak into that and to call me under the more, um, and to tell me that I have more within me, you know. Um, so, yeah, yeah. But also the place to question my motives. And as I deal with some of the things that God's opening up for me, even as you say that, I like, yeah, I certainly need the voice of the prophet. I don't know that I've had that in my life, um, recently. And I think that would be valuable. So it's been, it's just been really fascinating because having worked with Alan for 12, well, for, I was on staff with Alan for 9 or 10 months. I just watched as he played these different roles. I mean, Alan says he's a priest, but he is a king and a prophet. Um, he's a priest, but he's one, he's not pastoral, particularly. He's very direct, incredibly direct. He doesn't do small talk at all. Um, when you meet with Alan, he schedules 45 minutes on a 45-minute chair, done. And if it goes longer than that, you know that he really likes you, you know. But he, he's somebody like, when we moved there, he, he just had read something I had done and he said, "Craig, you can write." Not many people can write. And I, I hate writing. And I'm now writing my third book on the back. I thought, I'm writing on a big publisher in the States, confirming the next week or two that they're going to publish one. But I had never seen myself as a writer. But Alan saw that and called that out of me. And that kingly voice gave me permission to write. So yeah, I think we need them all in different measures, even, yeah, you know, really. It's, but yeah, but I just, it's been interesting listening to him and just recognizing the role he played on so many of those. But particularly for me, he was the king. As leaders, as leaders, there's not a lot of people that we look up to, let's be honest. When you've been in leadership for a while, there's not a lot of people you could work on here. And Alan played that role where he was one of the very few people I could play number two with because he has that kingly authority. So, uh, yeah, he calls himself a priest, but he is a prophet, priesthood. Yeah, there is overlap, right? Between each one. And as leaders, you probably have to play, if you're, if you're leading a church, you probably have to play a different role often, yeah. You know, some people died, you have to be a priest. Yeah, you can't go in there as a warrior to prepare for. Yes, see you too. Take care. We're all back together. And I hope that was helpful and processing and identifying just some of the stages that were. I wanted to leave a few minutes for questions and just maybe one or two more before we close out our time together. Want to pray. And if there's one or two other questions that you might have. And as you're thinking those up, let me just say how thankful I am to have taken this journey with you. You've really enjoyed this and hope it's been as enjoyable and beneficial for you. If you have enjoyed it, would you do me a favor and just highlight it to someone else? We're going to run this again next month, a slightly shorter, five sessions rather than six. But if there's somebody that you know who you think would benefit from this, I'd love to host them on the course. That would be, uh, tremendously helpful in that. But if you have any questions, particularly on this session or even on the, the course as a whole, as now that we've drawn near to the close of that, then go ahead and fire them up in the chat there. And we'll take just a moment to hear those and answer those. And then we'll praise that today. And again, maybe while you're thinking those up or typing those up, just lean in a little bit, just very briefly, into the shadow side of this kind of conversation. I touched on it a little bit previously where these can be not only catalytic voices in our life, but if we allow them, they can become controlling voices in our life, partly out of our desire and our desperation to move forward into our destiny, partly out of our desire never to bring disobedience to the voice of the Lord. An unhealthy prophetic voice will actually begin to take responsibility for your decisions. That we can take responsibility for your life direction, and they can be a controlling influence in your life. So be, be aware of that. But the shadow side of this is often insecurity. Is often, uh, because they almost live between two worlds, they don't feel particularly comfortable in either world. And so that can often emerge in some insecurity in the voice of the prophet itself. No, um, it's no coincidence, really, that often the Bible says that that the, it'll say, "Give the word and then run, and then close the door and run." And often that's what the prophetic voice is in your life. They don't really know how to do long-haul relationships at times. They can just, they go in, they do their thing, and they run. They, they run and retreat back to hearing the voice of the Lord. So there's a few elements of the prophetic voice that do have that shadow side. It's insecure. It's a little bit more controlling and doesn't always know how to build and construct healthy relationships around their life, even though they can see beautifully the pattern for others. Roger, great to have you with us. Heard from Karen a few times. Great to have your voice in the course. Roger, in a group, it was mentioned that it feels like we need each voice in different measures at different times. How do you suggest we decide which voice we need to hear from most, and how can we develop an ear to hear from each? So in each time we've gone through a particular voice, Roger, we've highlighted, "This is the voice you want to go to in this season," or "Here are some questions that help you identify and discern that this voice is the required voice in your life." So you're absolutely right. We need different voices in different moments in our life, and we also want to lean into others wearing, for one a better word, different hats so that we help them move towards their destiny. So, but in identifying, discerning, I'll go back through and have a look at some of the notes there, and they'll help you see, "Here's the, here's the season that this person is in based on the question that they're asking," and "Here's the voice that I would want to bring to them and be over them in that moment." Or looking at your own life and identifying the season and saying, "This is the voice that will be most helpful to me in this particular season." And developing an ear to hear from each. And again, this is not so much about having a balanced perspective. It's about moving through the seasons with health. And so you don't necessarily want to have all six voices speaking in. You definitely don't want to have the enemy speaking in. That often. So it's not about ensuring you have here a little from each so you get a balanced perspective on your life. It's recognizing, "Right now, this is the season of abundance, so I need to hear from the king." "Right now, this is the season of, um, engagement and expansion, so I need to hear the voice of the warrior." "Right now, this is a season of crisis and examination, so I need to be around in crisis, I need to connect with friends, or examination, I need to be around the priest and just working through that." So I hope that's helpful, Roger, as you explore what that looks like in your world in this.

All right, guys. It looks like we're about there. I'm going to go do the old auctioneering thing of going once, going twice, and gone. I'd love to just take a moment to pray together. I feel like we've been on a journey together. I want to pray that the Father would open the voice. I wish, I wish we were in the room today. I wish we could actually prophesy over one another. It'd be a beautiful way to end our time. But we are on Zoom and not in a room. Uh, but nonetheless, the Spirit of the Lord is with us, and He is able to impart the ingredients and the nutrients that we need for our destiny in this moment. And so, Father, I thank you for Your grace. I thank You for the table that You set before us. I thank You that it's filled with every good thing. It's filled with every good thing. And for some of you today, there's a table before you, and on that table, there's a scroll. And in that scroll, there's the destiny. There's the Word of the Lord over your future. There's the Word of the Lord over your design. There's the speech of heaven over you, the revelation of the Father over you. And simply, all you need to do is, is open your hands in that moment. If that's what you need today, and just take the scroll. Allow the scroll to come into your hands. For others, there's like a telescope. There's the capacity to see further than you've seen. To see further than you've seen. It's the horizons of hope that the Lord wants to immerse you in today. And again, it's there on the table. And and just even symbolically, you might just want to reach out and take that and almost symbolically hold it up to your eye, recognizing that the Lord is introducing a fresh way of seeing, a new dimension of seeing, a capacity of introducing hope. Perhaps you're surrounded right now by people who need an infusion and an immersion in hope. The Lord just wants to give you the capacity, maybe even for your business, your friendship, but He just wants to give you the capacity to look through that and to see in a fresh way. For some, I see on the table handcuffs. And it's a slightly startling thing, but I believe it's for people who today the Lord is saying, "I want to bind you to My promises. I want to bind you again to covenant." And I want to bring you in this season of the season of the priest in your life. I want to bind you into My intention towards you for their good and their kind. But everything in you would want to run. And so I want you to come into this moment of focus covenant. And I want you to wear what I call you to wear, the yoke that I call you to take upon yourself, for it is easy and it is life. And for you, that's what the Lord calls you to do in this moment. I sense for others today that the Lord is, uh, calling you out of a season. The word that I hear in it is regurgitation, almost, where you're just reproducing the things that you've known or the things that you've heard or the experiences that you've had. And that the Lord wants to put a fresh voice in you in these days. Wants to give fresh speech to you for these days, a fresh articulation that you would be in that sense of voice and not simply repeating what you've done. Father, we thank You today that You rewrote the pages of our lives. That You have spoken. That You have not only intervened in our life, but You've introduced us to a destiny. That Your longing is to lead us from crisis to fullness. We present and offer ourselves to You again as living sacrifice, longing to complete our assignment in the earth, longing to serve Your purpose in these days. I pray for each of my friends in this course, in this call, God, that this would be an activation moment for them, a fresh awareness of their assignment. Father, I pray, even though it's a lot to take in, I pray that at the right moment, in the right meeting, in the right conversation, You bring this stuff to their recollection, and they, they would collect it again, and they would understand how to speak in those moments, how to listen in this month, what to clothe others with in those moments. I pray that You would teach them when to engage the voice of a friend, when to engage the voice of the priest, when to engage the voice of the king, the voice of the warrior, and the voice of the prophet. When to speak that over others. And I pray in all of it, Father, that we would get a greater glimpse of Your nature and Your character and Your order in our lives. So by the Spirit of the living God, I bless you to fulfill your divine calling. I bless you to fulfill the destiny that the Father has called you to. I declare that God in heaven has taken all of you, that your life matters, that it has significance in these days. There is a fresh innocence, a fresh abundance, and a fresh significance coming to your life in these days. That these are days when the sons and daughters begin to release the fullness of the Father upon the earth. And I bless you to do it from this day forward in increasing measure. Guys, it has been a sheer joy to journey with you. Thank you for all your engagement, all your attention through. I just want to, uh, yeah, I can say thanks again. Again, just so grateful to you. So grateful for you. And that would love to stay connected. And if you do know anyone else you think might benefit from this, then please highlight it to them. That would be helpful to us. On that, God bless you. Have an amazing week. Where are we? Monday? Yes. Have an amazing week. Oh, well, you.