In this fifth session of our Writing as Worship and Witness series we will be looking at ‘prophetic writing’. For those of you who are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with prophecy in a charismatic context, I hope to explain that it’s not as wacky as it sounds, and for those of you who feel at home with the ‘prophetic’ I hope to explain that it is far more ordinary than we often expect.
It’s not just for ‘prophets’
What I’m talking about here is not just the writing down of prophecies given by people with a prophetic gift - ‘Thus saith the Lord’ (although that may be part of it); it’s showing how writing in a Christian context - by writers who don’t even consider themselves to be ‘prophetic’ - may be a prophetic act.
About five years ago I attended an Association of Christian Writers conference in London. One of the speakers was a man called Brian Draper, who spoke about writers and artists being placed on the periphery of the church, acting as interpreters of the church to the world and the world to the church. He said that we must be wary that we do not become so entrenched in either the world or the church that we cease to function as ‘interpreters’. Now he wasn’t talking about being ‘un-Christlike’, but rather that our job as writers is to act as communicators and if we only speak ‘Christianese’ it’s hard to fulfil that role.
I know that many writers and artists have experienced misunderstanding of their work by people in the church. Some of us, and I include myself here, have at times given in to pressure to conform to what the church finds understandable - purely Christian messages for a purely Christian readership - but the result is forfeiting that role as interpreter. Some of you may feel comfortable doing that; I don’t.
Outwards and inwards
I believe my role as a Christian writer is to challenge the church to look outwards and the world to look inwards - and I do that by continually stretching the boundaries of what my readers feel comfortable with.
So how is this ‘prophetic’? My definition of prophecy is: the ability to ’see’ what God will do in the future or understand the spiritual dimension of what God is doing now. The former part of that definition is what most people would consider to be prophetic and some of you may have that God-given ability. But more people will fall into the latter part of the definition and that’s the prophetic writing I would like to concern myself with here.
Exercise 1:
Prayerfully ask God to reveal to you how and where He is at work and write it down as a prophetic statement: eg ‘God is at work in the aftermath of the Burmese cyclone by bringing to light the corruption of the ruling powers and their lack of compassion for their people. Although the disaster there was terrible, a positive side-effect is that other governments are increasing their calls for reform and Christians worldwide are being mobilised to pray.
The parables as ‘prophetic writing’
Jesus’ parables are examples of both kinds of prophecy. The gospel writers wrote down both stories of the End Times - this is what’s going to happen; and stories of the Present Time - the Kingdom of God is like …
Exercise 2:
Read through some of Jesus’ parables and divide them into ‘end time’ and ‘present time’. Now write your own modern-day parable in which you reveal the spiritual dimension of what God is doing now. You may start it with either ‘The Kingdom of God is like …’ (eg a microwave that works from the inside out, etc) or ‘There was once a man / woman etc who …’
Writing ‘direct words’ from God
Some people have a God-given ability to deliver direct words from God. In a charismatic setting, these are usually received in a service or group setting when God wants to ‘chip in’ to the proceedings - I don’t mean that in any trite way. I believe it is good practise to filter these words through the appointed leader of the group. If he or she gives the go-ahead, the ‘receiver’ of the prophecy will speak out the word to the group.
Sometimes though, these are received during the prophet’s own quiet time. They should always be written down and if necessary passed on to the leader of the group they concern. Other times, these words are a prophetic insight for the individual to pray in a more informed way as the spiritual dimension behind certain events is revealed to them. What is the point of writing these down?
- It records the words so that they can be read again at a later time.
- It captures prophetic insights that may otherwise be forgotten.
- It gives an opportunity for those with the gift of discernment (see I Corinthians 12) to check whether it’s a Godly, worldly or even evil spirit behind the prophecy. The second category is far more common than the last and is usually just the ‘prophet’ mixing in their own views with what God actually said. When words are spoken directly, it’s hard to say afterwards - ‘this was a bit off’. I understand though that sometimes words need to be delivered immediately but a leader should only give the go-ahead to someone who is tried and tested as a prophet.
Exercise 3:
If you are gifted in this type of prophey (or think that you might be but haven’t yet had the courage to speak out in a group situation), take some time now to receive a word from God and write down what was said. Do this in first person, ie write down what God says, in His voice, as He says it. Then look at it again and ask God to give you a discerning spirit to see in which areas you might have ‘added’ your own bits. There is nothing wrong with adding your own understanding to a written or spoken prophecy, but make sure the reader or hearer understands that this is what you are doing. Preface it with, ‘I think this is what the Lord might be saying by this’, for example.
For an example of prophetic writing, Rick Joyner’s The Harvest is one I can recommend. His book The Prophetic Ministry will give you an insight into the function and role of prophets in the church today. From a British perspective, Graham Cooke’s Developing your Prophetic Gifting is an excellent resource too. In it he looks at how prophecy is not so much a fortelling of the future but a means of equipping people in the church to face the future. And that’s where we as writers can help too.
Join us next time for our sixth and final session on Writing as Worship and Witness: markets and outlets for Christian writing.
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Welcome to my site - I'm Fiona Veitch Smith, a freelance journalist, author, playwright and writing teacher. This site contains thoughts and articles I've written on a range of topics. I hope you find them useful.
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