The Intercessors Handbook

by Jennifer Eivaz

  A prophetic word, then, is not just ordinary words or an eloquent statement. The breath of God is on it, making it a “living” word that we send out with authority to accomplish a specific purpose (see Isaiah 55:11). As Christ’s representatives on the earth, we are commissioned to speak forth and distribute His words to people and to the spirit realm. It is as Paul teaches: “His [God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 3:10).

  The gift and ability to prophesy is available to all those who believe in Christ. Peter reiterated the promise of the prophet Joel on the Day of Pentecost, saying, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy” (Acts 2:17). God does not withhold the ability to prophesy from those who desire it. Instead, you prophesy in proportion to your faith. The word proportion refers to a ratio. Depending on the size, or ratio, of your faith, you might prophesy in prayer to a neighborhood or city, or you might prophesy to a bigger entity, such as a nation.

  The gift of prophecy is a multidimensional gift. It operates in many different contexts and in many different forms. These include personal and corporate (church) prophecy; prophetic artisans and psalmists, such as Bezalel and Asaph (see Exodus 31:2–5; 1 Chronicles 25:2); prophetic teaching and preaching; spiritual seeing and visions; and dreams. The ability to prophesy is not restricted to prophets, either. It is for everyone in the Body of Christ.

  The Types of Prophetic Words

  Here, we are going to discuss prophecy in the context of intercession. When you prophesy in prayer, you speak something out in the form of a command. There are several forms this can take.

  A Promise from the Written Word

  The first is a promise we speak from the Scriptures.

  For example, some years back, as a five-year-old, my son was struggling with harassing fear and anxiety. The Bible says fear is a spirit, so we handled it from that perspective. For an entire year, I prophesied this Scripture to him and over him in prayer: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). The fear finally broke off him, and he’s been normal ever since. I have since expanded the use of this verse to prophesy over pastors, churches and congregations bound by the spirit of fear.

  You can do the same. When you encounter a problem, you can utilize clear promises in the written Word to “legislate” your case in the courts of heaven.

  A Word God Gives Us

  On his blog, minister and intercessor Dutch Sheets once shared that he received the Scripture of Isaiah 22:22 from the Lord as a prophetic word, with over forty confirmations. The passage says, “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.”

  Dutch began to prophesy various decrees to the American government based on this Scripture. A decree is “an official order given by a person with power or by a government.” As Job 22:28 says, “Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established” (KJV). He also reclaimed the notion of “An Appeal to Heaven,” based on the historical flag of an evergreen tree commissioned by George Washington to be flown throughout the original thirteen American colonies. He said God gave him this phrase and historical backdrop so he could prophesy and make “an appeal to heaven” for the third Great Awakening in America.

  Prophetic intercessors find themselves in these types of journeys as the Holy Spirit unveils a directive, a specific word of the Lord, to be prophesied in the context of prayer. Like Dutch, they are awakened to a clue through a divinely ordered set of circumstances. As they dig for meaning, the clue becomes a message and a sure promise of victory as they speak it forth.

  A Word from Our Heart

  Just like Joshua, we will have moments when we prophesy in prayer out of the context of our own hearts. Here is what qualifies this to be honored in heaven and then loosed on earth. Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).

  One of the first instructions given to Joshua from the Lord was for him to meditate on God’s Word day and night in order that he might see success (see Joshua 1:8). Joshua must have done what the Lord required, for look at the success he had.

  When we abide in Jesus and His Word, we can prophesy out of the reserve of our own heart, knowing it will reflect His heart and will be done by our heavenly Father.

  A Prophetic Act

  A prophetic act is an act of intercession given to you by the Holy Spirit that becomes a sign and a decree to the spirit realm. God starts it, but you act on it, creating the heaven-to-earth connection.

  We see prophetic acts all throughout the Bible. The most notable is found in Exodus 12, as the Israelite families killed lambs and put the blood of the lambs on their doorposts. When the death angel came to enact judgment on the region, it passed over all the households covered by the blood. This was a powerful act and a timeless statement.

  God is still doing prophetic acts today, but we have to stay in step with what He is doing. We do not put together our own thing or do what someone else has done, just for the sake of doing it. Prophetic acts are powerful visual commands that put the spirit realm into motion once we have heard the Lord.

  Bill Johnson, from Bethel Church in Redding, California, once said, “Our words become worlds.” God’s words in the mouths of His men and women will resurrect dead things to life and birth answers to impossible situations.

  The Ways God Speaks

  At the center of prophetic intercession is a genuine heart-to-heart partnership with God to see His will done on earth as in heaven. However, we can determine and prophesy His will only to the degree that we know Him and recognize His voice.

  Remember, God is a communicator. He is the Word, and speaking is His nature. But we often miss His voice because we do not understand how God speaks.

  God will speak in a variety of ways (see Hebrews 1:1). I once heard prophet and minister Bobby Conner emphasize, “God will speak to you any way He wants to!” I understood this to mean we should not put limits on how God wants to speak with us. As you grow in relationship with Him, you will discover He speaks in many different “spiritual languages.” Let’s consider some of them now.

  His Written Word

  In 2 Timothy 3:16, we find that all Scripture is God-breathed. His written Word is a continuous voice to us for all of life and gives us a framework to hear His voice in other ways. You will learn to recognize God’s voice because it will sound like something you already read in the written Word. At the same time, as you read His Word, there will be times when He breathes on a verse or a passage and it seems to shout at you. There will be a burst of life on it. When that happens, know that God is speaking to you in a personal way.

  A Flow of Impressions

  Mark Virkler, in his book Four Keys to Hearing God’s Voice, describes the voice of God as a series of flowing thoughts and flowing pictures.2 This connects with the words of Jesus, when He said, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38).

  What this means is that you will often hear the voice of God by paying attention to your inner thoughts and to the pictures that pop into your imagination in the context of prayer. These are often clues about something God is trying to reveal to you. Ask Him why you are thinking about and seeing these thoughts and pictures. You will often be pleasantly surprised at what He reveals to you.

  Dreams

  I’ve heard it said that the nighttime hours allow God to speak to us without interruption. It is as the book of Job relates: “In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears” (Job 33:15–16).

  Dreams come from different places and for different reasons, but God definitely uses dreams as a vehicle to communicate what He is d
oing. Concerning the birth of Jesus, Joseph was instructed several times through dreams about what to do. The apostle Paul received instruction in a dream to go and minister to the city of Macedonia (see Acts 16:9–10). My husband has received direction in dreams regarding church situations that needed answers.

  Dreams can be a little hard to understand, but if we ever lack wisdom, we can ask God for it, and He promises to give it (see James 1:5). A dream is always an invitation for dialogue with the Lord, and many times it can lead to a season of prophetic intercession.

  Visions

  God is releasing His voice in the form of visions to His people. Visions are often multidimensional and come as inward visions; outer visions, like a movie being played on a screen out in front of you; or through a trance, such as what Peter experienced in Acts 10. I have experienced many forms of visions, and it is one of the strongest ways God speaks to me.

  For example, I was unable to have children for some time and was praying for God to open my womb. He answered me with a vision. I saw a little boy running around my home, and I knew in my heart his name was David. I did not get pregnant, however, until I prophesied His will to be done. I actually commanded David to come! Soon after, I became pregnant with a boy, and we named him David.

  Nature

  I have a friend, Tom Hammond, who receives a recurring sign involving birds. He believes it is connected to the ministry of angels in his life, and he experiences much angelic visitation, too. He cannot leave doors or windows open in his home because birds will fly in. Once, he even had a bird fly to his shoulder and remain there as he took his walk. A few days before he and his family left our campus parsonage to go to Brazil as missionaries, the tree in his front yard was invaded with hundreds of very loud white birds. That was an unforgettable sight!

  I have three other friends who receive a similar recurring sign involving owls. For them, it means they need to “wise up” and discern well. I have never once seen an owl, but these friends see them frequently and in various places.

  Now, these are not all the ways God speaks. He can speak through other people, through angels, through a still, small voice, through an audible voice, and in even more ways that stretch our imaginations. We will recognize His voice better as we immerse ourselves in His written Word.

  We are also admonished to test everything and to hold on to what is good (see 1 Thessalonians 5:21). One way to test what God is saying is to look for confirmation. He is faithful to confirm His word through two or three witnesses (see 2 Corinthians 13:1). Barbara Wentroble, who authored the book Prophetic Intercession, said, “The nature of our hearing is imperfect. We don’t even hear others clearly.”3 With that in mind, we always want to get input from our pastors and spiritual leaders when God speaks to us, in order to help us with our hearing.

  As we learn to hear God’s voice, we will also learn the ebb and flow of the river. I am referring to the river that comes from the Holy Spirit that flows out of our hearts (John 7:38). We learn when He is moving and when He is not moving. We discern when He is stirring things up and when He is quieting things down. We learn to flow in His timing and to prophesy the appointed times and seasons in the context of prayer.

  The Appointed Time

  Speaking of times and seasons, prophetic intercessors watch over and steward the times and seasons within their spiritual assignments. The prophet Habakkuk shows us how: “I will stand my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me” (Habakkuk 2:1). When Habakkuk positioned himself to hear the Lord about his assignment, the Lord responded: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time” (verses 2–3).

  An appointed time is a fixed time. It is like having an appointment on a calendar, only God sets the time and we cannot alter it. For example, God said to Abraham, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son” (Genesis 18:10). Abraham and Sarah had tried to rush God’s appointed time, taking matters into their own hands and having Ishmael by Hagar. That did not change God’s appointed time, however. God communicated to Abraham the correct timing.

  God actively works out His purposes over chronological time, but God, who sits outside of time, will then interrupt chronological time to release His appointed season. Prophetic intercessors will hear from the Lord about God’s upcoming appointments. In partnership with Him, they will prophesy to heaven and earth the onset of these appointed seasons.

  In the book of Haggai, for example, the remnant Israelites did not believe it was time to rebuild the house of the Lord. They built their own houses but neglected the Lord’s house and did so to their detriment. God then spoke the appointed time to the prophet Haggai: It was now time to rebuild the house of the Lord! Haggai acted on that word and initiated a new season with the people. The people stepped into the appointed time of the Lord and rebuilt the temple as Haggai stood by, encouraging them to be strong and work.

  I have seen the way these appointed times can work. In one instance, the Holy Spirit gave me a vision about the mayor in my city at the time. He had served in his position for nearly two decades and had a good reputation. I held no complaint about his conduct or decisions, nor did anyone else that I knew of. I want to clarify that, as sometimes we have visions based on our own biases, and it is important to have a clean heart before we act on such things.

  The vision I received looked like a mini-movie that took over my imagination for a few seconds and then would repeat itself. In the movie, I watched myself walk over to City Hall, take off my watch and then throw it to the ground. Once I did that, I would proclaim a blessing to the mayor and an end to his assignment.

  Since I had never moved a government person out of office before with a prophetic act, I decided to bring a few people to witness it. After a prayer service, I walked over to City Hall with a church boardmember and his wife and conducted the “departure ceremony” just as I had seen it in the vision. A few weeks later, the local newspaper issued a report that the mayor would not be seeking another reelection. The Holy Spirit was calling for a new season in our local government, and I was given the task to prophetically usher in the appointed time.

  Prophetic intercessors need to discern the right prophetic word for the right time. The third chapter of Ecclesiastes gives us a list of fourteen opposites with an instruction that there is a season and time for everything. What is the point of this passage? The point is that the right word for one season is the wrong word in another season. For example, there are seasons when we are to build and other seasons when we are to tear down. In some seasons we are called to fight, and other seasons we are to rest.

  Prophetic intercessors prophesy the new word for the new season and get things moving in the spirit realm. As prophetic intercessors, how do we know what season it is? The One who holds the key to time is the Holy Spirit, and He faithfully partners with His intercessors to reveal what time it is. As we learn the river of His timing, prophesying it forth in intercession, we also learn when and how to press in for spiritual breakthrough.

  The Lord of the Breakthrough

  In ministry and in life, you will have times that you feel you are up against a wall and cannot reach something God has promised to you. Prophetic intercession becomes the sharp sword of God’s word that pierces through spiritual barricades to release what God has promised you.

  A breakthrough is the “act or instance of breaking through an obstacle.” We see this demonstrated for us in the story of King David’s triumph over the Philistines. When this battle threat rose up, David inquired of the Lord, and God assured him of victory (see 2 Samuel 5:19). David attacked them and won. When David defeated them, he named the place Baal Perazim, which literally means “Lord of the breakthrough.” Although David fought the war on the ground, he knew the battle was the Lord’s. God had broken through the wall of the enemy.

  Many times, prophetic intercession becomes
the piercing sword of the Spirit to overcome a spiritual enemy that restricts us. This is the prophetic word of intercession that brings a breakthrough and a turnaround in the most difficult situations. I have participated in this aspect of prophetic intercession on different levels. Let me share with you a story, although not typical, that illustrates how prophetic intercession can bring about a breakthrough.

  It was 2002, and we had just introduced our church to the gift of prophecy. We were using training materials from Kris Vallotton to activate and teach people how to walk in this gift so they could prophesy to others. It was well received, with many from the church participating in the training. I was amazed to see people ministering in depths they had never experienced before.

  A year into this new ministry, I had a very disturbing dream. It was about a blonde woman who was holding a small white dog. In the dream, she had kidnapped my son. The intensity of the dream made me feel as though something was wrong, but I did not understand why.

  The next day, I went about my normal business and happened to arrive at the place where the dream had its setting. As I walked into a place of business, I noticed a woman holding the same dog I had seen in the dream. It was not the same woman, but it was definitely the same dog. Now I was sure something was wrong.

  The following three years were unbelievable. I had never experienced so much accusation, backstabbing, contention or rejection from people, many of whom were close to me. Our prophetic ministry began receiving unfounded accusations in our church from all directions. I also became ill with a chemical imbalance.

  The last summer before this got turned around, I was invited to teach a workshop at the Bethel School of the Prophets in Redding, California. It was rough getting there. My husband had contracted viral pneumonia a few weeks prior, and I was still in the throes of my chemical imbalance. However, I was determined to go.