John Eckhardt - The prophetic flow

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

Seeking a Rhema

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

For every one that asketh receiveth ; and he that seeketh findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Matthew 7:7-11

I am challenging misconceptions concerning flowing in the supernatural. There are several "sacred cows" that I am destroying. One misconception is this; never SEEK a Rhema (a spoken word from the Lord). In other words, never try to receive a word from a person with a prophetic anointing. Ministers have emphasized this in their teaching because of so much deception and error.

Ministers of God teach people that all they need is the Bible, the Word (logos) of God. Christians have been told, "If you just study the Word, you will get all of the answers that you need. Never go to a service expecting someone to give you a word from God."

I understand ministers who employ this method of ministering to the local body, and I know the dangers of being deceived. However, the Lord has shown me some things concerning the prophetic anointing, one of which is this: In the Old Testament, people went to the prophets of God to get the word of the Lord.

I also understand the difference between Old Testament and New Testament saints in that we now have the unction of the Holy Ghost. I know that God can speak to you individually, but there are still times when you need to hear from God through the avenue of prophecy. I think you will know exactly how prophecy operates and how to judge the word of God by the Spirit of Truth.

In my years of pastoring , many people have come to me asking questions about knowing the will of God for their life. You may have questions about this as well.

You may ask, "Well, Pastor, how do I really know whether this is my will or God's will?"

I always tell people the will of God is, "following the desires of your heart."

You may respond to that by saying, "Well Pastor, how do I know whether it is my desire or God's desire? How can I tell the difference between the desires I have and those that God gives me?"

My answer to that is, "If your heart is pure and you really desire to do the will of God, you don't have to worry about your desires being wrong."

To the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

Titus 1:15

The only time you have to be concerned about your desires being wrong is if you are in rebellion, disobedience, lust or some other type of sin. Then you have to be careful that you don't confuse your desires with God's desires; people in that spiritual state will twist or pervert God's desires. As long as you are pure, sincere, and open before God, for the most part, you can trust your desires, because your heart is open to receive the desires of God rather than your own.

If you are in ministry, one of the primary ways God will lead you is by the desires of your heart. For instance, if you have a teaching ministry, God will give you the desire to teach. Jeremiah had a prophetic ministry. He was called to give the word of the Lord and when he tried to suppress it, the desire to prophesy became like fire shut up in his bones.

You need to judge your own heart. If it is found to be pure and you are sincere, you need to follow the desires of your heart because God will lead you by dropping things in your spirit (heart). I believe it is the same way in getting a Rhema from God; as long as you are pure and your heart is right, you don't need to fear deception. God will always answer those who are pure in heart. The Bible says , Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. God will give you revelation and will show you things to come.

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.

Romans 12:6

From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling.

I Timothy 1:6

To my surprise, in one service nearly every person in the building received a prophetic word from the Lord even though there wasn't any real supernatural unction to prophesy. I simply stirred up the gift of God that was in me. I know I can lay hands upon people and prophesy to them in faith. I know how that gift operates, I can flow in it. If everyone in that building needed to hear from God, I had the ability to stir up the gifts of God and to prophesy out of my gift to them.

A few years ago I, too, probably would have discouraged that type of prophesying. I very likely would have said, "If there is no supernatural unction to prophesy, if the Spirit of God doesn't really just come upon me, then I'm not going to try to prophesy to everyone in the building." I also would have said, "These people should not be coming to church expecting to hear a word from God." I have since found that you should always expect to hear from God, but often it is religious tradition that keeps us out of God's best.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.

2 Timothy 4:3

I understand the principle of people having "itching ears." I know there are some people who are always trying to hear from God. That is why I teach that getting a word from God does not excuse you from praying and seeking Him for yourself. Prophecy is not for lazy people who do not want to pray and seek God, who would rather have someone prophesy to them. I am not referring to that type of individual. I am talking about people who are genuinely and sincerely seeking God.

The people of God have always asked this primary question, "Is there a word from the Lord on this situation?" They think, "We don't want to make decisions in our own mentality. We want to hear from God because we know if we get the mind of God on the matter, whatever we do is going to be the right thing."

When you go to church, you want to hear the man or the woman of God speak a rhema just for you. Again, you may have been discouraged from seeking a word, having been told "You shouldn't seek a word. You shouldn't have that desire. You should solely go by faith and just study your Bible." Consequently, many people go for years without ever getting a word from God, because they have been taught against the supernatural flow.

There is a hesitancy in the area of the prophetic, because so many people have fallen into deception. But you cannot allow people, who have dealt unwisely with a truth, to keep you from walking in the truth of a word from the Lord. Every time there is a move of God, someone goes astray. But, do not let that cause you to throw the baby out with the bath water.

There are some people who can prophesy to you for filthy lucre's sake. They have a gift and their purpose in prophesying is to take advantage of God's people financially. They can even be accurate in the spirit because they are prophesying out of their gift, but their character is flawed to the point where they take advantage of God's people. Fears and financial pressures drive people to result to these tactics.

I know there are false prophets. Let us not forget that before there can be a counterfeit, there must first be a genuine.

There were many times when I went to a meeting confused about the specifics concerning the will of God for my life and exactly how to accomplish what I felt He was telling me to do. I needed to hear God speak to my situation. But because the sermon was general, I would leave in the same state in which I came. It wasn't until I started seeking a " Rhema " word from God, that I got the direction for my life I needed. You will also get the direction that you need for your life, if you open your heart up to the word of the Lord through prophecy and go to places where they accurately flow in the prophetic.