How to Become a Happy Prophet

Guys that are with us, if you haven't already, we'd love to check out where you're from. Please leave your name or which country you from in the comments. It will be really great just to see where you're from. I'm really excited about today, speaking around this incredible topic Happy Prophecy and my hope today is that you will have a clear understanding and a clear grasp of what it means for you to be a happy prophet. What is means for you to use the prophetic voice that got put in you to speak hope around you. I really feel like this is a poignant moment for the church, which we get to communicate God's heart well and at the end of this webinar I know that you will be equipped with the tools and the biblical framework to be able to communicate hope filled words of prophetic destiny to those around you.

Not only that, I will encourage you if you stay till the end we have a free gift for you and I'm super excited my new book is just out and we want to give you a free chapter from that book. So if you stay till the end, you'll be able to access that and for those of you who don't know much about me, my wife and I, Katia, we lead a ministry called Frequentsee which is a ministry really dedicated to help bring reclamation, revival and a perspective of the Kingdom wherever we go. I get to consult in boardrooms and churches, leaders in churches as well as leaders in market spaces. We've seen God do some amazing things.

I grew up in South Africa. In Cape Town, born and bred. And God has somehow used me to be part of helping shape so many different contexts, so many different spaces with a clear understanding of his heart and giving people a window of prophetic perspective which is really encouraging. As you can hear I have a lisp. I was born with what's called a cleft palate which has impacted my speech and my ability to hear and as with everything in the Kingdom, what we sometimes see as weakness, what we sometimes see is the worst part of us somehow God uses to execute his Kingdom justice against the words of darkness. So the thing that I have hated about myself for the longest of time is the sound of my voice, my ability to speak and my ability to hear fluctuating [neuron 00:02:45] all connected to this cleft palate thing yet God has used my weakest part of me to be the most vocal part and I get to prophesize with the people. I get to encourage people. I get to use what I see as weakness and I get to see His strength coming right through that weakness to bring and grow more perspective.

I love how God does that and that ringing in terms of modern upbringing in Apartheid South Africa and not feeling like I can do anything for God and God somehow breaking in through Jesus into my life and providing a platform for me to speak all over the world really is why I believe in happy prophecy. It's why I believe that God can take what seems like the worst moment and transform it into to the most exciting and opportunity filled moment. So I want to unpack a few things from scripture. Scripture is the highest and most beautiful form of prophecy. Everything I do must submit to the authority of scripture, because it's beautiful in all of its prophetic purpose, directive and it's authoritative in shaping our life.

So I want to unpack somethings from scripture around why I believe God is calling us to be a happy prophetic voice and why you get to be part of prophesying hope into difficult circumstances. And so I just want to cover a few points quickly to help you understand. The first point is simply this 'I believe in happy prophecy because the Bible in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 tells us that the prophetic is there for strengthening, for encouragement and for comfort or consolation. Now those words like [inaudible 00:04:38] the word encourage because it literally means to put hope into something, it means to fortify, to console, it means to come alongside and to put courage in somebody and someone and in context in order to fulfill the purposes of God.

All prophecy must submit to that scriptural principle, does it comfort? Does it encourage? Does it strengthen? That's what new testament prophecy looks like. And so in order for us to live in the full- working with the prophetic, any prophetic director that has spoken has to carry that in order for us to shift in atmosphere, in order for us to speak God's perspective into. We're living in these days of incredible tension, of incredible difficulties and I discovered that as my friend Eric Johnson says 'He who has hope has the greatest influence' and when I think about the beautiful gift of the prophetic, it is one of those gifts that is meant to bring hope. It is one of those gifts that is meant to put courage. Its supposed to strengthen. Its supposed to make you full of God's purpose so you can encourage others around you and so that's simply the basics that I want to get to right now is that happy prophecy is simply about being biblical. It's about communicating strength and name a few points that as I begin to unpack, I believe it's going to help shape you around. And with that at the basis as the first point, happy prophecy is biblical. Happy prophecy is found in the new covenant as one that helps direct, shape, strengthen and courage.

The second thing is this Jesus is the full revelation of God. You know sometimes we can believe a lie that it's God desire or God's will for judgment, for calamity, for earthquakes, for disasters, for sickness and acceptancy does those things in order to teach us a lesson. Well the Bible seems to indicate that Jesus is the full revelation of God. When we understand that we begin to realize that when we look at the life of Jesus, how he lived, what he did, how he demonstrated himself it was all meant to be the exact representation of God and so Hebrews at chapter one tells us very clearly that Jesus is the way that God speaks to us today. It says this beautiful- in fact lets go there quickly because I think it will help you. Hebrews and chapter one. A great bit that I love. It says this 'Long ago at many kinds and in many ways, God spoke through our fathers, the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by word.'

Why don't you just flip over quickly to Colossians, if you have your Bibles and chapter one again verse 15. 'He is the image of the invisible God. The firstborn overall creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church, he is the' sorry 'He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might have pre imminence'. Listen to this 'for in him the fullness of God was pleased to glow and through him to reconcile everything whether heaven or on earth'. He is the invisible image of God. The firstborn of all creation. These two scriptures tells us something incredible about the nature of God. If you want to see what God is like look at Jesus.

In fact Jesus says something himself in Luke chapter 24 when he is walking with those disciples in the Road to Emmaus that all of the scriptures, all of the prophets speaking of him in John chapter five when he is rebuking the Pharisees. He says he searches scriptures for and then you think you have things [right 00:09:38] but you do not come to me and the scriptures speak of me. In other words, all of scriptures passed according to Hebrews were like puzzle pictures. The prophets that we hear prophecy in the old covenant, they were prophesying little bits about what God was like but Jesus now is the full revelation of God. In other words, Jesus is what God looks like. Jesus is what God sounds like. In fact the verse we read in Hebrews simply says this, it says that 'He is the exact representation, he is the exact image, he is the exact imprint of God's character'.

So when I'm facing world events, when I'm facing difficulties, when I'm facing situations that seem to kick up the against the authority of scripture, it seems to kick up against the way God looks, it seems to kick up against that which is normal I need to look to Jesus and see how he would deal with those things and when I look at Jesus, all who were second oppressed about the sick that came to him, got healed. When I look at the way he deals with every single natural disaster, he brings peace and order to it. When I look at how he deals with lack and difficulty, he brings provision and abundance to it. In other words, Jesus when he is dealing with natural calamity, when he's dealing with disasters, when he's dealing with difficulties, he brings orders. He brings peace. He brings life into that because all the scripture speak about him, to him and God is fully revealed as God in Jesus. That's an incredible thought friends. Its amazing.

When we really do understand that, when we really grasp what it means that Jesus is God and the full representation of Him, it means I have to read scripture in the old and the new through the lens of Jesus. Both the old testament and the apostles all come from a revelation and point in the old true Jesus and in the new they build on the revelation of Jesus. I tell you it gets super exciting because Jesus is kind. Jesus is beautiful even in the moment in the temple where he is exhibiting incredible passion that the house of God would be a house to pray for all nations and climbs over the temple tables in order to make the point to all of those vendors that you cannot make it difficult, for those who are outside of the covent promises of God to come in and pray. He does so without harming a single person but he does exhibit incredible passion for the house of his Father so that everyone can see that its easily accessible.

So you might be asking me 'Julian that's wonderful. I love that you're seeing this incredible picture of Jesus as the exact representation of God and how Jesus deals with storms, how Jesus deals with lack, how Jesus deals with sickness and we can continue how Jesus deals with politics, how Jesus deals with women. All of that has revealed as how God would want to deal with those covenants but what about the gentle words, what about those difficult things because I'm hearing so many words of judgment and calamity. I'm hearing that even those that are saying that particular viruses, particular calamities earthquakes that have come against certain nations, all of those are the judgements of God because of sin'.

I want to say to you the Bible says in 2 Corinthians and chapter five in verse 19 that 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself'. Beautiful and I looked up that word world means everything in the world. He was reconciling everything to himself and then the Bible says this beautiful thing he says 'Not counting their sin against them'. Its so liberating. The grace of God is really that extravagant friends. Its over the top. Its scandalous. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter five verse 19 right there it says that when God does the math about sin he does not add that against your heart and he said that in reference to, apostle Paul is saying that in reference to the whole world. In other words, every sin past, present and future is not being held against anyone. God was not counting their sin against them. That is so liberating.

I love the loyal of Jesus in Luke chapter four when he is in his hometown in Nazareth and he is praying in the temples, he is starting to worship in the temple and as its custom someone a guest or whoever would come in and read a scroll from Isaiah that was predetermined and in that moment he picked up the scroll of Isaiah chapter 61 and you know the story if you have any sense of reading the gospel. In chapter one, I'm going to read it for you very quickly because it's Luke chapter four. This is so beautiful. Its says this amazing thing in Luke chapter four. It says this 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim living into the captive and recover its sight to the blind, to save at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor' and then he stops it and he hands over the scroll to the rabbi or whoever was there and he entered right there and then he begins to describe the story of two [jagtials 00:16:37].

He described the story of the widow that Elisha stayed with in Zarephath and he described Naaman and the Bible says that at the end of him talking about these two [jagtials 00:16:55] the people in the synagogue were furious with Jesus. And you might be thinking but why were they furious with Jesus because actually when Jesus quotes the old testament out of Isaiah chapter 61 he left out a very important part that all of the Jews were waiting for. You see up until that point the Jewish people have been living under this incredible oppressive regime called the Roman empire and it was their desire that when the kingdom of God came it would over throw the empire and bring judgment against the people of the Roman empire, against the governance and the authorities of God's kingdom come and Isaiah prophesied this. Isaiah prophesied when he says all of the things that Jesus says 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor' and its says 'To proclaim the day of the vengeance, the judgment will rock of God'.

Now what's incredible is Jesus in this context misses that whole verse. He omits that whole verse and he connects the kindness of God and he connects the goodness of God to the widow at Zarephath, to the governor who were oppressing Israel at the time, Naaman and how God healed them and how God provided for them. The reason they were angry was because they weren't getting to see the judgment. The people of Jesus heroes at that moment was not getting to see the judgment against the oppressors in that moment. Its an incredible verse because Jesus is, as my wife often says, the favor filled full stop of Heaven. Rather than carry on into the vengeance of God, rather than carry on into the judgment of God, Jesus himself bares the consequence of all of our sin on a cross not only that God was in Christ and he picked up all of the consequence of sin and he fully covers all costs and curbed the course of sin and gives us an account of zero owing to him.

He is the favor filled full stop of Heaven. There is no longer any vengeance to be exacted out from God in this moment. In other words, calamities of the world earthquakes, viruses, sickness, disease is not God's judgment because Jesus on the cross bore the full weight of the consequence of all sin for you and for me. He does not count. God does not count our sin against us and He does so because He loves us. He does so because He is kind. He does so, because there is no one quite like Him. There is no God like our God. Jesus stopped short of vengeance, because he took it in himself so that you and I can go free. Well you might say to me 'But what about the end? What about judgment at the end?'. Yes of course in this moment of grace since the cross and the resurrection God gives us a free choice to respond to His kindness, to respond to His goodness. Will there be a moment where judgment will against a nation? I believe so but not because of sin.

It will be because, or I believe, it will be because we have not chosen Him. In fact God's kindness in the way that He deals with judgment, and I believe in even in the old and how He said in the new, is very simple God partners with our choice. He makes decisions according to how we partner with Him, the choices we make because you see in order to love to be truly love He has to give us a choice. Yes, He gave us an opportunity to love Him back and throughout history we have chosen to go against Him, we have chosen not to love Him but He is so kind and so gracious that He gets into human flesh, He gets into human skin and becomes one of us so that we get to see a full representation of just how much He loves us so that we can choose Him. And the cross is the highest picture of how much He loves us. The length to which He would go in order for us to have a reconcilable relationship with Him.

You see many of us when we see judgment we see it in the context of God actively choosing to smite us, God actively choosing to put sickness on people, God actively choosing to break calamity to nations. The truth is friends because sin is at work in the world through our choices. Sometimes God will allow us- how do I put this in the best way possible- sometimes God will give us what we want and He will allow the choices we make. You see the beautiful thing is that Jesus is in at work in the world restoring everything to himself and most often he is restraining, he is holding back some of the very things that we do deserve by our own choice. You know when you look at Matthew chapter 11 at let's frankly- Jesus is pronouncing a number of woes and warnings in the scripture there in the different cities and he connects those warnings not to God's act of judgment but to the inability of those cities to repent, to change the way and to believe him.

You see Jesus is the full representation of God. If we're going to prophesy, we have to prophesy through him. We have to prophesy through the lent of what he done for us on the cross, but the truth is dear friends that if there is any calamity in the world its because of the work of sinners. Its because we've chosen to against God. Is there judgment? Yes, there's judgment. In the sense that God is allowing the full out working of the choices that we make but because of the cross. He is restraining things. He is pulling things back consistently at work to undo the curse of sin through the life of Jesus.

In fact even in the book of Revelations, I just want to help you understand around the book of Revelations just a little bit. Revelation is a behind the scenes look at what's happening. Its the backstage of what's happening in the world at that time. If the book of Revelation is a book of prophecy which it is, it has to submit to all of scripture. It has to be interpreted as scripture and scripture tells us that prophecy encourages us, builds us up and strengthens and exorts us. In fact the book of Revelation is written to encourage the believers in that season of persecution. When we see the decrees opening up in the book of Revelation which I believe was opened in the resurrection of Jesus then we see those seals crack open in Revelation chapter five in calamity being poured on earth, it was not because God was actively going 'This is the full weight I'm going to pour it out' because the first picture you see in Revelation five is the lamb who was slain for the foundation of the earth. It's a beautiful, beautiful picture. '

In other words, all of the stuff that happens in the book of Revelation, the lamb who was slain, the lion at the tribe of Judah is already working out the solution to those things. I believe what we're seeing depending on your eschatology, I believe that what we're seeing is the natural outworking of choices that humanity has made consistently against God, consistently against His principles, consistently against who He is. So then if we understand that Jesus is the length through which we prophesy that is good, that is kind, that he received the full weight of judgment and because he is our prophetic model we cannot see that judgment, calamity, destruction is God's will then we need to figure out how do we prophesy into the current context that we're seeing. How do we prophesy into the context that we're facing? Sometimes we think that we have to have a clear view of all of the prophetic purposes of God in season that we're living.

I want to encourage you that for me as someone that prophesizes often, who often gets revelation about future events I don't always get everything. The Bible says we know upon until we prophesy upon and the beauty of the resurrection, the beauty of Jesus being alive is that he is going to come back again and live in this tension of mystery. We live in this tension where we see that God is in Christ reconciling the world through himself making all things new and we also live in the tension of waiting for his return. His kingdom has come and his kingdom is coming in ever increasing measure. That is super exciting. You see my security around future and world events is not based on what's happening right now. Its based on what's happened in the past in the life that Jesus lived, the death that he died, the resurrection that he displayed.

Its a historical fact and booked into my life and the return of Jesus, irrespective of where I find myself in that spectrum, I know those things could be true so how I discern the time is not based on different calendars. Its not even based on on what we're trying to look for in terms of signs. Its based on the fact that Jesus died. That he rose again. That he ascended and seated at the right hand of God, and the Bible said that he is making all of his enemies his footstool and the Bible said that he is making all things new. And between now and when he returns all things are being made new through the coming of his kingdom. Its not that God is dismissive of world events. Its not that God is dismissive of world calamities, of earthquakes. Its not that God is holding a sense of healing back, no, no, no. God's silence does not mean he is not working on the contrary he most often works when we don't stare.

You see the Bible describes the kingdom like yeast. It gets put into some flour, you don't see it but the impact and the effect- it begins to grow and it begins to grow. Now we're living in days like that where you see the impact of this season grow and grow and grow because of the way the kingdom works. Friends once I got my understanding of everything, how I prophesy is important. In other words, because I see Jesus in the light of his resurrection and his return my prophesying does not have to be A be predictive or B be specific, but it does need to represent hope. It does need to articulate life. It does need to release some of God's perspective that He's at work in this season.

If something can place the emphasis on trying to prophesy to a future victory that we missed the moment of process that God has us in. God wants to invite us to prophesy into the pain, not to dismiss the pain. God wants us to be an articulation of love and of hope for lushing a dying world because before we can give them answers about what God is doing we need to reveal who God is through the lens of Jesus as the exact representation of him. I want to encourage you just as you're staying I believe that some of the things that are in my book God's going to help you understand as you begin to read, particularly my new book so I want you to stay on for that.

The last thing I want to touch on is not only how we interpret these signs, not only how we prophesy but to begin to understand that God is extending His kingdom irrespective of this world events. The Bible says that without His kingdom there will be no doomed. Now some of you might be asking 'Surely there's space in this context of the kingdom coming and the kingdom still coming for warnings words' and yes. The book of Acts is full of warning words. What we must understand is that warning words cannot mean that God is necessarily the initiator of all of those events. He is giving us the windows. He is giving us a glimpse of what's happening because of the consequence of our own sin because of making decisions collectively around sin. He wants to say 'Hey, here is a little window about what's about to happen. I want you to prepare for that'.

That's exactly what happened in the book of Acts right. Agabus saw a famine. He saw something that was about to happen on a world's scale and he's hunted and he said 'We need to prepare' in Acts he talks about 'We need to prepare and change our offerings for the poor'. Notice they don't go this is the Lord's will. They don't go this famine is the Lord's will and judgment. They simply said 'Something is about to happen and now we need to prepare for it.'. I want to encourage you when it comes to these three expressions judgment words, warning words and consequence words that as we understand those things, we understand that judgment has been fulfilled in Jesus, that warning words are biblical. Tell people 'Guys, we need to change the way we think. We need to repent'. We need to warn people through the length of God's kindness.

The Bible says it's the kindness of God that leads a man to repent and what's beautiful about this famine is that you see this incredible moment of God's kindness on display through the body of Christ as they make provision for the poor. When we read some of the historical documents of the early church you'll note that the Roman empire out and spoke about the benevolence and the kindness of the early church even some of them in the midst of a pandemic and in the midst of incredible difficulties even some of them right into that context losing their own life as they were benevolent and kind. Should we be describing warning words? Yes, but then we become the answer that demonstrates the kindness of God so that many will repent. What the world needs in this context is not telling them how bad they are, how they deserve judgment because trust me most of us know that already deep within their heart, but what they need is a revelation of Jesus in the midst of it as the kind, beautiful king who is rescuing the world because what he did on the cross even though I'm making all things new and not only that, the heir, the demonstration of the warning words, the demonstration of 'Watch out. Look what's coming'.

There is day coming where everyone will be judged. There is a day coming where you will have to given account for your either believing in God or rejecting Jesus, but up until then I want to be the demonstration. I want to be the incarnation of God's kindness. Of course I want to touch on this thing of consequence word. Yes, there are consequences when you don't listen to God. The Bible says that if you sow to the flesh, you will reap. Now if you sow to destruction, you will reap from destruction. It's very clear. There are consequences to sin. Am I saying that grace means you can sin and get away with it? No. Grace means that God is not holding that sin against you. Are there consequences against sin? Absolutely but even in the midst of that God wants to be kind. It's a beautiful thing this gospel and so I want to end with just a recap on these points very simply.

Happy prophecy is biblical, because the Bible tells us that we are to encourage, exort and build one another up because Jesus is the full revelation of God. How we prophesy world events needs to be revealed through Jesus because Jesus has fully taken the consequence of sin and because God was in Christ reconciling the world through himself. There is no longer any need for us to proclaim a judgment word but rather to proclaim warning words of God's kindness and calling people to a place of repent because of His kindness but God is not the author of calamity, God is not the author of judgment because Jesus fully [coordinated 00:35:26] that on himself so that sin will not be counted against the world. The only chapter that we will face at the end has to do with whether we chose to believe in him or not. That prophecy right now and discerning these times that we live in is not to pend and simply gain future intel. It is dependent upon Jesus who is the resurrect king and who will come again and his kingdom advancing and making all things new. That is the beauty of the gospel. That is the beauty of that which we now proclaim.

God is so kind and we need some more happy prophets out there who articulate hope, who articulate life, who articulate the very life of Jesus in the words that they speak. Walter Brueggemann is an incredible theologian. He is one of my favorite prophetic voices and he often talks about how the prophets is meant to help reimagine God's will for people so that people can connect to that and in doing so turn from their wicked ways and respond to God. I am praying that the world events that we're seeing at the moment, the calamities that we're facing gets turned around by God's kingdom because I know that as I partner with Him, He is actively involved in changing everything. God is so so kind.

Hey, if you don't mind, just as we come to its end we'll have a moment where I just pray for you, but I want to if its okay, I just want to talk just a little bit very quickly about my new book Terra Nova. Particularly want to talk about the chapter that you're going to get free called Finding Eden. It really is this concept of how the world has moved east of Eden. We've moved away from God's original intent and how the fact is that God's original changed in Eden and is that Heaven joint earth and begins to cover everything. Its a beautiful insight that is so wonderful is that God clipped the formless void of the earth, He took the chaos and His Holy Spirit hovering over chaos and He made this beautiful Garden called Eden and He gave it to some people called Adam and Eve to extend that garden all across the world. That beautiful place where Heaven and earth meet. God's original intent is still His intent. I want to encourage you as you read the first chapter I know already it will whip your appetite for God's ways and God's purposes in the earth even in the midst of some of the difficulties that we facing.

We have had a number of people already read it and they encourage me saying that particularly the chapter on Prophetic Personalities and how God speak to us as being super encouraging to them. I talk about how God speaks to your unique prophetic personality and how you'll use that to harness moments of favor, to cleanse things around you. And lastly I want to say this, this webinar is also meant to introduce you to an incredible webinar that we're going to do exclusively around those who pre ordered a Terra Nova, my new book, Terra Nova meets new earth where I talk about what it means for you to live in the purposes of God and extend his kingdom and we got this webinar that if you pre order it's called Christianity and Culture. I know its going to help you. I know its going to encourage you where I am going to talk a little bit more about how we become happy prophets. I'm going to deep dive into what that looks like so that you can use the words, you can actually ship the landscape of culture around you.

Right now the book is retailing at 13.99 for pre order. I think fifth of May is when pre order starts so I'm going to encourage you order if you're interested. Particularly if you want to discover how to use your unique personality to help you grow and help you change the world around you. When you do pre order, you'll get an exclusive sign up to that webinar called Christianity and Culture. Before I end I'm going to pray for you guys and just bless you to be happy prophetic voices.

Father I want to thank you for those watching. I want to thank you that you're so kind. I want to thank you that you want to bless your people, that you want us to the body to be an articulation of hope in the world. I pray right now that you would release hope to many and give them a leverage to articulate that around them in Jesus name. God bless you and God keep you. We trust in this season we will see His incredible beauty on display because He is kind.

Thank you for joining me on this webinar. Go and sign up and get a pre order of Terra Nova and you'll get exclusive access to Christianity and Culture webinar which I know is going to encourage you. God bless.