Learning about Prayer

Hi family, it's been a while since I posted. As you would expect, I've been seeking God in prayer and had been seeking to encourage and bless my fellow Christians with prophetics. Especially, when God does seem to reveal quite a bit to me, I really wanted to peer into my friends', family's and acquaintances' lives in order to offer some insight. Though, as I journeyed towards learning more about the Prophetic Word, or dreams, visions, and knowledge that comes from God, I noticed that there are many around me who are much more prophetic than I am and yet, they have a code that they live by. They don't share prophetic knowledge as often as they receive it. So I went to learn more, and I found out a few basic rules that I need to follow:

1. You must check what you receive with the Bible.
2. You must be accountable to others. (1 Cor 14:32-33, God will correct/confirm you with other people)

And then a checklist:

All revelation must..
* be in line with Scripture
* be helpful to the receiver
* be consistent with God's heart
* produce fruit
* comes with peace in your heart, practical situation confirmation, and actual fulfilment of the received word.

Because if we randomly dish out prophetic word, there is a chance that i) it is not God's will, ii) it is not from God, iii) it is given at the wrong time and circumstance (where they are not meant to know, or will be hurt by it more than helped), and I find that final one a big issue because I have received word before that came with a sharp edge and it hurts and breaks and destroys rather than save and build up and encourage.

And if these weren't enough, I have also learnt that most prophetic word is meant for prayer. God reveals issues that are too big for you to handle, so that you can bring them back to Him and ask Him in prayer to handle them. It sounds very rhetoric, but it's true. God is going places and doing things, and He wants to take us with Him, to train us and to involve us, and that's why like a teacher or a parent, He shares bits and pieces that He wants to teach and trust you with, and let you handle those and see the change that takes place.

Now, other than the basic check list, I noticed that most prophetic people I know also have their own personal arrangement with God. It's a rule that God impresses upon them quite deeply, because God has a special purpose for each of them and wants to use them in a different way. So, I sought for a rule for the longest time.. maybe 6 months of serious, consistent prayer, and one day during worship, He gave me the rule together with a promise and an instant fulfilment/practical confirmation. His rule for me is this:

"If you want to learn how to pray and bless with prophetic insight, then you must do as I say. You must talk to noone and just pray to me, bring these issues to me, cry out to me, and trust me to do what I can do."

Then I argued, "That's cool, but aren't I supposed to be community and love and share with these people?"

He replied, "Yes. So if you really want to encourage these people, stick around, love on them, and wait till they open up and tell you themselves. Then, and only then, can you talk about the issue and what you know with them. Otherwise, just believe in me. Believe that prayer is the best thing you can do."

Instantly following my acceptance of this rule, God followed up with 2 detailed descriptions of what 2 of the people sitting near me were going through, and I knew then that God means business, because He's going to show me even more when I keep quiet and pray to Him alone.

The promise to be able to hear what He hears, see what He sees, become heartbroken over what breaks His heart, and pray just as His heart desires. That is my path right now, the Path of Prayer.

As a result, my prayer life has become richer, my heart compels to pray for more things, big worldly issues, or small day to day issues, because of His promise, and His constant fulfilment in letting me see these visions fulfilled.