How to bring Comfort
We must concentrate our behaviors towards our values and beliefs. Focusing our efforts upon our circle of influence and not upon things that we can’t control. Our primary core value should be knowing what the Lord cares about, and carrying the ministry of reconciliation to those around us. Never to impose our own will upon those we are to both lead and influence. This doesn’t mean that we dial down what the Lord has decreed nor accommodate what is outside of God’s will. It means that we grieve when the spiritual unity of the Lord’s people becomes fractured by values that are not consistent with scripture. We weep, along with Jeremiah, when a religion of revelry has been set up, instead of an authentic community and intimacy with God and with one another.
We must concentrate our behaviors towards our values and beliefs. Focusing our efforts upon our circle of influence and not upon things that we can’t control. Our primary core value should be knowing what the Lord cares about, and carrying the ministry of reconciliation to those around us. Never to impose our own will upon those we are to both lead and influence. This doesn’t mean that we dial down what the Lord has decreed nor accommodate what is outside of God’s will. It means that we grieve when the spiritual unity of the Lord’s people becomes fractured by values that are not consistent with scripture. We weep, along with Jeremiah, when a religion of revelry has been set up, instead of an authentic community and intimacy with God and with one another.
We feel the horror when self promotion has replaced genuine worship towards Yahweh. We’re not driven by appearances and religious disguises because what the Lords values have marked our hearts. We speak not to punish, but to reestablish authenticity, Kingdom demonstration and sound relationships. What proceeds out of our mouth must be anchored in a heart that is overflowing with beautiful thoughts. We love to pour out the God story and have learned to absorb ourselves in words that are pregnant with the touch of God. Understanding that having revelation, although vital, isn’t enough to transform us or anyone else. Because unless proper values are revolutionized, revelation is just more information.
Biblical values must govern how we behave. In other words, when we perceive correctly, we begin to grow correctly. For instance, all of us would love to be instantaneously delivered from our challenging circumstances. However, if values and beliefs are not in alignment with truth, we will not witness the supernatural provision that the Lord promises us. Certainly everyone desires to be successful? But do we have the internal fire that is hot enough to get us there?
Beloved, our God given vision is the most priceless commodity you and I have. Vision keeps you and I not only focused, but vision keeps us powerful. Without focus we restrict our effectiveness. So that we don’t get lured into a story that isn’t ours. Because those that foster evil designs will try to not only lure you and I into battles that we are not supposed to fight, but also into conversations that we aren’t suppose to participate in.
We must intentionally set godly boundaries in our relationships and never let anyone into a place in our hearts that belongs only to God. Nor becoming seduced by an inferior beauty or allowing others to turn our affections to that which is against His will. Because when we operate outside of God’s will we face the possibility of being outside His protection. However, when we place our worth upon what the Lord values, we will be empowered to purposefully persuade those within our circle of influence to believe what the Lord has said prophetically about them.
I believe that's what it means to bring comfort.
Sincerely,
John Harke Team
The Role of a Prophet In Present Times
The Future, Just the Beginning
It's an amazing experience when a prophet comes into your life and tells you about all the amazing things God has called you to do in your life. It can illuminate the dark areas of uncertainty and impart faith into you for what is to come. However this is only one of the many dimensions of what a prophet does. Sharing what is going to happen, about the future is just one drop in a vast ocean.
“The prophet doesn’t just fulfill the role of one who foretells the future, he or she fulfills the role of an elder at gate guiding a city and a nation. That function is so important to us simply because it's easy to get derailed in the mundane.”
The Role of a Prophet In Present Times
The Future, Just the Beginning
It's an amazing experience when a prophet comes into your life and tells you about all the amazing things God has called you to do in your life. It can illuminate the dark areas of uncertainty and impart faith into you for what is to come. However this is only one of the many dimensions of what a prophet does. Sharing what is going to happen, about the future is just one drop in a vast ocean.
If you are called to walk as a prophet, knowing this is essential for you to carry out your calling in its fullness. If you are one that receives from prophets and their ministries but you only see them as ones that tell you the future, a ton of important things get left on the table.
Prophets : An Elder Guiding a City and A Nation
In the times of Israel, prophets were voices that stood at the gates of the nations, leading entire groups of people into what God wanted to accomplish through them.
In I Samuel 4, the Bible speaks about Eli, who sat at the gate of the city and had ruled the nation of Israel for 40 years. His successor, Samuel did the same but also anointed other leaders such as Saul and David. The role of a prophet is to be a voice to a city and nation, a raiser of leaders and influencers, to tell them what the heart of God is in the season and how they should go in order to advance. Prophets are leaders.
It's easier to just be the prophet that tells people their future and destiny, but God is looking for those that are willing to step into the fullness of their calling and be a leader at the gate of their city and not just a voice.
Prophetic Passion and the Heart of a Prophet - the Breaker of Stagnation :
Humans are creatures of habit. Even the most creative, outside the box of us still have rituals and routines we do in our lives to help maintain a sense of balance, security and safety. Routine is a good thing, daily practices are one of the only ways that we progress as a society. However, good things can often become stumbling blocks on our way to the best things if we are not careful.
The mundane can kill innovation. What’s worse is that it can cause us to stand still when God is moving forward. We see it all around us in the lives of our friends, family and in churches all over the world. There are many of us that have the best of intentions but are trapped by the routine and monotony of just existing.
Prophets and the prophetic are called to break God’s people out of their ruts, their habits and routines turned to religion and move them to the cutting edge of what He is doing today. Prophets do this for individuals but there is an hour that is here where Prophets will stand on their mountains of influence and prophetically move entire groups of people forward into the next thing.
We must not only receive the words a prophet speaks, but the impartation that comes with it to break us our of the dryness and repetition of our current existence. Just like Elijah, prophets are called to prophesy an end to the drought in people’s and nation’s lives so they can step into the new.
The question we must ask ourselves during this exciting time is this: Will we choose to enter into the deeper realms of the prophetic to become a voice at the gate of our city and place of influence?
Sincerely,
John Harke Team
Largeness of Heart
Have we ever entertained the possibility of our hearts growing bigger? Receiving the capacity to take in what the Holy Spirit would lavish upon us if we just asked. This largeness of heart is what frees us from the monotony of everyday life. While disappointment shrinks the heart and hinders it from dreaming. A large heart is one that gives no place inside its core being for disappointment to live. This doesn’t mean that we don’t experience disappointment, it just means that because of the vastness of the heart we have more room to maneuver past any regrets. The larger our hearts are the more we can break the vicious cycle of addictions that plague our society and ourselves.
Have we ever entertained the possibility of our hearts growing bigger? Receiving the capacity to take in what the Holy Spirit would lavish upon us if we just asked. This largeness of heart is what frees us from the monotony of everyday life. While disappointment shrinks the heart and hinders it from dreaming. A large heart is one that gives no place inside its core being for disappointment to live. This doesn’t mean that we don’t experience disappointment, it just means that because of the vastness of the heart we have more room to maneuver past any regrets. The larger our hearts are the more we can break the vicious cycle of addictions that plague our society and ourselves. With a large heart, we will see others who are enslaved as victims. By seeing people this way it makes grace possible and we become less vulnerable to assumptions about their behavior.
However, there is another reason why we should desire a bigger heart, and that is to believe what Jesus says about us even when we think we have failed Him. When the heart is broken and undersized there doesn’t seem to be much space for truth to penetrate. When my heart has shrunk in volume because of my wrong behavior I don’t receive the message of God’s enormous love for me. That’s why Jesus asked Peter three times “do you love me?” Peter’s heart had diminished because of his denial and the Lord was enlarging the Apostle’s heart. Which speaks to us that in order to forgive ourselves, it takes a large heart.
Here we witness grace at work, imparting to Peter a heart to love God, his neighbor and himself. As I’m interacting with people across the world, especially those that have gone through horrific things and have triumphed in life. I can’t help but be aware that Jesus Christ bestowed upon them a heart that was large enough to overcome divorce, depression, poverty and even death. Which speaks to me that the real heroes are the people who have the most spacious heart, and have allowed God in. These heroes aren’t trapped inside by their emotions or their past, because of the enormity of their hearts they seem to have more energy for God and for others. They take upon themselves what others define as difficult and find ways to make life work. They use their imaginations to continue to be both creative and innovative. Because their hearts are large, there are no limitations to what God can accomplish through them. Patience and wisdom is the fruit of how vast their hearts are. They seem to possess a strength that pulls others into a range of opportunities.
Let us worship today and be thankful that He has given us a large heart, and that our reply would be “Lord, You know I love.”
Sincerely,
John Harke Team
God's Love Can Cure Any Relationship
Hosea is a story of warfare and marriage, and how the Lord and His prophet navigate through that journey. God must instruct Hosea to know a love which is unfailing, just as God invites Israel to Himself, even in the horrific state of brokenness. Hosea must invite Gomer to himself as well. When love abounds, abandonment isn’t an option.
Hosea is a story of warfare and marriage, and how the Lord and His prophet navigate through that journey. God must instruct Hosea to know a love which is unfailing, just as God invites Israel to Himself, even in the horrific state of brokenness. Hosea must invite Gomer to himself as well. When love abounds, abandonment isn’t an option.
The Lord’s vision for Israel and Hosea’s vision for his wife, Gomer, outlasted the betrayal that both God and the prophet suffered. We don’t think in the terms of God agonizing over the loss of accountability among His people. For without accountability, idolatry and adultery become the behavioral pattern of a disoriented community. Society inevitably falters when our love for God and each other is absent. God and Hosea must do something shocking to cure His people who were always fluctuating in their love. Gomer and Israel’s self delusion had to be terminated. Both God and the prophet have one ambition, and that is to restore relationship with Israel and Gomer. So here the Lord speaks through Hosea.
“How can I give you up, Israel? How can I abandon you? Could I ever destroy you as I did Admah, or treat you as I did Zeboiim? My heart will not let me do it! My love for you is too strong.”
Hosea 11:8 GNTD
God doesn’t confront to prove He’s right, He confronts to penetrate the conscience. He has been deserted by the very wife He loves and in His anguish, His heart won’t let her go. So the Lord gives Hosea the rare privilege to be able to see the inner being of how He feels. This is why the Lord must insert His word in Hosea, so that the prophet doesn’t speak from anger, but from the very inner being of God. The prophet must not collapse into rage, he must be moved to relent. Hosea must become as vulnerable as the Lord is, fully engaged in Gomer’s life just has God is engaged in Israel's life.
What does this narrative tell us today? I believe it tells us how to navigate through relational warfare. Just like a marriage, when there is deep betrayal and conflict, how will we respond? Do we quickly forsake the relationships that we have formed in church? Do we look for the perfect ministry in order to grow? Or do we learn from Hosea about the power to love, the power to forgive, and the power to weep in the midst of unfaithful people. Hosea shared God’s hope for a restored people, do we? For Hosea and God the answer wasn’t to leave and remarry, the answer was to strengthen the commitment to love. Not because it was easy, but because love would win, it would hope, it would protect and it would persevere. Even in the midst of an unhealthy environment, God’s love can cure any relationship. I yearn to love like that.
Sincerely,
John Harke
The Importance of Recording Your Prophetic Word
We've all been there, a prophet or minister calls us out from our seat. Anxiously, with a mix of excitement and apprehension we wade past all the eyes that are looking at us as we make our way up to receive our prophetic word from the man or woman of God.
It's a face-melting, time warping experience and you get absolutely rocked by the accuracy of the words, the intensity of the anointing and the overall feeling of electricity coursing through your body. Life.... changing.
But by the time you've made it back to your home and slide into your bed, dread washes over you as you realize you've forgotten three quarters of what was spoken over you.
We want to avoid moments like these at all costs. In this post I will share one key to help you be prepared and equipped the next time you receive prophecy.
We've all been there, a prophet or minister calls us out from our seat. Anxiously, with a mix of excitement and apprehension we wade past all the eyes that are looking at us as we make our way up to receive our prophetic word from the man or woman of God.
It's a face-melting, time warping experience and you get absolutely rocked by the accuracy of the words, the intensity of the anointing and the overall feeling of electricity coursing through your body. Life.... changing.
But by the time you've made it back to your home and slide into your bed, dread washes over you as you realize you've forgotten three quarters of what was spoken over you.
We want to avoid moments like these at all costs. In this post I will share one key to help you be prepared and equipped the next time you receive prophecy.
Always Record Your Prophetic Word
Technology is your friend (unless they resemble Arnold Schwarzenegger) Thanks to modern technology, we have smartphones that have a dozen different tools packed into one tiny device. When you are about to get a prophetic word, whip that device out, fire up the audio memo app and hit that record button.
If you don't have a phone with that ability, swinging by Walmart and grabbing a twelve dollar digital recorder will be well worth the investment.
Our Memory is Not Perfect:
Even with the best memory and recall, there is a lot going on when you receive a prophetic word (babies crying, loud music, worship leaders crying, the noise level of the ministers shirt, the judgmental gaze of your church nemesis ahem.. I mean sister in Christ.) and often times we miss things in the moment because of that. We will miss subtle statements and words that could be the key to us being able to live that word in our lives.
The Gold is in the Details:
When we listen to things for the first time, we look for the high points and headlines. Our attention to the details and fine print can tend to be iffy that first go-around. Having it recorded allows us to go back and hear the details.
It Allows Us to Be Sure of What Was Said:
Being able to replay our words allows us to verify that what we heard the first time was in fact what was said. Just like any good pre-marriage counselor will tell you, "true communication happens when the person talking and the person hearing it are on the same page of what was actually said".
It Prevents Us From Interpreting our Prophetic Word Through the Wrong Lens:
Many of us are in a place of desperation and hunger when we receive our words. We are standing in agreement and prayer about specific things. Examples could be the salvation of loved ones, the need for financial breakthrough, turmoil within the family or a career change.
If we aren't careful, we can unconsciously interpret something we hear in the moment through the lens of our need rather than what God is actually saying. Don't get me wrong, God cares deeply about your need and He is working, but it doesn't mean this word you've gotten applies to that situation and if we twist it to apply to something it wasn't meant for, we can miss out on something that is vitally important and life changing in it's own way.
I've worked with many people that come to me stating that a prophetic words had promised such only to listen back and realize that it was something completely different.
It Can Be a Continual Source of Encouragement and Hope, Building Our Faith For the Future:
I can't tell you how many times I've replayed my prophetic words as I've driven in my car or cried myself to sleep. In those times when hope was dim and faith was low, to be able to replay over and over the promise of God over my life helped me shake myself and put my shoulder to the plow once again, to get my next season of breakthrough.
Sincerely,
John Harke Team
