Avoiding the Pitfalls As We Operate in the Prophetic

Leaders often experience pitfalls as we operate in the prophetic realm of conveying God’s voice. As public leaders responsible to deliver straight, clear words from the Father’s heart, we should examine ourselves to avoid the pitfalls of this ministry. There are three pitfalls that can lead to "twisted gifted" prophetic words. They are:

1. The desire to be awesome. Yes, leaders desire to be awesome even as God is awesome, but delivering a prophetic word through the grid of this desire will often lead to adding a little extra content or pizazz to it just to make sure everyone knows we are awesome.
2. The desire to please. Yes, we may want to please someone with a word. We hear it coming out pleasing to the ears, but find it unproductive to the heart because it is tainted by the desire to please.
3. Speaking from emotional turmoil, i.e. anger, pain, rejection. Giving a prophetic word through the gird of personal emotional turmoil is very challenging because our emotions can affect the content and delivery.

Spiritually mature prophetic people avoid these pitfalls most of the time, but seldom avoid them all of the time. Spiritually mature leaders will get over the desire to be awesome and the desire to please, but emotional crisis can occur at any stage of life. It is here that we must be attentive and examine our soul as we minister to others daily, weekly and monthly in our ministries. We can then avoid the pitfalls of the prophetic realm.