Prophetic Word for 2023: It's time to Go BACK to the FUTURE!
We need to be cautious when we use the phrase “prophetic word.” Here at Destiny Image, we publish the prophets, so obviously, I believe in the present-day availability of prophetic words. I’ve published books and compilations of them.
The problem comes when we don’t understand the synergy of God’s sovereignty and mankind’s stewardship when it comes to the prophetic. God the Sovereign speaks (in His way, in His time), and reveals supernatural intel to us. As His representatives in the Earth, we have a responsibility to steward these words. We don’t bring them to pass; God does. But we obediently do what the Spirit of the Lord either directs, or invites us into.
So, I have a prophetic invitation for you for 2023... go back to the future.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
John 14:12, ESV
Are you challenged by Jesus’ words in John 14:12? I think for centuries, believers have either read past them quickly (due to the discomforting reality they introduced), or worse, have attempted to redefine them. Simply put, Jesus invites those who believe into a dimension of life where we would do the same works He did through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit… and yes, greater works. By studying both context and the original language, you cannot escape the reality that works points to miraculous demonstrations of power.
Here's the problem: 50 to 60 years ago, we were witnessing, in many ways, the same works that Jesus did. I am not talking about super-spiritual saints from the Book of Acts or even the first three-hundred years of church history (for more about how the early church was launched and carried by supernatural power, read my book Pentecostal Fire or Dr. Francis MacNutt’s outstanding work, The Nearly Perfect Crime).
There was a day, not too long ago, when in America, names like Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, A.A. Allen, Jack Coe, TL Osborn, William Branham, John G. Lake, Smith Wigglesworth, and others witnessed with regularity miraculous exploits that sounded like they were taken straight from the Book of Acts. Many recognize this period of history as a time of Healing Revival, combined with the emergence of the modern mass evangelistic crusade (with Dr. Billy Graham being the key figurehead there) and the Latter Rain revival of the late 1940’s, where it was taught that all believers had Bible-access to operate in the gifts of the Spirit, the impartation of spiritual gifts through the laying on of hands, and emphasis on the restoration of the five-fold ministry. Each came with its unique controversy, of course. The point? We witnessed something in the twentieth century that, truth be told, we need to go back to in order for us to go forward.
I don’t have a multiple page “Thus saith the Lord” prophetic word to give you, but I do believe the Holy Spirit offered me a few poignant phrases that will help us get back on page with Jesus’ objective: a people who operate in the same works He did, and press in to see greater works.
“If you want what they (revivalists of old) had, you need to preach what they preached.” Demonstrations of Holy Spirit power confirmed what? Not people, not servants, not influencers. Signs, wonders and miracles confirm the Word (see Mk. 16:20). In the last 30-40 years, after the Charismatic Renewal of the 1960’s and Jesus Revolution / Jesus People Movement of the 1960’s and 70’s, we – in many regards – redefined the Gospel. It’s become “Come to Jesus and He’ll make all your dreams come true” instead of “Jesus died for your sins. God loves you, you’re a sinner, and there is a great chasm between you and God right now because of your sin. Receive the atoning work of Jesus’ blood so you can have right sanding before a holy God.” This was the message thundered by the awakeners of old: George Whitefield, John Wesley, and Jonathan Edwards. Charles Finney preached and personified this message. Billy Graham surely did not water it down, regardless of how many people showed up at his meetings. It’s time to preach the Gospel again and anticipate signs, wonders, healings and miracles to break out as attestations to the purity of the Gospel message.
“2023 is a year of oil and fire.” Many prophets presented the invitation of Psalm 23 as a Scripture of note for 2023. One phrase I do believe the Lord is highlighting from the oft-repeated psalm is “you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” For those willing to “buy oil,” which speaks of cultivating a deep, Scripture-based and experiential one-on-one relationship with the Lord, I believe there is a divine summons to experience what Paul describes as the ”fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). Truly being filled with the fullness of Holy Spirit points to an overflowing cup; you are so filled, the Holy Spirit within you starts resting upon you and spills out of you. Truly, filled and saturated people impact the atmosphere around them because of how much Holy Spirit oil is pouring out of their lives. This is the result of what is cultivated in secret, not paraded before onlooking masses.
If you go back, you will go forward into the future with supernaturally-infused momentum. Heaven is waiting for a people to return to the ancient paths, preach the Scriptural Gospel, and do the works of Jesus. It’s not complicated. We’ve redefined Christianity to cater to a fast-food, pop-culture, social media generation. For nearly two-thousand years, saints, martyrs, reformers and revivalists burned with an uncompromised, demands-all Gospel message that often came with an attestation of Kingdom power. Who are we in the twenty-first century to have the audacity to move those ancient boundary stones and adjust the Gospel and wholehearted surrender to Jesus to accommodate modern comforts? I’m convinced if we study what the men and women of old preached, how they lived, and begin re-introducing priorities such as prayer, holy fear, God-centric worship, a passion for solid theology, the supremacy of Christ, the centrality of God’s glory, and unrestrained and restricted Holy Spirit, we would pick up where our forefathers (and mothers) left off. At this point, we would witness the same miraculous works that Jesus did being performed again by a Spirit-saturated company of people, and quickly escalate into that end-times demonstration of “greater works” that will accompany the preaching of the Gospel and happen rapidly as communities, cities, regions, and even nations experience radical in-breakings of the raw, tangible, holy Shekinah glory of God. Let it be so, Lord!