This is by no means a comprehensive guide to ministering in the prophetic.  Just a few things I’ve personally learned over the last few years.
Once I was praying for a friend.  I saw a Viking helmet on his head.  I don’t know how I saw it.  It could have been in the spirit, or maybe just in my imagination, but I believed it was from the Lord.  “What could that mean?” I thought.  Is that something negative?  I got an interpretation that I believed was from the Lord (and it may very well have been).  Here’s the funny thing however.  When I shared the word, I thought it was symbolic.  “Of course it’s symbolic.” I thought.  “How could a Viking helmet be a word of knowledge?”  Well it turned out the last few weeks, my friend had been watching a program on TV about Vikings and the Lord was showing him a lot through it.  So was my word a word of knowledge or prophecy?  Probably more of a word of knowledge than a prophecy, however I didn’t know that when I gave it.

1. Don’t worry about whether a word is prophetic/symbolic or a word of knowledge.  

I would say 90% of the time, when I receive a word of knowledge, I don’t know it’s a word of knowledge.  Obviously there is a distinctive difference between a word of knowledge and a prophecy.  A word of knowledge is a current piece of information you receive from the Holy Spirit that you could not otherwise know.  A prophecy refers to the future. So what if you receive a picture, vision or word from the Lord, and you don’t know what it is? Is it a word of knowledge or a prophecy?  I am continually more and more convinced that we don’t necessarily need to know if it’s one or the other.

2. Don’t be afraid of the dark.  That’s where God trains us in humility and childlikeness.

Sometimes getting a word from the Lord is like reaching out in pitch black darkness hoping to feel something.  You don’t necessarily feel confident.  That’s where words of knowledge are so useful however.  If you give a prophecy to someone, it’s sometimes difficult to judge the word, and determine how reliable it is.  However, if it’s a word of knowledge, it won’t take long to find out if it was from the Lord or not. I believe this particular dynamic in itself is part of the way God trains us in humility and child-likeness.  It takes some courage to share something you don’t understand at all. Something that seems strange or funny, or might make you downright look stupid if it’s wrong. I was praying for a young woman by the name of Victoria.  I kept hearing the word “victorious beauty” going through my head.  Again, I was striving to understand what it could mean.  Was it because I thought she was beautiful?  Or was it the Lord?  I just shared it, not really knowing what it meant.  Then she said “my middle name is Beauty.”  Sometimes the most encouraging word a person can get is a word of knowledge.  Just to know that God knows you, and sees you right where you’re at.  It’s powerful.

3. Prophecy and words of knowledge go hand in hand 

Scripture doesn’t necessarily separate them like we tend to.  In 1 Corinthians 14:24,25 Pauls says “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, ²⁵ the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.”  Paul refers to prophesy talking about secrets of one’s heart being disclosed.  I would say disclosing secrets of one’s heart is a word of knowledge.  It’s not necessarily predicting the future. Shawn Boltz, who ministers in a phenomenal prophetic gift once shared a concept he learned from the great prophet Bob Jones when ministering in the prophetic. He will share a word of knowledge, and if the word of knowledge is accurate, then he knows the prophecy is right also, so only then will he share the prophecy.  It lines up perfectly with Jesus speaking to Nathaniel in the gospel of John.  First Jesus spoke to his identity: “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” then he went on and prophesied about his future:  “Truly, truly, I say to you,^[k] you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

4. If you don’t have an interpretation, don’t share it. 

In his book Basic Training for the Prophetic Ministry, Kris Vallotton teaches “If you have an interpretation, share it.  If the Lord is not giving you an interpretation, then don’t try to come up with one.”  Just share the word.  Chances are the person will have one.  Perhaps  we attribute to ourselves far too much responsibility for explaining words.  Many great prophetic words get messed up by bad interpretation.  I was praying for one guy and I saw Jesus giving him sunglasses.  Here we go again.  I thought it was symbolic, so I started giving him this profound interpretation of what it represented.  Then he told me “I’ve been thinking about that the whole day today.  How much I want to get some sunglasses.”

5. Step out. 

I have been asking the Lord to give me names of people He wants me to share something prophetic with.  Let me tell you from personal experience, it’s not a very thrilling place to be when you get up on stage, and call out some names, and all that happens is awkward silence. And your brain is about to explode trying to come up with what to say.  I’ve done that several times.  I’ll share one last story. I was on a ministry trip in Arroyo Grande, CA.  I felt like the Lord gave me a name.  In the previous city I thought I got two names from the Lord however none of them were in the room.  It was very awkward.  This time we were in a ministry school so everyone had badges. I thought “great, I’ll just try to find the person with the name I got and I won’t have to get humiliated if they’re not here.”  I didn’t see anyone with that name.  So when the time came to minister on stage, I was afraid to call out the name, because I was sure there was nobody there with that name.  I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to call it out anyway.  I honestly thought it was part of my humility training – learning to be o.k. with looking stupid sometimes.  When I called out the name a young woman’s hand shot up in the air and she jumped up and yelled out “that’s me!”  The only problem was that the name I called out was Heather, and her name badge said Miranda.  “I go by my second name, but my first name is Heather!”  I gave here the word the Lord gave me for her, and she was very blessed.  There’s only one way to learn to step out in the prophetic.  That’s doing it over and over again, and learning to be o.k. with feeling awkward and stupid sometimes.

        6. Learn how you hear from God. 

I recently finished a book I highly recommend by Doug Addison on dream interpretation called Understand Your Dreams Now.  Doug often encourages people to journal as one of the key ways we learn how we hear from God.  When you write things down you have a record to check and see how things played out, and how accurate a word was.  Write down not only the word, dream or whatever, but how it felt, how God spoke to you, what did you sense, what did you see.  This is a practical way to train ourselves to hear God’s voice.

Hopefully my stories of success and failure will encourage you to step out, and share God’s love through the power of the prophetic, even when it feels like you’re in the dark. “I wish… even more that you prophesied…” 1 Corinthians 14:5

What is one area that feels like you’re in the dark, but you know you need to step out in faith and do what Holy Spirit is leading you to do?
Feel free to comment, share any questions or disagreements below. :)

Image courtesy of  Hans Splinter on Flickr