Tag: prophecy

Leadership 101: Holding On To The Prophetic Word Given To You

by Brianboswell

I believe life to be a struggle. And I think its that way because that is the way God designed it. He wants us to struggle so as to encourage us to put our trust in Him. When things go smoothly, its much more difficult to admit your need for Him. But when things are falling apart, you are forced into His arms confessing your need for Him.

In leadership, there are points in your journey that God purposely puts there to reawaken the leader to his need for God. Sometimes a leader can become so reliant on their giftings that they will rely more on themselves than they do on God.

Godly leadership must always come from a heart of knowing that we are utterly dependent on God to accomplish his calling in our lives. When we take the calling that He has given to us and try to accomplish it in our own strength it will always fail.

Think about the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. Abraham was given a prophetic promise from God – a calling. God had given Abraham and Sarah the promise of a son and truly more than that, a promise of offspring that would be innumerable.

But after years of believing for that promise, they began to doubt. It was not a lot of doubt, but they began to doubt. And when doubt creeps in, one of the tendencies in leadership is to try to “help God out” and in our strength try to bring about the promises of God rather than waiting for God to fulfill what He has promised us.

Continue reading “Leadership 101: Holding On To The Prophetic Word Given To You” →

American Idolatry: How Identity Becomes An Idol

by Brianboswell

If you are just joining us, you’ve caught us in the middle of a series we started a few weeks back called American Idolatry, where we are looking at some of the idols that are prevalent in American culture. Now these idols can obviously be found in people groups all over the world, but the one’s I’m picking out for the show seems to be especially prevalent in American culture.

Today’s topic is the idol of identity. As we know from the book of Genesis, man was created in the image of God. We were created with a certain identity. Who we are and how we relate to God is wrapped up in our identity. Being made in God’s image has tons of implications and first and foremost it identifies us as like God, but not God. We are made to be like him, but we aren’t him. We are a copy, he is the master.

One of the problems in American culture stems from one of the things that I think makes it great, the old “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps” mentality. Americans are known to be individualists. We don’t need anyone else and we can prove it. The problem with this thinking is the face that we are made in the image of a Triune God. Because God is Triune, he is in perfect community within himself. We also should be in community. We Continue reading “American Idolatry: How Identity Becomes An Idol” →

Consolation: Prophetic Healing

by Brianboswell

Consolation_ Prophetic Healing

This week we are studying the gift of prophecy and what it means to be prophetic. We started this conversation on the Everyday Jesus podcast. You can catch up by clicking the play button on the player below:

Consolation: This is the last purpose we are going to look at in regards to the gift of prophecy. Earlier this week we looked at edification and exhortation. Consolation is quite different from those two. Prophetic consolation can be a form of healing to those whom the Lord is ministering.

Consolation is defined as the comfort a person receives after a loss or disappointment. Prophetic consolation is the act of sharing a word with someone that comforts them after a loss or a disappointment during one of those times.

As Christians, we are not promised a life filled with sunshine and roses. You will go Continue reading “Consolation: Prophetic Healing” →

Exhortation and Prophecy

by Brianboswell

katherine schmidtThis week we are studying the gift of prophecy and what it means to be prophetic. We started this conversation in on the Everyday Jesus podcast. You can catch up by clicking the play button on the player below:

Today I want to look at the second purpose of prophecy as stated by Paul in 1st Corinthians – exhortation. What is exhortation? Exhortation is defined as emphatically urging someone to do something. Another word for exhorting may be encouraging.

I’ve found in my life that sometimes I need some encouragement to go out and do things for God. I can easily get stagnant or self-consumed. When I’m focusing too much on myself and my agenda, God will sometimes send encouragement to me through prophetic giftings and people.

So what should prophetic words exhort people to do? Obey the word of God for one. James says to be doers of the word and not just hearers of the word (1:22). Being a doer of the word means following the commands of Christ. A good prophetic word will encourage others to follow Christ’s commands.

Jesus, throughout the gospels, uses prophetic exhortation on multiple occasions. When he encounters the rich, young ruler, he encourages the young man to sell all of his possession and come and follow him. That was an exhortation.

Jesus also said to those whom he encountered, “Go and sin no more”. This is an example of a prophetic exhortation. Jesus was encouraging people to break free from the bonds of sin. And while these people would not be able to fulfill this encouragement, it’s useful none-the-less because God sees the heart.

Over the years, I’ve had many people encourage me to write. So part of my journey has been to listen to the prophetic encouragement I’ve received and to write. And this encouragement has came over and over again and I’ve needed it over and over again. I’m personally thankful for those who continue to encourage me. I hope to be as encouraging as you are.

Related Links:

True Prophecy Edifies the Body

The Holy Spirit and Prophecy

The Spiritual Gift of Prophecy

True Prophecy Edifies the Body

by Brianboswell

True Prophecy Edifies the BodyThis week we are studying the gift of prophecy and what it means to be prophetic. We started this conversation in on the Everyday Jesus podcast. You can catch up by clicking the play button on the player below:

Paul, in his first letter to the church in Corinth, says that prophecy was given to the church for three purposes: edification, exhortation and consolation. Today, let’s look at edification. Edification, simply put, is “building up”. Prophecy is supposed to build up the church.

Continue reading “True Prophecy Edifies the Body” →

The Holy Spirit and Prophecy

by Brianboswell

The holy spirit and prophecyToday, we continue our discussion on the gift of prophecy that was started on the Everyday Jesus podcast, which can be found by clicking the play button on the player below:

Let’s discuss one of the primary results of the Holy Spirit, which is to proclaim the Word of God. In multiple instances in the Book of Acts we see that when the Holy Spirit moves, prophecy is the result. It’s important to note that when God promised to pour out his Spirit in Joel, the result was predicted to be prophetic visions and dreams. Peter in his Continue reading “The Holy Spirit and Prophecy” →

The Spiritual Gift of Prophecy

by Brianboswell

More Than I ShouldIn this episode of the Everyday Jesus podcast, we look at the gift of prophecy. Prophecy is scary for a lot of people and this week I look to calm your fears on this important gift. Our Good News is about a survey that says regularly attending church makes people happier. Our Unreached People Group is the Dhobi of India. And in Today’s Word, we look at the testimony of Jesus Christ.

“20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.” 1st Thess. 5:20-22 Continue reading “The Spiritual Gift of Prophecy” →

Christmas: Why God Sent His Son

by Brianboswell

Merry Christmas! (1).png

Note: This was taken from a sermon I preached on Christmas Eve this year at my home church. I hope you have a blessed Christmas!

Why did God send His Son?

Every year at Christmas we are reminded that God sent his Son into the world as a baby – a small, helpless child. We drive down the street and we are reminded of it as we drive past nativity scenes. Our songs on the radio, like Joy to the World, Away in a Manger and O Little Town of Bethlehem, sing praise to the fact that Jesus came. But tonight, I want to Continue reading “Christmas: Why God Sent His Son” →