I discovered I was prophetic kind of by chance after a friend invited me to a prophetic teaching meeting hosted by her then church not long after I started my application for BSSM. At this point I had no idea what the prophetic was or what it meant. During the ‘activation’ part of the meeting the person leading had us get in pairs and try to ‘hear’ God’s heart for the other person. So, we did this for a few minutes and then shared the prophetic word. That was my first word ever. The person started weeping and I thought I’d said something wrong. However, when she gave her feedback, she confirmed all that I’d said to be true and she was encouraged.

This was the first time I had ‘officially’ given a prophetic word and the encouraging part for me was that I could hear God’s voice in different ways. As far as I can remember, this was the first time I’d been aware that God spoke to me through picture. Before that, I thought it was just my imagination. So, I was also learning that because I am a visual person, God had used a way to communicate with me that would make sense to me because I already saw and interpreted the world around me through pictures and colours.

After the first prophetic word I gave, I was more encouraged to pay attention to God’s voice when praying for people. Normally, I would pray or encourage people and they would sometimes be surprised at what I was praying or saying and would give feedback that it’s what they had been praying about or needed clarity on. I also grew up dreaming a lot (I still do) sometimes about things that were going to happen and they would actually happen, but I never told anyone because I thought it was a bad thing and that somehow I would get into trouble for knowing. I had no idea that this was one of the main ways God used to share things in his heart with me – or that it had anything to do with gifting.

During my teens I would meet a lot of random people (mainly elderly) usually on my way to the shops and they would say the most random things to me about my then present and future, but somehow what they said always made sense and I was always encouraged. Now, I would say those were my first prophetic words, except at that time I would not have had the terminology. After all, I am the girl who grew up in an Anglican church where God spoke only through the pastor and the Holy Bible. Even though the environment itself was spiritually rich, no one in church talked about spiritual gifts, let alone that God speaks directly to us and through us.

All this to say, it is only when I began to ask God questions that He started leading me and directing me in ways that I could see towards the answers that I was seeking and revealing the gifts that were there all along. I am not there yet – far from – but I hope that I never lose the desire to learn and to discover.

By Pumlani Sidlayi