There is no substitute for stepping out.

One time the Lord asked me to step out was at a prophetic conference at Bethel. I was in the Great Room with some others prophesying over participants in the audience.

The Lord highlighted a lady in the audience and only gave me one word: “bosom.” My reaction to the Lord was, “Really? You want me to say, ‘bosom?’” That’s all I received.

I stepped out and asked the lady the Lord had highlighted to stand. I gave her the word and everyone laughed, as I had expected they would. Then I proceeded to ask her a number of questions: Was she a mother? Did she have children? Etc.

Nothing connected and then I proceeded to give her an interpretation of the prophetic word since I assumed it had something to do with nurturing children.

The lady sat down. I knew it was the Lord because I would not have thought of the word, nor to give her that word and become the butt of the joke.

Little did I know that after that session a friend of the lady over whom I had prophesied came up to me and explained how the word resonated with her friend. The person to whom I had given the word had to leave immediately after the meeting and therefore could not talk to me herself. She wanted her friend to tell me that she oversaw a large street ministry to children in Brazil and the word totally resonated with her.

Let me encourage you to step out in faith. Often the Lord does not give me the rest of the prophetic word until I open my mouth and give the one word that He has given me, whether or not it makes sense to me.

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. Psalm 81:10

Although this verse speaks about how God provided manna for his people when they were in the wilderness and not about filling the mouth with words, it does speak about Him longing for obedience so that He could bless them with food.

In the same way God longs for our obedience to step out with what He’s given us so that he can bless us with more. How is God encouraging you to step out with prophetic words? How is He wanting you to practice?

By Ralph Veenstra