[Response to Len who wrote: It used to be that I thought of "the prophetic" narrowly in terms of dreams, words of knowledge, visions etc.. I used to think that was the "big picture" and the main thing. I have since changed to see the heart of the prophetic as expressing Gods heart for the church and for the world. Geez.. How dumb could I be.. Read the OT.. How many personal, private words do you read there? ]
OK, well, now that would probably start to answer Chris' real question: how do you teach people to hear God's voice? I'd say most of the time, it's just a question of growing into it. Just like we have to learn pretty much everything from someone, we do learn also to hear God by hanging around godly people.
But the rest deserves also some development. Not sure I got the energy today but I would say this: we will touch something unique and personal in our relationship with God if we try to learn what it is that happened when He incarnated Himself to live here, how He emptied Himself completely of all his rights to divinity, then, emptied Himself of all His rights to be human, plunging into death.
Something happened in God, and in Jesus. Just like one might try to understand why they're loved by their buddies, or their friends, why someone would be mean or kind to them, because in that analysis we hope to find our value as people. I would venture to say that God likes when we try to understand His heart, not just in an evangelistic way, but in a human way, because I'm not sure we really grasp the divine yet.
Encouraging people to grow in the prophetic would also find substance in making them aware that there are many types of language, and that God also speaks through dfferent means, and for different reasons. Nature is a good and easy one to get, beautiful landscapes, the intimidating and breath-taking power of natural disasters, the infinite tenderness of textures and colors, but in nature, you also find a deeper expression of God's perfections in the way nature relates to nature.
Taking a pencil and drawing, or writing, reading or dancing, having a meal, all means of expression that we live with every day. God speaks through them all. Just as we do. It's as simple as that. I think the gradual realization of the reality of things takes us on a journey that can be quite long. Then one day, we realize that we have been following a path that kept us within the boundaries of integrity, honesty, purity and charity. We have heard God's voice and obeyed it. It all depends what image we're trying to conform to.
[ Chris: But it leads into a more practical problem in that I don't really see the gift of prophecy as very evident in my particular community, and I was wondering what other people's experiences were with encouraging and training people in it? It seems like something that would certainly be beneficial considering the emphasis that Paul puts on it when speaking of spiritual gifts.]
Maybe, you could start looking for what measure of God is expressed in the life of that community. The rule of the kingdom, in action. Also learn to discern in what way your own heart is triggered by the prophetic environment you find yourself in. What is revealed to you about yourself when God speaks, and when man speaks.
I would encourage people to know God through His love, and to do likewise unto others. And not expect to be perfect overnight, but live with the rawness of the blahness of the human experience without trying to hide your nudity, but relying on God's covering, and His ways of changing you. As I believe the Lord spoke to me one day as I was musing over all this, "Love is the ultimate expression of the prophetic."
Blessings,
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