The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!” John 7:46 NKJV

Doug Casey, in his Conversations With Casey, basically says that America is finished, that the best thing you can do is destroy your smart phone and move to South America. Over the last three years, I have gone to nineteen of the twenty-one cities (still two to go this year) in the USA that the Lord has assigned us to go, and I would say that the condition of the country is desperate.

The most egregious example was San Francisco, where we failed to find a functioning church within the city limits. A youth pastor, in a city just south of there, described San Francisco as ‘the city where churches go to die.’ The view is bleak, but the great X factor in the equation, the great hope for America, and for the world, is the Church, the worldwide body of born-again ones!

If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. 1 Peter 4:11  NKJV

In this equation, God is the constant, we are the variable. What we bring to the table will determine how the equation turns out. The key to all of this is that we must learn to make Jesus Christ relevant to our immediate world around us. We may say, I’m a good person, I do good things. That’s commendable, perhaps, but honestly, you can be unsaved and do good things. Doing good works like that is not a witness of anything. In Nairobi, in ’98, at the American Embassy bombing, the first humanitarian effort on site was not the Red Cross, but the Red Crescent. I know, because I was there. We must learn to become effective witnesses of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” John 4:39 NKJV

The easiest way to do this is to learn to prophesy by the Spirit of God. I greatly respect my friend Carl because he can prophesy to anyone. I’ve watched him do this over and over. One time we stood on a street corner with three guys, three total strangers, while he told them intimate details about their personal lives. Those men weren’t quite ready to receive Him, but they left knowing that there is a God who reveals secrets, and understands the lives of men.

But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets…Dan 2:28 NKJV

Can we learn to prophesy, out on the street, in our daily lives, thereby with revelation knowledge and the power of God making Jesus relevant to those in our universe?

…if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith… Rom 12:6-7 NKJV

What makes an effective speaker? Back in Bible college days, we took the Dale Carnegie Public Speaking Course, which was one of the most liberating classroom experiences I have ever had. In the course we learned that there are two great essentials of an effective speaker – having something to say, and having a burning desire to say it.

One thing I discovered about myself when I learned to prophesy like this was that I loved people, but I didn’t necessarily like them. People have an almost instant innate perception of how others perceive them which to a great degree determines if they will be open to them, or not. Carl genuinely likes people, with no agenda, which opens great doors for him. I’m still a work in progress!

Let’s learn how to prophesy to anyone anywhere at any time.

But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.  Luke 21:13-16 NKJV

Something to say, and a burning desire to say it.

I understood this because when I go to preach I’m like a racehorse in the gate ready to run for the roses.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. John 14:26 NKJV

Something to say comes from the Word of God that He has planted in your heart. Many times, you will prophesy things that you have no sense knowledge perception of at all. He is teaching you something new, or He is bringing truth up in your heart, or both. This is why you can’t ‘study’ to prophesy, but the study of the Word will prepare your heart for prophecy. Do you understand?

When I meet a person, I consciously think about what I can give to them in love. This thinking primes the pump for prophecy!

There will be a word there, if you ask for it, and the Spirit of God will nag you to say it. You will learn that God really loves you, and the other person, and that He has a perfect awareness of every detail of everything.

He will do things just to love on you (you have to receive love before you can give it out!). I love my San Francisco Giants baseball team (Yes…THAT city!) like my friend Medad loves his Manchester United. Last week they had a losing streak of historic proportions. They were 0-for-September! But one afternoon I walked into a brand-new Starbucks coffeehouse to meet someone, and the moment I walked in, over the speakers I heard Tony Bennett’s great song, I LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO. I heard that, and I knew that the Giants were going to win that night, because that song is played at AT&T Park at the end of every Giants night game when they win. And they did!

God loves San Francisco, too…and He loves the filthiest. nastiest, meanest person you will ever come across! If you can love that person, and even decide to like them, you can prophesy to them effectively. Remember also that they may wear clothes worth thousands of dollars, and live in a penthouse, but they still desperately need to hear a word from God. You are called to deliver it!

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Rom 10:17 NKJV

Many times when I have ministered healing in power its because I was able to prophesy a word that opened their heart. My friends Bill and Lorna and their three little warriors up in Alaska do this with astonishing effectiveness out on the street. They just love people, like people and seek doors through which to walk. This ain’t rocket science!

Dear ones, the times are bleak. But, the darker the night, the brighter the stars shine! Get in the game. Make Jesus Christ relevant to the people around you by demonstrating His power, and bring glory to His name. There is hope, but we are the X factor in this critical hour. Whatever we do in faith and love, God will multiply it BIG! For the sake of the lost and the dying, get in the game!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…