PROPHETIC WORDS

PROPHETIC INSIGHTS FOR 2020

by Lyn Packer

January 2020

We are in a huge time of God-initiated disruption and reformation in the church. This is happening on many fronts at the same time as God works to bring us to a place of greater maturity in Christ – individually, and as the church as a whole. We can expect further disruptions over the years ahead as the Trinity work to bring the church back into line with their original plans and dreams for it.

The following are the things I’ve seen and heard from the Lord as I’ve prayed, and the understanding the Lord has given me regarding them. These insights are not presented in a “Thus sayeth the Lord” type format but are, I believe, God-given prophetic insight none-the-less. They are not so much a prophetic word for 2020 as they are prophetic understanding of the time and season we are in. I submit them to you as being a part of what the Lord is doing, not the full picture. All prophets, including myself, only see in part; that’s why we need each other in the Body of Christ. As we each bring our part and put them together we get a clearer picture of what the Lord is doing in the world.

The Church and the New Wineskin

God is at work in us, doing a huge internal personal work that will bring us to a greater place of maturity and love. In that work we are being made ready as a new wineskin that is pliable and able to hold the new wine that Scripture talks about – the new wine being Christ Himself and the realities made available to us in the New Covenant. Many people are talking about needing a new wineskin in the church, and in doing so are referring to church structures needing to be changed. However that is like putting the cart before the horse and expecting movement that makes sense and takes us somewhere that we need to go. Of the two types of reformation – personal reformation and church structure reformation – personal reformation is the more important because that is what will lead to lasting structural reformation. As we each are reformed and renewed then changes will be made to the way we live as the church and, eventually, to church structures. We cannot just make church structure changes without the personal changes taking place first; to do so would be unwise and end up making more divisions in the Body of Christ, rather than strengthening us in our unity in the faith in Christ.

The vision I’ve seen for the church in the days ahead is one that is not anti-institution and structure, or pro-institution and structure, but is trans-institutional and trans-structural. It will not do away with structure and institution altogether, as some of that is necessary to ensure the well-being and care of church members, provide for their growth, discipleship etc. But church will become more diverse and radically collaborative – working across, and outside, church boundaries and denominations, seeking and working for the common good of those both inside and outside the church as we currently know it. We will be the church rather than just go to church.

Reframing how we see the Trinity

Over the past couple of decades the Trinity have been at work changing how the church views them and what the church believes about them. How the Trinity is understood is being changed in light of a greater understanding of the original scriptures that is being released. We have seen over the past few decades in particular huge changes to our understanding of how God’s goodness and love is outworked, and that is challenging the church immensely. Currently many centuries of religious beliefs are being challenged and re-examined. This in itself is nothing new, as all through Scripture we see people’s ideas about what God is like being challenged and changed as more revelation and understanding is revealed, with Jesus bringing us the clearest picture of God’s nature, character and love for all mankind. We must remain open and willing to listen and weigh things up in the light of what Scripture reveals overall, especially as we gain more understanding of its original meaning.

Creativity and Invention

We are in a time of the release of incredible creativity and invention. Watch for, and expect, an explosion of creativity and inventiveness in the church, and from unexpected nations. The arts, sciences and technology are already recognised as society shapers, but we will see an even greater release of both those with good and bad intentions who will seek to take advantage of the influence these things have. Watch for India and Israel to take an increasing place on the world stage with inventions that will have huge impact globally.

The Planet

We are in a time of greater awakening world-wide in regards to the planet and the need to care for it. As part of this the church is being awakened to what it means to fulfil the original mandate given to mankind – to steward and care for the earth. Added to that, under the New Covenant, ask the Lord for an establishing of the reality of “on earth as it is in heaven” here. We are being awakened to the needs of the planet itself, as well as the people who live on it, in terms of care, sustainability, ecology, etc. Ask for, and expect, creative solutions to be released to the church that will bring huge benefit to mankind and to the planet.

The Prophetic

We are in a season where sight and hearing prophetically has increased on a scale never seen before. This is a time where many things are coming into sharper focus and we are seeing more clearly what God has in mind for mankind, and the earth we live in, as He moves toward the restoration of all things.

God is calling prophetic people into a new place of maturity and accountability in what they share, to learn how to rightly interpret what they see. This will call for a humility and allowing others to question, and ask for explanation of, our interpretations. He is calling prophetic people who have separated themselves from the Body of Christ to move beyond their woundedness, to get healed and be restored to their right place as part of the Body, not separate from it.

Prophets are coming into a place where their words will go out with the power needed to see that word manifested and established. Understanding the power of our words is becoming more and more critical, and the knowledge of how to wisely release them to go to work creatively in the world is increasing; we are learning how to send words with intent to create and establish Kingdom realities in the earth.

The Fulfilment of Prophetic Words

It’s a time of learning the right balance between waiting for God to fulfil the words spoken over us and knowing how we should work with Him in their fulfilling, We know that faith without works is dead (James 2:17) but getting the balance between faith and works has often been a problem for the church. This is a time to work together with the Lord, receiving His strategy, and working with Him to see unfulfilled prophetic words become fulfilled ones.

Ministry

There will be an explosion of new ministries birthed through people who the church has overlooked because they didn’t fit their idea of ministers. These people will make huge differences in their communities by being the church and taking God into the community, instead of expecting the community to come into the church.

There is a resetting of a pendulum swing that took place over the past couple of decades. The emphasis on self-promotion in ministry will settle back into a more balanced place. There will be less self-promotion and more effortless self-expression. In other words people will get on and do the job rather than focusing huge amounts of energy and time in trying to promote their ministry, brand, or build a huge platform. There has been a major emphasis over the last decade or so on self-promotion – building your brand and platform – that has been taken by some to a wrong extreme in the church. It’s not wrong to have a brand, a logo etc. – that’s often how people recognise and find you, and what you do – but when it is about pushing yourself forward in self-promotion it is a wrong emphasis. In God’s Kingdom ministry is not about fame, or even about having a huge influence; it’s about serving God and those around us from a place of love and humility.

Women in Ministry

We will continue to see the raising up, by God, of powerful women ministers who will take their place in the harvest field, in making disciples, in creativity, preaching, five-fold ministry and in generally advancing the Kingdom of God in the earth in every sphere of society. It’s a time of rightful recognition and balance being restored in regards to women in the church. Expect to see a right understanding of women’s roles in God’s Kingdom beginning to emerge in countries where women have long been the most severely repressed. Also there will be a backlash from those who believe that women should not be in ministry leadership, as they try to defend long-held positions. However what God is doing will not be able to be shut down this time.

Information Release and the War Against Love

We are in a time where huge amounts of information, understanding, and correspondingly misinformation and misunderstanding, are being released worldwide. We are bombarded with opinions, beliefs and misinformation daily through media and social media. In it the enemy’s plan is to try and get us to take sides as Christians, and in doing so, dismiss those with conflicting opinions as being unworthy of our time or effort to listen to and understand them. In the end what we are up against is a battle being waged to stop us living in the ways of love. Make no mistake, this is the end purpose behind what is happening as people take sides on issues – it is a war against love, compassion, understanding and acceptance of each other as people created, loved and sought out in love, by God Himself!

Kingdom Understanding and Authority

There is a release of understanding in the ways of God and His Kingdom, especially in understanding the New Covenant and how that relates to our everyday life. This is challenging many long-held beliefs and not all those challenges are bad; many are needed and necessary for us to grow in understanding God and our place in His Kingdom. As we gain this understanding it brings with it a corresponding increase in governmental authority as sons and daughters of God. As we understand what Christ did for us in His birth, death, resurrection and in establishing the New Covenant between God and man, we can step into administering that – not in a ‘lording it over’ style of dominion, but in a ‘serving people and the world we live in’ type of dominion, one that influences by love and serving, rather than by dictating. Along with that comes the release of the resources needed to serve the church and the world around us.

Justice

Recently I felt the Lord say that it’s time for injustices to be put right. I felt him say that He was working to set injustices right in people’s lives, and that it would mean that as part of that work He is doing, those who have been treated unjustly would need to see the situation with new eyes – to see what He wants to do in the situation, not just what they would like to see happen. God’s justice is fully redemptive, it’s restorative, it goes beyond setting a situation right to setting the people right – making them righteous.

You can read the full prophetic word here – www.nzpropheticnetwork.com/injustices-are-being-put-right-by-lyn-packer

Conclusion and Outworking

I pray that these prophetic insights will give you understanding of some of the things God is doing, and provide some good prayer and intercessory prompts for you as you go forward into this year.

They also give us each a chance to ask the Lord, “How do these things apply to my life? How do you want me to partner with You in seeing them become manifested and established in the earth, in my nation, in my city, and in my family?”

Bless you as you head into this year. I pray that all the Lord’s plans and desires for your life will be fulfilled.

BIO