Stewardship and Survival Tools For Prophetic Feeling

I have been intentionally pressing into understanding and learning how to manage the gift of Prophetic Feeling for around two years now.  In this last year the Father has really brought significant breakthrough in understanding for how to be intentional in this gifting. One of the key revelations to step into with this gift as well as any other gift from the Holy Spirit stems from stewardship. The stewardship and management of this gift or any other spiritual gifting, is placed with me.  Peter says it this way in 1 Peter 4:9-11; "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ."  This passage is packed with several meaty concepts but lets focus on who and how concepts of spiritual gifts. Here is what I see:

1) The gift is intended for the service and care of others.
2) We have a choice whether to offer the gift and how to move in it.
3) We are called to be stewards of God's grace and stewards of the gifting he has given us.

The central piece I want to focus on for this blog posting is that the management of the gift, the steering wheel and gear shift for prophetic feeling is not up in heaven somewhere.  It is with us and in us!  This is hard to say and even harder to hear because I know we have suffered and wrestled trying to figure how how to walk this out.  However, we now in a new day and a new season and Papa is bringing breakthrough revelation and instruction.  In order to grow in Prophetic Feeling we must first own and value our gifting.  Below I have written out two simple steps and a few tools that have been helpful in my process of learning to manage prophetic feeling.

Step One:  Own your gift.  For over 30 years I asked the Father to take this gift away because it caused me such great suffering.  He has compassion on me and on us in our struggle but he desires for us to own what he has given.  You will not be able to grow or make much progress in prophetic feeling unless you embrace it. Just tell the Father that you receive this gift and thank Him for it.  Thank Him ahead of time that he will bring help and instruction as you step into what He has for you.

Step Two: If you have sought to shut-down or disown your gift- repent.  If you have cursed your gift (as I have done in the past) repent for that as well.  Repent literally means to change your mind and change your thinking.  Honestly, I first repented as an act of my will and not because my feelings on the matter had changed.  :-)  I prayed something along the lines of, "Father I repent for disowning, and devaluing the gift of prophetic feeling.  This gift has caused me great suffering and I am tired of the struggle but I know that you give good gifts and you desire for me to thrive and move in harmony with you.  I repent for every time I have cursed and disowned my gifting.  I turn around and choose to step into what you have given me."

Going through those steps can be difficult at first because we have to choose to accept the experience before we understand how to survive or manage all that the gifting entails.  Well done, that took courage!  Once I went through the process above, I found that my gifting increased and the Father started reconnecting some of my severed circuits (if you will) and it was intimidating.  This entry is getting long but I want to leave you with some foundational tools to utilize as you begin to own and explore your gifting.  Sometimes I just use one tool and other times two or three.  There are days that the tools seem are more effective than others, but it's a starting point!

Beginning Survival Tools:

Tool No. 1 - 5 Second Awareness Check
I was first taught this tool during a Sozo session while visiting Bethel.  As you are leaving home or just before entering a gathering or large group of people check your emotional and spiritual state.  How generally do you feel?  What is your mood? What are you generally thinking about?  Put a memory marker down in that place and go about your business.  When you find yourself experiencing strong emotions, tugs or pushes go back to the check.  Did you feel that before coming in?  If not, then its likely not you.  If you did but its worse, then also consider it might be you with a little help from other influences. 

Tool No. 2 - A Question
The Sozo leader also taught me this question.  Tool No. 1 and 2 go together.  When you find yourself being pulled under by intense emotion stop and ask the Papa and the Holy Spirit "Is this me or something else?" There are three answers to this question.  Yes, its something else.  No, its you or Both!  Sometimes we are struggling with something and carry an atmosphere that adds to an already murky soup.  If the answer is "something else" or "both".  I often pray and make a quick declaration in my being.  I say, "I command all emotions and atmospheres that do not belong to me to get off!  Get off now!"

Tool No. 3 - Centering
Centering - Doug Addison is quite prophetic and shared that he also has gifting as a Prophetic Feeler.  When he is feeling overwhelmed or blown over by things in his day he takes a couple minutes to center himself.  He stands up and makes sure both feet are on the ground and he gathers himself in and speaks out the fruits of the Spirit and considers each one for a moment.   I have tried this a few times but have not found it helps me that much.  I am still keeping it in my tool bag to try another time.

Tool No. 4 - Clearing
Clearing - One Friday when I was so tired that my being and body had become a freeway for all the emotions and chaotic dynamics in my work atmosphere I had a picture of my insides.  I saw all the emotions and chaos as colored blobs and bubbles that had pushed into my being.  The feeling inside reminded me of when I sometimes get water up my nose and in my ears while swimming.  Alone in my office I plugged my nose, puffed out my checks and blew my ears out.  I did this as a prophetic action and imagined blowing out all the stuff that did not belong to me, while putting myself next to Jesus.  It immediately helped.  I was surprised so I did it again a few more times and each time it got better.  I still was tired, I could still feel stuff around me but I was no longer drowning in it.

Tool No. 4 - Soaking, or Mild to Moderate Activity
Soaking & Resetting-When I get emotionally tired and especially weepy it can indicate that my prophetic receptors/receivers are swamped or fried. Once I wake to this reality (first step), I will go for a long walk outside, regardless of the weather.  I am not sure why but being outside really helps. If I am especially frustrated, grieving or angry I will upgrade to more vigorous exercise such as weight lifting or Taekwondo.  Sitting or lying down quietly listening to soaking music also helps.  While listening I concentrate on allowing the music to permeate my being.  It usually takes an hour or more.  Right now I am soaking in Pneuma by Alberto Rivera.

Tool No. 5 - Check the Dials
Lowering Dials - On days and times when I seem to have no buffer and I am like a leaf on the surface of a raging river; I stop and go check where my dials are at.  I use my imagination to engage the reality of levels and intensity in my prophetic gifting by imagining a sound board.  I ask the Holy Spirit where my dials are at and sometimes have a picture of them being pegged or spun up to the max.  Sometimes its just a few dials that are turned up to high. I still don't know why or how they get turned up but I know I can turn them down.  When I discern that my dials are turned too far up, I ask the Holy Spirit to help me and imagine turning each one down into a normal range or a very low setting.  I declare out loud, "Holy Spirit I turn my dials down and choose to rest in you that I don't have to feel everything today".  Sometimes it only helps a bit, other times the effect is dramatic.

Tool No. 6 - Detaching and Washing
Detaching - Feelers seem especially uniquely adept at absorbing and then sometimes taking on the emotions and troubles of others.  The frustrating part is that I can do this without even realizing it.  The load of emotions and troubles can be compacted over time as I gather more and more stuff.  Typically I don't know that I have done this until I have face planted and become discouraged or depressed.  The challenge is the circumstances of our own lives can be troubling and it can be tough to discern when your pack weight has slowly increased from 10 lbs to 20 lbs.  A close and wise friend taught me a prayer to walk though for when these times.  The prayer is not a formula but a collection of principals.  It goes something like this:
"Father I ask repent and ask forgiveness for anyway that I have taken on the emotions and responsibility of others.  I give you all of the trouble, the grief, the trauma and chaos of those around me.  I thank you that you are strong enough to carry these things.  I thank you that you care more about all the hurts and concerns of people than I do.  I ask that you cut any unholy ties and I take off and give to you any emotions and loads that do not belong to me.  I ask that you wash me by your blood and I hide myself under your wings." 

Tool No. 7 - Lighten Up
Lighten up - One of the realities I suspect is very much associated with being a Feeler is that we can get way to swamped and focused on struggle and pain, and on intense spiritual things of the Kingdom.  When I think about the coming week and all I can think about is heaviness and struggle, its time for me to take a break!  I find my Prophetic Feeler receptors need to be refreshed to experience joy, laughter, silliness and wonder.  I do this by watching happy, joyful movies.  Movies like, UP!, Epic, Kung Fu Panda or movie of similar genre.  I also try to focus on the simple, bright and beautiful things of life such as a really good white-chocolate Americano or witty jokes.  I definitely recommend building your own Lighten Up survival pack.

I hope these tools will prove helpful to some of you Prophetic Feelers out there.  My next postings will share the journey of learning to interpret my prophetic feelings in collaboration with another prophetic leader. Grace to you!

Healing For a Prophetic Feeler

Prophetic Feelers need regular scheduled healing and times of restoration!  The more intense the season you are in the more absolutely necessary it is to be intentional about finding healing and restoration on a weekly basis.  I came into this deep conviction and revelation just last week. 

In some ways it does not seem that this is a new revelation. All believers need times of refreshing, restoration and healing.  However, visiting Bethel Church in Redding in February created a fresh beginning place and canvas in my understanding and experience of myself as a Feeler.  While I was there the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit began to teach me and show me aspects of who I was and how it was tied into Prophetic Feeling.   Now 8 months later as I battle with some of the same levels of fatigue and sadness I can see a cycle and pattern emerging.  I would like to share a few of these revelations with you so that you can find greater help and healing as a Feeler or facilitate healing for the Feelers you know.

The power and presence of God is strong at Bethel.  You can sense the power and presence of God even as you turn onto the road to drive a half mile up to the main parking lot.  It is rather fun to plug into that atmosphere as a Feeler, because you can feel the HS and you can feel so many things coming alive into another higher dimension.  I am not sure even how to describe it.  It just feels like colors and life are exploding and breaking out everywhere. The second day I was there I was in worship and the Father showed me a picture of myself as hundreds of little teacups set out in spiraled circles.  Each cup was beautiful with an intricate design and each cup was half filled with brackish black water.  He told me that the cups represented the little receivers in my being and body.  He showed me that the cells of my body each had a feeler receiver attached to them.  Then with the picture he taught me that my cells and these receivers had a memory bank (if you will) in them and that right now all they could remember and all they were full of was the grief, pain and struggle I had been through in the last few months.  This was represented by the brackish water in them.

Standing in the rich atmosphere of Bethel and worship I was able to see and understand that my feeler receivers were full up with these painful and heavy emotions and sensations yet realize that not all of my experiences in the last few months were heavy and painful.  I had gone through so much troubling and hard things that my feeler receivers and their memory banks were dominated by experiences and the therefore the default setting or sense of feeling was a heavy sadness.  
*Let me say at this point that I understand there can be other physical and psychological factors such as depression or grief that can lead to any person living with a default feeling of sadness in seasons.  I respect and understand these other factors but here I am focusing on dynamics unique to Feelers.*

Once the Father had shown and taught me the little teacups filled with brackish water, I asked him to wash out and renew my feeler receivers and reset my memory banks to remember heaven and His love more than anything else.  It took three days but that is what He did!  In many times of worship and just being in  his presence I had to choose to let go of the heavy feelings and offered them up to the Father to wash away.  The Holy Spirit and the Father gave me multiple times of soaking and experiencing his presence.  He reminded me of his love and his dedication and faithfulness towards me and his delight in who he had made me to be.

Through this experience I have understood how important it is for Feelers to find times of refreshing to remember and experience the goodness of God, the goodness of life and the simple and beautiful things.  Faith is not based in our feelings but as Feelers intense and extended times of grief, pain or hardship can lead us to having our default settings reset to sadness so that darkness seems more real and powerful than Kingdom hope and light. 

Emotional Pain On Another Scale

The last few months have been incredibly challenging and gut wrenching.  There has been multiple events through which every major past wound or pain has struck with a nuke-all at the same time.  This has led to me be in a near constant state of emotional pain.  At times I have found myself marveling at how much pain a human can endure and stay conscious.

Just like many of you, I have been through hard times before.   Yet, in this season as I press into greater understanding of how God has made me as a Prophetic Feeler it is my contention that Feelers experience emotional pain on deeper level or greater scale than non-Feelers.  Just as Prophetic Feelers experience other emotions and atmospheres at greater levels, they also can experience greater pain.  In my pain now and in the past I have often questioned my sanity and grip on reality because of its intensity.  I have wondered if I was just hyper-focusing on the emotional trouble or situation.  I have pondered whether I was simply being overly dramatic and over-reacting to the pain I experienced and carried.  Many friends and relatives have told me to just stop thinking about situations or hurtful words that have been spoken and that the pain would go away.  Not true.  Though it is helpful to pull my conscious thoughts towards Jesus and his thoughts for me, the pain does no go away.  The pain is there even when I am not thinking about being in pain or the events which have caused it. I have woken in the middle of a deep slumber with stomach and chest pain right in the middle of my chest.  In the moments before I am a fully awake I am confused why I am in such pain and try to remember what has caused such pain.  I cannot help but suspect many of you fellow Feelers have experienced the same thing.

Last night when I woke to intense emotional pain and physical pain, I decided to research if there was any articles or studies done on the link between emotional and physical pain.  I finally found the evidence I was looking for to explain my experience which causes my stomach to ache and the middle of my chest to hurt like I had been punched.  There isn't a great amount of research or materials on the subject yet but the article by Robert Emery and Jim Coan, professors of psychology at the University of Virginia provides a remarkable insights into how emotional pain is processed by the brain and then manifested in the body.   

The article titled "What causes chest pain when feelings are hurt?"  A reader of Scientific America writes in to ask what causes chest pain when he experiences emotional pain.  Their answer is quite helpful and significant to Feelers.  Stress is part of pain and heart ache and can be attributed to some of the physical symptoms but not all.  Emery and Coan assert that "emotional pain involves the same brain regions as physical pain, suggesting the two are inextricably connected".  I will let you read the article for the details.

There is a second additional remarkable clue for Prophetic Feelers.  The article takes it a step further and also discusses how recent studies show that experiencing emotional pain on behalf of others through empathy, can affect our physical pain perception as well.  A study in 2006 was able to measure how even mice are affected by watching their cage mate in pain, is in turn more sensitive to physical pain in their own body.  Then another study with humans was able to establish how small acts of kindness can reduce the experience of physical pain in the recipients of kindness.  Prophetic Feeling cannot be solely contained or proven by science and measurements in the natural realm.  Even still, there are two powerful principals that these studies have captured for human beings.  The first is that emotional pain can manifest as physical pain with very good reason.  It appears to be processed by the same part of your brain!  Second, human empathy has a direct impact on physical (and likely) emotional pain levels in other people.  Uniting the two discoveries it seems, possible for Prophetic Feelers to have heightened experiences of these two principals and thus may experience feel the emotional pain of others as physical pain in their own body.  This has definitely been my experience.  One day at work I had no choice but to ask a mother with two sweet babies to leave our property and head out into the night, with only a referral to another shelter.  I was trying to carry on through the moment but the pain hit my stomach.  In the privacy of the workroom I was doubled over with intense stomach pain.

I know that Jesus has more in the way of grace, or buffers or understanding so that I do not have to suffer as I do at times.  I am confident that more help and revelation will come as I seek to walk this gift out.  For now there is a measure of comfort in knowing that the physical pain I am feeling is not imagined but real.  Thank you for reading.

Unlike the Other Spiritual Gifts

Last week I was talking to a dear friend of mine and hashing through through some of my frustrations with prophetic feeling and I had a profound revelation.  Well it was profound revelation for me anyway.  Maybe other Feelers already were aware of this principal.

Here it is.  With teaching, with speaking in tongues, with prophesying, with healing the sick and leading worship the more tired I am (or most people are) the more difficult it is to operate and move in that gifting.  When I physically or emotionally tired,  the more difficult it is to speak in tongues for any length of time.  When I am weary the more I struggle to gain a prophetic insight to pray for someone or to speak into a situation.

Not so with the prophetic feeling!  With prophetic feeling the very opposite is true.  When I am tired, or weary=the more I pick up on other people's emotions and troubles.  The more weary I am the easier I get bowled over by oppressive atmospheres or environments.  When I am exhausted my emotions and body become a veritable freeway for other people's stuff.  At work by Friday, I can run through a gambit of emotions from sadness, to frustration to boredom, anger and joy all inside of 60 minutes depending on the people I am interacting with.  It drives me crazy!

I'm not sure what is next, but I plan on hearing from our Heavenly Papa on why this is true, what it means and how to operate differently because of it.

Prophetic Feeling as A Gift

Prophetic Feeling, like all gifts of the Holy Spirit was intended to be a gift of and for the Kingdom of God.  Since beginning this journey to embrace, understand and then move in this gift of prophetic feeling I have discovered others just like myself.  Walking in relationship with other Feelers has helped tremendously in identifying aspects of my experience and struggle that are rooted in Prophetic Feeling.  All four of us struggle constantly with how to not be completely drained and overcome by emotions and intense situations we find ourselves in on a regular daily basis.  Many of us end up put more energy into trying to manage and survive the gift, than moving in it intentionally to release and build into the Kingdom.  We are not immature or new believers and many of our company have walked with Jesus for 20-30 years.  This is why I began this blog.  The ultimate purpose of this blog is to grow in understanding, wisdom and revelation for how to embrace and move in Prophetic Feeling as a powerful gift. Having said that, here is a some brief bullet points highlighting the times that I have been able to appreciate and move in the gift of Prophetic Feeling.


* At work in a meeting with a client, I was talking and suddenly felt the client shut down and leave.  Felt like an empty space, standing in a room that has just been emptied of a crowd.  I then stopped and asked the client if she had shut-down and left the conversation.  Indeed she had and I was able to then stop and ask her what caused her to shut-down.

* Another time, a client telling some of the most shameful and painful details of her life.  She could barely find the words and I had a hard time  understanding what she was saying as she wept. Shifting my focus to feeling, I could feel intense shame, vulnerability, felt dirty and stupid.  This was not fun to experience, but I was able to understand and speak life into one of her most painful moments from her past.  I simply said, "I can see how that would cause you to feel dirty, cut down and demeaned".  When she nodded, I had confirmation I was on the right track and spoke life.

*Working with kids, small children I can easily sense what is upsetting to them. I can tell if they are embarrassed, overwhelmed, excited or angry.  When a child, especially a young child cannot find or does not yet have words to explain or understand what they are feeling, I am able to reach out and feel what is going on and then help and provide an appropriate response.  Kids put their emotions and experience on blast, there is no filter, which is why it can be very rewarding and highly draining at the same time.  I love kids.

* Another time I walked into a situation with a large meeting at work where the Holy Spirit was moving on one person and she was manifesting a mix of things. I could feel the distress and confusion of the crowd.  I was tired and honestly did not want to deal with it, so I left and the HS told me to "Get back in there!"  So I did and took leadership of the moment, offering some guidance and pastoring of the moment for the women who had never experienced anything like it before and were frightened and confused.

* At times I can feel the presence of Angels around me in groups or individual angels.  I am learning to feel the difference at times between an angel, or the presence of God and the Holy Spirit.

* Practically while driving, I can change lanes and feel when other drivers are about to cut into my path, or feeling lethargic. I can sense when groups of people in cars fall under a mindset of caution, of traffic or fear and go out and around (have done this without realizing I am).

* I often can sense the general direction geographically of my friends or group in a crowd, in a restaurant, or at the mall.  This is not fool proof but often I head in the direction I am sensing and then zero in on them as I get closer. I can feel when a friend of mine arrives or enters my atmosphere especially at home.  I first discovered this while waiting for a friend at a restaurant, something pricked me to awareness and I realized my friend had arrived.  Minutes later she walked into the door.

Alright that is all for now.  If you have any questions or want to share your own experiences feel free to leave a comment. I will not be able to respond to all of them but when I can respond I will.

Inside Pass to Prophetic Feeling

My last post gave a little history and foundation for the whole concept of prophetic feeling.  This post will cut to the chase and explain a few of my recent experiences as a prophetic feeler.  Before I go on, I first want to say that I am discovering there is great diversity among the prophetic gifts as well as great diversity within the same prophetic gift.  A gift and how it is expressed and experienced can vary greatly from person to person.  That being said, please don't be discouraged or make harsh comparisons if your experience is not the same as mine.

Today I woke up anxious.  I felt like ants were running all over my little emotional nerves.  I had no reason to be the feeling nervous but the feeling reminded me of how I felt during finals week in college.  I pushed away and set about making coffee.  I put on some worship music and began to sing but quickly got distracted.  The discomfort drove me and I could not sit still.  I did not know if I was feeling something in the atmosphere, in the spiritual realm or one of my close family or friends.  I did not know if it truly came from me.  Finally, I gave up trying to concentrate on God and went for a walk by the water.  The feeling continued unabated.  For me prophetic feeling is strongly tied to physical sensations.  My body acts like at translator of prophetic feeling.  This morning, my stomach was in knots, and I was slightly nauseous.  My head hurt and my skin felt itchy and irritated.  I pushed all of these things aside and chalked it up to being tired and worried about work and being behind in my paperwork.  Then I stepped into work and the uneasiness continued and intensified. I work for a recovery program and today was graduation day. Today there was 50+ women excited and nervous to be graduating from another semester of program.  I could barely concentrate.  Again, I dismissed it as my own internal stress and concerns.

Eight hours later I stood and clapped for the women as the graduation event was finally over.   The women were all smiles and some happy tears.  As the last woman exited off the stage, I felt a moment of huge relief.  The nervous feeling left and the antsy feeling dwindled away.  My stomach relaxed and my skin did not feel as irritated.  I could not believe it.  It seemed that much of my struggle the first part of the day was from the women and the community I am deeply connected to.  The shift was so sudden and dramatic that I could not help but notice.  I am sure there are other factors in play that I have yet to discern or identify but the experience was remarkable.  I know that the HS does not desire for me to struggle as I did but I still have yet to discover how to find relief when I become overwhelmed by the intense emotional riptide that I was drug into. 

From my experience, part of the issue is struggling to identify where the input is coming from, and  the potential for multiple levels of input.

So this thing called Prophetic Feeling

Five years ago, I was sharing with a friend about my experience of how certain things tended to impact me deeply and it could take days for me to get my equilibrium back.  She responded and said, oh you must be a feeler like me!"  When she said it, something rose up inside to meet her words with a yes!  This statement started me on a journey to understand this thing called a prophetic feeler.  One clue, led to another to yet another God appointment and connection till I well and truly understood that I was a Prophetic Feeler, that I was not alone.  A year after the conversation with my new friend I was able to understand that my ability to feel things so deeply was an ability given and powered by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of the establishing the Kingdom.  However, looking back it has become clear that through much of my life this ability had been a significant source of suffering and heartache.

So what is prophetic feeling or a prophetic feeler?  In all reality it is a made up term prophetic folks came up with to describe what a section of prophetically gifted folks were able to do.  It describes how some people are able to experience for themselves, the feelings and struggle of others and God, through their own emotions or being.  A few years ago prophetic feeling was not that well known or discussed.  However,  something has shifted in the last year or two and more and more people are aware of this gifting and or familiar with the term.



Prophetic Feeling = Overwhelming + Draining

For me prophetic feeling as been a real source of suffering and presently still is.  My hope is that through this blog, I will remember and grow in greater revelation from the HS of what it means to be  a feeler.  I hope that other prophetic feelers can benefit from my experiences and have hope for how to manage and use their gifting instead of having it crush them.  I also hope that those who know  prophetic feelers might be better equipped to cover, challenge, collaborate with and understand the feelers whom they know and love.