This is Part Three of a three part series on the prophetic. If you haven’t already, read parts one and two.
- Part One – my story and testimony in learning about the prophetic
- Part Two – some teaching about prophecy
- Part Three – more testimony, centered around a prophetic word Emily and I received at the 2017 Open Heavens conference at Bethel Church in Redding, CA in front of 2000 people
Introduction
I am concluding this series with a video of a prophecy that Emily and I received in October 2017 at the Open Heavens Conference at Bethel Church in Redding, CA. A little background leading up to it; It was the second day of the conference and in the afternoon session they brought up some of their staff to move in the prophetic and healing. The woman giving the prophecy to us is Lindsay Coil, who at the time was a pastor over second year students at their Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. We had never met her before; it was actually the following year in 2018 that we had an opportunity to speak with her.
I wanted to share this for a number of reasons. First, it is an outstanding example of someone moving in New Testament prophecy. Secondly, since it was personal, I can vouch for everything she said. Thirdly, I wanted to talk a bit about some of the things that happened afterwards.
Word of Knowledge coupled with Prophecy
The details that Lindsay had about our family – our names, our anniversary date, and details about our son Timothy’s involvement in music – are an example of the manifestational gift of the Word of Knowledge, as found in 1 Corinthians 12:8.
Word of Knowledge: supernatural knowledge about things in the present or past
The emphasis here is on the supernatural – it is knowledge gained by revelation from the Spirit of God, and not learned knowledge. Remember, we had never met Lindsay before, although we had seen her minister to others.
Coupling the Word of Knowledge like this with a prophetic word is extremely effective, because it is proof that the person who is speaking is hearing from God. It’s effect on people is tremendous. Take for example, Jesus using the Word of Knowledge when ministering to the woman at the well:
John 4:7-29 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?
12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’
18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,
29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
And here is another example:
John 1:45-49 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote–Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
Notice the effect on the recipients of the Word of Knowledge – the woman at the well rushed back to the Samaritan city and told everybody about the man Who told her everything she ever did (side note: I suspect that Jesus told her more than just the words recorded in John 4, since she said “everything I ever did”. I recommend watching The Chosen, Episode 8 where they depict this incident). The whole town came out to Jesus, and received Him as the Messiah. Nathanael declared that Jesus was the Son of God.
In the video, when Lindsay said she had a word about a couple with five sons, I leaned over to Emily and said “Well, she got one thing that matches us”. When she called out our names, it hit me like a ton of bricks. When we stood up, I was shaking.
The Effect on Others
A spectacular word like this does not just bless the people who receive it, it blesses all those who hear it. You can see the excitement and joy of the people in the video in reaction. The whole rest of the conference, we had people coming up to us and talking to us about it. In fact, that happened for weeks afterwards.
A couple weeks after that conference, we went to a meeting at The Mission Church in Vallejo, CA, with Bill Johnson as the speaker. There were some people sitting behind us that had apparently had been to the Open Heavens conference who started telling their friend about this word that was given to a couple with five sons. We turned around and said, “That was us!” They were as excited about it as we were.
The Sunday after we got home from Redding, our church had a guest speaker, who was seeking to move more deeply in the prophetic. He was telling our pastor about a video he saw about a couple with five sons (he was Facebook friends with Lindsay Coil, who had posted the video). Our pastor said, “They go to this church!” and introduced us after the meeting. He talked about the impact it had on him, and even had another word for us!
We posted the video to Facebook also. Dozens of people commented, because it was so obviously God, and they knew us. One friend in particular, that I was in the worship band with in a previous church (we were both going to different churches by this time) said that video caused her and the pastor’s wife where she went to church to to start seeking the prophetic. The following year in 2018 she came with us to the Bethel Open Heavens conference and we got to meet Lindsay.
Meeting Lindsay
We didn’t get to meet Lindsay until a year later at the next Open Heavens conference. She told us that she was nervous when she started out, and was so relieved when we stood up. She said that the reason she could get all of our family’s names and still remember them, is because she knows people with the same names.
These two videos are an interview with Lindsay about six months after she gave us the word. She talks about how she started in the prophetic and what motivates her. She mentions us when she talks about how the Lord gives her words and her process.
Processing a Prophecy
Lindsay’s word to us focused mainly around our youngest son Timothy. He had just finished up as a music major at our local junior college (which has an award winning music department). He had taken voice lessons, and was singing opera while at college. He is an amazing piano player, and plays guitar as well. Basically every instrument he has picked up he excels at. He was focused mainly on classical, but also did old showtunes and classics from the 40’s and 50’s. After school was done he started doing a lot of jazz. It was interesting that his Dad (me) was into 60’s and 70’s classic rock, but his tastes were more like his grandparents. He was the piano accompanist for a local high school choir for a couple of years, and also teaches piano and voice.
So Lindsay had all the details about his music affiliation. But him sitting down with a guitar and singing to the Lord? Not so much. He is saved, but at that time, he was not attending church anywhere. He had played at a couple of churches by invitation.
So what do you do with a prophecy like that? If you remember from Part Two, prophecy is looking for the treasures within a person and speaking them forth. It is voicing the way that God sees the person. At the time, it might not look like it’s true. It is a call to walk into the plans and purposes that God has for you.
After we got back from Redding I showed Tim the video. His words were, “That’s intense!”
Our job as Tim’s parents is to pray that prophecy into existence. And if you receive a prophecy that does not look like it is true yet, pray it into existence! Agree with it. Remind God of it.
There have been some interesting developments since that word. Tim got a girlfriend, and they are pretty serious. Engelica’s mother is a strong Christian, and is a Bethel fan herself. Engelica is a church goer. And now that they are together, Tim is going also. They were shopping for a church they liked where Tim could also get involved in the music ministry, but then COVID-19 hit. So God is definitely working!
On a side note, thank God for the women in our lives! How many of us men came to the Lord because our wives/girlfiends/mothers went there first? That was certainly true in my life.
The last part of the prophecy that applied to Emily and myself, was that we had a legacy of hunger for the Lord that was passing down to our kids and even theirs (at this time, only one of the five is married and there are no grandkids yet!). And that we have received the blessing of the Lord (we have!) but there was More. And coupled with the Ephesians 3:20-21 scripture Lindsay gave us, there is more than we can ask or think!
Hallelujah!
