As representatives of Jesus
Christ and His Kingdom, it is vitally important that
Christians in the marketplace be fully operational in
hearing God’s voice and doing His works.
We need to change our thinking to
realize that this is at least as important, if not more so,
for marketplace saints than for saints called to minister
inside the local church because business people operate in
realms that are largely still under the power of darkness.
(The terms “marketplace” and “business” here are referring
to the 98 percent of Christians who make their primary
living outside the local church, including those in
government, education, the arts, media and sports, and
students, homemakers, etc.)
Every successful business
enterprise in the Bible achieved its success based upon
hearing the directive voice of God and properly following
those directives. Whether it was building a ship or the
temple, leading in business, in government or in ministry,
the projects undertaken by God’s people were successful if
they heard and heeded the word of the Lord.
Noah was instructed by the Lord to go into a shipbuilding
business. He built his ship (ark) according to revelation
knowledge from God. Following prophetic directives caused
his ship to stay afloat during the greatest economic and
natural disaster ever to hit planet earth. While every
business and living thing on earth was “liquidated,” his
business maintained and progressed to function in the new
world.
Isaac had financial success while everyone around him was in
economic recession. He received a prophetic word from God to
stay in his geographic area even though famine was in the
region. The Bible says he sowed at God’s directive and
timing and reaped a hundred-fold in the same year. Then he
became rich and kept increasing in wealth until he became
exceedingly wealthy. He became so prosperous that all the
surrounding businesses became envious of him (Genesis
26:1-12). Many other biblical examples, such as Abraham,
Joseph, David and Daniel, show people prospering and gaining
great positions of influence by following prophetic
directives from the Lord.
People can still hear from God today:
Regarding his experience in the business world, Ed Silvoso
writes: “I thoroughly enjoyed dealing, buying, selling and
hiring. The pressure was always on but each time it
approached the boiling point, I reached for what I called
the Jesus chair. This was a chair I had purposely placed in
my office. When things became unmanageable, I would close
the door, kneel by the chair and ask for divine guidance.
Repeatedly God provided it. Sometimes He did it in a quiet
way. At other times He gave me specific directions. More
than once He performed business miracles in answer to those
prayers. It was so reassuring to know that Jesus was there
and that He had anointed me for the job I had!” [Ed Silvoso,
Anointed for Business (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2002), p. 30.]
Dr. Sanford Kulkin, one of Christian International’s Board
of Governors, is a present-day example of a prophet in the
marketplace. As a high-level business consultant, Sandy not
only has God-given wisdom for consultation, but at times he
also pulls upon the Holy Spirit gifts of word of knowledge
and word of wisdom in giving wise recommendations. God has
blessed him mightily and has used him to help major
corporations save millions of dollars and prosper
abundantly. Even those who are not called as a prophet or
apostle need to use the gifts of the Spirit in their daily
business.
Hearing God to be a witness: Scripture
makes it clear that God will speak to people to help them
succeed in their enterprises. But He will also speak through
them to be a witness of Himself to others. When those of us
who function as pulpit ministers encounter persons out in
the marketplace and are asked what we do for a living, it is
not too difficult to determine how they feel about spiritual
matters based upon how they receive our response. Sometimes
this leads to an opening to talk about the Lord. Many of our
traveling ministers regularly have opportunities to lead
people to the Lord or speak into their lives on airplanes.
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For example, one time when my daughter-in-law, Jane Hamon,
was traveling on an airplane, she sensed the Spirit told her
the man sitting next to her was a divine appointment.
Although she really wanted to keep to herself, she obeyed
the Lord and struck up a conversation. When he asked what
she did for a living and she replied that she and her
husband pastor a church, he became angry and began speaking
abusively about Christians.
She silently prayed and the Holy Spirit showed her two
specific areas where he had been deeply wounded in the past
in regard to religion. She told him that she believes that
God loves people and speaks to them today and asked for
permission to share with him what she felt He had to say.
The man gave permission and she shared what the Lord showed
her. He was in complete shock and admitted the truth of it.
She was then able to lead him to the Lord.
All saints can be activated to hear the Lord this clearly.
But saints who primarily function in the marketplace will
need to trust the Holy Spirit not only for openings to speak
to others, but also for the divine revelation to steer
conversations toward spiritual matters.
Need to recognize divine timing: Those
called to “minister” in ungodly environments, especially
those in environments that are openly hostile to the Gospel,
need to be able to hear the Holy Spirit at least as much as
pulpit ministers. If a pulpit minister fails to heed the
leading of the Spirit, he or she may preach a message that
lacks the anointing and power to impact the lives of those
listening. If he is a traveling minister, he may not be
invited back again. But public school teachers, university
professors, police officers or government employees could
endanger their jobs as well as their influence if they speak
out of turn. In some countries, saints’ lives are at stake
every time they speak about Jesus. The Holy Spirit knows
exactly when hearts are open and when the best impact can be
made.
Miracles and deliverance in the marketplace:
This is not to say that accurately hearing the Holy
Spirit will keep saints from persecution, because the Bible
is clear that those who live a godly life in Christ Jesus
will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). But if, like Paul
and Silas, we are in the will of the Lord, heeding the Holy
Spirit, and we find ourselves in a “prison,” we can rejoice
knowing that God will use it to bring a greater salvation
(Acts 16:19-34). Paul and Silas received a supernatural
miracle (an earthquake) to release their chains and provide
a witness to the jailer.
We can expect to see this more and more frequently as
apostles, prophets and other five-fold ministers are
fulfilling their roles of equipping God’s saints to do the
work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-13). God can perform
miracles just as easily in the marketplace as in the local
church, at times even more so because there may be less
unbelief (Matthew 13:58).
Training for reigning: No believer today
who wants to be used mightily of God can expect to be able
to without having the full arsenal of God at their disposal.
We are beginning to see average saints become like Prophet
Elijah who challenged the prophets of Baal and won,
demonstrating the supremacy of God to all Israel (1 Kings
18:1-40). But without the gifts of the Spirit in operation,
saints won’t know when to speak up, when to stay quiet, when
to move or when to stay put. Nor will they have the power
when they need to manifest it. Training in hearing the voice
of God and ministering the gifts of the Spirit is urgently
needed. It is no longer an option but has become a vital
necessity for believers who want to participate in what the
Holy Spirit is doing in the Church today.
Christian International trained hundreds of thousands of
saints in hearing from God and ministering a word to others.
We have developed six different Apostolic Prophetic Training
seminars geared to help activate the revelation gifts and
bring participants to higher levels. Additional seminars
focus on the power gifts of miracles and healing,
deliverance, prophetic evangelism, prophetic worship
leading, church growth and the apostolic. We believe that
all local churches should equip their people to actively
flow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, just as they want
their people to actively flow in the supernatural fruit of
the Holy Spirit.
Find prophetic books and books by Dr. Hamon at
www.TheVoiceBooks.com
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The Day of the Saints:
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Developing
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Choose you this day: As history progresses
to the end of the age, a greater dichotomy is forming
between those who are in Christ and those who are in the
world. The world is getting more and more demon-possessed
and oppressed, while the Church is becoming more and more
glorious in Jesus. Those who want to maintain peace with
both sides will not be able to for long. We are either going
to be aggressively advancing the Kingdom of God using all
the divine enablements Christ has provided, or we will find
ourselves actively opposing the move of God through His
Church.
If your primary calling is outside the walls of the local
church, you can be equipped to operate in the power of God
and revolutionize your environment. Saints who prepare
themselves to become full “believers” (Mark 16:17-18) and
who die to self to live for Christ and His Kingdom will be
mightily used by God in the days just ahead. The time to
prepare is now.
Dr. Bill Hamon founded
Christian International Ministries
(CI). Bill Hamon has been prophet for 50 years, he has
prophesied to more than 50,000 people and provided training for over
250,000 in prophetic ministry. Bill Hamon has authored six major
books, specializing in the restoration of the Church and what to
expect next on God’s agenda. Bill Hamon serves as bishop over 600
ministers and churches and CI’s headquarters on five
continents. Bill Hamon and Evelyn, his wife of 49 years, have
three married children who co-labor in the ministry with
him, eleven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
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