Reading the Historical Books - Patricia Dutches-Walls

- refers to the “interests” of the text; i.e. the agenda/ intended audience which they were written with in mind (Jews/Gentiles/ educated people/common people/ Pharisee’s etc.)p.69

- repetition in the bible = the author being emphatic

- “authority argument” = citing someone powerful in order to endorse or strengthen a viewpoint (p.73)

- within biblical narratives you can see who has authority by whether or not what they say is listened to/ acted upon. Examples of this predictably include prophets and kings, but on occasion also women (think of Hagar and the Israelite spies) or Abigail Nabaal’s wife.

- Evaluative Judgement = where a portion of scripture is written with a specifically condemnatory tone; implying the authority of the writer, the Godliness of the person described, or to the contrary. E.G. 1Kings 14:21-22 (p.83)

- Regnal Formulas (p.85) = specific combinations of words/phrases which are used to introduce kings/key figures and which contain implicit judgements/ are indicative of the length of their reign and how Godly/ popular they are/were. There are 33 of these in total.

- “Modeling” (p.85) = a biblical device whereby one character is set apart either as a positive or negative role-model (think David, Nebuchadnezzar, Saul) and then their name is referenced and used interchangeably as their being a model of the attribute in question. E.g. “...of the house of David”.  This tool relies heavily on prior knowledge as those reading the modelled account need to know the original story/character of the person being used as a model in order to ascertain what is being implied by their usage.


  

The Cambridge Companion to Christian Ethics

- There can be no true virtue without grace, and by implication there is no place is Christian theology for a distinctively philosophical analysis of the virtues. (Lombard, P. Summarised in the above. P.93).

Laudato Si by Pope Francis

"Nature is usually seen as a system which can be studied, understood and controlled, whereas cre- ation can only be understood as a gift from the outstretched hand of the Father of all, and as a reality illuminated by the love which calls us to- gether into universal communion." (P.56)

Creation is of the order of love. God's love is the fundamental moving force in all created things... (p.57) 

A fragile world entrusted by God to human care, challenges us to devise intelligent ways of directing, developing, and limiting our power. (P.57)

Faith allows us to interpret the meaning and the the mysterious beauty of what is unfolding. (P.57)

"The holy spirit can be said to possess an infinite creativity, proper to the divine mind, which knows how to loosen the knots of human affairs, including the most complex and inscrutable." Pope John Paul II - Catechesis  (24 April, 1991)

When we fail to acknowledge as a part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities - to offer just a few examples-  it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself; everything is connected. (P.87)

Translating God - Shawn Bolz

Translating God, Bolz, S. (2015, ICreate Productions)California.

- [on the church as the bride ready and waiting on earth]

- in Revelation 19:8 the bride was wearing fine linen, which represented that she had already clothed herself in the nature  of Christ and was acting out his standards, values, life choices, and attitude on the earth.

- the essence of seeing prophetically is saying: "I see you in the future and you look much better than you look right now"  Kim Clement

- prophecy is a tool to see a full picture of those God loves

- [on giving a v.accurate& life- giving word to a non-Christian] "he looked relieved but not in a human way...he looked like he was reverse-aging!"

- you cannot be a continually prophetic voice if you are in conflict with the world that God loves

- prophecy isn't supposed to have the goal of being directive in a commanding way. It should leave room for the persons receiving the word to be accountable to God themselves for their choices, not demanding this choice be made for them.

- [on an encounter with a famous person who came to Christ after Shawn got a wrong word for him but always wanted to meet someone who could hear from God]

Information doesn't matter; love does. Love covers even when we are wrong, because relationship bridges gaps that risks or even immaturity create. P.68

- I've come to believe that a lot of words given by a "prophet" are just words of discernment, nothing more, because the government of the word has not gone beyond his own mind and heart and travelled into God's. P.72

- Holiness is not sinlessness, it is the ability to see what is worth protecting and then say no to sin to protect our yes to love. P.74

- [Jesus] invited [people] to a place of spiritual importance through his investment in them. P.75

- because God wants us to have a strong identity, he talks through his nature more than he does through direct words. P.91

- It is his joy to allow us to make powerful decisions. P.92

- God's glory is our manifesting his heart through our lives and choices. P.93

- Revelation is never a straight road. P95

- God is eternal, and he starts sentences in the beginning g of our lives that he finishes years later. P.95

- the anointing is a relationship with God, not just a connection to His power. P.109

- to be holy [means] to love your relationship with God and protect it at all costs. P111

-  "there are times in prophetic .inistdy when words we receive for others must stay in the throne room... they are more powerful when converged into crafted prayer and spoken to the Father than when put into prophetic language and ministered to human beings."
Graham Cooke in Crafted Prayer: the joy of always getting your prayers answered.

- Christianity never dims because other freedoms grow. it just getsbiggerand brighter. p.120

- He is such a personal God that he knows we won't always believe words someone else gives us, so he speaks to us. P.123

- God is speaking to everyone who wants to listen but he only has ongoing, long-term conversations with his friends. P.130

- ...as we take personal responsibility for our words, we begin to grow in personal authority. P.138

- prophecy is a demonstration of relational power, not political power. P.146
- some people had been interceding for me ... but they took that burden too far by prophesying their hopes for me into being.  P.147

[Subsequently...]

I just repositioned their faith on my mind. P.148

- the prophetic is a skill set based on relationship, so it will only grow by ralational feedback. P.153

School of the Prophets - Kris Vallotten

"God may have called you as a prophet, but until the leaders in your metro or sphere of authority recognise, invite, and empower you to field influence and authority, you are only a prophet to yourself." 

(Vallotton, K. p.32)

"Once in a while, prophets of doom get one right. [Don't be swayed from a message of mercy, but remember] even a broken watch is right twice a day."

(Vallotten, K. p.44)

"Sometimes when God prophesies to us, He is testing our hearts rather than determining our destiny." (See the exchange between Moses and God in Ezekiel 18:32).

(Vallotten, K. p.47)

"[in the old testament] A covenant is terminated only by death. That is where Jesus death on the cross came in. God had to die so that He could fulfil the requirements  of the Law, create justice and establish the New Covenant, which ultimately extends mercy to millions who do not deserve it."

(Vallotten, K. p.54)

"...when Jesus was tortured and then crucified on the cross, He performed a violent act of grace. The cross became a battering ram that smashed through the iron bars of the Law and crashed through the bronze doors of prophetic judgements, allowing the unworthy (that is us) into the Kingdom of God (see Isaiah 45:2)."

(Vallotten, K. p.61)

" ...when Jesus died on the cross, the sun literally turned dark, and Jesus, who metaphorically speaking was the moon, [because He reflected God the ultimate source of light] turned to blood."

 (Vallotten, K. p.72)

"God specifically chooses people who see the world through a certain -coloured lens to speak specifically to other people who need a prophetic word that is influenced by the flavour of the speakers own life and love. Consider how different the prophets Jeremiah, Daniel, and Elijah were - a weeper, a wise man, and a warrior."

(Vallotten, K. p.81)

"The price that Jesus paid on the cross determined the value of the people He purchased." 

(Vallotten, K. p.90)

"True prophetic ministry involves looking for gold buried in the dirt of people's lives.

(Vallotten, K. p.91)

"Most people know what is wrong with them, but they are unaware of the greatness that God has placed in their lives. This exposure brings conviction in their lives that they are living below the glorious standard that God has set for them."

(Vallotten, K. p.91-92)

" Fear is not a part of God's love and therefore should not be part of our supernatural ministry".

(Vallotten, K. p.92)

" People change when they hurt enough that they have to change; learn enough that they want to change; receive enough that they are able to change".

(Maxwell, J. quoted in Vallotten, K. p.108)

"Learn to love yourself as much as [God] loves you. When you do that, you will expect people to love you more as they get to know you better!" 

(Vallotten, K. p.108)

"In the New Testament dispensation, our spirit is alive and the Holy Spirit also lives inside us. Our body has actually become the home of two spirits - our spirit and the Holy Spirit. It is easy to get the Holy Spirit's words confused with our newly regenerated spirit's words because our spirit has taken on the divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4). No longer is it only the Holy Spirit who wants to build people up in Christ; our spirit is now inherently good and very much wants to bless people. You can see how, in our zeal to help and encourage people, we can represent a word as a God idea when it is actually only a good idea. So in the New Testament, the believer who receives a prophetic word has as much responsibility to judge the word as the one who gave it, because both the giver and receiver have the same Holy Spirit living in them... It is also possible for part of a particular prophetic word to be right and part to be wrong. Because prophecy is made of three parts - revelation, interpretation, and application- it is not too hard to get the revelation right, but then get the interpretation and/or the application wring.

(See 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21)"

(Vallotten, K. p.117&118)

"There are basically three components to any mature ministry - our gifting, our calling and our anointing. Our gifting gives us our ability, our calling gives us our identity and our anointing gives us our purpose."

(Vallotten, K. p.119)

"When someone grows up with a prophetic call on his or her life, it is not uncommon for that person to feel as if he or she is strange, weird, or out of touch with reality. Just as if the simple fact that  prophets and prophetesses see, hear and "feel" multidimensionally can make them feel crazy. This is especially true when the important people around them do not understand this dynamic and/or have no value for the prophetic perspective."

(Vallotten, K. p.121)

"God never retracts or takes back the gifts He has given us or the calling He has put on our lives. The anointing however, is different. It ebbs and flows with our relationship with the Holy Spirit."

(Vallotten, K. p.122)

" When everyone else sees a valley of dry bones, is is incumbent upon us as prophets and prophetesses to envision a mighty army and begin to procreate with God through prophetic declarations. As we see through Ezekiel's story, prophecy is not just telling the future. Oftentimes, God calls us to cause the future."

(Vallotten, K. p.134)

"[See Matthew 10:41] ...the value you place on the office determines the power you receive from it."

(Vallotten, K. p.142)

"When God commissions His leaders such as Joshua, He releases mantles over them. These mantles give them supernatural ability to complete their mission. Unlike the gifts and call of God that remain on a person for life, a mantle stays with the mission not with the person."

(Vallotten, K. p.147)

" 'Men are famous on earth for the things they share, but prophets are famous in heaven for the secrets they keep.' (Bob Jones)

As prophets and prophetesses, it is important for us to realise that God tells us His secrets - things that He does not want anyone else to know... Because God tells His prophets His secrets, it stands to reason that we should ask His permission to share the things He reveals to us. Sometimes God shares things He wants us to deal with only in prayer."

(Vallotten, K. p.151)

"We must learn how to confront our people honourably at the same level that we empower them. Empowering people without confronting them promotes an ecosystem where Joabs and Absoloms germinate." 

(Vallotten, K. p. 172)

"Warriors know how to deal with enemies, but they often do not know how to confront daughters and sons. They often wait until they are fed up with someone, then they rename their offender after an enemy such as Jezebel, Hitler, or Judas. This is the first step toward cutting a person off from relationship instead of restoring them. We must take our armour off when we are working to solve a conflict or to bring closure to a hurting person."

(Vallotten, K. p.174)

A closing prophetic word: "Once again, as in the days of Joseph and Daniel, God is strategically placing His prophets and prophetesses- who are filled with love, endowed with wisdom and who walk in great power- into the darkest palaces on the planet. We have been commissioned to enlighten the darkness, to be a guide to the blind and bring healing to the nations. This is our call, our mission and our mandate. May God give us grace to expose every world leader to magnificent King".

(p.211)

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