Banners as catalysts to prophesy

[HelenaZF]

In worship, the moving of the right banner at the right moment is a way the Holy Spirit uses these ensigns to prophecy of the Lord's character, His intent, and His sovereignty. That alone might be the total message and it is enough.



However, there is an aspect of banner ministry that often goes overlooked and is not always used to it's fullest potential---and that is the ability of the moving of the banner to focus the worship in such a way as to open the door for prophetic words or readings, prophetic songs or prophetic dramatizations, or times of deep ministry.



Any banner can be used by the Lord this way, but one particular banner that I've built has as it's primary ministry, the ushering in of the Spirit of Prophecy---which is Jesus speaking to His church. That banner is Living Word. It is a flaming silver sword with a white hilt shaped as a descending Dove. [click on image to enlarge]

<URL url="http://img369.imageshack.us/my.php?image=livingwordvm9.jpg"><IMG content="http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/2318/livingwordvm9.th.jpg"> The message is that the Word is a fire, and the Word is wielded by the Spirit of the Lord.



Often, in prophetic worship, it seems the moving of the banner, a prophetic dance or flag offering is seen as a culmination to what has gone before rather than possibly creating the threshold that allows us to go further into His presence. But if you think about it, doing those things can be our response to the moving of Gods' spirit, and if so, we need to be sensitive to wait on Him to see if He has more to say.



I would like this post to challenge our thinking...stretch our tents, if you will, to always being aware that as high as our worship goes, as deep as it seems, that there is always more with God. I have a voice memory that comes to me occasionally. It is of a dear worship leader friend who came back from a retreat at Elim and was almost breathless with excitement. She was the kind of worship leader that pressed into God deeper than many others...and yet what she came back with was "Helena, it's incredible, but there's more....there's so much more...."



And I always remember that when I think I've done and seen it all. Because of course, I have not.