Prophetic Reading Explained
Reading words of prophecy aloud can bring blessing to the one who reads and
to those who hear. How is such blessing brought about? It is first of all a
gift of grace. Reading is a charismatic act when done in the context of true
worship, that is, when words are read aloud in spirit and truth. A
worshipful act of reading is no mere playback of recorded inspiration;
prophetic reading breathes again the truth present in the text being read.
This representation is a poetic act of mimesis which resounds with the
breath of life.
The reader becomes a letter of Christ written with the Spirit of the Living
God when words of prophecy are processed through the whole person. The first
commandment, to love the Lord God with all one's heart, soul and mind and to
love others as oneself, is to be applied to reading as much as to all things
in life. Anything less than reading with one's whole person in loving
submission to God and others strangles the Spirit's flow.
Competent charismatic reading prophesies life to those ready to hear the word
of the Lord. The Christian reader is a minister of a new covenant, not of
letter but of spirit. The Spirit gives life -- this then is the criterion by
which prophetic reading is judged. Lifeless reading is a mocking
impersonation of presentin the Gospel -- stillborn words sound monotonously
ineffective and reflect gloomingly off veiled and captive minds of hardened
hearers. However, reading full of the Spirit is transformative -- the image
of God figured in reading the word of God is set in one's imagination as an
example to be followed together with others called as faithful disciples of
Christ. Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. Blessed
is the one who reads aloud words of prophesy and blessed are those who hear.
Cordially in Christ,
Craig Tavani
My Email Address: symmimex@aol.com
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