SPEAKING TENDERLY: PROPHETIC MINISTRY DECIPHERED IN NEW BOOK BY FORMER GU PRESIDENT IVAN FILBY
Published: October 29, 2024
A Youth for Christ prayer meeting, a 23-year-old attendee, a piece of information revealed only to him—such was the setting for Ivan Filby’s first experience of prophetic ministry.
“I sensed the Lord gave me a message for someone. I had no idea for whom,” he recalls. “I had never heard anyone give a prophetic message before.”
What was he to do?
Shaking, he spoke up and shared the words with others. Afterward, a young woman approached him. The message he relayed had contained details that were meaningful to her and particulars only she would know. It confirmed a path she had prayed about. It mattered to a decision she would make.
“I can no longer remember what I said,” Filby reflects today, “but I do recall how amazed and comforted this woman was by the words I spoke.”
Filby is the author of the newly released book Speak Tenderly: Prophetic Ministry Seasoned With Grace (Seedbed, 2024). Its insights flow from his decades of experience nurturing sensitivities to the Holy Spirit’s nudges to receive and share God’s messages for others.
“The Spirit can reveal things God has freely given to us,” he writes. “A simple word can awaken people’s hearts and make way for remarkable transformation.”
PROPHETIC MINISTRY: ASSURANCE THAT GOD KNOWS ME
Whether the revelations come by words, actions, or mental pictures, they give assurance that God knows us.
At a recent speaking engagement, Filby received the image of Jesus pulling a duvet over the head of an attendee. Along with the image came the impression that God wanted to do something for this young woman that her earthly father either could not or would not do. The woman confessed that she feared the dark and slept each night with the light on. She struggled to manage this fear alone. Her father was out of the picture; she had never met him.
“She allowed me to pray for her,” says Filby. The burden lifted, and she embraced freedom.
A GIFT MISUNDERSTOOD
Filby says that people often mistake prophetic ministry for predicting the future when in reality “it is far more about God revealing His heart for a person, a church, a community, or situation.”
He wrote this book in part to clear up misunderstandings. “I have seen many poor models of prophetic ministry,” he says, “where people have felt manipulated, where the prophetic insight is inaccurate or unhelpful.”
Filby chose “speak tenderly” from Isaiah 40:2 for the book’s title because it means “speak to the heart.” He chose “seasoned with grace” because it counters the saltiness he often sees in personal prophetic ministry.
He points to the Apostle Paul’s words in I Corinthians 14:3 that prophecy in the New Testament should encourage, strengthen and comfort.
A HOW-TO GUIDE
Filby previously wrote Livestream: Learning to Minister in the Power of the Holy Spirit (Seedbed, 2021). Like that book, Speaking Tenderly serves as a how-to guide. It provides a path for readers to nurture prophetic sensitivities and grow in faith. Easy to read, witty, and scripturally sound, it’s filled with stories that help readers recognize God’s voice at work in their own lives.
Seedbed publishers will release eight short videos to accompany the book. The additional content and resources are designed especially for groups using the book in their studies.
ABOUT IVAN FILBY
Ivan Filby serves as president and CEO of Seedbed, Inc. He is an ordained minister in the Free Methodist Church in the UK and Ireland. He previously served in higher education, including as president of Greenville University. He holds a PhD in management, an MA in evangelism studies, and is a Colson Fellow. For more than 40 years, he has guided others to minister prophetically.