http://www.markmallett.com/blog/?p=1480
Some may wonder why I often leave links to Mark Mallett's site. There are a number of reasons. The first is that I believe that he has a true prophetic gift. Second, the "words" he receives come to him in a similar manner as mine do and when I read certain writings of his I get a witness in the spirit. A witness in the spirit usually comes to me when the Lord wants to confirm another person's words to show me the truth in them. This doesn't only happen to me on Mark Mallett's site, the Lord often uses it whenever He wants to draw my attention to something in particular. The Holy Spirit floods me and it feels as like a mixture of heat and electricity, waves of it. He does this when He is giving me "words", also. If the word is particularly strong my body sometimes shakes. It has just been in this past year that the shaking has started and I was concerned at first until I heard that this is not uncommon. Another reason that I believe that his charisms are real is that some of his "words" and dreams have been the same as mine.
I often use the terms "word of knowledge" and "prophetic word" interchangeably but they are actually two different things. There is also "word of wisdom" which is slightly different. I will attempt over the next couple weeks to explain what I know about these charisms, as well as prophetic dreams, as simply as I can. Many people only believe what they can see with their eyes and forget that there is a spiritual world, also, and we are not simply matter but spiritual beings. There is a certain snobbery that exists today that says charisms are no longer needed; we are too enlightened for that. I say:
They are needed now as never before in history. The Holy Spirit didn't stop giving these gifts, many people simply don't want them or are unaware of them. Some of the Christian sites that I have read will not have anything to do with charisms or private revelations, apparitions and miracles. I cannot understand why. The Spirit gives these gifts to build the Church, they didn't suddenly stop existing. People don't trust them, but they can be extremely helpful. At least that is what I have found in my own life. Almost every personal prophetic word the Lord has given me has come true including the birth of my baby which came with a time. Well, except for one, which was just given to me and a few that will take some time to fully play out, but I have faith that God's word is good.
It is very hard to get information in books or over the internet about charisms, especially among Catholics, so I am just going to try to explain in my own words what little I have learned about some of them. I do not have all the charisms so those might be a little harder to explain.
I'll start with the gift of dreams since this was the first charism that I noticed outside of prayer charisms. The dreams started almost immediately after the Lord brought my soul into the presence of His Mercy http://openingthefloodgatesofmercy.blogspot.com/2009/06/heart-of-jesus-infinite-in-mercy.html . I called them "Holy Spirit dreams" for lack of a better word. I didn't know much about the spiritual life at this point; I was like a baby cradled in the arms of God, one who couldn't even walk yet. The first dreams consisted of knowledge being poured into my head while I slept. I was aware that this was going on, I would "catch" the Lord at it many times. In the morning I would wake up knowing things about God that I had previously not known. One day I woke up with the words "indoctrination of the Holy Spirit on my lips", other times I would be given things. In one dream Jesus put an old coin in my hand [ I wrote about this one on one of my blogs], in another, I was in a room reading beautiful ancient scrolls in another language. These dreams continued in this fashion for a period of time, it was as if the Lord was preparing me for something. Meanwhile, I started attending daily Mass and became a daily communicant [after a long confession, of course]. I also started reading the bible, praying the rosary and reading about the saints. I was bowled over when I heard about St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy. The first time I saw the Divine Mercy picture, I said, " Lord! That picture reminds me of what happened to me, the rays which pierced my soul, the mercy and love emanating from your Heart. That's what You did to me!" I bought her diary not too long after that and was fascinated with it. I started praying the Mercy Chaplet and this is when I started waking up every single night at 3:33. It was strange. I would go to sleep and would get woken up at 3:33, never 3:32 or 3:34 but always 3:33 on the nose. I took this as a call to prayer and started praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in the middle of the night. I later read somewhere that 333 was the number of the Trinity. Once, I got a word of knowledge that this was a call to the prayer warriors and God was waking up many Christians at this time to pray for the world. Some people get woken up at 3:00 instead and almost everyone that this happens to takes it as a call to prayer.
I have posted about some of my dreams on my blogs including one in which I was given a glimpse of hell. In some I was battling demons and losing until St. Michael came to help me. The minute St. Michael stepped into the picture they were done for. I think this one was to teach me to call on St. Michael whenever I needed help, so I started praying the St. Michael prayer. The dreams continued and still do. Some have been prophetic dreams, many have been spiritual battles and some are just conversations with the Lord. These dreams are unlike regular dreams, they are extremely vivid and filled with power.
I'll have to continue this in another post, I just realized how long it was getting :)
Mary,
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful post. Too little attention is given to charisms. I think sometimes people are afraid of them or those who have them. While private revelation does need to be carefully discerned and tested, there are those that are credible.
I once had a priest pray over me in tongues after I had made my confession. He had given me absolution and then prayed. While this was happening I wasn't sure what language he was speaking in, when I realized it wasn't Latin or anything else familiar, I realized it was tongues. A few days later I asked someone who knew him well if he had this gift and she told me he did. At first the experience unsettled me a bit, but then somehow understood that he himself had little if any control over what he was doing or saying; it was all under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I never forgot the experience and look at it as one of God's gifts to me at that time. Perhaps my understanding what was being said would have gotten in the way somehow. In this way I was able to just trust that this is what God wanted for me at that time.
Thanks for the link to Mark's blog; I have enjoyed reading what he has to say.
Merry and Blessed Christmas to you and your family.
Thank you Mary, I look forward to the continuation. It didn't feel long at all, very interesting and true :)
ReplyDeleteI don't remember my dreams. Maybe once a year.
ReplyDeleteBut if you ever get a word for me I would love to hear it. I could use all the help I can get lately.
Wow! So interesting! Thank you Mary, for sharing this. I used to always wake up in the middle of the night and couldn't fall back asleep. My mom always told me that when I couldn't sleep, I should pray the rosary and she guaranteed that I would be sleeping before I could finish. She was right. From now on, I will pay more attention to what time it is when I wake up in the middle of the night.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting post. I have prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet for many years although not always daily and not always at the 3 o'clock hour. I've heard 3:00 AM is significant because this is when Satan is most active and prayer is needed most at this time.
ReplyDeleteI have within the last 6 months or so had a strong unexplainable urge to develop a more intimate devotion to St Michael and the angels.
Thanks for the post. God bless.