"The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him." (Psalm 50:1-3)
What if, from time immemorial, every single prophecy ever uttered was intended to do one thing only? In no way am I looking to detract or downplay the importance of what a prophecy is. What I am seeking to do, audacious as it may sound, is to streamline the whole process. I find that in a large church setting, when labels of "prophet" and "apostle" and such begin to be thrown around, it tends to eclipse the more baseline appelation of "believer". Because we're all believers. The incessant "name-calling", for lack of a better term, might alienate those whose needs are hidden under layers of the exact same thing (name-calling) that happens outside the walls of church. But first: "Despise not prophesyings." (1 Thessalonians 5:20)
"And this voice which came from Heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." (2 Peter 1:18-20) Meaning, we can't twist a prophetic word to mean what we want it to.
Eminent Domain
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalm 91:1)
I believe it's eminently simple. Peter in the prior passage refers to a specific time. He's talking about when God spoke out of the cloud—"the excellent glory"—and testified again of Jesus and His life. David, in Psalm 91, is referring to a more emblematic mountain. The symbolic "Zion" in which God dwells all the time. God is there. He is shining and He's looking down on us. And while I believe this is true, it's also a symbol. Meaning we can't fully wrap our minds around it in our current state. This is good—why would we want to sate our imaginations? Think about it. Dwell on it. "The secret place of the most High..." up there in the atmosphere where it's, not freezing, but bracing. Where you feel more alive. Air might be harder to come by, but God's got enough to go around. Keep climbing, you're close. What I'm getting at here is lining out the journey all of us should endeavor to take. That of climbing the (figurative) mountain in order to "dwell in the secret place". To essentially use all the grace and gusto and guts God gifts us with to see things from His vantage point. And seen this way, I would say that prophecy should come easy.
Before we go any further, a mountain that is completely encased in a glacier is called a nunatak. Something (the ice) that would necessarily have to be burned through before we get to God and before God can come down. Remember, "a fire shall devour before Him". Hence the iciness in the church that has to go. Am I associating too freely? I don't think so.
Ears to the ground
I believe it starts from the ground up. When we see God as always speaking and always showing us that which we notice, we'll begin to see patterns. And the more we orient our thinking to the ground rules He's laid out in His word, the more we'll know what He's getting at. We'll begin to see the world from His vantage point. Prophecies are wonderful. Prophecies are powerful. "But", as Paul says very plainly, "whether there be prophecies, they shall fail." (1 Corinthians 13:8) See, we are an integral part of what God is doing. And it's only when we endeavor to get as close to God as we possibly can, do we take our places in the grand, overarching words that are spoken out into the future. Grammatically, the word "farther" is to be used when dealing with two objects in relation to one another, i.e. distance. "Further", however, is used when referring to an intangible thing. Like furthering God's Kingdom (think "far" in relation to distance and "fur" as not part of this group of words). But it's up to us. God wants to come down, as it says in Psalm 50, that's all I know. He wants to manifest Himself in new and exciting ways. How can we help Him with this? To determine to get as close to Him as possible in our day-to-day walk. He'll be here before we know it.
"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me: for Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:24)
And loving God—and loving on God—is the way up.