American Prophetess, Esther Hunter is a keynote speaker and published author with over 15years of experience hosting empowerment events and speaking on a variety of subjects, relevant to faith, worship, spiritual leadership, family dynamics and education. As a national speaker, worship leader and frequent radio/podcast guest, Esther gives practical demonstrations and strategic leadership insight, regarding how to remain focused, to fulfill your life assignment. A woman deeply committed to serving humanity, she is an anointed vocalist. According to her “my assignment is to speak truth and impart prophetic insight that shifts the lives of people from negative to positive outcomes through imparting relevant life changing insights.” . Her newest book series released last year are entitled, Interactive Study Guide Beauty Inside Out and Worship Inside Out, Exposition & Lifestyle. Esther in an exclusive interview with Sunday Oyinloye, Publisher of Green Savannah Diplomatic Cable, advised Nigeria to invest in her youth even as she says that Africa is in the heart and mind of God.
Excerpts:
Have you had the opportunity of visiting Africa?
I have not, but I am still looking forward to the opportunity to do that.
How soon do Africans expect you?
I am looking forward to coming. It will be great to come by the spring or by the summer of next year. Visiting Africa next year is a goal for me.
Which countries are you looking at?
I am looking at Nigeria, I am looking at Ethiopia, I am looking at Ghana. I am looking at Africa as a continent. For some reasons, God has planted it in my heart to reach out to as many people as I can even in Kenya. This may sound bold and it may sound broad, but I think it will be my small way to impact and express God’s love to the continent of Africa.
What do you do as a prophetess?
As a prophetess, I am called by God to see His vision and see what He says concerning humanity about any given situation that exists. When I say humanity, sometimes that may be to individuals, sometimes it may be to group of people, sometimes that may be to nations and so my assignment as a Prophetess is to speak what is the heart and mind of God to people and to do that without fear, without intimidation, or without condemnation but always with the understanding that God reveals in order that he might redeem. Whatever God speaks to me or shows to me as a prophetess, when I deliver that message to the people, it is always with intent to not just to reveal good or bad but to redeem whatever needs to be redeemed, to inspire to encourage and to make prophetic declaration. His plans for us is always for our greater good, so as a prophetess, I have devoted my life to speaking, hearing and seeing accurately what God will say to the people that He so loved and created, and to be committed to deliver that message.
How do people differentiate between a real prophetess and a false one?
I believe that the Bible is God’s voice to the world and therefore, anything we do should be measured in the light of the Bible, not just the letters, but the revelation of it. He says that the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy .The prophetic word that is being delivered must incorporate truth concerning Jesus Christ. More specifically, I think a lot of people think they are supposed to determine whether a person is real or false prophet. It’s a shallow way to determine whether someone is a true of false prophetess by merely waiting to see whether what she says will come to pass or not. This is because God can speak to a prophet about something that will happen as a result of the peoples’ condition if they don’t repent and that same God will ask the prophet to go back and say because you repented, I change my mind. Therefore, we have to be careful of accusing people of being false prophets, because true prophets can only speak what God is saying.
Is God telling you anything about Nigeria?
Nigeria shall be saved. Nigeria shall be raised, Nigeria shall be lifted. The youth of Nigeria, hear this clearly, because God did speak this to me concerning Nigeria some time ago that the youth of Nigeria would rise up and what has defeated previous generations would not defeat them. They will know the true living God; they will commune with the true living God. They will do it with boldness, they will not be intimidated by the limitations that have been set before them, and they will break forth by the power of God. The word of God to Nigeria is invest in your youth, invest in young people, let the elders reach out to the young ones and embrace them because the youth of Nigeria are the future of Nigeria and the future of Nigeria is to be lifted by the power of God. I am grateful and humbled for the opportunity that your publication has given me to speak to someone in Nigeria and have a voice on what God says concerning the country. I want to add that Africa as a whole is in the heart and mind of God and He will do a great work in Africa. It will not just be commercial, but we will see the power of God manifest in supernatural magnificent way. God loves the entire world and Africa is in the centre of the heart of God.
You are the CEO of 3V Women in Leadership, what does your organization do?
The 3V stands for vision, virtue and victory .The mission of 3V Women in Leadership is to encourage women to rise and embrace the vision that God has given them, to release the virtue or the strength that is already within them and to rise to victory over every obstacle. In order to do that, we host women conferences, workshops, mentorship outreach; we connect with other women leaders and up and coming young women. It’s something that is developing, something that has been transitioning over the years, and now, we are at the point of launching it to greater capacity. We have released women empowerment books, which have been used by women and even men to empower them because knowledge is key. The Bible says my people perish because of lack of knowledge, so the foundation is to provide the resources by way of books. We have hosted some workshops in the process of expanding that outreach.
How can an individual fulfill his or her purpose?
I believe that God plants within every individual’s heart a sense of purpose because Ecclesiastes tells us that He has planted good things in man’s heart which cannot be discovered without God. So in order to truly know what your purpose is, you have to seek God who created you. How do you seek Him? One is through reading His word; two is through connecting with people who have good relationship with God. I believe more specifically because God speaks to individuals, He impacts individuals; He inspires individuals that want to begin to seek him. He said if you seek me, you will find me when you sought for me with all of your heart. Your destiny and your life assignment are connected directly to knowing and connecting with the God who created you. I believe that once we begin to ask Him, He begins to reveal to us in so many ways. On a natural side, God gives us abilities, those gifts, talents and abilities can be used as pointers as to what our purpose is. For instance, speaking, talking, extorting, are things that naturally come for me. Obviously because I have that gift, that gift is a part of my purpose. How I use that gift should be directed towards my life assignment. So the gifts within me indicate the power that I have been given by God to do what my life assignment is. So we can evaluate it from the natural and spiritual perspectives.
How were you able to develop the skill of an author and keynote speaker, besides, how are you able to combine the two?
Honestly, I speak about the things I write on and write about the things I speak about. Talking about mentorship, one of the things I think is so important is we have people in our lives that can encourage us, who can educate, who can teach us. I also listen to the spirit of God because He knows what no man knows. He knows what no woman knows. Once our ways are right with Him, He begins to download in us what He calls us to do. So, writing is a gift that He has given me, writing is something that flows naturally for me, writing books is something I enjoy doing. I still have another book to be released before the end of this year. Being a keynote speaker coincides because I speak about a lot of things that I write about. Then let me say this, when I get invitations to speak, before I go to any location, as a prophetess, I am always searching for what God wants me to say to that specific group, so that I can speak accurately.
Reading culture is generally going down, where did the world have it wrong?
Any time you move away from the source, then you moves away from resources that the source provides. If we look at God Himself, He writes. God said I have written my law upon the tables of the heart. When He gave Moses the commandments, He wrote them out. You can meditate upon what you read and so I think sometimes, we human beings think we are smarter than God and we start doing things on our own, and sometimes, we move away from the foundation. The scripture says my people perish for lack of knowledge. When you read, you gain knowledge which gives you the ability not to perish. Evil forces work to discourage from reading. We should educate ourselves by reading because there is something about reading that does something for the human mind that nothing else can do.
Some of your books were released last year, what impact are they making from the feedbacks you are getting from the public?
I believe they are making a great impact. When I had the opportunity to speak in Canada many of them told me that they were blessed with one of the books I released before my visit. Worship inside out has also been used by some worship leaders here in the US. It has had impressions in the hearts of the people. This is how I view the impact. I don’t view it just by the number of books sold or by the number of people who heard me speak. I view it by the number of responses, or the type of responses that I get. If it’s one person that reads it and his life is transformed, that one person can be the next, Billy Graham or the next president Obama. If one book reaches one person, that one person can reach the world.
What are you doing to groom a generation of authors and keynote speakers?
I do some one -on- one mentoring and counseling. I am also in the process of developing some workshops to be able to help inspire and raise more authors and keynote speakers. But someone has to have a calling, understanding, and desire and mandated by God to do certain things. Sometimes, people want to be keynote speakers, but they are not gifted, some want to write books but they are not gifted to do it and so one of my assignments as a prophetess is not just to tell people what they want to hear, but to say look at this direction, the fact that it looks fabulous does not mean it will be fabulous for you to do. I want to encourage those who are called by God to speak to groups of people, to speak in businesses. I want to inspire them to provide workshops and conferences and bring in other leaders who also can impact their lives.
Would you like to speak to the challenges of Africa and what should be done to change the narrative?
You mentioned something about reading which is very important. I think educating people about the value of who they are is foundation or key to be able to change the dynamic whether in Africa, United States, Canada or any other place. If you want to make significant change, you have to be willing to connect and collaborate with people who have the same vision.
I want to go a bit personal; do you have a social life?
Yes, I do have a social life.
How do you relax?
I love to read, that is part of my relaxation. I love vacation, I love to visit places. I like to connect with friends even if is to go out for coffee or if it is just for a dinner, or a big show. I do those things and I try to make sure that I give myself the opportunity to enjoy life.
Can you recollect the most challenging moment of your life?
That is difficult because I have had many challenges in life. I think, probably the most challenging was when I had the opportunity to go to the Middle East in the middle of a difficult situation. That was one of the most challenging things that I have faced in life. It was the very first time that I left my homeland, it was the very first time that I boarded a plane, and it was on a very difficult circumstance that I was called upon to go and be a part of light in the midst of darkness. I don’t want to go into details right now. But that was probably the most challenging. But I will tell you what brought me out of that challenge still with my faith intact. It is because I had the word of God and I had people who were connected to me who consistently encouraged me with the scriptures that helped me stayed focused to know that the God who was with me in the US is the same God who was with me there, and all I had to do was to stay connected to Him.
You traveled to the Middle East to do what?
My career that time caused me to travel to Saudi Arabia area, Bahrain, Kuwait, it was a difficult time.
You don’t want me to know the career?
I have changed career since then, my career right now is in the area education.
