“My prophetic gift is given purely by God’s grace and it’s meant for others”

by Janice Tai // February 14, 2025, 1:02 pm

Shawn Wong thought he had psychic powers when he was young. He later discovered his spiritual gift and used it to minister to others.

When he was five years old, Shawn Wong remembers having a sense of knowing that something was about to happen before it happened.

For example, just before his mother nagged him to drink some water, he would know his mother would ask him to do so before she actually said it.

Sometimes when he was in the car with the radio on, he would ‘hear’ a tune in his head which he had not heard before, and that would be the exact same tune of the next song that came onto the radio waves.

“I remember such things happening a number of times, with different people and contexts,” said Shawn.

At that time, the young Shawn loved watching the Power Ranger series on television and reading his favourite Marvel comic books.

Young Shawn enjoyed playing with toys as he has a vivid imagination.

Noticing that those TV and comic characters all had a specific superpower of their own, he wondered if his was “psychic” abilities.

“Since I would know things before they happened, I thought maybe I had some psychic power. So, I tried to ‘practice’ by trying to move objects with my mind, and I never succeeded,” said Shawn with a laugh.

However, he continued to have experiences that others did not have, though he did not know it at that time.

When he hit seven years old, his parents took him on short holiday trips to Malaysia frequently.

Once, he recalled seeing a dark humanoid shadow – about the height of an adult – standing by the curtains when his family entered the chalet.

“I don’t remember feeling anything, but I told my parents about it,” said Shawn, whose parents promptly prayed to cover and cleanse the room.

Young Shawn at a chalet.

“He is quite ‘sensitive’,” his mother remarked to his father as Shawn overheard them discussing about him. Whenever such intriguing things happened to him, his parents were the first people he confided in.

Shawn with his sister and their parents.

His parents were surprised that he has such an innate sensitivity to the spiritual realm at such a young age, but they were also pleased. They knew that the responsibility of helping their son develop and steward – what he would later learn was called a prophetic gift – his spiritual gift laid on their shoulders.

“God also often speaks to my mother in dreams, visions and words of knowledge. So, she taught me how to process and interpret all these with God, and she taught me Scripture daily,” said Shawn.

Shawn and his mother while on holiday.

His father also advised him to turn to the Bible and read it, whenever he was scared after seeing spirits in his room at night.

“Every time I read the Bible, all fear would dissipate and the spirits would no longer be there,” said Shawn.

These early spiritual experiences showed Shawn that God is real and powerful, but it did not necessarily lead him to have a deeper relationship with His creator.

“I had too good a childhood to seek anything more. I liked the attention and power came with this gift, but that was about it,” said Shawn, now 36.

An encounter with God that kickstarted his prophetic gift

The casual approach he had towards his faith changed in 2003 when he was 15. During a regular Sunday service at Church of Our Saviour (COOS), Shawn encountered God personally for the first time.

While the congregation sang the song “Here In Your Presence”, Shawn felt himself suddenly losing all physical strength and collapsing onto the ground.

“I began weeping uncontrollably and a part of me wondered how I would appear to my friends. But I also knew instinctively that this was the overwhelming love of God descending upon me like a blanket,” he said.

Following that encounter, Shawn found himself desiring to spend more time with God by worshipping with music. He picked up bass guitar and by the next year, he was playing bass during worship sets on stage.

“Through this instrument, I discovered that I could prophetically release whatever I sensed the Lord wants to express at any given moment,” Shawn told Salt&Light.

For instance, God may impress the word “peace” on his heart and he would then receive His peace and allow the Holy Spirit to move through his fingers. Then he may “hear” a musical idea in line with “peace” in his head and then he plays it out – all these while playing the chords and rhythms of the designated song.

Over the years, Shawn’s development in both the prophetic and musical realms were guided by key mentors besides his parents.

Since his teenage years, Jennifer Heng was his pastor and mentor – initially at COOS, and then later at Good Gifts City Church.

“She was the one who thrust me onto the stage to lead worship for the first time, gave me the freedom to release any words I had to the congregation and mentored me whenever I had questions,” said Shawn.

Shawn with his mentor and former pastor, Jennifer Heng.

When he moved to 3:16 Church in 2023, its lead pastor Norman Ng also gave him many opportunities to prophesy over the church and its affiliated events.

“We partnered with Shawn and (his wife) Promise to write encouragement cards for several groups of people, entrusting them to seek the Lord for a word that would speak to the people,” Ps Norman told Salt&Light.

“Many of the recipients have testified of how surprisingly accurate the words are to their current situation and that they were edified and comforted through them. I have been personally encouraged through these cards. I keep them in my Bible as a reminder of the times and seasons,” he added.

Pastor Norman Ng keeps the prophetic card he received from Shawn in his Bible.

Many of the prophetic words, aligned with the stated purpose of prophesy in 1 Corinthians 14:3, have brought “strength, encouragement and comfort” to the recipients.

Most of the cards were simply messages of love from God that helped his children feel seen by Him.

For instance, church member Stephanie Sheriff had buried her grief after her father died in 2022, as she believed that a Christian believer should keep pushing forward with strength.

But exhaustion finally caught up with her a year later and she took a sabbatical overseas – in a quiet field at her old college, surrounded by towering trees.

When she returned, she was at church one Sunday last year when Shawn handed her a card on which he had sketched a vision that he received: It was the exact image of those towering trees from her college.

“That instant, I knew my grief had never been forgotten. God had seen it all along,” said Stefanie, 32, who works in the tech industry.

“Shawn’s gift is in his ability to show people God’s love in a language only they understand. This takes someone who is willing to be used by God, someone who continually hones his skills in God, and above all, someone with such a deep love for God who is willing to appear as a fool to the world when the message might make no sense to him,” Stefanie told Salt&Light.

Strengthening and steering fellow believers through prophecy

A timely prophetic word delivered by Shawn has helped to refresh and bring encouragement to weary Christian ministry workers.

Recently, a pastor friend of his asked Shawn to pray for a word from God for two of his relatives, who are missionaries.

For one of them, Shawn saw a vision of chains breaking and received the verse Isaiah 61:1. Little did he know that this was the woman’s life verse and the exact verse that led her to the mission field.

The other missionary broke down in tears when he received the verse Proverbs 17:17 from Shawn. For him, Shawn saw a vision of buns coming out of the oven, having been moulded and baked together prior. He felt it symbolised how God has given him close friends for life, to journey with him in the often lonesome path of a missionary.

The visions Shawn received for the two missionaries.

There are also times when the prophetic words Shawn releases fulfil other purposes, such as resurfacing lost dreams and steering one towards one’s calling.

In late 2023, Levan Wee, founder of Bible Bento and a former rock singer, met his secondary school art teacher after 26 years. They spent hours talking about Christian fine art, and his teacher reminded Levan of the final year art project that he had submitted for his “O” Level exam.

“I had forgotten about that final year project,” Levan told Salt&Light. “But he remembered it because it was honest, raw and true to the hidden struggles I faced then as a teen.”

Following that meeting, Levan pondered how interesting it would be to push the boundaries of Christian fine art. He also recalled the rock band The Smashing Pumpkins which inspired his final year art project.

Levan loved a little-known track, “Mayonnaise” by The Smashing Pumpkins “I remembered how I scribbled some of the song lyrics into my art project, as an expression of the personal pain and anguish I wanted to put into the art.”

The very next day, a friend contacted him to offer him a Christian fine art painting. She had bought it years ago but felt God wanted Levan to have it at that time.

A few days later, Shawn suddenly sent him a song over text message – it was the obscure “Mayonnaise”.

“Shawn said God had prompted him to send it to me and that it relates to my past. None of those two friends knew anything about my meeting with my art teacher nor about my past,” Levan told Salt&Light.

Shawn with a group of friends, including Levan (top left).

“When I tried to calculate the probability of all these specific things happening in the same week, it was impossible odds. The only conclusion I could draw was that God was reminding me of something important – that there was once a time when I made art that expressed itself in an honest and true way,” Levan added.

Unlike in the past when his rock band had made popular music to cater to the masses, he felt God was telling him to get back to making authentic music. Shawn’s word from God was key in giving him the courage to start making music for and with God once again.

Feeling like a “vending machine”

In exercising his prophetic gift, Shawn has faced his fair share of challenges.

From 2017 to 2020, Shawn pioneered and oversaw the Bass Guitar Stream at Awaken Generation, a worship missions organisation.

Shawn playing the bass guitar. Photo credit: Awaken Generation.

Every month, mentors like himself would pray and prophesy over students who come forward to be ministered to. Over the three years that he was there, he has released at least a couple of hundreds of prophetic words in person.

Shawn prophesying over a believer. Photo credit: Awaken Generation.

“Given the sheer volume of it all, it was tiring to be emotionally invested in every word that I gave. So slowly, releasing the words began to feel mechanical. I felt like a vending machine. I did not feel a sense of love for the people or care about how the word might impact them,” Shawn admitted.

“By God’s grace, the accuracy of the words given were not affected, but I knew I was not representing God’s heart or nature well,” he added.

Often feeling drained after these sessions, he also neglected his own personal time with God, which in turn impacted his marriage and relationship with his parents.

It was only a few years later during a conference where Shawn helped to write prophetic cards for the participants that God gave him a glimpse of His heart for His people.

“As the pastors gave me feedback on how various people have been blessed by the prophetic words, a shift happened in my heart – I could really feel His love for the people. I learnt that my gifting was given purely by His grace and so, it is meant for others. That purpose helps me put on His heart for others, which is possible even in a setting that requires a high volume of prophetic words,” said Shawn.

Other challenges he has faced through the years include having the responsibility to maintain the integrity of the revelation by neither adding nor removing anything from what God shows him, and battling with spiritual pride and imposter syndrome.

Today, Shawn uses his spiritual gift in a myriad of ways, including helping other musicians discover their prophetic voice, even as he teaches bass guitar.

Shawn teaching the bass guitar to students. Photo Credit: Awaken Generation.

As he matures in his walk with the Lord, he has also received prophetic words from God on a corporate or national level, beyond individual situations. With these specific directions, Shawn goes into intercessory prayer and does what the Lord shows him to do – whether it is to perform certain prophetic acts to break generational curses or to declare certain Scripture verses over different locations.

Alongside his wife Promise, he co-runs The Project J, a company dedicated to creating Christian resources that help people reflect and grow in their relationship with Jesus.

Shawn and his wife Promise in Japan.

He has also started a teaching practice in Bukit Panjang where he offers personalised bass guitar lessons.

Viewing himself as an artist, Shawn’s journey continues to be about discovering and revealing the beauty of God.

“Whether I am teaching, playing music or moving in the prophetic, everything serves this single purpose: to make His beauty known to others, now with a deeper understanding of His grace and my dependence on Him.”