Gift of Prophecy
audio version
A. Misunderstanding about prophecy.
Not the gift or ability to Preach- This is what
is generally believed. While I believe a preacher can be anointed of
God and gifted to preach. That is not the gift of prophecy. They may
say a few things in their message that is prophesy and even the
whole message could be a prophesy but generally speaking preaching
is not prophesying. If it was, we could surely prove that women
should be allowed to preach then. Both Joel and Peter quoting Joel
predict that “Your Sons and daughters shall prophecy.”
While an
anointed preacher is a gift from God and God gives Him that gift or
ability to preach, not all preaching is the gift of prophecy. Preaching though can contain prophesy, the word of knowledge, or the
word of wisdom even sometimes without knowing it. We've all
heard messages or good bible teachers that surely were anointed to
preach or teach but preaching in itself is not considered the gift
of prophecy.
It is not the ability to memorize and quote scripture –
While quoting scripture many times is straight from the Holy Spirit,
this is not the gift of prophecy. Finis Jennings Dake is someone who
was gifted to memorize and quote scripture. He was a walking bible
in other words. I do believe that was from the Holy Spirit but it
was not the gift of prophecy.
Not Fortune Telling – Foretelling the future is
not the gift of prophecy although some prophecy may contain warnings
of the future or blessings of the future. It is not limited to
future events though. This is where the gift of discernment has to
kick in. Gifts of the spirit should really have us being thankful to
the Lord, glorifying the Lord, praising the Lord or having an
awesome fear of the Lord. Never should it bring glory to a man or
women, “The great madam so and so.” Never should it be done to raise
funds even for a ministry.
It is not saying what pops in our head when we
supposedly given a prophecy over a person. Many times people do this
and get it wrong. In doing so they could ruin many lives. I’ve seen
someone line people up and prophesy over each one of them. When he
got to me, he got it wrong and another lady said that he had her's
wrong. I believe we will know when we speak for the Lord, the spirit
will bear witness and it will bear spiritual fruit of some kind.
It is not making predictions by guesswork or
imagination, supposing, gut feeling and intuition. We’ve heard of a
woman’s intuition. That may be true and a good thing but that is not
the gift of prophecy. Some things we can figure out by
circumstances, past behavior, gut feelings, and knowing a person’s
personality. This doesn’t mean that we are giving a prophecy.
B. What the Gift of Prophecy is:
Prophecy is to speak for God, from the mind
of God. It is an inspired word usually short in duration but can be
longer.
It is a vocal utterance in one’s own language
that is understood by all present. It is similar to the
interpretation of tongues but no tongues precede it.
Tongues and an interpretation are equal to a
word of prophecy.
I’ve given prophecies before that some thought I
was just praying out loud and then I prayed hard out loud once and
someone thought it was a prophecy so this gift is not as easily
recognized as a tongue and interpretation message. People are more
familiar with that kind of prophesy. I believe that tongues and
interpretation is also prophecy.
C. The purpose for the gift of prophecy is in:
D. When does it occur?
Many times when we are in a worship service
and there is a quiet pause. A message is given that comes forth from
an individual. Many times people do not recognize this as a message
if there are no tongues preceding it. They might think someone is
just speaking a word of comfort or testifying. This is usually
the gift of prophecy speaking to the congregation assembled in a
worship service. So the gift of prophecy is spontaneous from the Lord
similar to the interpretation of tongues.
Sometimes one preaching the message may have
a word of prophecy within the message even though most preaching is
not usually considered prophesying. Anointed preachers and teachers
are gifted but that may not necessarily be a word of prophecy but it
can be.
When witnessing or speaking to someone about
the Lord or about God’s word and you are inspired to speak a word
that you didn’t plan. This word is anointed and it brings forth
fruit. It is not just slipping up and saying the wrong thing. It is
not just people who are quick at comebacks when speaking. This
is the gift of prophesy at work.
Prophecy is not planned. Like all the
supernatural gifts, it is unexpected and we do not plan to go to
church and prophesy.
E. Who does God use?
Men, women and children. There is no limit. It is
not limited to the clergy. We know that by reading the words of Moses
which I have as number 2 in the examples from God's word below. God’s
gifts are for all believers, not just the clergy. When a
separation between clergy and laity began after the apostles died off,
it
actually kept people from receiving the Holy Spirit and being used of
God. The clergy started doing all the worshipping for the people. The
people were robbed of a close relationship with God.
People who have been praying and listening to the
Lord are the ones that are spiritually available to give a word of
prophecy. That doesn’t make them holier or better because anyone of the
body of believers can pray, seek God and be used by the Holy Spirit.
One who prophesies is not
necessarily a prophet like the Old Testament prophets. This can occur in
any Holy Spirit filled individual and is not limited to the same one all
the time.
F. Examples from God’s word:
King Saul in 1 Samuel 10 when Samuel anointed
Saul to be king. There were others prophesying also. This happened
before Saul got into error and fell out of God's favor. So just because
God anoints and someone even prophsies does not mean that the person is
perfect and doesn't fail later. I want to emphasize though that we don't
have to fall away from the Lord and fail. The Holy Spirit is
always there to draw us back to the Lord.
We do see however that some may attempt to
prophesy and it not be for real. This reminds me of the words of Jesus
when people would come up to him and say, “Lord have we not prophesied
in thy name?” Jesus said unto them, depart from me, I never knew you. I
don't know if King Saul once know the Lord or not but he fell away from
the Lord in later life, but doing the will of God until the time we go
to be with Jesus is what counts, not whether we prophesied once a few
years ago. Jesus' words though seem to indicate that He never knew them
and were not those that followed Him from the beginning. Who knows Saul
may have had a weakness of jealousy to self exaltation that made him
disobey God later in life.
During the days of
Moses, Numbers 11 when Joshua got jealous for Moses’ sake. Moses
said, “Enviest thou for my
sake? Would to God that all the Lords’ people were prophets and that
the Lord would put his spirit upon them?".
This should be our attitude. We should
desire that all of us speak in tongues and prophesy. We should
rejoice to see people used by the Holy Spirit.
The book of Joel
speaks of this, “Joel 2:28
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will
I pour out my spirit."
This speaks mostly of the time the Jews will
be restored to their land and find out who the Messiah is but the
first outpouring of this was recorded in the book of Acts. The
latter day outpouring began in the late 1800s and early 1900s in
different parts of the world in about the same time period. The
final outpouring will be during the tribulation period. We do not
have to wait for a certain time period, it’s God’s will that we be
filled with the spirit and allow His spirit to use us any time.
Philip had four daughters who prophesied in
Acts 21. Yes, it was for women too. Because of this fact, Paul had
to mean something else when he spoke of a woman keeping silent. It
is impossible to prophesy without speaking in an audible voice.
Paul laid hands on some in Acts 19. Then they
spoke in tongues and prophesied. Not all receive the Holy Spirit
with the laying on of hands but it does happen this way
occasionally. We cannot limit God to one way or another. The minute
we try to make rules about how a person receives the Holy Spirit,
God will baptize someone in a different way. It does not have to be
in church or the same way everyone else receives the Holy Spirit. I
was in the back seat of a car my Dad was driving, when I received the baptism in
the Holy Spirit.
Paul urges us to seek this gift above all
others. 1 Corinthians 14:1. I believe this is because that is the
main purpose of every single born again believer. He or she is to
speak God’s word to those that have not heard or need to be taught the word. A word from God is greater even than a healing from
God although prophecy might increase our faith to believe in the
physical healing. Again, I for one will not limit God to my
understanding. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Verse by verse
study of scripture also just as important as any other part of
worship.
I can’t understand anyone that thinks
studying God’s word is a little less important or not as important
as preaching, singing or worshipping. To me the word, “We are having
church tonight but it is only bible study,” is wrong. How can we
have “only bible study?”
We are not to despise prophecy.
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1Thessalonians 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.
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1Thessalonians 5:20 Despise not prophesyings.
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1Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that
which is good.
Let us not be so afraid of fanaticism or want
to be the one in charge and run everything that worship is
suppressed or confined to the song service. If someone praises God
in another tongue please don't get bent out of shape and start
quoting Paul. As long as no one is preaching, prophesying or
teaching and it is time for prayer, praise or worship, there is
nothing wrong with speaking in tongues, remember it is a gift from
God too and we are not to quench the spirit. We are not to forbid
the speaking in tongues, interpretation or prophecy. If it is proper
to pray out loud in a known tongue, it is also proper to pray in
tongues if it is prayer time and not the time when the word of God
is being preached.
We are to prove all things and judge whether
or not a prophetic utterance is truth. Remember to judge the words,
not the person speaking them.
For example, someone may come to us and tell
us a dream that had. They feel the dream is from God. When we hear
the dream, we doubt it is from God. That doesn’t make the person a
bad person and “not of God.” That just means that they were
mistaken. The gifts are perfect but the vessels are not. We can get
nervous, scared, excited, emotional, shake, tremble, or feel
nothing. We know them by their fruits, not by their tongues,
interpretation of prophecy. In saying that though, we should be
seeking these things not shying away from them but do all with love.
That 13th chapter of Corinthians didn’t get between chapter 12 and
14 by accident.
We are to covet to
prophesy. 1Corinthians 14:39
Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with
tongues.
The same Paul who mentions the rules and
regulations governing speaking in tongues and prophecy also says not
to forbid the same. Now if we are not to forbid these things, why
has some forbidden these things? Why have even Pentecostal
churches gotten away from being Pentecostal? I have been in many
Pentecostal churches where one could not tell it was Pentecostal.
We don’t have to throw the baby out with the
bathwater. We need to encourage the gifts of the spirit among all of
us but have discernment along with them. That is why we have a
pastor. Not to Lord over us or forbid any of us to worship, speak or
prophesy but to preside over the meetings, make sure everything is
done to glorify God and bring forth His word, and to keep order. I
don’t want any of my words to be misunderstood. A good church needs
a pastor. We don’t want to even go there…..having a church without
someone called of God to be in charge. Someone has to make sure the
word of God is taught either by him or someone else reliable. If we
don’t do that, people tend to gossip, talk foolishness and waste
time. I can do that stuff at home, I don’t need to go to church for
foolishness.
Prophesy is to be given one at a time, not
everyone speaking at once. Here is where perfect love comes in. If
we were made perfect in love, we would not want to say or do
anything to hinder the word going forth, the body of Christ being
edified, and the will of the Spirit done. We don’t want to speak
just to be heard above everyone else. We don’t want to speak just to
show off. We want to speak at the will of the spirit and at a time
when it will edify the church. When all is done in love, these
things work out and harmonize perfectly. That should be our goal.
I’ll close with this thought. Perfect love also casts out all fear.
We will not be afraid of the gifts of the spirit if we are made
perfect in love. DC
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