This is one part a lot of believers shy away from.
Some of us fear it or its usage
Some of us are scared of the truths in prophecy (we don't know what part God will decide to show)
It is mysterious to some
For some Christians, it doesn't exist
One thing I've found is that Prophecy is often neglected by believers
I will like to ask, what is your attitude towards Prophets and Prophecy?
(Be honest please)
I'm asking that question because it is important you know where you stand.
If it is a ministry you are against (knowingly or unknowingly), you might have issues operating fully in it
Fola - I used to think it was exclusive to the white garment churches
Toye - It's for a confirmation of that which God is(/has been) saying
Keneth - To me i believe its a blessing to hv genuine prophet in our generation,
Though many hv tanished the image of the prophetic in many ways,
To me genuine Prophets and prophecy am for..cuz it an awesome blessx
Sumi - At first I never rlly loved prophets because the majority I saw always predicted onli good things like they never said only very positive things an it seemed like hard or difficult moments won't ever come. But it is different now
First, what is Prophecy?
It is a hearing, seeing or somehow knowing what God is presently saying or doing and expressing that to others by some means.
So when we prophesy, what we are doing is speaking for the mind and heart of God as revealed by the Holy Spirit.
Do you know how beautiful it is to speak God's mind?
How did we get to the point where we see this as evil?
This is such a beautiful thing. To not just know the mind of God but to be able to express it towards others. Wow
(let's keep in mind that in hearing God, it is not everything we hear that we speak. Directions usually come with what is shared. Sometimes we are meant to just pray about it). How long has Prophecy been?
Amplified Bible. Acts 3:21
[21]Whom heaven must receive [and retain] until the time for the complete restoration of all that God spoke by the mouth of all His holy prophets for ages past [from the most ancient time in the memory of man].
God has spoken by the mouth of the prophets since the world began
Here it says from the most ancient time in the memory of man.
The gift of prophecy has been in use since the most ancient time in the memory of man.
What is being prophesied?
What God has spoken.
How?
Through Prophets
Since when?
The beginning of the world.
Amplified Bible. 1 Corinthians 14:1
[1]EAGERLY PURSUE and seek to acquire [this] love [make it your aim, your great quest]; and earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments (gifts), especially that you may prophesy (interpret the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching).
Here we see Apostle Paul admonishing us to desire prophecy.
To desire something is to be on fire to get ahold of, to covet it.
God through Apostle Paul tells us to be on fire to obtain and use these powerful gifts made available by the Holy Spirit but especially the gift of prophecy.
Now, if we read the letters to the corinthians, I think from chapter 12, we will get the background properly.
The church in Corinth at that point had placed emphasis on some gifts more than the other; speaking in tongues
They "over-emphasised" speaking in tongues (praying) and under-emphasised Prophecy. Does this sound familiar?
Majority of churches in the body of Christ today are the Corinth Church o.
If you don't know how to speak in tongues, you will nearly be excommunicated in some churches or be made to feel less.
But we meet people that prophesy and we shut them up.
The only prophecy a lot of us believers agree with is "inspired preaching/teaching"
In this particular chapter, we see that Paul wasn't talking about teaching here. The Greek word for preaching (which he had used before) is not what he used in this letter so we cannot translate it to mean inspired teaching.
Now, this does not mean speaking in tongues is wrong or should be desired less. No.
Apostle Paul said in verse 5 that He wishes we all spoke with tongues.
He valued the gift of tongues.
He was only asking that we regard the place of Prophecy is our midst also
When we choose to ignore the prophetic for whatever reason, we become unbiblical Christians
If you have any thing against prophecy, it is unbiblical of us
Every fold of ministerial gift is important. We don't remove one because we've met insincere prophets.
I believe the enemy works hard in this area.
The Prophetic is a very powerful fold of ministry, requires extra training and watching over those that officiate in it too.
The Prophetic is not exclusive to a particular church or DNA.
The reason we see it more common in the white garment churches is because they embraced it while most Christians shut it out.
They help their ministers grow in this gift
History of Prophecy in Scriptures
Out of all the five fold ministerial gift in Ephesians 4, we see that it is only Prophecy that transcends all era.
From the beginning of time, we had prophets. Let's look at those who operated in the Prophetic in the Old testament. We have Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Miriam, Deborah etc.
(you can add more if you remember)
Now let's note one thing (cos we will come to it a we Continue this series), not all of these people officiated directly as prophets but they all prophesied or moved in the prophetic.
For those of us that think prophecy ended with the old covenant, let's look at after the new covenant and those that operated in the Prophetic.
1. Agabus and the prophets from Jerusalem.
Acts 11:27
2. 2. The church in Antioch.
Acts 13:1-2
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. - Bible Offline
We see from this scripture that there were Prophets in Antioch and it was through them God spoke that Barnabas and Saul (Paul) be sent out.
Paul's call came and was established through the mouths of Prophets. Other believers might not have minded him should it not have been confirmed from these ones who officiate in the prophetic ministry
3. Judas and Silas
Acts 15:32
4. The daughters of Evangelist Phillip
Acts 21: 8-9
The promise of the spirit and Prophecy
Let's read Acts 2: 16 - 18
[16]But [instead] this is [the beginning of] what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
[17]And it shall come to pass in the last days, God declares, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy [telling forth the divine counsels] and your young men shall see visions (divinely granted appearances), and your old men shall dream [divinely suggested] dreams.
[18]Yes, and on My menservants also and on My maidservants in those days I will pour out of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy [telling forth the divine counsels and predicting future events pertaining especially to God's kingdom].
Here we see the promise of the spirit.
When the spirit comes, four different times scripture records that He comes to make us a Prophetic people.
This is the dominant work of the spirit in our lives, He causes us to come alive and gives us a Prophetic nature.
Every person born of the spirit (and filled with the spirit) is expected to be a Prophetic person
We are a Prophetic nation, everyone of us that carry the spirit.
We prophesy (doesn't mean we officiate as prophets), we see visions, we dream, we speak God's mind and heart; All of these, upon the outpour of the spirit
So if we have fight with prophets or the prophetic ministry, now is the right time to dead it cos we need to start operating in line with the outpour of the spirit.
This is why we had to start with Hearing God (for ourselves first). If you can hear God, it is hard to doubt that another can hear God. It is also easy to examine whatever is being prophesied.
Let's also note that the basics and foundation from Hearing God remains in the Prophetic part of this series
Have you ever received a Prophetic word from anyone? How did you respond to it? Did you believe or discard?
Tebs - Someone stopped me and said don't travel for the next three months you will have an accident🙀.. Who does that? It planted fear for some days but I prayed it off and got better
Sumi - A prophet told me I will travel that time since I didn't rlly blive in prophets I was just like travel where to but deep inside me didn't blive. Because I've never seen maself traveling.
Purposes and Functions of Prophecy
1. To equip the saints for ministry and mature the body of Christ.
And he gave some, apostles; and some,q prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Ephesians 4:11-12 KJV
The first purpose of Prophecy as with other folds of ministerial gifts is to help the body of Christ grow and equip us for service.
2. Edification, exhortation and comfort
But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
1 Corinthians 14:3 KJV
To edify is to build up, erect and strengthen.
To exhort is to urge, spur on or encourage into action
To comfort is to bring peace, healing or a message of mercy to a wounded part of a heart.
So we see from point 2 that prophecies encourage us into action. We move in accordance with it.
Probably we've been down, sometimes God sends a word through others and it just strengthens or heals us.
Note: Almost all prophecy within the body of Christ i.e church should stay in this level, especially if we do not operate directly in the office of the prophetic.
When we get Prophetic words, we should check them with the above. Does it encourage the person? Does it heal them?
Should we notice that the prophecy we got is not in any of these categories, we should meet without church leadership and relay to them first.
This way no one is saying anything unchecked or in a manner that defies the purpose of prophecy.
3. Corrective Prophecy
This is a word that speaks to a wrong area of our life or ministry. Probably we've been doing certain things wrongly, of course God will communicate this to us cos He loves us.
This part brings correction, rebuke or a change.
I think most Christians don't like this part.
We'd rather God tells us this part directly instead of telling other people.
Well, if we were listening to God in the first place, we wouldn't be following a wrong path and need correction/rebuke.
So if we are in a position where we are being corrected or rebuked by God through certain persons, we should know it is from a place of love and if we were listening or following in the first place, the rebuke won't be coming.
Corrective Prophecy though open to every believer should be managed by leaders in the church and be done in love.
Don't go and gossip about the person God gave you a message for.
4. Directive Prophecy
This is a type of prophecy that gives clear direction, a course of direction that we must/should take.
I believe this part should be left for those who have been ascertained to be trustworthy in the Prophetic ministry, not just believers or those who officiate as prophets.
We cannot be playing ludo with people's lives. We've seen situations where prophets say don't marry person A or don't take that job, don't collect the money, move to America etc.
A wrong interpretation of what God spoke or giving the message to a wrong person or not relaying the timing of the message can actually destroy the lives of those involved.
Important
As believers, we do not give prophecies to others relating to points 2 and 3 unless we first submit it to and through our leadership.
I know we've been seeing things since birth but please these areas of the prophetic need to be weighed and judged first.
They are best reserved for the seasoned and mature Prophetic voices.
If it comes through those of us still growing, we meet our leaders about it. Also, seeing things does not automatically make you a prophet. I will explain this probably in the next teaching
5. Prophecies function as a weapon of war in the fight of faith
One of the aim of the enemy is to cause us to move out of faith and give up on the promises of God. Prophecy is a powerful weapon in this case, as a person or church. We know God has spoken, so we hold on to it.
Timothy, you are like a son to me. What I am telling you to do agrees with the prophecies that were told about you in the past. I want you to remember those prophecies and fight the good fight of faith.
1 Timothy 1:18 ERV
This is why it is important to write them down. We go back to them on days when things are not going the way we expect and we hold on to God's words as a weapon
6 God wants it to function in our prayers
To just pray what we think or what we see is not enough, God wants to speak with us, He wants us to know what is on His mind/heart, so when we pray, we pray what Christ our great intercessor prays.
Prophetic prayer births result because we are basically praying the mind of Christ
Let us pray
Lord, we thank you for your word, for flooding us with your light and opening our hearts to your truth.
Should there be anything that we find difficult to understand, spirit of God do break it down for us.
Help us to move in the Prophetic just as the Lord wishes, especially in times as this.
We pray for other believers around the world, that you open theirs eyes also to this truth and your will concerning it.
We pray that you expose those who exploit your children through the prophetic, that every false prophet in the body of Christ be brought to repentance.
Help us to grow in these gifts and manage them properly.
Help us to not get puffed up or proud as we begin to operate in this move.
Amen
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