Comfort, Encourage, Strengthen

June 2, 2014

Maybe you don’t think you can receive the gift of prophecy. Let me reassure you that you are able (I Corinthians 14:1-5). Just seek God’s perspective on a situation and speak out what you hear or see or perceive. You probably will be wrong at times, especially as a beginner. That’s okay. You’re learning how to hear from God and to speak His words.

Don’t be afraid that He will tell you something accusatory about someone. And I encourage you to ask if your words agree with their spirit. The goal of prophetic sharing is to comfort, encourage, and edify according to I Corinthians 14:3. What a great way to bring the things of heaven to earth!

I attended a prophetic conference several years ago where there a “beginners” class was offered. The instructor asked if anyone had never prophesied before, and three people raised their hands. What followed was completely without judgment.

Let’s call the instructor “Phil.” He told the novices that prophesying according to the spiritual gift was simply seeking God’s thoughts about a person, and then sharing those thoughts with them. In other words, what does God that person to know? How does He feel about them?

Then Phil called up one person from the audience to be paired with each of the newbies. A time of silent prayer followed, then he asked each one what they felt they had heard from God. All of them had a word of encouragement or of comfort for their prayer partner. They simply shared God’s heart with them. And that’s pretty much all there is to it!

Of course, you have to prepare yourself to hear from God, and then put aside your own feelings and knowledge about a situation or person so they don’t interfere with what He shares with you. It’s very easy to allow those filters to distort His message. I generally wait for a repetition before I speak out loud. If He persists in telling me a word for someone, I can be pretty sure my filters are not in the way.

The gift of prophecy can be used for an individual (as when you are praying with someone) or for the church body (as when a general word of encouragement is spoken). The gifts of words of wisdom and words of knowledge (Fight With Powerful Gifts) fall under the general umbrella term of prophecy as well.

Another thing: the gift of prophecy is not the same as the office of prophet. Anyone can call themselves a prophet, even if they only share a word on occasion according to the timing of the gift. They may have a fairly strong gift, which results from practice and utilization. However, the office of prophet is a separate calling from God and comes with a high price in terms of dedication, sanctification, and submission. A truly called and ministering prophet is known to be humble as he lives out his calling.

The prophetic gifts are powerful weapons and are given to those who are willing to receive them.

Pray this with me: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

this is part 9 of a series on warfare

Part 1|This Means War!