The Gift of Prophecy Alive or Dead? True or False? Part 1, Ep 2-22
Welcome back! I am your host Dawn Simmons and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to be discussing prophecy. Is the gift of prophecy alive today or dead? Is it true or false? This spiritual gift is one of the most misunderstood Spiritual Gifts and unfortunately one of the most misused, even abused gifts used to deceive the undiscerning.
In order to discuss all of the elements we need to cover; I want to first walk through an understanding of prophecy. Prophecy is one of the nine spiritual gifts Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. To truly understand it, we need to understand what it is, what it isn’t, who has the gift, what is the gift versus the office, how is the gift to be used and finally the misuse of the gift. That, my friends, is a lot to cover and we will not get through this in one episode, so get comfy and let’s get started understanding this wonderful gift that is still in operation today.
If you asked most Christians today and that means church going Christians as well, not many can name all 9 spiritual gifts. Many times, they will confuse the Ministry gifts with the Spiritual Gifts. I don’t want you guys to be like most Christians, I want you to be aware and have an understanding of those gifts. So over the next several months we will be covering all 9 gifts. For no particular reason, we are starting with Prophecy and we will begin that by reading 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.
Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
So here Paul talks to the Corinthians first and begins to explain where the Corinthians came from and then leads them to where they need to go and what is available to them through the Holy Spirit. In verse 7 he lays out for them the gifts that some were already operating in, and Paul wanted to clarify so they were using them correctly. This also served to educate others who were not sure or not yet operating in the gifts so they were not deceived.
To recap, the 9 Spiritual Gifts are: wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healings, miraculous powers, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
Let’s take this a step further and let’s group these gifts as they work together.
· Gifts we use out of the Power we have from the Holy Spirit are: faith, healings, miraculous powers
· Gifts we have where the Holy Spirit uses us in Revelation are: wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits
· Gifts where the Holy Spirit uses us and are Spoken are: prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues
So that may help you to remember the gifts and to aid in understanding them, there are Power Gifts, Revelation gifts and Spoken gifts.
Prophecy is a Spoken gift. Of the three Spoken gifts it is the one that is the strongest in that it can stand on its own. Tongues and interpretation of tongues need each other, so they cannot stand on their own in terms of edifying the church. These gifts are intended to be used in a corporate setting, for the body of Christ, so prophecy is able to stand on its own. To clarify, we will talk about tongues on another episode but this is not referring to praying in tongues privately. Our discussion here focused on using the gifts for the church.
One of the typical misunderstandings of prophecy is the difference between the gift of prophecy and the Office of the Prophet as Paul discusses in describing the Ministry Gifts in Ephesians 4. The spiritual gift of prophecy is available to all of us. Not many people operate in it and we will discuss why, but it is available today for all of us. The spiritual gift of prophecy involves three things: edification, exhortation and comfort.
· Edification is the instruction or improvement of a person morally or intellectually.
· Exhortation is using language that is intended to incite or encourage another to take action in a positive way
· Comfort is to ease or alleviate a person’s feeling of grief or distress.
Recently someone offered me a “prophetic word” and it was literally one word. This person is retired, did not retire from a ministry job and presents himself as someone with a prophetic gift, I can’t recall if he refers to himself as a prophet, I’d have to think about that, but he does make it a habit of going to people frequently with a “prophetic word”. On this particular evening we were at a meeting, there were maybe 20-25 people there. If you don’t know better, someone approaching you with a “prophetic word” may sound enticing or exciting. A true prophetic word can be exciting, but when we are given a ”prophetic word” rather than be excited, I want you to be discerning. I want you to understand what is being given to you and the Holy Spirit should confirm it in your heart. Let me tell you what this person told me and you’ll see what I am saying. He approached me and offered to me a “prophetic word” “gold”. That was it. If we look at what a prophetic word should do with the gift of prophecy, not the Office of the Prophet, the word “gold” does not edify, exhort or comfort me in any way. I actually dislike “gold”, I don’t wear it in jewelry unless I absolutely have to and that is extremely rare, I think I only wore it once this year. Gold did not relate to anything in my life. We’ll get back to this but now let’s clarify the difference between the Spiritual gift of Prophecy and the Office of the Prophet as Paul describes in Ephesians 4.
When Jesus ascended to Heaven, He gave these gifts to those who had a divine call.
Ephesians 4:11-13 Reads:
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Those who function in this office have a divine call to do so and they are to do so for the body of Christ. This is not a spiritual gift but an entire office. A person in this role has more than just the spiritual gift but rather it is a ministry gift, quite different, the role and responsibility is entirely different. A person in this role will also function in other gifts, this is their full time office, they are preachers and teachers of the Word. They function out of the Word because they function out of divine revelations of the Holy Spirit that are far beyond what the spiritual gift of prophecy will reveal. This role requires additional gifts to be in operation in order for them to be able to fulfill their responsibilities. For example, to be in Office, you must also have Revelation gifts. Remember Revelation gifts are wisdom, word of knowledge and discerning of spirits. That goes far beyond the three things that the spiritual gift of prophecy entails: edification, exhortation and comfort.
Let’s look at an example in the Bible to see the difference. Let’s take a look at Acts 21. To set the scene, we are in Ceasarea Phillippi, I was there earlier this year, it was amazing. I’ll see if I can get a video of it on the YouTube Channel for you in the next few weeks so you can see it. Anyhow, Paul is visiting and is on a journey back to Jerusalem. In Chapter 21, verse 8 we read: Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. 9 He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
Philip’s four daughters had the spiritual gift of prophecy. We know that because Luke, the author of Acts, tells us that. If we read it in the Bible then we know they had that gift. Somehow Paul and Luke witnessed these daughters using the gift and included that in their account. There is nothing specific said so we would conclude that this is the gift of prophecy rather than the office. As we read further in verse 10: After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”
12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”
Here Agabus, referred to as a prophet, so the Ministry gift is in use here by title but then also by his actions. Using revelation gifts, Agabus tells Paul, he foretells Paul what will be happening to him in Jerusalem.
Now that brings up another point we need to understand about prophecy. Agabus foretells what will happen in the future. A prophet can foretell or forthtell. Forthtelling involves an explanation of a present circumstance from God’s perspective. We aren’t going too deep into this, just wanted you to know the difference.
Now that we have a better understanding of the Office of a Prophet as a Ministry Gift, let’s go back to my story before where I was given the “prophetic word” “gold” Does that word meet any of the criteria of being a prophetic word from a Prophet? Nope, not a bit. So let me tell you how that conversation ended, in case you ever find yourself in that position. This was not my first time receiving a “prophetic word” from this person so I wasn’t too surprised when he walked across the room to where I was sitting. He didn’t ask me if it was ok before he spoke, he didn’t preface what he had to say in any way, he just spoke. Generally, that’s not a good start. He gave me his word and stared at me. I knew it had nothing to do with me so I waited to see if there was something else he was wanting to say, when he didn’t, I responded with “I’ll ask the Lord about that”. The reason I responded that way was a few reasons, to give him some grace and not embarrass him because he did it publicly, also not a good idea. I was letting him know I was not receiving that word but was instead having the Lord confirm any word that was presented to me. In doing that, I was telling him that his word did not resonate with me and needed to be confirmed and establishing that the only word I will receive is from the Holy Spirit. If he had continued and pressed me to receive the word, which he does to other people, then it would have been appropriate to let him know that his word was not correct and address it further.
About 7 months ago I did receive a prophetic word from someone that I did receive. I did not know this person, he was an evangelist from another country visiting the area. The presence of the Holy Spirit was present at the time, the words he spoke to me were spot on. He used the receive a word of knowledge about me that no one else knew about and I knew immediately the Holy Spirit was moving and the word was for me. It was foretelling, which is not very common. More common now are forthtelling words. Anyhow, I have already seen the beginnings of what was spoken begin to play out in my life so I know there is still more to come in that area of my life.
I think we have a pretty good understanding of prophecy right now. We are going to stop here for this week but come back next week because we are going to start talking about the misuse of the gift, false prophets, how to grow in this spiritual gift and if you have any questions on this, send them in and I will address those as well.
I hope you have enjoyed our time discussing prophecy and I hope it has helped to build your understanding. We cannot fully conquer our unseen enemies until we understand everything the Holy Spirit makes available to us. If you know anyone who might benefit from this, please share. As always let’s discuss our
Top Show Points:
· This week we are discussing prophecy.
· Prophecy is one of the nine spiritual gifts Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.
· 9 Spiritual Gifts are: wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healings, miraculous powers, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
· The gifts can be grouped as Power gifts, Revelation gifts and Spoken gifts.
· Of the three Spoken gifts prophecy is the one that is the strongest in that it can stand on its own.
· The spiritual gift of prophecy involves three things: edification, exhortation and comfort.
· Recently someone offered me a “prophetic word” and it was literally one word. This person is retired and presents himself as someone with a prophetic gift
· Those who function in this office have a divine call to do so and they are to do so for the body of Christ. This is not a spiritual gift but an entire office. A person in this role has more than just the spiritual gift but rather it is a ministry gift
· Office, you must also have Revelation gifts. Remember Revelation gifts are wisdom, word of knowledge and discerning of spirits.
· Philips daughters who functioned in the gift of prophecy
· Agabus, a prophet, using foretelling with Paul
· Difference between foretelling and forthtelling
· Discussed how to gracefully not accept a prophetic word given to you
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
· If you want to learn more about how to Hear God's Voice, take a look at my book, Loving Conversations: How to Pray and Hear God's Voice. There is also a Study Guide available and two new devotionals coming out based on the Loving Conversations Book. One devotional is for women and one is for men.
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!
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