Prophecy: Understanding and Utilizing the Manifestation of Prophecy

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Prophecy is about seeing truth, either as an expansion of what is already known or a revealing of what is not yet known. You will ask more questions than most, and will constantly be looking for a deeper truth. Because you have the gift of seeing truth. Paul says that a person who prophesies should always do so with the intent of building up, encouraging and comforting other Christians 1 Cor. An example of using the gift of prophecy correctly can be found in Acts Do not be scared of God-given dreams and visions, instead pray for wisdom and discernment, which He has promised to freely give to all who ask for it James 1: Being told a prophecy does not make it a certain thing; look at the people of Israel.

How many times did God predict doom… if they followed the path they were on? Yet, time and time again, they turned back to God just in time and the prophecy did not come true. Every prophecy given included manifestations of words of wisdom. Wisdom is defined as having discernment, that is, the ability to tell what is right and true from what is wrong and false.

However, wisdom, as a defined by Webster, includes more than just knowledge; it includes a call to action. Once wisdom has spoken, it is assumed that the person will do something with the information. For instance, Solomon was known for having wisdom to discern problems that were brought to him 1 Kings , and the people were willing to follow what he discerned to be the right choice. He was so known for having a manifestation of wisdom that he was hired into the government to give advice to the king Daniel 2.

Did you know that wisdom is given to us when we spend time with God? Job says in Job We need to be careful when giving advice, because a God-moment to show His wisdom can be turned into foolishness if we are not speaking in the Spirit. Notice what James says about the wisdom of God: Knowledge is gained through learning, while wisdom is gained through experience. It is an outward expression of the inner move of the spirit of God.

God commanded Jeremiah to put a yoke on his neck and wear it to communicate that Judah should not rebel against Babylon, but come under their yoke Jer.

Agabus bound his own hands and feet to illustrate that Paul would be bound when he got to Jerusalem Acts For example, when God inspires a dancer or a painter, there may not be a specific directional message from the Lord that the audience is supposed to understand and act on, although there certainly could be. The message might be more along the lines of God communicating His glory to us. Prophecy is communicating a message that has been received by revelation. Most revelation is for the person who receives it, and is not intended to be communicated to others.

For example, God told Abraham to leave Mesopotamia and go to another land Gen. That revelation was from God to Abraham, but was not a message that He wanted Abraham to deliver to others, so it was not prophecy. When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, it was revelation to Moses but not prophecy because it was not a message that Moses was to deliver to the Israelites Exod.

God told Elijah to go hide by the brook and allow the ravens to feed him 1 Kings This information was revelation to Elijah but was never prophecy because it was not intended to be communicated as a message to others. However, when God gives someone revelation He wants communicated to others, and that person communicates the revelation, it becomes prophecy. Prophecy is communicating a revelation given either at an earlier time or right at the moment the person is speaking, or it can be a combination of the two.

The Christian and the Manifestation of Prophecy | Truth Or Tradition?

Prophecy falls into two basic categories. However, to better understand prophecy and how it works, it is helpful to see the two basic categories into which it falls. In inspirational prophecy, the person giving the prophecy does not know the prophetic message ahead of time.

The Lord gives the words to him as he speaks. The message may come weeks, days, hours, or minutes before it is spoken as prophecy. It is up to the one who received the message from God to hold it in his mind until the time it is delivered. In contrast to inspirational prophecy, this kind of prophecy is very deliberate. Both kinds of prophecy are in the Bible, and most people who have given corporate and personal prophecy for several years or more will testify to having had messages from God both ahead of time and in the moment.

The Bible has some clear examples of inspirational prophecy. God energized holy spirit inside the old prophet, and he spoke a prophecy without any forethought. He was simply energized by God and spoke out, with God giving the message as he spoke. In 2 Chronicles These are examples of the people prophesying as they are inspired and energized by God.

As they stepped out in faith and began to speak, God gave them the words. Just as there are clear examples of inspirational prophecy, there are many examples of God giving the person the message by revelation ahead of time.

An excellent one is when God told Nathan to go tell David that he would not be the one to build the Temple 2 Sam. Prophecy is not speaking about information that has been received by revelation. There are times when prophecy is very easy to identify, and there are times when a message is harder to identify as prophecy per se. When God or the Lord Jesus gives someone a message for another person, and that message is spoken, that is prophecy. However, just talking about the revelation one has received is not prophecy.

One of the boundaries of prophecy that can be difficult to pin down is when someone is speaking about what he has received from the Lord by revelation, but what he is saying is more along the lines of sharing information than delivering a message. For example, in 1 Kings Even though Moses told Aaron the information he had received by revelation, that kind of communication is not prophecy. Some prophecy is a manifestation of the gift of holy spirit, and some prophecy is not.

Prophecy as a manifestation of the gift of holy spirit occurs when God, or the Lord Jesus, gives a revelation message to an individual by way of the holy spirit sealed inside him, which becomes prophecy when it is communicated to others. Although the manifestation of prophecy is by far the most common form of prophecy, it is important to realize that prophecy does not have to be a manifestation of holy spirit.

Types of prophecy

Remember, prophecy is communicating a message that is given to someone by revelation. If that revelation, for example, comes directly from the Lord Jesus Christ, i. Similarly, if an angel were to appear to someone and give him a message for someone else, when the message was delivered it would be prophecy, but it would not be the manifestation of prophecy because the holy spirit inside the believer was not energized.

The origin of prophecy is the loving heart of a Father God. God loves His people and wants to have a relationship with them. He wants us to walk and talk with Him and live blessed lives. Furthermore, God wants healthy relationships between people in the Body of Christ and in the world, and prophecy helps build such relationships. As any loving Father would speak to his children, God speaks by prophecy both to His children and to other people. He gives them words of blessing, encouragement, comfort, and hope; He directs us in the way we should go; He says things that build our faith and gives us confidence in His presence and love.

God also knows that prophecy builds relationships in the family of God. He gives messages that allow us to help each other in meaningful and beneficial ways. When prophecy is not present in the Church, many blessings are missed. He wants to communicate His love and bless us. Prophecy is a major way that God speaks to us to bless us and build our relationship with Him, which then helps us be more Christ-like in our relationship with other people. The fact that relationship with God is the underlying theme of prophecy helps explain why He gives prophetic information in so many ways.

While it is certainly true that the majority of prophecies can be taken at face value and understood by the most unlearned believer, anyone who has dealt with prophecy for a period of years has encountered prophetic messages that are unclear, as perhaps in a dream or vision.

Some Basics About Prophecy

But giving us information is not all that God wants. God is not just a dispenser of information. The ultimate purpose of His communication is to establish loving relationships with us. By occasionally speaking in ways that are not immediately clear, God pushes us into a deeper relationship with Him. He compels us to go to Him over and over asking Him for more, while also searching our hearts about the message. Please, say it again.

We examine our lives, hearts, and relationships, and ask again. Meanwhile we know that God is always beckoning, and is always there, loving us and giving us help and hope. Because everyone who deals with prophecy will eventually experience it being unclear, it is important to understand that God purposely communicates it that way.

This point is made several times in Scripture.

Like his Father, Jesus often spoke in ways his audience did not understand. For example, he spoke in parables to the crowds, knowing they did not understand what he was communicating.

Nature and significance

After Jesus told the parable of the sower and the seed, the disciples realized the audience did not understand it, and asked Jesus why he spoke in parables. Many more scriptures show that God and Jesus communicate in ways that require thought, reflection, and diligent searching, but the point is that God has a reason for communicating as He does.

He wants people to have a relationship with Him and with each other, and occasionally communicating obscurely helps accomplish that purpose.

He also wants His people to value each other and work together. When an unclear prophetic word is given, it often occurs that people work together to pray and seek its meaning.

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The purpose of prophecy is clearly revealed in prophecy. The prophecies in the Bible and those given today reveal the heart of God.

God expresses His love and thanksgiving to His children. He speaks words that edify and comfort us. He exhorts us to more and more godliness in our walk with Him, and more and more love and commitment toward other people. He directs us in our lives so we can be blessed, and can clearly see how loving and caring He is, and then thank and love Him in return.

Account Options

Prophecy can be about the past, present, or future. Sometimes we need to be reminded of a past event so we can think clearly about the situation we are in and how we are behaving. At other times we need to hear from God about the present situation so that we can know what is happening from His point of view, and know what we should do.

Prophecy about the future is the most well known aspect of prophecy, and the Bible contains dozens and dozens of examples. A good example of God giving a prophecy about past events to get the Israelites to think clearly about their situation occurs in Judges. I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

I drove them from before you and gave you their land. The information in this prophecy is about the past, to remind the Israelites how good God had been to them. It contains nothing about the future. Also, it has no instructions telling the people what to do—how they were to behave was obvious from the Mosaic Law, so it was not necessary for God to say anything. Another reason God uses the past in prophecy is so that we recognize that He knows us and has been involved with our lives. Hearing from God through prophecy establishes a connection and confidence between Him and us that may not have been there before.

Many people who have suffered in life are very comforted when they hear prophetic words showing conclusively that the Lord has been with them through their trials, and understands what they have been through. Prophecy also addresses present situations, and there are many reasons why, but the most prevalent is to tell people what to do or not to do. God cares very much for His people, and He wants to participate in their lives and help them succeed.

Because of that, many prophecies deal with current situations. Deborah told Barak to take 10, men and go to Mount Tabor Judg. Samuel told Saul that people will tell him that his donkeys have been found and his father has started to worry about him 1 Sam. Gad told David not to remain where he was but to go into Judah 1 Sam.

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