Gift of Prophecy: WE ARE A PROPHETIC CHURCH
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But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.
This infers that to speak with tongues and to interpret the tongues is equivalent to prophecy.
Therefore, prophecy is really the most important of these three gifts of inspiration or utterance in that it does not require another gift to complete it.
Prophecy is supernatural utterance in a known tongue.
Divers kinds of tongues is supernatural utterance in an unknown tongue.
Interpretation of tongues is a supernatural showing forth of that which has been said in an unknown tongue.
The Hebrew meaning of the phrase, “to prophesy” is to flow forth. It also carries with it the thought: to bubble forth like a fountain, to let drop, to lift up, to tumble forth, and to spring forth.
The Greek word that is translated “prophesy” means to speak for another. So “prophesy” can mean to speak for God or to be His spokesman.
Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues.
Foretelling vs. Forth Telling// Divination and witch craft
The simple gift of prophecy should not be confused with the prophetic office or with prophetic utterance that may come forth in the prophet’s ministry.
But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.
In the office of the prophet, however we very often find that revelation or fore-telling does come forth, even through the vehicle of prophecy. It is also interesting to note the difference between prophecy in the Old Testament and prophecy in the New Testament. In the Old Testament prophecy was essentially foretelling, (predict (the future or a future event).)
but in the New Testament we see that the gift of prophecy shifts strongly to forth telling.
Foretelling is the declaration of future events as revealed from the Lord, pertaining especially to the kingdom of God.
Forth-Telling is to utter forth, declare, a thing which can only be known by divine revelation; declare the divine will, to interpret the purposes of God, or to make known in any way the truth of God which is designed to influence people. It can only be uncovered and revealed through prophets.
note : Prophesying Is More Than Preaching...
Sometimes there is an element of prophecy in preaching when a person is anointed by the Spirit and is inspired to say things spontaneously that come from his spirit rather than his head. But that is only one phase of the operation of the gift of prophecy.
“To preach” means to proclaim, to announce, to cry, or to tell. The scriptural purpose of the gift of prophecy is different from the purpose of preaching. For example, Jesus didn’t say that men would be saved by the foolishness of prophesying, but by the foolishness of preaching (1 Cor. 1:21).
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
The supernatural gifts of the Spirit are given to arrest people’s attention, not to save them. Even on the Day of Pentecost when people were speaking in tongues, none of those standing by listening got saved until Peter got up and preached to them (Acts 2:14-41).
The Gift of Prophecy vs. the Office of the Prophet As we have said, the gift of prophecy should not be confused with the prophetic office. The simple gift of prophecy has no revelation in it. Rather, it speaks unto men for their edification, exhortation, and comfort (1 Cor. 14:3); it is to edify the Church (1 Cor. 14:4).
By the same token, a prophet would of course prophesy, but a person who prophesies wouldn’t necessarily be a prophet.
To constitute standing in the office of the prophet, a person needs to have at least two of the revelation gifts operating on a continual basis in his life and ministry, plus the gift of prophecy. In other words, for a person to stand in the office of the prophet, he would need to be called to the fivefold ministry as a preacher or teacher of the Word (Eph. 4:11,12),
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
and have two of the three revelation gifts — the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, or the discerning of spirits — plus prophecy operating consistently in his ministry.
New Testament Examples of Prophecy
On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.
Philip’s daughters spoke to the whole company to edification, exhortation, and comfort (1 Cor. 14:3). However, when the prophet Agabus came, he had a message from the Holy Spirit on a higher order, which brought revelation.
New Testament Examples of the Prophet’s Ministry
And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”
The Expression of Revealtion and word of wisdom. In other words, the message the prophet gives may come through the vehicle of prophecy (inspired utterance), but the message may actually be the revelation gifts in operation, such as the word of wisdom or the word of knowledge.
Misuses of the Gift of Prophecy… impotant
any prophecy that does not aligned with the word.
Holy Spirit -in Corporate Worship We find additional instruction regarding this use of the gift of prophecy in First Corinthians 14:26.
1 CORINTHIANS 14:26 26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. This scripture shows us that the Spirit of God is more apt to move when folks come together in the Name of Jesus to worship.
The Spirit of God manifests manifests Himself more readily in an atmosphere of worship and praise where God is being glorified. For example, in my ministry I always get greater results when I pray for people under the anointing.
Whether praying for the sick, praying for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit, or praying for the needs of the people, I have found that it is better to pray for the people after the Word has gone forth.
Then I am usually more anointed to minister. That is why I pray for people many times at the conclusion of the service. Some want to rush in and be prayed for right away, but when we come together in the Name of Jesus, worshipping God and teaching the Word, we are often in a much better spiritual attitude to believe God and to receive from Him. And the gifts are more likely to be manifested in an atmosphere of praise and worship.
The Holy Spirit Manifest Himselfs as we week the Lord .. In place of intense worship, prayer , word .
Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant.
Caution Needed With Personal Prophecies..
Let me stress that we need to be very careful about personal prophecies. Lives have been ruined and many unfortunate things have happened through misuse of personal prophecies.
I have to be very careful myself because God uses me from time to time prophetically in this way. But over the years I have seen so much error in the area of personal prophecy that it almost makes a person want to draw back from the genuine prophetic ministry. I have to watch myself in order not to pull back too far the other way and not yield to the Spirit of God to be used the way He wants to use me.
Simple Prophecy Edifies, Exhorts, and Comforts 1 CORINTHIANS 14:3
But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. If we keep in mind the scriptural use of prophecy, we will not get off doctrinally in this area. The simple gift of prophecy is given to speak to people supernaturally — to edify the church: “. . . he that prophesieth edifieth the church”
(1 Cor. 14:4). This gift of prophecy is also given to edify the Church through exhortation. In the Greek, the word “exhort” in First Corinthians 14:3 means a calling nearer to God or an invitation.
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good.
However, those who go around telling everyone what is wrong with them and tearing people down, supposedly operating in the gift of prophecy as this fellow in my meeting did, are not operating in the bona fide gift of the Spirit of God.
She had been trying to regulate people’s lives through the gift of prophecy; she was trying to make all women dress as she dressed. But she had some strange ideas about dress and about a number of other things! Comfort, not correction, is the purpose of this simple gift of prophecy.
The WORD IS THE ONLY STANDARD FOR CORRECTION.
Prophecy in One’s Prayer Life
speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
That is the gift of prophecy in operation. Many times while praying, a person can speak in tongues and then speak out things by the Spirit of God. Speaking with tongues is the beginning of the things of the Spirit, because speaking with tongues is the door into the supernatural. And we know that the gift of tongues is given to every Spirit-filled, believer as the evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Also, Jesus didn’t say that just a few disciples should speak with tongues. He said that all believers should speak with tongues:
“And these signs shall follow them that believe . . . they shall speak with new tongues” (Mark 16:17).
But God wants every Spirit-filled believer to do more than speak with tongues. He wants us to be able to interpret what we pray in tongues, as the Spirit leads. “Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret” (1 Cor. 14:13).
God wouldn’t tell us to pray for something we couldn’t have. Of course, it is not necessary to interpret everything we pray in the Spirit in our own private prayer life. And then, of course, there is also the public use of the gift of interpretation of tongues.
That is to be used in the local assembly: “If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret” (1 Cor. 14:27).
Prophesying in your own personal prayer life begins with speaking in other tongues (1 Cor. 14:2). In my own experience, for example, as I pray in other tongues, my spirit is in direct contact with God, yet I am communicating with Him in a tongue that is unknown to me. When you are speaking in tongues, that is a supernatural utterance in an unknown tongue. Paul said when we pray in an unknown tongue, our understanding is unfruitful, unless we interpret what we are praying (1 Cor. 14:14,15).
In other words, we don’t always know what we are praying about when we pray in other tongues. However, when you pray with prophecy, you can listen to yourself speak in a known tongue and, therefore, you can know what you are saying. Then as I pray about the situation awhile in tongues, many times I move over into prophecy — inspired utterance.
Then as I pray by inspired utterance, I can actually be praying out the plan of God by inspired utterance as the word of wisdom (John 16:13; Cor. 14:1-5 Amplified) manifests through the gift of prophecy in my private prayer life. This can happen in the private prayer life of any Spirit-filled believer.
Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs By the Gift of Prophecy Paul said, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). Then in the next verse he said, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
WE ARE A PROPHETIC CHURCH ...