The gift of Prophecy 

The Bible says we have different motivational/grace gifts: prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, showing mercy… 

We’re two weeks into our Gifted series now. Let’s look at the gift of prophesying… 

Rom.12:6 

If your gift is prophesying, then prophecy in accordance with your faith. 

In our books today, your notes go in pg.6. 

In your daily devotional you will unpack prophecy more on p.10-12 

We are looking at these gifts at three levels: 

1. Ministry Gifts 
2. Natural wiring 
3. Command for all 

1: By Ministry Gift we mean that the gift of prophecy is a Spirit-inspired speaking for God to a person or a group of people – where God gives someone a gift of sharing a message with someone with power and encouragement, and immediacy. 

Definition: with immediacy (the quality of bringing one into direct and instant involvement with something, giving rise to a sense of urgency or excitement). 

This mostly accounts for those with the Ephesians.4 five-fold ministry gift of prophet, or those who are growing in that gift... 

We want to understand that all people who follow Jesus can prophecy from time to time. 

There will be some people who prophecy more regularly, and with greater accuracy and power –and that would be your ministry gift then. 

2: But there’s also these seven gifts through the lens of natural wiring – and the idea here is that many of the gifts mentioned in Romans 12 have got a natural component –which means that before you even come to Jesus or even know there are these gifts, you have some talents, or natural wiring, that marks your life. 

In the devotion this week we’re going to look at how the gift of perceiver or the talent of perceiver often undergirds the gift of prophecy. 

Here we are talking about those people –and you don’t have to be a Christian to evidence these talents – those people who have the ability to be naturally intuitive or discerning, imaginative, innovative, people with a keen sense of right and wrong –a nose for when things aren’t right –these are the people who have strong gut feelings, and are often bold, and their depth of conviction often persuades others. 

Generally They aren’t afraid of confrontation and speaking their mind – of course sometimes they’re poorly received even though their intention is to help and warn people. 

This is the natural component of perceiving. 

3: The Third Level Is The Command For All. 

This one is fascinating because each of these seven gifts -although they will be more evident in some people, all of us -if you’re a follower of Jesus, there needs to some evidence of each of these in our lives – and we need to be intentional about growing in these things. 

Try To imagine these seven gifts as seven muscle sets –then think of those guys in the gym you may have seen with massive biceps and these tiny calves because they always skip leg day… They will tell you their biceps just bulk up easily –so they have the gift of biceps –but that doesn’t allow for an excuse not to work on your calf muscles! 

You may be able to bulk up in some of these gifts so easily because it comes to you so naturally/supernaturally – but you do need to do some work in all of these things. 

And that goes for the gift of prophecy too. And the reason we can say this is because of this verse. 

1Cor.14:1 

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially that you may prophesy. 

Even if you haven’t evidence prophecy in your life, that verse sounds like a command. 

• You may have been a Christian for many years without stepping out to prophesy, and perhaps this series is God’s way of saying it's time to step out and trusts for this gift. 
• If you do operate more frequently in the gift of prophecy you’ll learn to develop and step in your gift more accurately, more faithfully, more fruitfully and with greater faith. 

Prophecy is different to Scripture. 

The Spirit of God inspired the Scriptures, which is all of God’s truth for all of God’s people for all time. 

We need to learn all of God’s Word. 

Prophecy is some of God’s truth for some of God’s people at some time. 

The idea is that prophetic gifting is the well-timed truth, the well applied truth – that sense of wonderment when you hear an accurate prophetic word and you wonder how the person knew about that! “How did you read email?” 

• In the New Testament Prophetic words can come to a church. 1 Corinthians 12:14 tells of prophecy coming to a whole group setting, where a person shares something that encourages the entire group. 
• It can be given to a person. We call this personal prophecy. Paul receives a personal prophecy from Ananias in the Book of Acts; Timothy receives personal prophecies from a team of elders that gather to pray for him. 
• You can also share a prophetic word with someone who doesn’t even know Jesus yet. Jesus did this a lot, for example the woman at the well. He knew details about her personal life and the deepest yearnings of her life – and sharing it with her had a way of disarming her and opening her up to the love of God. 

This Message Is Arranged Into Six Points. 

1. It's Real – increase expectation. God wants to take our church, and every church, to a new level of prophetic ministry. 

Here are four inspiring Scriptures: 

Num 11:25-29 

Moses leads a huge nation, and has the gift of prophecy. He calls 70 leaders together, lays hands on them and they start prophesying. Someone tells him that two other guys are prophesying, and Joshua tells Moses to stop them. Moses looks at all the hundreds of thousands of Israelites, and says, (vs.29) “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit on them!” 

He’s giving voice to a desire that is actually in God’s heart. In fact, the desire of Jesus many years later is that we will all prophecy, every single Christian. 

In the Old Testament there are some well-known and recognised men with this prophetic gifting – Elijah is a great example. He moves in prophetic ability and miraculous power. He mentors a young man called Elisha who doesn’t seem yet to display any of these abilities. 

Then in 2 Kings 2:11-14 we read,

“As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, andElijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My Father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” AndElisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two. Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over. 

The cloak represents the anointing of God that came to rest on Elisha. He didn’t have the gift and then he did have the gift. 

This is revealed more fully at the end of Luke 24. Here we have Jesus, the greatest prophet who ever lived. He spoke words from God and demonstrated the power of the kingdom of God right through His ministry. Just Before He ascended to heaven He said these words, Luke 24:49 - “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 

Notice the language: clothed with power from on high… 

What is Jesus speaking about? He is referring to the prophetic succession of Elijah to Elisha. Elijah went up high, and dropped the cloak which Elisha then picked up. When he put it on he accessed the power Elijah had. 

Perhaps the issue is Jesus asking us who’s going to pick up His mantle of prophetic power that He wants to give us. 

In Acts we read how the early church gathered in an upper room on the Day of Pentecost, and when the Holy Spirit fell on them they began to speak in other tongues and prophecy. And this is the commentary of what happened: 

Acts 2:17-18 

“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I Will Pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

See what has happened? The mantle of God has fallen not just upon one person, the leaders, or on 70 leaders, but on the entire group that were there! 

This is so important because we need to see that the gift/mantle of prophecy is upon the whole New Covenant people of God, no longer on a select few! 

As we’re saying this, let’s hope there’s a rising expectation that in our hearts we see prophecy as normal, not super-normal. 

As our expectation rises, may our experience rise to match it! 

2. Learn to hear God yourself 

Acts 13:1-2 

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I Have called them.” 

There is a connection between prophecy and worship. Worship Invites us to pay attention to the very heart of the One we want to know. Worship allows us to translate what we know about God to a very dynamic interaction with God. 

In fact, one of the Hebrew words for prophecy is naba and can be translated two ways. Sometimes as a drop of rain or dew, to pour out, to bubble up, and sometimes as prophecy. 

It Helps us see a picture of a bunch of people worshipping God, and as they’re worshipping God and enjoying Him –the drops of dew start to form –and those drops are the drops of revelation that come and begin to stick to us. 

During covid that went missing, but as we have gathered together in expectancy in worship in numbers again, we have begun to feel the drops of dew falling on us again. 

A little detail you might have missed in the passage: it doesn’t say to set apart Paul and Barnabas for the work they were now being called to, but to the work they had already been called to. 

Paul and Barnabas, out of their own personal relationships with the Lord, must have already felt and heard the dew drops, or the bubbling up of God’s call upon their lives into other countries – but didn't have the timing yet. 

Now a body of prophets and teachers were praying and worshipping together and the timing and direction are released. 

Here’s the point: most times a prophetic word to a person isn’t new information, it’s confirmation. Of course we can get new information, but it happens very often that someone prophecies and what you've been thinking is confirmed as actually being the voice of God. And the prophecy becomes a confirmation. 

One of the benefits of this series is that you'll discover God won’t send weird prophetic words your way that don't line up with the very way He has given you motivation/grace gifts… 

The real prize, though, is hearing God for ourselves. 

Jesus says that His sheep hear His voice. 

John 10:4-5 

When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise a stranger's voice. 

One of our greatest prayers should be our desire to know God’s voice! Pray it! 

God can talk to us in various ways, and the biggest way He talks to us is as we read, listen to, and meditate on, Scripture. 

Paul writes to Timothy and says that he should meditate on what Paul is saying so that God may give him insight as to what he is saying… It’s wonderful to see how God deals with people in Scripture, and we can get a sense of how He wants to deal with us similarly in our own lives. 

God can speak to us beyond Scripture. 

Proverbs 20:12 says, 

“Ears that hear and eyes that see — the LORD has made them both.” 

The verse speaks of natural hearing and sight, but also reminds us of the fact that prophecy triggers our spiritual sight and hearing. We can hear with our spiritual ears and perceive with our spiritual eyes. 

The hearing ear 

When you’re listening for God, He might just give you a single word – and as you ponder that word it begins to mean so much to you. Or He might give you lots of words. You can write down the words, or verses that God tells you – and it can begin to flow, like a pop up tissue box that just keeps releasing tissues as you pull. 

Sometimes He can speak to us vividly or through simple impressions. 

We usually start with a fair degree of uncertainty – where we don’t know if this is us, or God. The more you practice, the more you learn to distinguish between the two. 

The Seeing Eye 

Sometimes you can suddenly really see something that’s right in front of you. God applies it to your life… and it’s so exciting. Can you think of times the Holy Spirit speaks to you through something you see. I remember seeing the lyrics to Duran Duran’s Wild Boys one day when I was feeling so spent – and one line gripped me, 

“Your telephone’s been ringing while you’re dancing in the rain.”

The Lord used that to call me away from my ringing phone for a while so that I could go under the rain of His Spirit…” 

It usually happens with an image that pops into your mind’s eye – where you see an image “inside”, with your spiritual eyes. I remember that time I saw a vision of someone with her husband, facing a wall in a dark room… such a vivid picture from God! 

3. Beware: it’s a high explosive 

Sometimes we can confuse God’s voice with our own. We know in part and we prophecy in part. 

That’s why it's important that we don’t say emphatically, “God says!” Always rather say that you believe, or feel, or sense something maybe from the Lord… 

Especially In the early stages of learning to prophecy, avoid corrective words (where you’re pointing out sin), directive words (where you’re telling people what to do) and predictive words (where you’re telling people what’s going to happen). 

So then what are you meant to do? 

You can do what 1 Corinthians 14:3 says, 

“But The one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.” 

In other words, rather build up (strengthening), stir up (encouraging), and cheer up (comforting). 

4. Recall the words you have received 

As you grow in the Lord, and as you stay connected to church life there will be times when prophetic words come your way. 

1 Timothy 1:18-19 

Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. 

Start writing down the things you feel God has said to you, and the things you feel God has said to you through other people. 

Every now and then you can go over them again, and watch the pattern of what God is doing in your life. 

They are markers given to you to keep you on course… 

At first you’ll probably focus on the encouragement and direction you feel you’re getting –but then you’ll start to pay a little more attention to the adjustments you feel the Lord saying you’ll need to make in your life. 

Graham Cooke wrote in his book Developing Your Prophetic Gifting, 

“There are no unconditional personalprophecies. Personal prophecy refers to the possibility, not the inevitability. If your response is poor and full of unbelief, or your lifestyle is one that continually grieves the Holy Spirit, you might not see those prophecies fulfilled.” 

Fair enough. 

You can often have the huge doors of opportunity hanging on small tweaks God wants you to make that will literally shape the outcome of the next years of your life. 

The small things often have huge outcomes. Little seeds produce large harvests later. 

5. Deepen your Biblical theology 

Romans 12:6 says, 

“If your gift is prophesying, then prophecy in accordance with your faith.” 

The literal Greek says prophecy according to THE faith. Some commentators are saying that Paul is saying that when you prophecy make sure that your content is lining up with Christian doctrine. 

The point is that the Holy Spirit relies on the reserve of biblical doctrine you have in your brain, so if you haven't taken the time to search and know the Scriptures for yourself, to deepen yourself in biblical theology –you’re going to give warped prophetic insights precisely because your theology is warped. 

Our gift to people if we have the gift of prophecy is to deepen ourselves theologically, for their benefit. 

Do you remember hearing how the American prophetic movement suffered damage to its reputation when significant national prophets prophecies a second term for Donald Trump? Some of the prophets owned that they’d missed it, and some said something would happen that would bring him back… 

The point was that the very understanding of God’s agenda for planet earth got warped, because they were weak in biblical theology. 

6. Step out in faith 

Prophecy according to your faith is the encouragement from Scripture. 

Grow in your faith by taking steps! Pray For someone. Share pictures or words you receive. 

Some people have incredible sharpness in the words they receive and share. What a blessing! 

The most accurate prophetic words don’t so much foretell –they show the other person what God is like, whatGod wants to do with them, what they may need to prioritise or remember etc..

Some practicals: 

1. If You're new to prophecy practice in your grow group before practising on all of us on a Sunday. Practice on believers before unleashing yourself on your unbelieving friends.  

Isaiah 50:4 

The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. 

Imagine waking up every morning you first bend your ear towards heaven to listen –and He speaks to you, teaches you. 

1. The second thing you do is ask the Lord who He may want you to share that with. Am I going to bump into someone who is weary today and this is precisely the word they need. 
2. If You want to grow in prophecy, grow in your fellowship with the Lord, read His word, write down whatHe tells you, think about it, ask who you can share this with. Step out in faith. Fan your gift and your faith into flame! 

Psalm 139:17-18 

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand — when I awake, I am still with you. 

Don’t you think that a God who has so many thoughts about you might not want to share some of them with you? 

It’s incredible to stumble across some thoughts that God has about you! 

I know there are times I’m hard on myself, and I feel the weight of my weakness and inability – and I never share those moments with anyone, but so many times someone out of the blue draws me close and tells me how proud of me God is and how much He loves me – and it breaks and encourages me tremendously at the same time – when its Him speaking. 

If you’re not a believer today, God’s thoughts towards you are that He loves you, that He has forgiven your sins in Jesus Christ, That He wants a personal relationship with you, that He has given you spiritual gifts to use for His glory.