The Gift of Prophecy

"He that speaketh in an unkown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church." 1 Cor. 14:4

There are prophets and there is the gift of prophecy. Doing the work of a prophet is a ministry function of one who has been given the gift of prophecy. And a prophet can do a couple of different things, all of which are dependent upon the prophet's faith.

Paul says in Romans 12:6 "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith."

Many scholars have said that true prophets were given for a time and purpose to the chosen people of God, and even to the new church, but only for that particular time and purpose.

I don't believe that's correct. I believe one who has been given the gift of prophecy will function in all aspects of the work of a prophet no matter what the century, but only, according to the scripture above, as enabled by the proportion of faith that he has been given. Unfortunately, there are few prophets in the fullest sense of the word, because there are few with the faith needed to fully be a prophet.

But perhaps what the scholars mean to say is that there is no new revelation from the mouth of God. I think I would have to agree with that statement, because everything that a prophet says today must be judged by the Word itself. But, rare as they may be, there are true prophets out there; though they are not bringing new revelation, they still do most of what the prophets of old were able to do, even calling upon God to change the weather when necessary for His glory.

I remember reading a biography of Watchman Nee. If you have not read any of his books, and don't know of him, let me introduce him to you. He was a Chinese believer who became a pastor, and who eventually was imprisoned for leading a church in China. He spent the last 20 years of his life in a primitive Chinese prison, eventually dying there. The people imprisoned in cells surrounding him recalled hearing him singing hymns that often encouraged them greatly.

Before he was imprisoned, during one of his church's outreaches which happened to be occurring at the same time as an annual pagan festival, one of his young converts whose faith was very large at that moment, blurted out to a group of non-believers that his God was bigger than their god, and his God would prove it by making it rain all over their pagan parade scheduled for a few days later. Even a man of faith like Watchman Nee was stunned to hear the young man make such a bold proclamation. But they prayed and asked God to honor the young man's enthusiasm. And, of course, God did.

The point being that whether or not the young man even knew what the gift of prophecy was yet, or that he had it, he was certainly operating in that gift, and not much differently than Elijah did a few thousand years before. Thus, prophets are made according to the gift of prophecy and the amount of faith by which their gift is dependent, not according to a time frame.

This young man is just one example of how the gift of prophecy works. I have another.

An older man of God came to speak at our church a few years ago. He was a meek man, and quiet, as though he were listening to God, I thought. He preached a little and then he felt led to call me up to the front ( I was one of about three that he called forward that night) where he began to speak to me about things that only God knew, not another living soul knew, answering prayers that I had prayed in secret to God alone. From the very first words out of his mouth, I lost all sense of the presence of that man, and felt only the presence of God, as though God Himself was standing there and speaking to me; and I could not even remain standing, falling to my knees and sobbing as God spoke to me. He spoke of my past and he spoke of my future. This man was not a fortune-teller, he was not a con-artist. And I knew this not only because he spoke of things no one else knew, not even my husband or children, or my closest friends, but also because I experienced being in the presence of God such as I had never felt before…. or since. There was no doubt in my mind that he was a prophet. I have never met another one like him.

I hope this gives you some idea of what a prophet does, but let me expound a bit further about the gift of prophecy.

Prophecy is proclaiming God's truth in power and clarity, in practical current application, for the purpose of correction, repentance, or edification. One who has the gift of prophecy can communicate the mind of Christ to the church, bringing truth to the church that was previously hidden from them; in other words, speaking the biblical truth and exposing biblical error or sin. That's why Paul said we should desire this gift above all others….it was just more opportunity to get the Good News out there to the masses who desperately needed to hear it; who desperately needed the power of the Word to transform their lives.

Those with the gift of prophecy have characteristics that are rather unique to those gifted with prophecy; the most easily identified being that there are no grey areas with them, everything to them is either black or white, truth or untruth, biblical or unbiblical, righteousness through Jesus Christ or unbelief and sin. And they can be opinionated because of that characteristic. It's of the utmost importance to them to know what went wrong, what caused the problem, whatever that problem might be, either in the church or in individuals within the church. Their purpose, the reason they have been given this gift, is to change lives. To expose evil, bring to repentance, and cause the church or individual to then glorify God. That's their desire. They desire to see people walking in uprightness.

Another characteristic is that they prefer large groups to individuals. They are not as good one on one. And they are persuasive speakers. Their black and white spiritual nature can, however, cause them to be insensitive to the feelings of other people, and so the prophet must be careful to temper the Word with love, not to the point of backing down from truth, but making sure that in all things edification is the end result. I believe this is why Paul spent so much time following up with a whole chapter on exercising the gifts with love (or charity) in I Cor. 13. It is vital to our glorifying God and edifying others in these giftings.

So prophecy is about speaking the Word of God, or the mind of Christ, whether a prophet does so because God "spoke" it to him audibly as He appears to have done with the Old Testament prophets such as Elijah, Moses, Jeremiah and Isaiah, to name a few; or whether it is that still small voice of the Holy Spirit that says, "Right now, go and speak this to that person" or "Right now, stand up in the midst of this unruly crowd and speak this Word."

The most difficult thing about having the gift of prophecy is learning how to be obedient when compelled to stand up (and it is a "compelling" by the Holy Spirit – just as Peter and John were compelled in Acts 4:19-20), and learning how to be careful to speak only what the Holy Spirit has told us to speak and nothing more; anything else comes from the flesh and must be curbed immediately.

However, we must keep in mind that we have to grow in the grace of that gift as well. We might stumble a time or two, but the Lord will let us know when we do, and there will be correction from Him, but no condemnation. If condemnation is felt, it is most likely coming from ourselves, with the help of the "accuser of the brethren."

Just remember that the proof that this "compulsion" to speak is truly from the Holy Spirit, is that truth will be effectively and efficiently communicated for the purpose of edifying or building up rather than tearing down. But also remember that when the secrets of a person's heart are revealed, things they have cherished or held onto a long time, the Holy Spirit has done this to bring that one to repentance, and not all individuals (or churches) will come to repentance.

"But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth." 1 Cor. 14:24-25

Not all will fall down and worship God. Some will reject the truth, and some might even reject the prophet himself. Thankfully, however, they aren't killing prophets as much these days, so while your life is safe from harm ,still you won't be the most popular person around for those who want to continue in sin or biblical error.

Before you determine that this is your primary gift, finish the postings on all the gifts. You just might have prophecy as a secondary gift, finding that one of the other gifts is more descriptive of how you have already been functioning within the church. By the end of the study, I believe you will have no doubts.