Making Prophecy and Prophesying Personal

I have seen the LORD raising up His prophets in these days, and I thank Him profusely for them. I am encouraged by the word He brings through them, He uses them to confirm what He has been revealing to me, He so willingly has been laying out his plan to His remnant – though not fully detailed - so that we still hang on His Word and watch Him closely and because we are still this side of perfect - (“For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.” ~ I Cor 13:9 & 10). Through God’s raising up and giving platform to the prophets, I have felt my prophetic abilities aroused! And I want that for all of us, and I feel 100% certain that A. Scripture is true when it tells us we will prophesy and B. that this group moves prophetically and can exercise this prophetic movement more and more – we are ready.

I thought tonight we might take a freefall or go freediving into the subject of prophecy.

Scriptures that speak of us prophesying:

Acts 2:18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

Joel 2:26-29 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

We the remnant do eat in plenty and are satisfied and praise the name of the Lord our God. We are filled with joy and hope and eat His Word and are satisfied. He has poured out His Spirit upon us, so we can expect the rest of what is said here!

I Cor 12:28-31 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments (administrators), diversities of tongues. Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way… and then follows I Cor 13, which teaches beautifully what love is and what it is not. Then following that, more on prophecy and these mentioned gifts.

I believe with all my heart, that without love we are not going to be able to walk in these gifts. We will have them, but we will not freely walk in them. Therefore, I would recommend doing a week-long study of I Cor 13 while sitting alone with the Lord. First, let Him reveal what He will to you about you and love, then let Him reveal to you about others and love all as He reveals to you about Him and His love for YOU…and then His love for others. He will take you to the bookend verses that talk about these gifts, and you will be most ready for Holy Spirit to give you revelation about them.

Now let’s dig into what prophecy and prophesying is. These are definitions given in the cyclopedic index of my Bible along with a bit of study I’ve peppered in.

Prophecy – inspired foretelling of events. Some examples:

· Eli: Tells Hannah she will have a child, Samuel. But he did not get it right until after he got it wrong.

· Samuel: Tells Saul he is to anoint him king; tells Jesse, he is going to anoint his youngest son, David as king

· Anna: She never left the temple, serving night and day with fasting and prayers, and at the very moment Mary and Joseph brought Jesus into the temple, she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. In other words, she was given revelation, and she shared it with others continually.

Prophet – inspired messenger. Here are the names of just a few from Scripture:

· Noah

· Abraham

· Samuel

· Moses

· Deborah

· The woman at the well – she knew nothing much – just superficial religious stuff like we worship here; they worship there. Then she met Jesus and hung on His Word and asked questions, and revelation and belief came and she “perceived,” and shared what she perceived and through this evangelized her city.

Office of a prophet – This is a specific role rather than just a gift; it is a gift with an appointed role, i.e., Moses. We sometimes can become intimidated or fearful that we are trying to cross a line that is not for us or that we are thinking arrogantly to say we are prophetic or that we prophesy. But perhaps we can take some insight here between someone who holds an office like Moses did – how he was given a specific CALL with a burning bush, given a staff, long-term directions, and charged with leading the nation and compare it to the example of the woman at the well or even Anna who simply received revelation and shared it, speaking prophetically of what happened and what was to come.

Prophetic person – Someone like these two we mentioned just now, Anna and the woman at the well. But also someone who simply takes the Word of God – that living Word – and in spending time in it and meditating on it with the Lord, has been given revelation in their heart, and they speak it out, whether to others or just in prayer and proclamation. For God’s Word does not return void…meaning, when we take His Word, and we read it – hear it, and we believe it, and then proclaim it, then we have prophetically released it, and have prophesied.

Faith and Prophecy:

Faith – all prophecy needs faith. Without faith, we don’t have anything. “Romans 10:17 says, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Here “Word” is rhema , which translated from the Greek means, “that which is or has been uttered by the living voice’” – of God.

Here are a couple of versions of the end of this verse:

· So faith then [is] by a report, but the report by God's word. ~ DARBY translation

· So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself). ~ AMP Classic Edition translation

So, the one speaking prophecy needs faith to believe and then speak it, and the ones hearing need faith to believe it after hearing it. The outcome of the prophecy isn’t necessarily dependent upon that faith, but the spiritual impact it can have on the speaker and hearing lives or dies with faith.

The Power of Prophecy:

Prophecy can admonish, warn, direct, encourage, intercede, teach and counsel. It brings the word of God to people and inspires a response from heaven, from others, and from the enemy.

To pull down – pulling down of strongholds and lofty things set against God.

II Cor 10:3-6 For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man. The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ, being ready to punish every act of disobedience, when your own obedience [as a church] is complete.

“To pull down also means to depress spirits. Depressing is lowering or reducing the activity of spirits.” ~Christian Truth Center

There is power in walking and talking prophetically!

To destroy – To destroy is to demolish, make useless, spoil or kill. Again, II Cor says “We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God…”

We can do this with encouragement that foils the enemy’s lies. We can do this by speaking God’s Word – so Truth – over unTruth. We destroy what tries to grow in the darkness by shining disinfecting light on it.

There is power in walking and talking prophetically!

To throw down – To throw down is to cause something that is being held onto to be dropped.

When something good is revealed, we throw down what was not good so we can take up what is good. Where lies and wrong activity are trying to be embraced, the better is revealed causing others to want to let go of the lie or the activity and pick up the lovely truth.

To build – To build is to construct, establish or cause to increase. So edification, good direction, building of faith. All manner of encouragement.

The gift of prophecy is given for all believers to edify, exhort and comfort. Even if you are not called into the office of a prophet, you can start to speak prophetic words of life and encouragement as you start to spend more time hearing God’s voice. ~ Paraphrased from Roots and Wings

To plant – To plant is to establish – to deposit for growth. We have discussed in the past that God’s Law is Seed/Plant/Harvest. Where we plant His Word appropriately, the harvest will be good. The soil determines the harvest for the plant-ee, but the planting determines the harvest for the planter.

I believe there are those who will be used most richly to prophetically encourage others, which will pull down and destroy the receiver’s fears and belief in lies from the enemy about them causing them to throw those things down and pick up the encouragement, which God will use to build that person up from there. Some will be used most richly to prophetically pray over situations – like the prophet and judge Deborah, we all have our territories that we are the mother or overseer of. Our prayers will pull down and destroy spiritual strongholds that have built up against us and those in our territory, and that is when encouraging words can finally be heard – or when truths are then proclaimed into the atmosphere/situation and then the peoples of the territory will begin to drop what had gripped them, and therefore that territory will be built up and strengthened and grow what was planted into it. Our territory can include our workplace, our families, our cities, states, country, and so on.

Where we can begin…

God’s Word – You don’t have to start here, but I suggest I Cor 13, adding 12 and 14 as you go.

Begin to pray prophetically into the things revealed in these scriptures. Proclaim them over yourself. Proclaim them over those of your territory. Proclaim that the opposite of them and the enemy against them will be pulled down and destroyed due to speaking God’s living Word.

Proclaim, proclaim!

Prophetic proclamations – to speak out, to herald, to announce, to declare.

This can be done into the spiritual atmosphere alone in your bedroom or car over self or over your territory. Or it can be done to another or others in the form of a Word from the Lord or simple edification, comfort, and exhortation (counsel).

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1. Prophets raised up in these days…Elijah was raised up as a voice at Mt. Carmel against the Baal worshipers whose evil had reached a height that God would not allow to go further. So the prophets of today are just the same. They bring challenge to the evil doers and to the ears of believers who had become mesmerized into slumber and to bring honey to the soul of the faithful remnant.

2. We are only bound to what God reveals to us.

3. His Word ignites and confirms prophetic revelations

4. Faith is the opposite of unbelief, and “unbelief is the only thing that limits God. Faith moves the hand of God. Faith is the currency of heaven.” ~ Donna Rigney

a. And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people. ~Mark 6:5-6

5 Major Roles of a Prophet (christiantruthcenter.com)