I am going to start dealing with the three vocal gifts, that is, the gifts that operate through our voice.
These 3 gifts are prophecy, tongues, and interpretation of tongues, they operate in church services.
First, I will define them. Prophecy is the ability granted by the Holy Spirit to a believer to speak forth words that proceed from God that do not come from the believer’s own understanding or reasoning or education.
Now this gift of prophecy has been in operation throughout the history of God’s people from the earliest times.
We find it various times in the book of Genesis. For instance, Isaac blessing Jacob.
Isaac, the father, imagined that he was blessing the older twin, Esau. But Jacob had impersonated Esau and presented himself to his father, Isaac, who was blind. Isaac, in his blindness, laid his hands on Jacob, supposing him to be Esau, and blessed him.
Later, it was discovered that he had blessed Jacob, not Esau. Esau begged his father to reverse the blessing. But Isaac said, I cannot do that. I have blessed and he shall be blessed.
Isaac spoke prophetically; it did not proceed from his own understanding and was above his own ability to reverse or undo.
Jacob blessed his two sons. Joseph had perceived which one should receive the greater blessing. Inspired and prompted by the Holy Spirit, Jacob crossed his hands and blessed Ephraim, the younger, more than Manasseh, the older.
Jacob said, “I can’t change it.” It is God’s doing, not mine.
So, we see that through prophecy, a believer can become a channel of the counsel of God, of the purposes of God-given forth in words that proceed from God and not from the believer. The Holy Spirit gives them supernaturally.
Now, the New Testament has a lot to say about the exercise of this gift. Most prophesy we hear today is on the psychic level. There is a lot of guessing and mixture.
First, we look at the purposes for which it has been given.
These are stated in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 6, where Paul says, but one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and comfort, usually given in a church service. All may prophesy and we are exhorted to pursue it.
This is your basic prophesying, not the office of a Prophet.
The one who truly prophesies speaks on God’s behalf to men. To prophesy correctly, you truly must be in Spirit, and few people have ever experienced that, so they speak from their own spirit, mixed with their soul, and belief systems.
But that is OK, we are all learning. We must practice; God cannot steer a parked car. It is different from standing in the office of a Prophet.
And the end purpose of “the gift of prophecy” is stated in three words, edification, exhortation, and comfort and we all need to hear that. You may say it a little more in current speech. The purpose of prophecy is to build up, to stir up, and to cheer up.
The gift of prophecy is not given to produce a controlling spirit. People who go around making arbitrary declarations of what other people ought to do.
There are no dictators in the body of Christ. And anyone who uses prophecy to make himself or herself a dictator is misusing the gift. Many also use it, to promote their own ministries so they can make money.
For this reason, the Scripture states very clearly that all prophetic utterances are to be subject to judgment.
For example, Paul says, let two or three prophets speak and let the others pass judgment. He was talking to the Corinthian church, which was the most carnal church at the time, but God gives us gifts in our immaturity. It is important to see that normally, though not every single time, in the New Testament, prophets operated together.
There was an Apostolic company and a Prophetic community.
There is one way to judge those who operate in the office of a Prophet, it is whether or not their prophecy comes to pass, I am talking about the leaders of the Church, so now you know how to judge them as false Prophets.
I am not talking about personal prophecy, all of it is conditional upon the life of the believer, “it is God’s will for their life”, but if they are not walking with the Lord, it will not happen.
Those who prophesied in the church were fellow members of the same body. It was not a case of one man or woman who was far above the level of the others making pronouncements that everybody else had to accept, whether they agreed with them or not.
So, Paul says, let two or three prophets speak, and let the other prophets pass judgment. Let them determine on behalf of the body whether these utterances really are from God, and we should give heed to them.
1 Thessalonians 5, verses 19-21, Paul says this, do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good.
Paul guards against two mistakes. The first is despising prophetic utterances and rejecting them altogether.
The second is just believing all of them without any examination. He says, do not despise them and do not quench the Spirit.
But on the other hand, when a prophetic utterance comes, examine it carefully and hold fast only to that which is good.
When you eat fish, you know what to do. You swallow the flesh and you spit out the bones. “You do the same with prophecy.” We do not have to swallow all prophecy. We swallow the meat, which does us good. We spit out the bones, which would not do us any good.
Prophecy needs to be judged. How are we to judge it? I want to give you now three simple, practical, scriptural tests.
First, does the prophecy agree with Scripture? The Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture, and the Holy Spirit never contradicts what he inspires.
But the Holy Spirit must interpret the Bible to you. The Bible is not subject to private interpretation, if you just read translations of the bible, it will totally mess you up. I used to think if I died, I was going to Hell to be tormented and I was scared to die. Because the way I lived, I could have died many times. I was stabbed and lost two thirds of my blood in two minutes, I was shot at, I was in a number of car wrecks, and a gang was after me, and I would go through serious withdraws from alcohol where I would shake and hallucinate, and all the symptoms that go with it. You can die from Alcohol withdrawal. I could have overdosed on the drugs I took because I would do so much.
I would plead and cry, God please do not let me die, please do not let me die! I would cry because I was scared to die. I had repented thousands of times, but my brain was programmed to get high, If I wasn’t high, I was depressed. I was a drug dealer; I did every kind of drug there is for seven years, even shot up drugs until I got saved. I still had a problem with alcohol because I drank so much my body was dependent upon it. The drug problem went away because when I was stabbed, I developed an anxiety disorder, I had to drink a twelve pack, so I could do my drug of choice.
So, the Holy Spirit will never say through prophecy something that is contrary to scripture, which He interprets correctly, scripture interpreting scripture, but most Christians do not read their bible through. You can read your bible 15 minutes a day, from start to finish, but get one that has the Strong’s numbers on the top of the original manuscript, and if the Holy Spirit enlightens a verse, stop and meditate on that part.
The second test is this. Does the prophecy uplift Jesus Christ? The primary ministry of the Holy Spirit in the church is to reveal and uplift Jesus Christ. Anything that does not uplift Jesus Christ is not from the Holy Spirit.
Revelation 19:10 tells us specifically. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. All true prophecy centers in the person of Jesus.
The third question, does the prophecy edify God’s people? We remember that was one primary purpose, is the edification of God’s people. If the prophecy does not build up, doesn’t strengthen, doesn’t encourage God’s people, then there’s no reason to believe that it’s from the Holy Spirit.
If we turn to the ministry of Jesus for examples of prophecy, we usually can’t find them, I got some of them on my website.
I believe the reason is that all that Jesus said and did was prophecy, which he was specifically prophesying because his whole ministry was prophetic.
However, there are other examples of prophecy in the New Testament which are interesting and helpful.
1 Timothy 1- Paul writes to Timothy. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may fight the good fight.
Now we have to fill in the background. Elsewhere in his epistles, Paul says that Timothy was appointed to his special ministry by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery with prophecy.
In other words, it would appear that the particular course of Timothy’s life that God had planned for him was indicated through the gift of prophecy.
And that through the gift of prophecy, Paul and the elders were moved to lay hands on Timothy and set him aside for his ministry.
It would appear also that those prophecies gave great encouragement and promise to Timothy of what God could do through him.
But when Paul wrote this first epistle, he was warning Timothy against the spirit of fear, against giving up. And one of the things he said was, remember the prophecies you recieved. You remember that God is with you and though you may have opposition and trouble, nevertheless, God is going to fulfill what he’s promised.
I have recalled prophetic utterances that have been given me in the past and they have encouraged me and strengthened me.
However, we need to say one word of warning about directive prophecy. It should not be the only means of guidance in your life.
In 2 Corinthians 13: 1, Paul says, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established.
Do not act only on a prophecy. Let it be one of the means which will guide you into God’s will.