In prophecy when we receive a sense of objective, we then begin to focus in on what God wants to say to that individual. Often, the first thing we receive is diagnostic. A significant difference exists between a prophetic diagnosis and a prophetic prognosis. A diagnosis is the process of determining the nature and cause of a person’s need. A prognosis is how God entwines himself into that diagnosis. In medical terms, we can be diagnosed with the flu, and given a prognosis of full health after a few days of rest, orange juice, cold medicine, and chicken noodle soup.
Sometimes we can see a vision or have an understanding that is quite negative. We may see a fault, a wrong, or a sin. Often, this first impression is simply diagnostic. Prophecy is made-up of three elements: word of knowledge, gift of prophecy, and word of wisdom. A word of knowledge opens up the issue, a prophetic word speaks God’s heart into it, and a word of wisdom tells us how to respond to God.
That first piece of negativity we sometimes get may be a word of knowledge, not a word of prophecy. God can give us information about a person’s life in order to contextualize, for us, the prophetic word to come. This is what’s happening, God says. I need you to understand it before it can be spoken into. God is telling us what he wants to root out and to pull down next in that person’s life (Jeremiah 1: 10) so that he can build or plant something better.
Most people prophesy the first thing they received. We can prophecy a word of knowledge that God gave us as information. It is called prophesying the problem and it’s probably damaged more people’s lives than any other activity in the prophetic realm. Never give the first thing you receive; Don’t be in a hurry to prophecy. It’s not a race. You are dealing with sensitive issues in a person and can hurt them greatly; we must not feel that we have to get a word out of our mouth as soon as we get it.
We must perfect the art of stepping back into our spirits when we receive revelation. We can dialogue with God when we receive that first impression. Thank you, father, I often say I understand that about their life. Now, in the light of that, what is it you want to say to them? When he gives us next could be the opposite of what we first saw because the grace of God may need to come into operation.
The word of knowledge, in many cases, is for diagnostic purposes. The Lord reveals the situation to us as it is now. However, the prophetic word we give may relate to what the Lord is going to do both now and in the future. We can then give the individual their prognosis. Diagnosis identifies what is, while prognosis indicates what is to come.
Context is incredibly important to God. When we receive a word of knowledge, we need to ask ourselves two questions:
Is this word diagnostic?
If so, is it for me personally, so that I can become familiar with the situation?
If the answer to both questions is yes, then we have a context, or set of circumstances, into which God wants to speak. We need to use that privileged information wisely-being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and respecting the people concerned.
One of the hardest things for prophetic people to learn is that not everything we receive is to be given. Many prophetic ministries speak out everything that they see and hear from God, broadcasting a person’s innermost fears and flaws to a packed auditorium. We must become constrained by love and remember Jesus’s golden rule: and just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise (Luke 6: 31). Prophesied the second thing you get.