Guidelines for Prophecy

What is the purpose of Prophecy

The purpose of prophecy is to prepare His children and share truths. Pastors do this as well as teachers and those who use words of Wisdom and knowledge. Why then do we need prophets?

Pastors and teachers prepare people in their present situation. People with words od wisdom and knowledge give a precis of a situation and what to do but only in respect of current situations and then they deal with the spiritual side of things while pastors and teacher deal with the physical (reasoned) side of things. Pastors and teachers may will have gifts that allow them to minister spiritually but they are not called prophets even thought they enter into prophecy at times.

The prophet is used to foretell the future and what God requires of you in regard to it. There will be either:

Prophets are to call people to repentance and because prophets do not call people to repent the church is in the mess it is in.

Sometimes there will be judgment pronounced without a way out of it as their sins have placed them beyond redemption.

Guidelines for asking for prophecy for another or yourself:

If there is no answer from The Holy Spirit command any demons blocking to leave then ask again why He did not answer.

He may not say anything in which case it is not time to give a prophecy or He may give an answer for the reason He i not want to give a prophecy.

Problems with hearing The Holy Ghost

To hear The Holy Ghost you need to remove that which hinders you from hearing Him. Usual hindrances and how to correct them are as follows:

You will have peace prophesying if the prophecy is from The Lord. If it is not you will feel uneasy or sense a blockage.

Prophecy given to a non-Christian

This type of prophecy rarely gives a blessing from God to the person but is warning to repent and follow Jesus and to get their life in order and not to resist or reject Jesus. It should encourage the person to do better things than what they are doing as God is Love and all prophecy should reflect this.

Given to Christians.

If a person comes for a prophecy or word of knowledge’ from the Lord ask The Lord if you are to give them one (If there is no prophecy for them ask The Holy Spirit why).

If the Holy Spirit is silent then you are not to ask the Lord for a prophecy at that moment. It does not mean there is not one but that is may be to early to ask or you are asking the wrong thing. Then perhaps you should ask, if The Holy Spirit allows you too, if there is anything God wants to say to that person.

If you do get a prophecy or ‘word of knowledge’ for a person ask The Lord when you are to give it to that person and how much of it you are to give them at that time. It may be for a later time or only part of it is to be given. To give more than God wants too may warn Satan of things to come that he will try and prevent the event from happening.

When you give a prophecy you should stop when told to by The Holy Spirit. To not stop is disobedience and a misuse of your gift.

No matter how silly the prophecy or word is, give it, unless it tells the person to sin or cause a lack of love to another. It may mean nothing to you but it may to them. You are there to give the prophecy, not necessarily to understand it. You are a transmitter of the prophecy not the originator. To evaluate it and give what you want of it to the person so you are not rejected in any way for what you said, is rebellion against God.

When warning someone, always remember God gives a way out, so every warning prophecy has a way to avoid the judgment or to minimize it, so you must give that way out. If it is only judgment, hold it until you get the way out or it will not be complete.

If prophesying only blessings or similar, you must also give the qualification that will allow the blessing to be received. If you do not have this then wait until you do or the prophecy is not complete.

A prophecy can be one word. Length does not mean quality. Say only what Jesus tells you to say. No more! No Less! You are only the transmitter, not the Author of the prophecy.

Given to churches

These usually bless or rebuke the church and are followed by a list of the things God is either pleased with or hates in that church. Remember, while it is given to a church it actually refers to the people in the church as a building has no life, only the people in it. The examples of this sort of prophecy that we have as a guide are in the letters to the churches in the Book of Revelation and, apart from the listing of things the Lord hates or delights in, they follow the pattern for personal prophecy to Christians.

Timing issues

If you tell a prophecy too early, Satan will know what is to come and will try and stop it or the person will try to bring it to pass too early which allows Satan to work. You could upset their entire life. The timing issue makes prophecy a heavy responsibility.

In prophecy, timing is perhaps the most important thing. Anyone can give a prophecy, but few seem to be concerned about the timing of it or how much to give to the person.

You need to know how much of the prophecy to give and when to give it.

As for lifestyle of a prophet/prophetess

When not to consult prophets and prophetesses

You do not need to consult at prophet or prophetess if:

When to consult a prophet or prophetess:

Before consulting a prophet or prophetess you need to ask The Holy Spirit if you should. You may not need to know the answer yet or God may not want you to know the answer yet (Deuteronomy 29:29)

God may not want you to know the answer so that you do not "help Him" make it come to pass and wreck what He wanted to do. Another reason is for this hiding of prophecy is so that Satan cannot try and stop the plans, divert them or offer his answer before God’s. Remember, if Satan can, he will offer an answer that appears to be God’s and will try to get you to accept it before God can get His answer to you.

A good prophet or prophetess will know if God has something to tell you and will do so as guided by The Holy Spirit. They will tell you what God wants to reveal, that it is not the right time to reveal as God has, in fact, said this, or that He is saying nothing.

Attitudes to living and prophecy

Mat 6:30-34 states:

There are various principles these verses:

So the way to not worry and be anxious about the future is to do God’s will as He promises to provide all you need in this life if you do that. This provision includes preparation for the future as well as a future and a hope in heaven as promised by Him to you.

As you walk in the principles of Matt 6:33 all that has been prophesied or promised to you will occur as they are part of the path prepared by God from before the foundation of the world for you to walk in for and so all on that path will eventuate. This includes all future promises He has for you. but you must stay obediently on that path walking one day at a time doing each moment what God wants for you and not worrying about the future in any way.

If a person is led by God’s Holy Spirit seeking The Kingdom of God and God’s Will, they do not need to know what God has for them in the future as they know whatever it is will be for their best. Prophecy is not necessary, as they will be content in whatever state they are in. They realise they only need to know what God has for them to do next. They trust God and are happy to accept whatever He does to them.

Prophecy for the future is normally only for those who cannot hear God’s Spirit or who do not have complete faith or trust in God and His Plan for their life. Prophecy is designed to correct, guide and encourage you in your Christian walk. It is also for those who have strayed, lost hope or need guidance and who cannot hear the Holy Spirit usually because of fear or sin.

Sometimes you will be given a prophecy to help you in something, especially when God is going to do something unusual and by this prophecy prepare and encourage you as you go through whatever is about to happen to you.

We are told to be content in all circumstances. The only way to do this is not to be anxious or worried about anything but to trust God completely in all things. His Love, His Plan for our life, His Purposes, His Control over our circumstances, over every area of our life:

Remember the perspective of God in regard to Prophecy

God looks at things in seasons and not years so to divide up our life into years and relate prophecy to those years is incorrect. We also live in eternity and so we need to look at things from that eternal perspective and not from earth time. Perhaps that is why it is so hard to place a date or time on a prophecy as they are not relevant to God’s seasons but only to man’s timing.

Warning

The most parodied gift of God that Satan uses to control people is to do with prophecy’ and ‘words of knowledge’ but perverted for his use. Examples are:

Suffering

We need to trust God: Who he is as well as what He has done and all the promises we have through what Jesus has done.

One of the problems of prophecy is that what is prophesied can become an idol so we hold onto and hope in it for our future happiness. Instead of placing our hope in Jesus and being comforted by Him, we take our eyes off Him and look to the prophecy for comfort. As our current situation often bears no resemblance to the events necessary for the prophecy to be fulfilled we get anxious at the possibility of the prophecy not coming to pass and often we cannot see any humanly possible way of it ever occurring and may try and help it come to pass. We get stressed out and often become an emotional mess. We forget faith is usually crystalized in an instant. In an instant the promise has occurred and the trial is over.

If this has occurred We need to repent of the idolatry we have indulged in repent and refocus back on Jesus for our comfort and hope.

All we need to really know is the next step God wants us to do, not the future as that is in His hands and is part of his Perfect Plan for our life. If we do His next step for us we will be in His perfect Plan and what he has promised in The Bible as well as prophesied for us, will occur. The promised future will take care of itself (Mat 6:33).

So how are we to approach prophecy? We accept a prophecy and wait for it to happen and do not try to find out more about it unless God tells us as Satan often will try to help us with a prophecy so we will be led astray and not do the Will of God. We take things a they come and not plan for the future. Whatever Jesus asks us to do will contain what is necessary for us to do for the future.

So we may get a prophecy but it is necessary to live moment by moment in God’s Will for it to come true. This stops us helping the prophecy to be fulfilled and this hindering it. If we do what God wants us to do at that moment we are doing His the requirements for the prophecy to be fulfilled.

Not Knowing the future is normal for Christians (Is 50:10,11) which is why it is a walk of faith. Reasoning what it will be (even if only filling in the gaps left from prophecy) will only result in sorrow as you can reason yourself out of the Will of God for you into a comfort zone not of His Making and expose yourself to Satan and his attacks.

Prophecy will guide you but will only tell you what God wants you to know (Duet 29:29) so that you can do His Will. The danger is to try and fill the gaps in the prophecy by using reason and leading yourself astray for God and His Will for you.

The only prophecy you must act on is a warning to correct something you are or are not doing.

Handling Prophecy if it affects others adversely

No matter what a prophecy says you cannot desire its fulfilment if it means another is to suffer or you will:

You must patiently wait and work at doing what He as asked you to do until you understand the prophecy so He can implement it in your life, trusting in Mat 6:33 and saying:

The Holy Spirit will always prepare you for a prophecy so don’t try and reason how it will be implemented as often there is no understanding possible of this. As He matures you to be ready for the prophecy you will start to uderstand it and see things in a different spiritual light.

Handling Desires resulting from Prophecy

No matter what a prophecy says you cannot desire its fulfilment in a way that it becomes a consuming thing in you or you will:

You are to patiently wait continually giving it to Jesus to be Lord of, doing what He asks you to do each day and trusting Him to bring it to fruition (Mat 6:33 applies), saying:

In Conclusion

Everything that happens to you is ordained of God. He either allows it to happen or ordains it to happen.

His Love and Control is in all His Works.

Our role is to trust God’s Love, Control, purposes and plans for us and to obey Him in all things. Then we will be in a position to serve Him as He wants us too and to be rewarded as He wants to reward us.

Signs and Wonders

Mark 8:12

People who seeks signs will not find them unless the demonstration of these gifts serve God's purposes. This is because God wants you to seek Him and not His works.

The devil will give you the signs you are seeking so you will follow his brand of Christianity which divides and destroys the Body of Christ and is a form of idolatry as the signs become much more important that the giver.

This is the danger in Pentecostalism and why there are so many leaders who fall and churches die! They stop seeking Jesus and glory in the signs.

When you stop seeking God and look only for His works you have a form of idolatry. Satan then has legal access and soon error creeps in, ministers fall and churches die.

Signs are used by God for His purposes and not to fulfil our desires for them. He does not have to do them and will not if they are sought instead of Him.

This is the danger of signs and wonders that they replace He who give them (as people become blinded by the miracles and lose sight of the miracle giver, Jesus). Paul Said

It is well to heed his warning!

The world is looking for the supernatural. The Church is generally not providing this as they minister and usually do not demonstrate the Power and Authority of The Kingdom of God, so Satan has been able to present his version of the gifts and win many people away from following Jesus.

When the church demonstrates The Kingdom of God in the Power of The Holy Spirit and the Authority of Jesus then will people be won for Him and His Kingdom.

If you are not demonstrating The Kingdom of God you had better find out why and what you need to change in your life to be able to do this. Only as you demonstrate The kingdom of God can you minister as Jesus and the Apostles did.