Prophesy

About Prophesy

For those new to the Christian faith the thought that God could speak to humans through a dream, vision, thoughts, or a voice is a foreign concept. But Jesus said that His sheep (all believers) know His voice. God wants a relationship with every believer and wants to help and direct them through life. Some people think it sounds weird that God would speak to people. We know God as a loving father and think it would be weird if He did not speak to us. The Bible is actually a whole book of God speaking to His people and is one of the most important ways He speaks to us. The Bible gives us countless examples of God speaking to His people.
For some practical examples of what hearing from God looks like we suggest you watch week 1 of the Grow Discipleship Series.
Prophecy involves divinely inspired spoken words that edify, encourage, and comfort. It can declare what will happen in the future but does not necessarily have to. The priority in Prophecy is to communicate God’s words and God’s heart, as He reveals them to us.
Prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit. The Bible encourages all believers to earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that they may prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1). The Apostle Paul says be eager to prophecy and the one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them.
In 1 Corinthians 14 the Apostle Paul instructs the church on how to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In verse 24 and 25 he states, “But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who do not understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.”

What It Can Look Like

When Pastor Lionel was a new believer a man prophesied that he would stand for justice (at the time he was a Police Prosecutor), that he had an excellent short term memory (this was not known to others) that God wanted him to use to memorise scripture for later in his life, and that he would be like the Apostle, Barnabas.
Ten years later, Lionel was reading Acts 11:24 and he could not read past this scripture. His eyes would divert back to the start of the passage. This happened many times and he said to God, why cannot I read past this scripture. Lionel began weeping although he was not emotional. Tears began falling from his eyes and onto his bible. The scripture read, “Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord”. He realised that God was speaking to him through this verse and the subsequent day he remembered what had been prophesied about him a decade before. This was the start of several significant events that led to Lionel’s calling into full time ministry as a Pastor.

Learn How To Prophesy

As stated earlier the Bible encourages all believers to eagerly desire the spiritual gifts especially the gift of prophecy. We encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit for the gift. But do not ask half-heartedly. Ask boldly. If the gift is available, tell him that in obedience to 1 Corinthians 14:1, you earnestly want it. And ask repeatedly, and persistently (Luke 11:8). Take the words of Jesus seriously and ask, believing that your Father wants to give you the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We would be happy to pray with you for the gift also.
The Bible gives a warning about false prophecy and it is important to take these warnings seriously. The goal of our prophecy is not to draw attention to ourselves, but rather to operate in radical obedience to God, that comes from a place of knowing God. The fact that the Bible warns us to avoid the false prophecy makes it clear that the Bible encourages the practice of true prophecy.
We would love to help you grow in the gift and to be able to practice hearing from God and conveying that in a healthy and safe place. If you would like us to pray and seek a prophetic word for you, we would consider it a privilege to do so.