The Definition of Prophecy
Prophecy is not a learned skill, although you can learn about it. It is a gift from God that enables a person to declare the message of God to His Church for the purpose of edification. You do not have to have a good education to be a prophet. It is not an aptitude or a talent. It is an enablement, a gift, and it only operates when the Spirit has something to say. When the message is finished, it ceases to operate until the next time.
I would say that prophecy is the expressed thoughts of God spoken in a language that no person could ever articulate. The substance and the nature of prophecy exceed the limits of what the natural mind can conceive. We must never forget, “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord” (Isa. 55:8, nkjv).The gift of prophecy comes through the mouth of a man but it originates in the mind of God. Actually, it is not limited only to coming through a mouth in words, is it? At times we hear God’s prophetic word coming through instrumental music, through paintings and other kinds of art work, and through writing, including poetry; think of the Old Testament prophets such as Isaiah.
In every case, prophecy is the overflow of a heart that is filled with the Word of God. When the wind of the Spirit blows upon the Logos, the written Word, it becomes a rhema, an immediate word that can be released into many situations. Naba is the Hebrew root word commonly translated as the verb “prophesy,” and it conveys a sense of water flowing forth as from a fountain. This is why I sometimes refer to “naba words” when I’m talking about prophecies.The Greek word propheteia means “speaking forth the mind and counsel of God.” A prophecy, then, become an immediate message from God to the hearers, a divinely anointed utterance that brings life to those with ears to hear. “Prophecy is the very voice of Christ speaking in the Church.”So to define prophets, you would say that prophets are those who have learned how to cultivate a “supernaturally imparted ability to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and to speak God’s counsel, not only to an assembled group of believers but also to individuals,” all with purpose of building up the hearers. Thus prophecy helps us combat, as Derek Prince put it, “two of Satan’s greatest and most frequently used weapons against God’s people…condemnation and discouragement.”
The gift of prophecy, like any other gift of the Holy Spirit, does not depend upon personality or natural gifts. In fact, sometimes it seems that God chooses someone who is weak in, for example, verbal communication or audacity, making it even clearer that prophecy is an outright gift. A person’s surrender is what counts the most, not his or her personal qualifications.
Although the gift of prophecy is expressed through a human speaker, it comes from the mind of God. Paul summed it up like this:But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:9–16, nkjv).
Purposes of the Gift of Prophecy
I want to collect together some of what I have already mentioned in order to lay out the basic purposes of the gift of prophecy. These apply to prophecy at any level:
Edification: God has provided this gift to edify (build up) the Church. (See 1 Cor. 3:10–15; 14:3.)
Exhortation: God wants us to earnestly incite, encourage, advise, and warn others. (See Hos. 6:1–3; 1 Cor. 14:3; 1 Tim. 4.)
Comfort: Prophecy is Jesus speaking in great personal concern, tenderness, and care to release the comfort of His presence. (See 1 Cor. 14:3.)
To convict and convince: This aspect of the gift can be for the sake of believers who are unlearned and uninitiated in the present-day operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Prophetic messages can prick a person’s conscience concerning sin and they can convey God’s grace for recognition and repentance.
For instruction and learning: This revelatory gift opens the Scriptures to new understanding. (See 1 Cor. 14:31.)
For gift impartation: As an aspect of not neglecting the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially prophecy, someone with the gift of prophecy can be used to impart and enliven that same gift in another believer. (See 1 Tim. 4:14–15.)
As a testimony of and from Jesus: Through a prophetic message, Jesus stands in the midst of His people, telling of His works. Hearers realize that the Lord is near, not distant.
Those of us who move in the prophetic realm see God at work in a variety of settings. One day someone came up to me in a prayer line and, through prophecy, I was able to provide her some powerful and unexpected comfort. As the woman stepped forward, a strong weeping just fell on me. I had no idea who this woman was or what she needed. Inside, I felt all scrambled, and I thought, Oh, what do I do with this? This is so sensitive…. I just don’t know. I saw a picture of someone in the great cloud of witnesses (see Heb. 12:1). I was just so torn up inside and so weepy on the outside. Eventually I just went ahead and gently shared.“
I see somebody looking in from the great cloud of witnesses, looking down upon you, and that person is smiling upon you. It could be that heaven wants you to know something like this: You did a good job.” The woman, who had not been crying up to that point, burst into tears herself. When she could speak, she said, “I just lost a child. My son died.” God had sent her a word of comfort, both about the present state of her child and about the way she had cared for him when he was still with her. That mother left the prayer line comforted.
James W. Goll
