What Is Prophesy?

Prophesy is recieving from God and communcating it to the person or people it’s intended for :)

2 Peter 1: 21 says “No prophesy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14: 1 “Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.”

Prophesy allows us to ‘tune in’ to God’s heart, to really grasp what He wants for us and from us, and to draw closer to Him. It always amazes me at how personal God really is, how He knows exactly what we’re going through and He uses prophesy to pick people back up by prophesying something personal to that person. It also helps us to understand His will.

Prophesy is always build up, encourage and repair people, and never to destroy. If it’s destructive, then it’s not from God.

And it’s always Biblical. If it goes against something in Scripture, then that’s not from God. If it’s something like “God has a purpose and a plan for your life, so don’t give up and don’t be envious on those who laze around effortlessly, you were made for greater things” then that’s probably from God. If it’s “God thinks your useless” then that’s a lie and it’s not from God.

Prophesy isn’t about predicting the future, like what Harold Camping claimed. People make all kinds of predictions in God’s name, and claim it to be prophetic. It’s not. However, prophesy can be direction. Instead of predicting something will happen, God can give directions for someone’s life. For example, I’ve been prophesied over that God wants me to lead worship at somepoint in my life. With these have to be both careful, but have faith. It will always be something in line with God’s will; such as serving more in Church, becoming a missionary, preaching the Gospel. It can be something unusual though, someone in my friend’s church was runnign out of money and they couldnt afford washing powder, so they prayed for it. The day before church, another couple were prophesied over that they need to buy washing powder and bring it to church the next day because a couple there will need it. God told the first couple that another couple will bring some to church…and it happened, they were given washing powder. But on bigger directions, you have to discern it. There’s obvious discernment like it’s highly unlikely that a 12 year old will be moving to the North Pole to preach to some Eskimo’s in the next week! :P But it can have serious consequences; I know of some people who were killed in another country because someone gave a directional “prophesy” that they just made up, and it wasn’t even Biblical! Always always always if you’re giving a big directional prophesy, make sure that it’s glorifying to God, draws people closer to Him, it’s in line with what scripture would say, and God will confirm it through someone else’s prophesy if the people want Him to (usually). However, it could be something like what was prophesied over one of my youth leaders “God’s going to improve your memory.” If God gives a direction, He will usually place a calling on that person’s heart anyway, and He will make sure that it happens and provide for them.

In my experience, direction prophesies don’t happen as much as prophesies that are just reminding people of scriptural truth, or words and picturs of encouragement. Or if He wants people to do something, He could place a calling on someone’s heart and then give them scripture to encourage them to act on it. Like for me with Portugal, He gave me this calling like a burning longing for the city of Porto, and then people prophesied things such as the fact that we as Christians are told to go and preach to the nations. that scripture is for everyone, but He gave it to me specifically to show me that I am called to do so.

When you prophesy, He can communicate it to the prophesier through audable words (though rare), giving someone a though that they wouldn’t have otherwise thought of, giving them an urge to do or say something that they just can’t resist doing or saying, an idea totally out of the blue like to shout a random name for no reason, or what usually happens with me is that He gives me pictures and visions to illustrate something and then give me the interpretation of what it means and represents.

Try it next time you’re with Christian friends or at church, it builds people up so much! Hearing fromt he very heart of God is just woah! Trust in Him. You might think that what you feel like saying isn’t right, but if it’s biblical, go for it. Always ask the person if it makes sense or means soemthing to them, or is relevent to where they are in life. But usually you won’t need to because they’ll either tell you, or they’ll like cry or shout with joy or something hahaha! I love it, and I want to do it more often. I love hearing from God and seeing Him speak to His children :D

God bless!