My Gifting Is In The Prophetic Ministry, How To Increase In The Prophetic Outflow?
Question : My gifting is in the prophetic ministry. I would like to increase in this area. What are your suggestions. Can you tell me how to operate in the spirit and exercise in the spirit?
Answer : Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! If your gifting is in prophetic ministry, I would first want to take you to know the three variations of the prophetic gift that you can receive and practice from the Lord.
1) Gift of Prophet That Jesus Gives To The Church
This is a gift that Jesus gives to the Body of Christ. If you are called by God as a prophet to the Body of Christ, you will begin to see and experience the operation of this gift through your life. Just like apostles, pastors, evangelists and teachers, Jesus has also given prophets who are men given as gifts from Jesus to the Church to specifically speak the heart of God to the Church (Eph 4:11). These gifts including prophets are given for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying or building up of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:12-13). Until the Church comes to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and get Raptured on the day Jesus comes to take his Church, until then these gifts will operate. We see no withdrawal of even one of these gift any time in the past or in the present. Till the Church exist on earth, these gifts to the Church will exist.
We have a classic example of a New Testament prophet in Agabus who foretold about a famine that was to come in the first century which also came exactly like he said and got fulfilled (Acts 11:27-28).
In the New Testament, no matter how mature a prophet is, he cannot be always 100% correct like in the Old Testament times, because in this dispensation of grace, God made people to know in part and prophecy in part to make them stay humble before Him and receive more grace to prophecy (1 Cor 13:9; 1 Peter 5:5-6).
Even we find this happening in the life of the great prophet Agabus of the New Testament, before Paul went to Jerusalem for the last time, he prophesied by taking Paul's belt and tied his own hands and feet, to even say "Thus says the Holy Spirit","so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him in to the hands of the Gentiles." (Acts 21:10-11), but when things happened actually, the Jews did not bind him, but rather the Gentile commander was the one who through his subordinate soldiers bound him with two chains (Acts 21:32-33). This shows that even great prophets can miss certain specifics or even completely sometimes which shows that they as New Testament prophets can try their best to be accurate but their words can never be considered infallible. So Paul always says not to despise prophecies but rather test it first, and once they have a conviction and confirmation from the Word of God, then he says them to hold fast what is good (1 Thess 5:19-21). Again he says, if two or three prophecy, let others judge whether what is said is in accordance with the Word of God or outside the realm of it (1 Cor 14:29-33).
2) Grace Gift Of Prophecy Which God Gives To Some Believers
Paul the apostle said, "6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." (Rom 12:6-8).
In the above verse we see that there are certain believers who will have faith to prophecy because that will be the member gift for the function of exercising these grace that has been specially given to them by God. So in short, if God has given you the ability to prophesy, then prophesy whenever you can--as often as your faith is strong enough to receive a message from God. Note among the 7 gifts for the believers that God gives, only one of the gift is the gift of faith received to prophecy.
3) Prophecy As A Gift Of The Spirit Given To Both The Ministers And Believers At Various Times According To The Holy Spirit's Will
The finally we see the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all, in which "prophecy" is given directly in the know language or at other times given in tongues and interpretation of tongues which again comes either with the same person or with another person according to the will of the Holy Spirit who works at various times as each person opens himself up to the working of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:7, 8-10, 11). Note among the nine gifts of the Spirit only two is related to prophetic word : Prophecy in understandable Language and prophecy that comes in tongues with the interpretation of tongues (1 Cor 14:5). One who prophecies in these two ways edifies or builds the Church directly (1 Cor 14:4). So if we know that a certain tongue is a message to the Church that God is giving and we see nobody else is there to interpret that message with the gift of interpretation of tongues, then Paul tells such a person to pray to God so that he himself may be used by the Holy Spirit to interpret the message that he knows has come to him in tongues ( 1 Cor 14:13-14), so that all may be able to say amen to the message of God that comes to the Church (1 Cor 14:16, 19).
So we have come to understand what are the different prophetic gift that Jesus gives, God gives and the Holy Spirit manifests.
If you like to increase in the prophetic area, I would suggest these following things to you,
1) Read the word of God and eat the word of God and sleep in the Word of God because they are "Prophetic Scriptures" (Rom 16:26) that God uses many times to prophecy to people, because all the content of the Bible is full of God's message to the hearers (2 Peter 1:20; 1 Peter 2:2; Col 3:16). Do you know that great prophets were told by God to eat the Word of God (Jer 15:16; Ezek 3:3;Job 23:12; Psa 119:103; Job 32:8, 18-20), before they became one? Eating the Word of God and meditating on it makes our spirit to burst forth with prophetic words (Jer 20:9; Psa 39:3).
2) Earnestly desire, covet and pray to God to flow in the gifts of the Spirit especially prophesy so that the Church may be built up (1 Cor 14:39). The best gift is one that which improves the believers mind spiritually, speaks the message of God again and again repeatedly and the message which supplies to the exact needs of the hearers and comforts their heart convincing them that God has spoken clearly to them and makes them believe that God will fulfill His word to them (1 Cor 14:3). This is why either directly prophesying or giving a prophetic message is the best gift according to apostle Paul (1 Cor 12:31; 14:1).
The same prophetic gift can be administered through revelation from Scripture, knowledge of Scripture, directly prophesying a Word from the Lord, or by teaching the inspired prophetic Word (1 Cor 14:6).
3) Get prayed over by the prophetic presbytery to know the exact gift that God has given within you, so that with those prophecies you may be able to wage warfare against the evil plans of Satan against you to discourage you and make you ineffective (1 Tim 4:14-15; 1:18-19).
4) If you have not yet received the gift of the Holy Spirit with the external evidence of speaking in tongues, seek for it and get it from God as soon as possible or through the laying hands of the apostolic ministers who are usually able to lay hands on you and impart the gift by faith (John 7:37-39; 14:16; Lk 24:49; 3:16; Matt 3:11; Acts 8:17-20; 19:6). Pray in the Spirit which is praying in tongues always, because to be more prophetic like Paul the apostle you need to speak more than all the tongue fanatic to flow in extreme prophetic grace towards the Church (1 Cor 14:18-19).
5) Grow in the character of the Lord Jesus by walking in the crucified knowledge that will make you logically consider and lay aside by good choice your fleshly mind (Eph 4:22; Col 3:5) and begin to grow close to the Holy Spirit by growing in the spiritual things which He teaches so that the mind of Christ could be constantly felt and expressed to others through your life (2 Peter 3:18; Rom 6:6; Gal 5:24; 1 Cor 2:13-15, 16; 2 Cor 13:14).
6) Join in teams to prophecy, because in it you will find easy to swim in prophetic waters as you get trained with a mature prophet how to do it (Acts 11:27; 15:32; 1 Cor 14:29, 30-31).
7) Above all, live your life pleasing to the Lord in all things by being a bond servant of Christ and never try to please people (Gal 1:10). Once you become pleasing to God and spend hours in worship towards Him, the very fiber of your being will be filled with a prophetic spirit. And then while you get established as a great testimony of Jesus you will fully understand that the purpose of all prophecy and of all the vision and dreams that God shows you is to tell to others about Jesus and that will make you stay humbly at his feet to glorify Him all the days of your life (Rev 19:10).
Once you exercise these things suggested above day in and day out, and day by day, soon you will start to operate in the spirit and exercise yourself towards a mighty outworking of the Spirit in your life. Recognize your call, concentrate on your call and begin to live out your call towards the people whom God has called you to minister, without fail you will fulfill the great purpose that God has for your life.
Much Blessings...
Answer : Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! If your gifting is in prophetic ministry, I would first want to take you to know the three variations of the prophetic gift that you can receive and practice from the Lord.
1) Gift of Prophet That Jesus Gives To The Church
This is a gift that Jesus gives to the Body of Christ. If you are called by God as a prophet to the Body of Christ, you will begin to see and experience the operation of this gift through your life. Just like apostles, pastors, evangelists and teachers, Jesus has also given prophets who are men given as gifts from Jesus to the Church to specifically speak the heart of God to the Church (Eph 4:11). These gifts including prophets are given for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying or building up of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:12-13). Until the Church comes to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and get Raptured on the day Jesus comes to take his Church, until then these gifts will operate. We see no withdrawal of even one of these gift any time in the past or in the present. Till the Church exist on earth, these gifts to the Church will exist.
We have a classic example of a New Testament prophet in Agabus who foretold about a famine that was to come in the first century which also came exactly like he said and got fulfilled (Acts 11:27-28).
In the New Testament, no matter how mature a prophet is, he cannot be always 100% correct like in the Old Testament times, because in this dispensation of grace, God made people to know in part and prophecy in part to make them stay humble before Him and receive more grace to prophecy (1 Cor 13:9; 1 Peter 5:5-6).
Even we find this happening in the life of the great prophet Agabus of the New Testament, before Paul went to Jerusalem for the last time, he prophesied by taking Paul's belt and tied his own hands and feet, to even say "Thus says the Holy Spirit","so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him in to the hands of the Gentiles." (Acts 21:10-11), but when things happened actually, the Jews did not bind him, but rather the Gentile commander was the one who through his subordinate soldiers bound him with two chains (Acts 21:32-33). This shows that even great prophets can miss certain specifics or even completely sometimes which shows that they as New Testament prophets can try their best to be accurate but their words can never be considered infallible. So Paul always says not to despise prophecies but rather test it first, and once they have a conviction and confirmation from the Word of God, then he says them to hold fast what is good (1 Thess 5:19-21). Again he says, if two or three prophecy, let others judge whether what is said is in accordance with the Word of God or outside the realm of it (1 Cor 14:29-33).
2) Grace Gift Of Prophecy Which God Gives To Some Believers
Paul the apostle said, "6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." (Rom 12:6-8).
In the above verse we see that there are certain believers who will have faith to prophecy because that will be the member gift for the function of exercising these grace that has been specially given to them by God. So in short, if God has given you the ability to prophesy, then prophesy whenever you can--as often as your faith is strong enough to receive a message from God. Note among the 7 gifts for the believers that God gives, only one of the gift is the gift of faith received to prophecy.
3) Prophecy As A Gift Of The Spirit Given To Both The Ministers And Believers At Various Times According To The Holy Spirit's Will
The finally we see the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all, in which "prophecy" is given directly in the know language or at other times given in tongues and interpretation of tongues which again comes either with the same person or with another person according to the will of the Holy Spirit who works at various times as each person opens himself up to the working of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:7, 8-10, 11). Note among the nine gifts of the Spirit only two is related to prophetic word : Prophecy in understandable Language and prophecy that comes in tongues with the interpretation of tongues (1 Cor 14:5). One who prophecies in these two ways edifies or builds the Church directly (1 Cor 14:4). So if we know that a certain tongue is a message to the Church that God is giving and we see nobody else is there to interpret that message with the gift of interpretation of tongues, then Paul tells such a person to pray to God so that he himself may be used by the Holy Spirit to interpret the message that he knows has come to him in tongues ( 1 Cor 14:13-14), so that all may be able to say amen to the message of God that comes to the Church (1 Cor 14:16, 19).
So we have come to understand what are the different prophetic gift that Jesus gives, God gives and the Holy Spirit manifests.
If you like to increase in the prophetic area, I would suggest these following things to you,
1) Read the word of God and eat the word of God and sleep in the Word of God because they are "Prophetic Scriptures" (Rom 16:26) that God uses many times to prophecy to people, because all the content of the Bible is full of God's message to the hearers (2 Peter 1:20; 1 Peter 2:2; Col 3:16). Do you know that great prophets were told by God to eat the Word of God (Jer 15:16; Ezek 3:3;Job 23:12; Psa 119:103; Job 32:8, 18-20), before they became one? Eating the Word of God and meditating on it makes our spirit to burst forth with prophetic words (Jer 20:9; Psa 39:3).
2) Earnestly desire, covet and pray to God to flow in the gifts of the Spirit especially prophesy so that the Church may be built up (1 Cor 14:39). The best gift is one that which improves the believers mind spiritually, speaks the message of God again and again repeatedly and the message which supplies to the exact needs of the hearers and comforts their heart convincing them that God has spoken clearly to them and makes them believe that God will fulfill His word to them (1 Cor 14:3). This is why either directly prophesying or giving a prophetic message is the best gift according to apostle Paul (1 Cor 12:31; 14:1).
The same prophetic gift can be administered through revelation from Scripture, knowledge of Scripture, directly prophesying a Word from the Lord, or by teaching the inspired prophetic Word (1 Cor 14:6).
3) Get prayed over by the prophetic presbytery to know the exact gift that God has given within you, so that with those prophecies you may be able to wage warfare against the evil plans of Satan against you to discourage you and make you ineffective (1 Tim 4:14-15; 1:18-19).
4) If you have not yet received the gift of the Holy Spirit with the external evidence of speaking in tongues, seek for it and get it from God as soon as possible or through the laying hands of the apostolic ministers who are usually able to lay hands on you and impart the gift by faith (John 7:37-39; 14:16; Lk 24:49; 3:16; Matt 3:11; Acts 8:17-20; 19:6). Pray in the Spirit which is praying in tongues always, because to be more prophetic like Paul the apostle you need to speak more than all the tongue fanatic to flow in extreme prophetic grace towards the Church (1 Cor 14:18-19).
5) Grow in the character of the Lord Jesus by walking in the crucified knowledge that will make you logically consider and lay aside by good choice your fleshly mind (Eph 4:22; Col 3:5) and begin to grow close to the Holy Spirit by growing in the spiritual things which He teaches so that the mind of Christ could be constantly felt and expressed to others through your life (2 Peter 3:18; Rom 6:6; Gal 5:24; 1 Cor 2:13-15, 16; 2 Cor 13:14).
6) Join in teams to prophecy, because in it you will find easy to swim in prophetic waters as you get trained with a mature prophet how to do it (Acts 11:27; 15:32; 1 Cor 14:29, 30-31).
7) Above all, live your life pleasing to the Lord in all things by being a bond servant of Christ and never try to please people (Gal 1:10). Once you become pleasing to God and spend hours in worship towards Him, the very fiber of your being will be filled with a prophetic spirit. And then while you get established as a great testimony of Jesus you will fully understand that the purpose of all prophecy and of all the vision and dreams that God shows you is to tell to others about Jesus and that will make you stay humbly at his feet to glorify Him all the days of your life (Rev 19:10).
Once you exercise these things suggested above day in and day out, and day by day, soon you will start to operate in the spirit and exercise yourself towards a mighty outworking of the Spirit in your life. Recognize your call, concentrate on your call and begin to live out your call towards the people whom God has called you to minister, without fail you will fulfill the great purpose that God has for your life.
Much Blessings...
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