A Passionate, Prophetic, Preparing, Possessing, Persevering, Prevailing, Proclaiming People
A Passionate, Prophetic, Preparing, Possessing, Persevering, Prevailing, Proclaiming People
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Chuck D. Pierce and Rebecca Wagner Systema
Excerpt from Receiving
the Word of the Lord,
published by Wagner Publications (1999).
Used by permission.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,that I will
pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions,
your old men shall dream dreams
Acts 2:17
Most Christians in the United States today grew up in churches that did not embrace the idea of God speaking to us today. We were taught "cessationism," which means that the power gifts of healing, tongues, interpretation of tongues, miracles, and the like all ceased to function sometime in the first century. One of the gifts that supposedly stopped functioning was prophecy. What that basically means is that God said all He had to say by 95 A.D., and He has been silent ever since.
Those that hold to this line of thinking believe that prophecy passed away when the Scriptures were completed. They base their belief on 1 Corinthians 13:8-9 which says that prophecy, tongues, and knowledge will pass away. However, Paul encourages us in the following chapter to desire prophecy (1 Cor. 14:1). He did not say that these gifts would be replaced by any others, nor that they would pass away before the second coming of Christ.
In fact, in Ephesians 4 Paul writes, "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying 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. 4:11-13, italics added). In this passage we see that these gifts have been given until we come to unity and we reach the stature of the fullness of Christ. At no time in the history of the Church have we achieved those things. Therefore, based on Paul’s own words, those gifts, including prophecy, are still in operation today.
How Can I Know the Will of God?
The Bible makes it very clear that God has a purpose and a plan for our lives. Any biblical scholar will agree that that did not end in the first century. But if we have a God that won’t speak to us, it can be hard to discern what that plan is. Many of us have read books or heard messages on knowing the will of God. Those books are all filled with good principles that we can follow. Yet, the fact is that the Bible only gives one real principle to follow in trying to determine what God’s will is for us. In the Bible, when someone wanted to know the will of God, they asked Him—and He told them!
God does speak to His people. But if we are so entrenched in a mindset that says that God does not speak today, we can often write it off as imagination. The truth is that the prophetic is not an optional extra in the Christian life. The prophetic is not an optional extra in the Church. Amos 3:7 even goes so far as to say, “Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”
Throughout the Bible, God communicated with His people. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul reminds the Gentiles that they once worshiped mute idols. What a foolish thing to worship something that cannot communicate! Our God, however, is not like the mute idols. Our God is constantly pouring out new revelation, continually speaking to His people. He is a God who loves us enough that He wants to enter into communication with us.
The definition of prophecy is simple. Prophecy is speaking forth the mind of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Prophecy is the outflow of the heart and the very nature of God. Revelation 19:10 says that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Jesus cares about His Church and He, therefore, has things He wants to communicate to His Church. Those communications come by way of the Holy Spirit. That is prophecy. It is what Jesus is saying to His Church.
The testimony of Jesus, which is prophecy, is not only a corporate promise. Jesus says that His sheep know His voice (Jn. 10:4). If you are one of His sheep, you have the capability, the capacity, and the privilege of hearing the voice of your Shepherd that comes through the Holy Spirit.
Throughout the Bible we find several Hebrew and Greek words that are translated as “prophet.” In understanding how prophecy works today, it is helpful to know the different types of prophets and prophecy taught in God’s Word. Let’s take a look at some of the various names the Bible uses to describe the prophet:
1. Nabi. This is the general Hebrew word for prophet. It means one who proclaims, announces, declares, utters communications, a spokesman, or a heralder. This word also means a supernatural message that bubbles up or springs forth. Nabi is the word used in 1 Samuel 3:20, “And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD.” It can be either masculine or feminine and can refer to either a prophet of God, or a false prophet who brings messages that are contrary to God’s character or will.
2. Roeh. This Hebrew word means “seer.” An example is 1 Samuel 9:9, “Come, let us go to the seer.” A seer is probably the most misunderstood of the prophetic types. They are the ones who have visions or visual impressions. These types of prophets can look at something and receive a supernatural message through that image. God asked many of the prophets in Scripture, “What do you see?” The Lord has often used this method of communicating with me.
3. Hazon. This Hebrew word is translated as watchman. Here are some biblical examples of watchmen: “Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’” (Jer. 6:17); “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me.” A watchman sees what is coming. A watchman also watches after the word of the Lord and intercedes until it is accomplished. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah released the word of the Lord to Ahab, which was that it would not rain for 3½ years. At the end of that time Elijah went into intercession until he “saw” the cloud that represented God’s change of seasons. Elijah was acting as a watchman.
4. Prophetes. This Greek word signifies one who speaks for another, especially one who speaks for God. These are ones who “forthtell,” which means that they speak forth a living message from God for the hour. In this context, the prophet is using interpretive gifts to forthtell the will and counsel of God. This word also signifies one who can “foretell,” or give insights into future events. In this context, the prophet is using predictive gifts. This is the kind of prophet mentioned in Matthew 2:5, who wrote that the Savior would come out of the city of Bethlehem.
5. Nataph. This Hebrew word means to preach, to drop from heaven, or to speak by (heavenly) inspiration. This type of prophesying is that which is generally done from a pulpit or in a public place, or a prophetic word that is given in the form of an exhortation. The word nataph is used in Micah 2:6, Micah 2:11, and Zechariah 13:3.
The Holy Spirit is our key to hearing God. Throughout the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, whenever the Holy Spirit came, prophecy flowed. Here are just a few examples: “Then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you will prophesy” (1 Sam. 10:6); “The Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied” (1 Sam. 19:20); “And it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied” (Num. 11:25); “And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:6).
But the Holy Spirit’s ministry through prophecy did not end in the first century! In many accounts of revival throughout the Church’s history, when the Holy Spirit came in power, prophecy broke lose. In fact, one of the signs of the Spirit’s presence is prophecy.
Prophecy is important because God tells us it is. It is just that simple. Here are three reasons we find in the Bible that help us understand God’s heart toward this important gift:
1. We are to seek to prophesy. “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:1). In the King James version, this verse says that we are to covet prophecy. Do you know that prophecy is the only thing in all the Bible we are supposed to covet? And what happens when you covet something? You think about it all the time. You desire it. You think about what you could do to get it. That’s how we are supposed to seek prophecy.
Revelation 2 and 3 have the words of Jesus to many different churches. Jesus gives different admonishments, different promises, and different messages to each of the seven churches listed in those passages. The one thing that does not differ from church to church, however, is Jesus’ command: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying.” We are to hear what the Spirit is saying. We are to seek prophecy.
2. God warns us not to reject prophecy. “Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thes. 5:20-21). When Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church, they were still young in the Lord. They were just starting out. When something is in the beginning stages, things may not always happen the way they should. Out of immaturity and lack of understanding, flaky things can happen. When flakiness springs up, there is a tendency to say that something (in this case prophecy) is more trouble than it’s worth. But Paul says no. Don’t shut it down. Don’t quench the Spirit. Let it happen, test everything, and hold on to what is good.
The Bible also tells us not to despise tongues. The relationship between prophecy and tongues is often misunderstood. Simply put, when a tongue is interpreted, it becomes prophecy.
3. Prophecy releases the life and power of God. As we saw in Chapter One, the word of God has creative power. When Ezekiel saw the dry, dead bones, the Lord told him to prophesy to them.
“So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.’ ’ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army” (Ezek. 37:7-10).
When the prophetic word of God goes forth, it doesn’t just enlighten you, it doesn’t just give you information, it releases life and power. Prophecy changes situations!
The Holy Spirit equips us to accomplish God’s purposes on earth. This is what 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14 are about. Too often these chapters are separated from one another in the teaching we receive. But the fact is that they were written together and they flow together to help give us an understanding of spiritual gifts and how they are to operate in the body of Christ. Let’s look at this passage in light of the gift of prophecy.
The body of Christ works in just that way—it is a body, each part having a function and purpose that assists the whole in operating correctly. This is explained in some detail in 1 Corinthians 12. There are, however, certain gifts that are to be desired in the body, one of which is prophecy.
From that point, Paul immediately goes into a discourse on the outworkings and importance of love. He goes so far as to say, “And though I have the gift of prophecy…but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2).
From there he moves on to say, “pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:1).Godly prophecy cannot be separated from love. In fact, true prophecy flows from a heart of love, even if the word is one of correction. The basis for understanding the gift of prophecy is understanding issues of love.
Copyright 1999 Wagner Publications.
