What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they are all from the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve (ministries), but we serve the same Lord. And there are different ways that God works in people, but it is the same God who works in all of us to do everything.

The manifestation of the Spirit is given to EVERY MAN  to PROFIT withal 1Cor12:7.  The key word here is “EVERY MAN“. Every  believer should desire the nine spiritual gifts for the benefit of other believers and for themselves.  This gifts comes from the Holy Spirit and he gives it as he wills.

Every time we talk about the gift of prophecy, people think it is only about foretelling and this is something that only the people called into the office of a Prophet can and should do. Some even say things like “you are the Prophet of your own life” without having an understanding of what that means. Some think confession and prophesying are the same thing. I am not saying they are wrong. However there is another dimension of the gift of prophecy that I believe the Holy spirit wants us to see. The church of Jesus is where it is today because of the lack of the gift of prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy – Rev19:10. Many people are in severe depression and all they need is the manifestation of the gift of prophecy in the life of a believer to make them whole. We have the word of life that can bring them out of the dark hole!  In this study we are going to look at the importance of prophecy and study 1Cor14:3 – But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.  Many people don’t believe or think they can prophesy because they think I need to say “Thus says the Lord” for the word to be spiritual and make a difference.  It’s like prayer, people think your prayer needs to be long for it to be answered by God. It is not so , what makes the difference is a prayer said in faith.

Prophecy is the ability to interpret the divine will and purpose of God and communicate this in a language that the audience can understand so that it can bring about a change in their lives.

Everyone should desire to prophesy! I can understand if this is too deep for you because I had to do about 12 hours of Bible Study for a small group of people to understand that God wants us to prophesy. The purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not just to speak in tongues. As a matter of fact the scripture did not say “And you shall speak in tongues when the Holy Spirit is come upon you”. Let us read about what happened to people that received the Holy spirit in the bible.

1. Saul –  1 Samuel 10:6 And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. Let me quickly say that the evil spirit can also make one to prophesy –  1Sam18:10 -And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house. Some people can definitely prophesy by Baal. That is why we need to judge every prophecy.
2. You will receive Power – Acts 1:8 (AMPC) But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.
3. Your sons and daughter – Joel 2:28  (KJV) And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. I like to say the manifestation of this scripture began on the day of Pentecost Acts2:16-17. I say that because we will not have the complete fulfilment of the scripture until all our until all our sons and daughters are prophesying. Philip’s (one of the deacons) daughters prophesied. I know you might not see the word prophesy recorded when people were baptised on the day of Pentecost but they actually did! At Cornelius house they spoke in tongues and prophesied – Acts10 :46 (I know the word prophesy wasn’t used but you will understand they did we study 1Cor14:3) . In Acts 19:6 (about 20 years after the day of Pentecost) they received baptism of Holy Ghost, spoke in tongues and prophesied.

Paul in his letter to the Corinthian church (by default to all believers today )  said “earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments (gifts), especially that you may prophesy (interpret the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching)” -1Cor14b (AMPC). He further said in verse 39 that we should “covet” prophecy -“So [to conclude], my brethren, earnestly desire and set your hearts on prophesying (on being inspired to preach and teach and to interpret God’s will and purpose), and do not forbid or hinder speaking in [unknown] tongues“.  To covet means “yearn to possess (something, especially something belonging to another)”.  The Holy Spirit has some gifts that we should yearn or desire to have so that we can benefit other believers. Paul by the Holy Spirit said he who  prophesy is greater (more useful) than he who speak in tongues 1Cor14:5. He did not condemn speaking in tongues but he said prophecy will benefit more people in the church.

The purpose of prophecy is to edify (build) the church. Please watch out for the next article on 3 things that the gift of prophecy will do and why it is important that every believer should desire it.  Until then start meditating on this scripture “But the one who prophesies [who [b]interprets the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching] speaks to men for their upbuilding and constructive spiritual progress and encouragement and consolation” 1Cor14:3 (AMPC). Kindly share this article on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and WhatsApp. When you do ,you are actually prophesying to someone – I will explain this in the next lesson.

May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together-spirit, soul, and body-and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!