How To Respond To Prophecies and Revelations

1. Prophecy is an important gift for the Body of Christ and must not be despised, disregarded or neglected, but heeded.

‘Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy’ (1 Corinthians 14:1).

‘He who prophesises speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men…he who prophesises edifies the Church’ (1 Corinthians 14:3-4). To edify means to ‘build up,’ and a word of rebuke (spoken in love) is edifying as godly sorrow can lead to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). C.f. Proverbs 6:23b and Proverbs 27:5.

‘Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies’ (1 Thessalonians 5:19-20).

2. Prophecy needs to be weighed, judged, prayed through and tested because many false prophets, and deceiving, lying spirits are in the world, trying to deceive and

‘Test all things; hold fast what is good’ (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

‘Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world’ (1 John 4:1).

3. A prophecy can be from God, of the flesh or from the evil one, or a combination, as some people can start in the Spirit, but wander into the flesh as they prophesy beyond their faith.

‘To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit came from you?’ (Job 26:4). For warnings and examples of this see: Deuteronomy 13:1-3, 2 Samuel 14:3, 2 Chronicles 18:21-22, Job 32:9, Isaiah 30:1, Jeremiah 14:14, Jeremiah 23:16b, 25-26 and 2 Corinthians 11:4. Jesus warned of false prophets (Matthew 24:11, 24), as did the apostles (2 Peter 2:1 and 1 John 4:1).

‘Having the gifts differing according to the grace that is given us, let us use them; if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith’ (Romans 12:6).

4. By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be confirmed / established.

‘This is the third time I am coming to you. ‘By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established’ ’ (2 Corinthians 13:1).

5. Prophecy is often conditional and we have to fulfill our obligations to our covenant keeping God. If we have not done our part, then we cannot expect God to do His. God will not be mocked by our lifestyles – sins of commission (what we know is wrong) or sins of omission (what we neglect to do) and cannot be cajoled into fulfilling His Word when we have neglected His revealed will as found in the Holy Bible. James stated, we should be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, otherwise we deceive ourselves (James 1:22).

In 2 Chronicles 7:14, in regards to revival, God states, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

The prophecy from Revelation 1:3 in regards to the Holy Bible needs to be read, heard and kept, and blessed is the person who does this.

‘But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift…. He [Jesus] 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 [the Church], till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure and stature of the fullness of Christ. That we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the Head – Christ – from whom the whole Body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share, cause growth of the Body for the edifying of itself in love’ (Ephesians 4:7, 11-16).

Understanding God’s Revelations