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Gifts
of the Holy Spirit 8
The Gift of Prophecy
by Pastor John Hamel
We have studied the
three Power Gifts. The three Power Gifts do something.
We have studied the
three Revelation Gifts. The three Revelation Gifts reveal something.
This lesson will
begin our study of the three Utterance Gifts.
The Utterance Gifts
say something.
The first Utterance
Gift we will study is the Gift of Prophecy.
The Gift of
Prophecy is speaking supernaturally on God’s behalf in a known tongue or
language.
It is not possible
to say all that could be said about the Gift of Prophecy in this short
lesson. However, we will see enough to get you going in the right
direction.
There are two types
of Prophecy that we will briefly cover in this lesson. One type of
Prophecy contains no revelation or prediction. The other type of
Prophecy does indeed contain revelation or
prediction.
The
Non-Revelation Type of Prophecy
We will begin with
the non-revelation type of Prophecy. This is often referred to as
“simple” Prophecy.
Simple Prophecy has
been called “The Poetry of the Spirit.” It is used to lift God’s
people higher, drawing them closer to God and bringing comfort to
them. Here’s what the Apostle Paul said about simple Prophecy.
“But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men
to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.” (1 Corinthians 14:3)
John the Baptist’s
Father was named Zacharias. He spoke forth through the simple Gift of
Prophecy one day.
Before John was
born an angel announced
to elderly Zacharias that his barren wife would have a child.
Zacharias’ attitude towards the angelic announcement was “You must be
joking.”
Because he refused to believe, he was struck dumb until
after John was born.
Once John’s birth was accomplished, Zacharias’
tongue was loosed and he prophesied, praising God openly and lifting the
spirits of all around him. He prophesied by inspiration of the Holy
Spirit …
“Blessed be the
Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath
raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As
he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which
have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our
enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;” (Luke 1:68-71)
On and on Zacharias
went praising God, edifying, exhorting and comforting all those who heard
him. He spoke according to the Holy Scriptures, supernaturally
lifting all who were within earshot.
This still happens
today. The Holy Spirit moves upon someone to speak or to sing words
of Scripture, inspiration, comfort and encouragement, and all who hear are
lifted out of the doldrums. A very precious and important Gift it
is.
Everyone needs God’s encouragement at one time or another.
This is why the Apostle Paul said we should covet this precious Gift.
It edifies all who hear it in operation.
"Follow
after charity, and desire Spiritual Gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
For he that speaketh in an unknown Tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto
God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh
mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and
exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown Tongue edifieth
himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the Church. I would that ye all
spake with Tongues, but rather that ye prophesy: for greater is he that
prophesieth than he that speaketh with Tongues, except he interpret, that
the Church may receive edifying." (1 Corinthians 14:1-5)
The
Revelation Type of Prophecy
Moving on from the
simple Gift of Prophecy, we come to the higher form of Prophecy. This
is the form of Prophecy that does contain revelation and/or prediction.
This form of Prophecy does speak concerning future
events. Let’s look
at a New Testament example.
“And in these days
came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood
up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the
spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all
the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send
relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:” (Acts 11:27-29)
Here the manifestation
of Prophecy did have revelation of coming events contained within it.
This is the type of Prophecy that Prophets operate in more consistently
than the general Believer. The general Believer can operate in this
type of Prophecy but not nearly as often as the Prophet will.
When Prophecy
contains revelation of future events it then becomes a Word of Wisdom.
You will recall
that the Word of Wisdom has to do with revealing future events. The
Word of Wisdom is the equivalent of the Gift of Prophecy because it is inspired
utterance in a known language concerning future events. The two Gifts operating together are
still considered to be Prophecy. You may call it the Word of Wisdom
if you prefer. I’m just separating them for teaching purposes.
I’m confident that you’re getting the big picture.
So we have briefly
seen the two types of inspired utterance in a known language. One is
the simple Gift of Prophecy. It inspires,
lifts and encourages. It has no revelation or prediction contained
therein. However, it is still supernatural because it is the Divine
Agency speaking through the human agency.
The other type of
Prophecy does foretell future
events, which causes it to become a Word of
Wisdom as well.
Prophets speak forth this type of Prophecy far more
consistently than the general Believer does.
Sometimes the Gifts
of the Spirit remind us of the colors in the rainbow. Often it is
hard to tell where one color stops and another color starts, but they are
all still the rainbow.
Sometimes it is
hard to tell where one Gift lets off and another picks up, but they are all
still the precious Gifts of the Holy Spirit. He knows how to cause them to operate with
perfection, too.
In
our next lesson we will study the second of the three Utterance Gifts, the Gift
of Tongues.
Be Blessed … John and Barbara Hamel
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to Be Born Again (Receive Christ as Your Savior)
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to Receive The Holy Spirit & Power
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