The act of prophesying is simply hearing the Lord speak in an active, personal way. It is passive to some degree, since it is basically listening. But it is the result of actively seeking both to hear from and more importantly to know the Lord personally.

Moses said he wished ALL the Lord’s people were prophets, because it is through prophecy that God’s heart and the very mysteries of the Divine are made known to mankind, which lives in the darkness of the ignorance caused by sin and separation from God’s Holy Light.

Paul said any (suggesting every) believer can prophecy. Paul said this because the Holy Spirit speaks to all Creation, and especially to all of God’s Children, and if you have made Jesus the Lord of your life, and live with this as an abiding truth, then the Holy Spirit will abide (live) in your heart as well, as in a temple which is your heart / spirit.

But also think of it this way. If you pray and ask God for wisdom, discernment, or if you needed to know what to do in an important situation, or suppose you wanted to understand the Bible and the meaning of Scripture better, would you be surprised if He answered your prayer? The Holy Spirit will teach us all things. He is always with us as Counselor, and Helper, and the Lord’s Children are drawn through humility and love to obey His Voice, which is to say they also hear Him speak. Jesus said this plainly, “My sheep hear my voice.” The Holy Spirit is also portrayed as a river of life that we can choose to enter into, and when we do he communicates with us freely and lovingly.

This is not as unique as it may sound, for it is the essence of Communion. Most Christians refer to the ceremony of symbolically eating bread and drinking from a cup of wine to portray Christ’s crucifixion and our salvation if we partake of his sacrifice as communion. And while this ceremony was done by Jesus himself, and ought to done by us to remember his sacrifice, communion is much more than a mere human ritual. We all can have communion with God if the barriers that separate us are broken down. These barriers are caused by sin, including the taint of rebellion and self will inherent in all mankind, but also such specific things as distrust of the only Trustworthy One, disbelief in the only eternally self-existing One, and disregard for the actual source of all Life, Strength and Goodness. Once people have accepted Jesus as their savior, and sought forgiveness it may only be these kinds of personal bad attitudes or doubts that hinder communion and meaningful intimacy with the Lord.

Not everyone will be called by the Lord to serve the Body as a Prophet. This is to say that all Christians are called to study, share and teach, but not all are called to serve as full-time Teachers. All Christians are called to witness and share their faith, but not all are called and equipped to be full-time Evangelists. All Christians are called to protect, nurture, care for, and help raise other believers to maturity, but not all Christians are called to be full-time Pastors (Shepherds). Likewise, we are all able to hear His Voice, and in fact we all need to hear His voice to be able to learn who we are in Him, and learn who He is to us, to fulfill our callings, and serve His Body according to His purposes and will for us. But not all of us are called to serve as full-time Prophets.

Having said that, I do think that there is a shortage of Prophets, especially those who are willing to let the Lord speak his heart in an unbridled way. He speaks exhortation and encouragement most often, but he also gives dire warnings, and needs more children to serve Him in this difficult arena. If you want to be a Prophet, I think you desire a noble occupation. It is not easy, and in fact I believe the Lord’s training and equipping of you to serve Him in this way will break your heart beyond comprehension. But in that breaking gold is smelted and purified, diamonds are cut and faceted, and children of God are made into the image of the fullness of the stature of Christ.

You can always ask God if He would allow you to be trained by Him as a Prophet. Men can train you to be open, or to practice or to coach you into more active ministry. But only God can determine your position in the Body. But there is no harm in asking. It may be that the deep desire you have in your heart is there because He has already chosen you to serve as a Prophet, and you are merely shy in laying hold of his destiny for you.

Much more needs to be said on this topic, since there is a lot of misunderstanding I believe about callings and destiny, and most people are very demeaning and negative when it comes to counseling other people who are searching for their callings in Prophecy. I think you ought to follow your heart, humbly and cautiously, but seek to understand the Lord’s heart for your life and then partner with Him to achieve it. Also remember, Paul said that we ought to eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy, so even if you are not going to serve as a full-time Prophet, prophecy is an extremely useful gift in every single human endeavor — investing, farming, engineering, teaching, creative arts, parenting, your love life, car driving, cooking, and even sleeping — according to the Bible, believing and embracing prophecy is a major key to prospering in what you do.

First, be very clear in knowing that the Spirit of the Lord is HOLY, therefore He will reveal sin and error and lead us to a path of self-denial, and peace with others. He is found more easily the more we sanctify ourselves, fast and pray in honest devotion to Know Him, Serve Him in sincerity, and lay down our carnal, sinful desires and open ourselves up to His Pure Motives.

The truth is mankind is inundated with evil suggestions and influences, especially in this time when all forms of media and popular pagan spiritual practices are polluted with malevolent but deceptive spiritual influences. The dangers in accidentally listening to and obeying a non-material, spiritual force that turns out to be a fallen angel, a demon, or lying spirit are well documented, and most opponents of modern prophecy cite this fear as their main justification for opposing the practice. People who channel spirits (human or otherwise), use divination or other forms of witchcraft to communicate with spirits, which commonly call themselves angels, spirit guides, ascended masters, aliens, or other paranormal or supernatural beings have fallen victim to a serous deception becoming increasingly common in this age.

However, this need not in any way prevent us from actively seeking to prophesy as we have a globally effective cure-all that will clear the air and purify the heavenly / spiritual realm in and around us. That is the name of Jesus Christ, spoken with the authority given to all who believe in Him. This name in prayer is a litmus test that polarizes light from darkness, and should be used, especially by the novice, with frequency and passion. Being trigger-happy with the Name of Jesus, the name ABOVE ALL NAMES, is a wonderful disposition in my opinion among the young in the Lord. I even rebuked a stubborn doorknob in Jesus’ name one time and it instantly fixed itself! Yes, I know how that sounds, but it’s true. ALL Creation obeys the Name of Jesus, even broken doorknobs… So some simple precautions before one prays should suffice.

But in general to develop a heart that is more open to the Spirit of the Lord, and more closed to the corruption caused by carnal (sinful) desires, first, one ought to read the Bible frequently, and in fact it may be wise to read completely through all of the New Testament and Psalms at least once as a foundation to later growth. After all, being a HEARER of the Lord is only part of the blessing; the other half is being a DOER of the word. So developing a holy lifestyle is a prerequisite to walking this path.

Once you know you are in the Lord’s care, then continuing in simple disciplines will lead you on the path towards hearing form the Lord plainly.

Begin to pray by asking for the Lord to protect you with the very precious Blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and then rebuke, bind, cast out or dis-empower whatever negative spiritual forces you feel may be close by, or persistent in annoying you, referring to them by name according to the way they manifest: i.e., lust, anger, fear, confusion, deception, etc.

The first filter a prophecy must pass through is the Bible to look for inconsistencies. This is common sense but still needs to be said. The problems are that most people don’t know the Bible text very well, and fewer have a clear handle on accurate interpretation of the Bible according to the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, the Bible is our first and most reliable standard.

The second test is an inner witness, which is a personal gut-instinct test. When you are about to cross a road and have to judge whether it is good to cross or if it is too dangerous, you are testing in your heart what is the best course of action. This is similar to how one will test a word of prophecy according to an inner witness. It is different because unlike testing the safety of a road crossing, which is largely a matter of judging physical laws, object speed, distance, etc., judging prophecy is done through the Holy Spirit within us. The Lord speaks prophecy, sometimes in a code of symbols and metaphors, and He is also the one to interpret it to and for us. When we are seeking an inner witness, we are not asking ourselves if we like what is being said. That is mostly the flesh, and not the Lord’s Spirit telling us if something is true.

Also we look for very clear, specific confirmation from unrelated sources: other people’s advice, other verses in scripture, or other prophetic words.

Most people who are uncomfortable with modern day personal prophecy cite a fear of being “told by God” something dreadful that “must happen” in an absolute, fatalistic sense. This shows a belief in the concept of prophecy as a statement of fate that cannot be affected by human choice. This is incorrect but I think is a misconception that has been a fixture of Western cultural thinking since as far back as the ancient Greek dramatists, from such tales as Oedipus Rex, where a prophecy is spoken that basically dooms people to helplessly fulfill a destiny that they are unable to escape from. Such a destiny is invariably a catastrophic calamity.

This is not what Prophecy is in the Bible.

Even when there have been seemingly absolute pronouncements of judgment upon people or nations, they cannot be looked at in a vacuum as if history began with the inspired word spoken through a human vessel. In truth, God cares and interacts daily with the human race in ways that are myriad and mundane. And no destruction of life, human or animal, is spoken about by the Lord without justifiable reason, and ample prior warning, and heart-felt sadness.

The majority of such words warning of doom are conditioned, saying these events will come to pass UNLESS people repent of their evil ways. Likewise, words spoken for fortune and peace are conditioned, saying these things will come to pass IF people stay faithful and humble. We see a lot of personal prophecy contains such conditions, which people who are quick to judge a person as a false prophet if a word does not come to pass often willfully ignore.

Second, and more importantly, is the fact that people often misinterpret prophecy. The Lord is the source of all interpretation of prophecy, and He may tell several people the same thing, especially if it is important. We tend, as people, to be overly quick to decide we know what something means, and are notorious for fixing natural meanings on things that are either figurative or spiritual. Jesus said to the crowd following him that if they didn’t eat His flesh and drink His blood they would perish (go to Hell). Eating human flesh was a clear sin, as was even eating meat with blood still in it. People thought he was speaking literally and stopped following him, but He was not talking literally, he was talking figuratively about partaking of his sacrifice in a real but spiritual way. He was also labeled as a false prophet by those who did not judge in the Spirit but judged by natural, carnal means.

Third, prophecy often contains promises given to you by God, which are often followed by events taking the exact opposite course of events. This is a very good sign that the word is correct because He speaks to lead you on the narrow path of Trust in God against relying on what is visible in obvious circumstances. This is faith, not a blind risk-taking, but a trust in God’s word when it appears to natural sight to be impossible. We have to apply faith to everything God asks us to do, especially personal prophecy.

Prophecy may contain predictions of events over which mankind has no control: such as the Day of Judgment, the End Times Tribulation, etc. But much more often than not, the Lord tells us what MAY happen, in hopes of spurring us on to action, prayer, repentance, evangelism, or spiritual warfare. So a prophecy may be spoken by the Lord in absolute truth, yet it may or may not come to pass depending on whether the conditions are met.

Finally, we have to admit that sometimes we are waiting for a word to come to pass and it’s so long overdue we begin to assume it is false. What is more common is that we have run out of patience and faith before a proper season of fulfillment is at hand. Its hard to know at first if it is our lack of faith or because the season is not yet ripe, but standing in faith is evidenced by peace and an assurance that God can be trusted to do what He said He would. Impatience and anxiety are indicators of not being in faith. But it helps to just ask the Lord to confirm, strengthen, encourage or correct us a we wait for him to act, and he will gladly and freely do all of this and more, if only we ask!

If you have more questions, please feel free to contact us.