I. CAN ALL PROPHESY? FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROPHETIC
A. Am I prophetic? The answer to this question is yes! While many people realize they have the gift of prophecy, just
as many wonder if they are prophetic at all. Often, we have relegated the prophetic to ‘those people’, while thinking it’s
not for us, and we rely on others to hear God for us instead of us hearing God for ourselves. However, if God speaks and
He lives within you, and if you listen to His voice, you are prophetic. Prophecy is not just for a select few. It is for all.
B. Is prophecy something we can ask for, or is it a gift given only if God wills it? I Corinthians 12:4-11 teaches us that
there are many gifts that the Spirit gives to each person as He determines. It also says that the same Spirit works all gifts
in all men. While we may be called to some gifts more than other gifts, the Holy Spirit is able to work any of them in any of
us at any time. We are not limited to only being able to have one gift. Yes, some are given and are called to move in
higher levels of prophetic gifting than others, but that doesn’t mean we can’t pursue the gift of prophecy. The Word tells
us to eagerly desire to prophesy. Jesus also tells us that the Holy Spirit will give us good gifts if we ask.
"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy."
(1 Corinthians 14:1,5 NIV)
"Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy…." (1 Corinthians 14:39, NIV)
C. What constitutes being prophetic? While a few in the body of Christ have been visibly gifted with amazing accuracy
(like calling out individuals with their birthdays, phone numbers, maiden names, license plate numbers, etc.), we have often
looked at this and believed that if we don’t have that same level of accuracy, we must not be prophetic. Our expectations
to perform in a certain way can hinder us from starting out small and growing in our gift. For the sake of clarity, we need
to define prophecy. Prophecy is as simple as this: It’s receiving revelation from God, and then telling it.
D. Can All Prophesy? According to God’s promise in Joel 2, we will prophesy. The Lord is returning for a church filled
with His fullness, the fullness of His presence, His likeness and character, His love, His holiness, and His power (the works
Jesus did—healing, deliverance, prophecy, miracles—even greater things (John 14:12)). The prophetic is not only for a
select few; the body of Christ is to become a prophetic people.
II. GOD’S DESIRE FOR ALL TO PROPHESY
A. God created us for intimate fellowship. Since creation He has been speaking to us. Creation existed because He
spoke, and all things are sustained by His word (Colossians 1:3). In the Word, we see the Lord speaking with and
encountering His people many times. It is His desire that we hear His voice and know the things that are on His heart.
"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have
called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15, NIV)
B. Moses desired God’s Spirit to be on all people so they could prophesy.
"So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders
and had them stand around the Tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took
of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they
prophesied, but they did not do so again. However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had
remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also
rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are
prophesying in the camp.” Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said,
“Moses, my lord, stop them!” But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s
people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”" (Numbers 11:24-29, NIV)
C. Moses’ prayer contained the longings of God to have a place among His creation where He could dwell. We can
now be filled with His Spirit and have His Spirit dwelling in us. God’s promise of His Spirit’s outpouring is our inheritance
as believers. The prophetic is included in this.
" ‘And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men
will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour
out my Spirit in those days." (Joel 2:28-29, NIV)
D. The Day of Pentecost was only the beginning of the fulfillment of Joel 2. This promise is for us today, and we believe
the fullness of the promise is yet to be come, for it will come to “all people”.
"Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all
who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”" (Acts 2:38-39, NIV)
III. GOD’S SPIRIT WITHIN US
A. Now God’s desire has been fulfilled in part, as we have become a dwelling place for His Spirit (one day He will
literally make His dwelling with us (Rev. 21:3)). Jesus promised He would send us the Spirit who would dwell within us and
teach us.
"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will
remind you of everything I have said to you." (John 14:26, NIV)
"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he
will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come." (John 16:13, NIV)
B. The Spirit of God who lives within us searches the deep things of God and makes them known to us through
revelation (divine information). He communicates these realities to our spirits. Examples of revelation include dreams,
visions, experiencing the presence of the Lord, insight in the Word, impressions, feelings, hearing His voice, etc.
"…but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no
one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but
the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak,
not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in
spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."
(1 Corinthians 2:10-14, NIV)
IV. GOD’S PLEASURE IN GIVING US GOOD GIFTS
A. How far can we go in the prophetic? Can we ask for more? Can we pursue greater levels of encounter? Jesus
said if we ask we will receive. I believe we can pursue the prophetic as much as we have faith to pursue it. There are
varying levels of calling and functioning in prophecy as the Lord determines, yet we are also told to pursue spiritual gifts,
especially prophecy. As prophecy pertains to encountering God, I believe there is no ceiling over what we can ask for.
Examples given us in Scripture (Ezekiel, Isaiah, Moses, Jesus, the apostles, Paul, John, etc.) serve to ignite a hunger in
us, giving us permission to ask, “Why not us?”
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For
everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.…If you,
then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in
heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:7-8, 11, NIV) "
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears
us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."
(1 John 5:14-15, NIV)
"We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in
proportion to his faith." (Romans 12:6, NIV)
B. Jesus gets glory when the Holy Spirit makes Him known to us! We can’t know Him without revelation by the Holy
Spirit. If you want Jesus to be glorified, ask the Holy Spirit to make Him known to you!
"He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you." (John 16:14, NIV)
"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom
and revelation, so that you may know him better." (Ephesians 1:17, NIV)
V. GROWING IN THE PROPHETIC AS A LIFESTYLE
A. Pursuing intimacy with Jesus through a lifestyle of worship, prayer, and being devoted to the Word is the pathway to
growing in the prophetic. Instead of having ministry, anointing, and accuracy as the goal, we must have the heart of Jesus
as the goal. When running into His heart, we are running into the heart of the greatest Prophet of all time. We cannot
separate intimacy from prophecy. Knowing Jesus and His testimony (what’s on His heart) is the spirit of prophecy.
"At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and
with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit
of prophecy.”" (Revelation 19:10, NIV)
B. You cannot know Jesus or what’s on His heart without prayer. If you want to know Him and prophesy, pray. Prayer
positions our hearts to hear God. Time spent doing this transforms us so that we become like Him (II Corinthians 3:18). In
this way, we are not only having a prophetic message, but are becoming a prophetic message, with the testimony of Jesus
alive within us.
C. Being devoted to the Word is also vital to growing in the prophetic. The Bible is the ultimate ‘prophetic word’, the
words of God Himself. All prophecy must be subjected to the Scriptures. Being in the Word gives us true perspective of
who God is what He is like. This is another pathway into the testimony of Jesus, because the Scriptures are God’s words
testifying about His Son, and Jesus also is the Word.
"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the
Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." (John 5:39-40, NIV)
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1, NIV)
D. One dimension of a prophetic lifestyle is being Jesus’ friend, having our identity as lovers of Jesus and loved by
Jesus, not in our gifting. Prophecy has to be Christ centered, and must draw people to Christ, not to ourselves. When
we prophesy, we don’t want to prophesy with mere information, but with the very love of Jesus, leading others into God’s
heart for them.
"The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and
is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete." (John 3:29, NIV)
"But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way….If I have the gift of
prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing." (1 Corinthians 12:31; 13:2, NIV)