Watchout For WOLVES: Keys To Discerning Authentic Ministries & Evaluating Doctrinal Trends

6. Honor prophecy when it is given.

Once you have laid a good foundation for prophecy in your church, you should not only encourage it but you should honor it. We honor prophecy by giving it a place in our corporate gatherings and by taking it seriously when it is given. We also honor it when we make references to it in a service or when we integrate it into the life stream of the church in an immediate or ongoing way. Not everyone will be able to prophesy in a given service or public gathering. Leaders can encourage people come to them privately with what they feel the Lord is saying to them. People can also be encouraged to write down their prophetic insights and give them to a leader in the church. The leadership can discuss words of this nature and appropriate action can be taken when needed. Prophetic zealots who will want to give them a personal word will approach many of your people. Encourage your people to seek appropriate witnesses for such words before they make any life adjustments on the basis of them. The wisdom acquired through many negative experiences needs to be exercised here so that people do not make rash decisions. While no one enjoys this aspect of pastoral ministry, we must be willing to make judgments at times especially where we feel that the church might be hurt if we do not make a judgment. Sometimes the action that we take may be done privately with the perso n who has prophesied “out of order. ” Other times, especially when some kind of response has been dictated by the prophecy, the issue may have to be handled publicly. The basic rule is to administer

7. Give people alternative outlets for prophecy.

8. Caution your people about prophetic abuses.

9. Do n’t be afraid to judge prophecy.

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