Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

Channels of Prophetic Expression in the Church

in our communities.Such prophetic outreach is not prophecy per se, as in our more restricted definitions in chapter 10, yet is essential for New Testament evangelism. In the rest of this chapter let's look at the five channels of prophetic expression. Prophetic Presence

S tat e of prophe cy . Everyone can receive personalized, direct edification from the Holy Spirit in the worship environment of the local church. An environment of worship and praise seems to be the favorite and most usable situation in which the Holy Spirit causes spiritual gifts to function in His people. The spiritual atmosphere (a kind of "prophetic magnetic field") is produced among the gathered worshipers that best allows the Spirit to bring revelation and spiritual manifestations. Every church mem ber can expect to receive and participate in this spiritual climate. During worship each Christian should be occupied in giving adoration, thanksgiving and praise to God, and be sensitive to the reception of divine thoughts. In an atmosphere of spiritual worship everyone is capable of tuning into this first channel of prophetic expression. Someone who is not a prophet or does not have a gift of prophecy may still receive prophetic insights from the Spirit-into the Bible, personal life or God's direction any other time during this time of congregational worship "in spirit and truth" (John 4:23). The Holy Spirit is spontaneous and works in His own unpredictable way. We should not carry checklists of unsolved problems to worship, expecting immediate divine answers. But many personal needs can be met and many problems solved in a vibrant worship service.Amazing insights for personal life have flashed into my mind while I was concentrating on God in a worship service-thoughts so clear, reasonable and workable that I perceived instantly they were from Him. A few years ago I heard an anecdote about R. G. LeTourneau that illus trates this truth. LeTourneau's company specialized in producing heavy, dirt-moving machinery. An airplane manufacturer needed special large equipment to handle the fuselage assembly of jet aircraft and came to LeTourneau's engineers with the problem. The answer eluded them until they faced a particular Wednesday deadline with no solution. That evening LeTourneau, to the consternation of his associates, announced that he was going to his church's midweek prayer meeting. As he sought the Lord the solution came suddenly to his mind.The perfect answer supplied at

the last minute by a God who cares ...to a saint who worships!

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