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

The Use of Prophecy in Church Today

Prophecy certainly can be delivered in an excited,animated fashion, but it should not be hysterical,fanatical or out of hand.To receive the empowerment or anointing of the Holy Spirit is a forceful experience,and a person so inspired senses more than just mild excitement! But 1 Cor inthians 14:32 says that "the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets," meaning that the person prophesying is in control of himself or herself while prophesying.Keep in mind that someone can be emotional,excited and demonstrative yet still have reasonable control.A congregation needs to see and feel the force and impetus of a Holy Spirit-inspired prophecy! Prophecy may be inspiring and overwhelming,yet the actions of the person prophesying should not come across to an outsider as hallucina tion,frenzy,mania,unconsciousness,clairvoyance or any other negative textbook term.The Living Bible for 1 Corinthians 14:40 exhorts us to "be sure that everything is done properly in a good and orderly way." 5. Is the prophecy manipulative or controlling? Manipulation and con trol are sometimes the underlying objectives of a person bringing a prophecy. (This can be true of preaching as well.) This presents a chal lenge to church leadership,for such an attitude must not be allowed to continue.A good question to ask ourselves is: Does this message promote the speaker's feelings or the thoughts of God? Graham Cooke gives twelve informative pages on this subject in his practical handbook Developing Your Prophetic Gifting. 42 Seven signs of manipulation are: 1.Usurping the will of others (acting as an infallible oracle) 2.Pulling rank (pushing a superior attitude) 3.Flattering (taking advantage of someone's vulnerability) 4.Giving dire warnings (employing implied threat) 5.Allowing no outside perspective (locking others into one's own view) 6.Using the phrase the Lord told me so (eliminating the need for feed back) 7.Promoting super-spirituality (boasting of personal accomplishment) 6. Is it wrong to be suspicious? It is always right to be alert.We must maintain open minds but guard against gullibility.Russell Chandler,who has researched false prophets,gives this advice: "...Theories about the future can seldom be tested by present facts.But when the theories turn out to be projects for self-promotion or propaganda for a particular polit ical or religious ideology,we do well to be suspicious.The same holds for aggrandizement of an individual or an elite fellowship or an interest group. Or when the smell of money wafts from a 'for profit' prophet's pockets. 326