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

Makeup: Traits That Characterized a Prophet

Women, Too

Women as well as men served as prophets in the Old Testament, and it is clear that they also prophesied in the New Testament churches.The study of prophetic ministry focuses on the male because of the number of male prophets mentioned in the Bible and because of the expression man of God. But the small number of women mentioned does not indicate that God was compelled to use them because no men were available; nor are they an exception to the rule or of lesser spirituality.Women prophets, like men, were called and chosen of God by His discretion and will.Appar ently because of certain physical limitations-such as home duties, the mores or binding customs of that society and the physical abuse heaped on the prophets-the Lord did not call as many women as men at that time, but call and use them He did, and still does. A female prophet is called a prophetess (Hebrew nebiah; Greek, pro phetis). The first four women listed below from the Old Testament are so designated:

• Miriam (Exodus 15:20) • Deborah (Judges 4:4) • Huldah (2 Kings 22:14; 2 Chronicles 34:22) • Isaiah's wife (Isaiah 8:3)

• Possibly the mother of King Lemuel (Proverbs 31:1) • Noadiah (probably a false prophetess; Nehemiah 6:14)

In the New Testament:

• Anna (Luke 2:36) • "Sons and daughters ...men and women" (Acts 2:17-18) • Philip's four daughters (Acts 21:9) • Women in the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 11:5) • Jezebel (a false prophetess; Revelation 2:20)

We certainly have sufficient evidence that a woman can be a prophetess.

Prophetic Families

Is the prophetic gift inherited? Is a person born with the gift? There is no "cookie-cutter" answer to these questions and no one way God calls 59 ■