Personal-prophecy-today is sharing info about
personal prophecy which is a valid and powerful feature of new testament Christianity.
There are scores of Biblical illustrations of how personal prophecy has been
used by God to bring great blessing to His people. In the New Testament, Mary
and Joseph were ministered to by personal prophecy while in the Temple.
Both Simeon, a devout man, and Anna, a prophetess were used in his
manner. We also find that Paul was admonished about his future by the
prophet.
God has often brought great comfort,
confirmation and guidance to me through the means of personal prophecy.
The validity of personal prophecy in no way justifies its abuse. There is
currently a growing trend toward holding entire services devoted to personal
prophecy. We must be sure of our scriptural standing in any ministry
within the local church.
Equally as true, we must not allow error to
rob us of the genuine. Paranoia breeds quickly when we emphasize the
negative of any issue as it is so much easier to be destructive rather than
constructive in our teaching. Since scripture forewarns us of an
abundance of False Prophets in the last days, we must be concerned with
understanding what the true ministry of a Prophet is and the correct use of
prophecy in our local churches. Spiritual abuses can only remain when people
are kept in the dark about the truth.
In the same manner, False Prophets, and the
abuse of the gift of prophecy will dissipate when we are equipped with adequate
knowledge of the true. They had previously been deceived into idol
worship because they did not know the truth of God’s word. We can rest
assured that conveyed knowledge can steer clear from deception, excess and
extremes.
Personal prophecy is very similar to the
operation of the gift of tongues in that its benefit is for the individual, and
not the entire church. It may greatly edify, exhort and comfort that individual.
In the same way there is so much to gain
through the ministry of personal prophecy, but also much confusion in its
abuse. In most cases the problems do not stem from the actual ministry ofthe prophecies, but by the obvious lack of what God desires to accomplish in
the service, yet could not, because we were diverted by our fascination with
prophecy.
