Understanding the Prophetic Gift

Narrator: Welcome to Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self, the place where you can get real answers to tough questions. Jesus promised you abundant life, but poor choices and dark forces stand in your way. It is time to learn how to overcome the obstacles that keep you out of your promised land. Knowledge of God will pave the path for you to walk in His blessing.

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Dr. Ray: Hello, I'm Dr. Ray Self, and welcome to Self Talk. This episode again is brought to you by the International College of Ministry, a Holy Spirit-filled online seminary waiting for you now, www.icmcollege.org. So today I want to talk to you about something near and dear to my heart. I want to talk to you about the prophetic gift: why this gift is so controversial, what the prophetic gift is, what the prophetic gift is not. Now, I was raised in a very traditional church that didn't teach about this gift, it was uh…certain scriptures we just sort of skipped over these scriptures. There are some that believe that this gift is no longer for today, that this thing has passed away. They take a scripture out of context from First Corinthians chapter 13, “When the perfect comes, prophecy shall cease, tongues shall cease,” and they say, “Well, now that uh…we have the Bible, we have the perfect, therefore these things have ceased,” which is kind of a ridiculous argument because the Bible tells us these things have not ceased. So I'm not going to get into that, that's called the dispensationalist, these gifts were for then and not for now, these gifts were for the early church but they're not for the modern church. I think it's very dangerous to take the Bible out of context to make it– to make it fit your lack of experience. And just because you haven't experienced something doesn't mean it's not true. And what people have done for centuries - and John Wesley talked about this - is they base their theology on their experience. If they haven't experienced it, they try scriptures out of context to prove their theology, so, taking one verse out of context, you could say these gifts are no longer for today. 

It's really interesting to me that they do that. You know, I was raised a Baptist and we believed very strongly in Romans chapter 10, if you confess with your mouth and believe with your heart Jesus is Lord, you shall be saved. That's the most supernatural, unbelievable, incredible, supernatural thing in the Bible, and, and it's obviously for today, it's salvation, right? Well, if I can believe in Romans chapter 10, why can't I believe In First Corinthians chapter 13? Anyway, not to get into a whole lot of controversy, but the prophetic gift is for today as well as a lot of other gifts. And First Corinthians chapter 12, you know this very well, the Bible talks about gifts of prophecy, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues, the gift of miracles, and other gifts. The Bible tells us in First Corinthians chapter 13, no, excuse me, chapter 12 that “the manifestation or the evidence of the Holy Spirit,” and this is referring to spiritual gifts, “are for the common good.” Spiritual gifts are for the good of the body of Christ. So miracles, healing, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, prophecy, interpretation of, of tongues and tongues, all these gifts are for our good. I'm going to tell you something, if you've been diagnosed with cancer, the gift of healing is a really good gift for you, amen. If you're trying to to figure out a problem that seems to be a showstopper for you, a mountain you cannot get across, then that word of wisdom is uh, very important for you, but the gift of prophecy is very unique. 

In First Corinthians 14, verse 1, the Bible says, “Pursue love, earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you'll prophesy.” So the Bible tells us to do three things. The Lord is talking to us here, He says pursue love. Well God is love, I mean, Jesus talked over and over and over again about the importance of love; loving your neighbor, loving God, loving each other, loving um…everyone, and we have no excuse– love your enemies even! And then it says, “Desire spiritual gifts…” God wants us to want. He wants us to desire something. He wants us to desire a spiritual gift, He wants us to desire spiritual gifts, I mean, that's very clear. The scripture is very clear. And then it says, “...especially that you would prophesy.” Well, why would He ask us to desire something that we could not do, that we could not have? Would you do that with your children? Would you tell your children to desire a particular thing that you would never give them? You say, you know– I have a daughter who's young, I can’t imagine asking my daughter when she was young, her name was Sarah, “Sarah, I want you to desire a new bicycle for your birthday, I want you to desire a new bicycle for your birthday but remember daughter, I'm not going to give it to you because that season has passed away.” Come on, that just doesn't make sense. If God asks us to desire something - and it's really not…really Him asking, it's a commandment. “Pursue love, desire spiritual gifts, especially that you would prophesy.” He would not ask us to do something we could not do. 

Now, why prophecy? And this is what makes them– to me, it’s very interesting. If you look at prophecy throughout the Bible in the Old Covenant, in the New Covenant, it was God giving us a message, it was God speaking to us. You know, He spoke– you know, you take– Jeremiah would, would be going along and then say, “And then the Lord said,” and then Daniel would say, “And then the Lord said,” Isaiah would s–, would be writing and then, “The Lord said,” and so…a prophetic word was a word, a message, God speaking to us. And so God wants to be heard and for some reason, I don't fully understand it, but God speaks through people. Yes, I know He speaks through the Bible, He speaks through His written word, He speaks to our heart, I believe He speaks through our circumstance, I believe he speaks through our past. I believe He speaks a lot of ways– in dreams and visions. But God also speaks to us through prophetic words, and I'm going to be real with you, I have seen this multiple, multiple times, I've– multiple times, that's ridiculous, I've seen a thousand times and I've also seen some things with the prophetic gift who are not so good. I've seen perversions of the prophetic gift, I've seen counterfeit, uh, the prophetic gift counterfeited and it's very interesting. The counterfeit to me is in a way encouraging because Satan would never counterfeit something unless it was valuable to begin with. You see very few counterfeit one-dollar bills, but you'll see a counterfeit 20, or a counterfeit 50, or counterfeit…counterfeit 100 bill. Why? Because it's valuable. So when something gets confused or perverted or counterfeited, it's actually telling us this must be valuable or the devil would not be trying to pervert it and discredit it so much. 

Prophecy is God speaking to us. Now, New Covenant prophecy is God giving us a word or a message. It can be a message for you personally, it could be a message He gives to you for another person, it can be a message He gives to you for a community or for a church or even to, even to a nation. Do we hear God perfectly? No, we do– I don't hear my wife perfectly, hahaha. We don't hear God perfectly, but prophecy is simply hearing the Lord speak and then repeating what you believe you heard the Lord say. It's not that, it's not that complicated and it's extremely important. When Paul listed nine manifestation gifts of the Holy Spirit in First Corinthians chapter 12. He said of all these gifts, the number one gift you should pursue is the gift of prophecy. And verse 39 of First Corinthians, I believe it's 12, it may be chapter 14, he said, “...do not forbid speaking in tongues but covet to prophesy.” Nothing is more important than hearing what God has to say. Now, Jesus said something to us that was very important, He said, “My sheep know me, they know My voice and they follow Me.” They– in other words, if we are a sheep and our, our shepherd is Jesus, and we have a shepherd. And this is all symbolic, obviously, but our, our shepherd wants us to follow the sound of His voice and how can we sound– follow the sound of His voice if we do not recognize His voice? 

So the prophetic word to me is God speaking to us. I can tell you countless stories of God speaking, you know, prophetically. When I, when I met my wife we were just friends and she lived 800 miles away from me. I got a prophetic word from God. And the word was this: He said, “Ray, Christy is My perfect gift to you.” And I, I received that word and I thought about that word - and this was in the evening. This one evening I was at church and uh, the next day– now I'm up in the Memphis, Tennessee area, Christie's down in Orlando. And the next day I'm actually on the golf course, you know, kind of goofing off on the golf course, relaxing a little bit, and Christy calls. And so now I'm thinking, should I tell her what I believe I heard God speak to me, or should I not? And I was very nervous, I didn't know what to say, we were just friends at this moment. Finally, I get up the courage and I said, “Christy, I believe I got a prophetic word from God last night.” And she said, “Well, what is it?” And I said, “God said you were my perfect gift from Him.” And all of a sudden, Christy just gasped. Now remember, we're just friends at this point. She let out a gasp, she goes, “Ahh!” She said, “Hold on a second.” She went and she grabbed a journal– she's a writer, she writes down everything, and in her journal, she had written down a prophetic word she had received about three years prior, and the word said, “Your future husband will say that you are his perfect gift from God…” and I spoke the exact words that she had written down. And then, prophetic word, after prophetic word, after prophetic word would come. I cannot tell you, you know, how many times - incredible stories. 

One other short story, I'll just tell you about this just because I just thought it was really cool. I was ministering to a couple up in Pittsburgh and I um, I was praying for them and as I was praying for them I really felt the Lord gave me a prophetic word for them. See, prophecy, the gift of prophecy, it's just, you know, you're praying or you're, you're ministering to someone, and all of a sudden, you get this thought or impression that, that's from God. You know, God speaks through our– He speaks through our heart, you know, He speaks - sometimes it's audible - but so many times it’s these thoughts and Impressions that come out of nowhere. His thoughts are not our thoughts. When I get this thought that's not mine, so many times God through the Holy Spirit will put these thoughts and impressions in my mind. And I told them, I said, “I see a baby, you're, you're going to have a child. Um, I see a child coming,” and they got really angry. I didn't realize this till, till later and that's because they had just had a miscarriage and they did not think they would ever have a child. So I went up to that uh, the same church about a year and a half later and they introduced me to their baby boy. I mean, stuff like that is just so, so cool and I could actually share countless stories of how God would use me. He would just give me a prophetic word for someone and I, I would speak it and it would end up coming true, and I can also tell you stories of how so many times, hahaha, I've thought it was God speaking and it was not God. It was not– it was my imagination, or maybe I had part of it or maybe I was confused. 

I want to tell you something, the Author of the Word, the Author of the Bible, the Holy Spirit, is alive and well and He's speaking to us. He has not gone away, He's talking to us, He's talking all the time. The prophetic gift is simply listening to what God has to say and repeating it. What I, I tell my students, is do this: if you have what you think is a prophetic word for another person, stay humble and say something like this, you know, “My friend, I believe I heard the Lord give me something for you but you can pray about it. I believe I heard the Lord say…” then repeat what you thought you heard the Lord say and then zip it. Don't try to explain it, preach it or teach it or counsel it, just deliver the message. And you'll be amazed at how many times it can change somebody's life. Now, in the prophetic gift you don't…you– if somebody gives you a prophetic word, you don't just run to the bank with it immediately, you know, you want to check it out. Does it bear witness with your spirit? Is it in alignment with, with the word of God? Is it something a loving father would say to you? So many times the gift of prophecy is a confirmation. It's a confirmation of something God's already been trying to tell you. But usually, if it's God speaking, and I like to put it this way, if it's God speaking through the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit in you recognizes His own voice coming from another source. And there's a witness, there's an agreement in your spirit about it. And sometimes there's uncertainty. Somebody gives you a prophetic word, you're not certain about it, and so what I do with those uncertain words is I say, “Thank you very much,” and I sort of set it aside, I'll make a note of it, and I'll just see what happens. If it's not from God, I don't worry about it, but if it was from God, I should pay attention. Prophetic words have changed my life. God is still alive, He's still speaking, and one of the ways, one of the ways He speaks is through the gift of prophecy.

Now, what happens is so many times the gift of prophecy actually is an act of mercy. You're getting a gift, a word from God He's been trying to tell you all along, you just haven't been paying attention so He sends somebody else to tell you exactly what He's been trying to tell you for the last six months, and it's actually a gift of mercy.  Throughout the Bible, you see this gift operating over and over and over again. As a matter of fact, the, the whole New Testament and much– I mean, the Bible was written prophetically, it was God speaking to man. And God is still alive, He's still talking to us, He doesn't contradict Himself. He's Alpha and the Omega who was and is and is to come. He doesn't contradict Himself but He's still alive. The gift of prophecy is alive and well, it is working. And yes, it gets counterfeited and yes, you'll hear people claiming it's a prophetic word and it's not. I cannot tell you how many– usually is about the end of the year with the upcoming year, you know, say, “I'll tell you what, in the year 2021 this is what I see,” and most of that stuff, it never comes, never comes true. I, I encourage people to do this: I say, you know what, if you give a prophetic word, it turns out not to be true, just repent say, “Hey, I'm sorry, I missed it. I'm a human being and I missed it. I'm so sorry, forgive me.” But sometimes prophetic words will come, you know, come true years and years and years later. 

I'll tell you an amazing prophetic story. This is an amazing prophetic story and you can believe this or not believe this but you medical people understand this. About 30 years ago I was diagnosed with a very horrible disease, it's called Charcot Marie Tooth Disease. You can look it up but it's a form of muscular dystrophy that uh, hits the lower legs and your hands. And uh, your nerves just literally, your muscles disintegrate. It's a horrible, horrible disease. I was diagnosed with the disease, I was told that I would never, ever walk again. And I would be in a wheelchair and there was no, no cure for Muscular Dystrophy. It's called– this version of Muscular Dystrophy is called Charcot Marie Tooth Disease. Well, I prayed and prayed and I prayed, the church anointed my feet with oil, the elders prayed for me– church, the pastor prayed for my feet, everybody prayed for my feet and you know what, I'm still walking, I am still walking. Now my left foot is deformed, my left foot is bent, it's in the shape of a C, but this kind of reminds me that you know what? My God is good and I'm still walking, I am still walking. I got a little sign of that disease from the past, but I've met other people with this disease and they're not, not doing so well. So anyway, this disease was– I was healed, I was miraculously healed of it. So a couple years ago, my legs and my feet, my ankles started hurting me pretty bad again and fear came on me and I thought, Oh no, oh no. I'm, I’m gonna…oh no, it's coming back on me, it's coming back on me. This Muscular Dystrophy, Charcot Marie Tooth Disease is coming back on me. I'm sitting in church, I'm sitting in church on the second row toward the left side of the church down in Orlando, and the pastor of the church, a wonderful friend of mine named Joe Warne, in the middle of the service…I hadn't told anybody that I was afraid, that I was afraid this disease was coming– I hadn't said anything to anybody. In the middle of his sermon, Joe Warner walks over to me in front of the church with a microphone and says, “This disease you are afraid of is not coming back on you.” And I just…like…fell out. I mean, how did he know that? I mean, it was such an incredible word you know what, and the disease did not come back on me. 

The Bible tells us in Corinthians that the gift of prophecy edifies, comforts, and exhorts us. Was I edified when he says, “this disease is not returning?” I was edified. Prophecy edifies us, encourages us, it, it lifts us up, it's an incredible, it's an incredible gift. Jesus told His disciples, “I will tell you the things that are come to pass so when they come to pass you shall believe.” So Jesus began to prophesy to His disciples, especially about the Son of Man, uh, crucifying, being crucified and, and raising from the dead on the third day, resurrecting on the third day. And He would tell these disciples so when these things came to pass they should believe. What a prophetic word does is it'll tell you something so when it comes to pass, you shall believe. Or it could be a confirmation or an exhortation, or, or edify you or bring you comfort. The prophetic word I got about Charcot Marie Tooth disease, it edified me, it built me up, and it brought me a ton of comfort, it's a wonderful…it's a wonderful gift and we are to desire it. That means we should– got to make a choice in our mind, choose to desire the gift of prophecy. Choose to desire it, ask God for it, ask God to help you hear His voice, ask God to give you boldness, ask God to give you courage, ask God to help you step out. Ask God, don't be shy. Say, “Lord, I want to hear your voice. I want this incredible gift that you promised me in scripture. Use me with it.” Now, and then practice it. And I'll tell you something silly, a silly way to practice the gift. I mean, the gift of prophecy is all about knowing when God is speaking, knowing when it's His voice or not. 

I believe there's three voices that talk to us, I believe we have our own thoughts, our own mind - my mind thinks a lot of, a lot of stuff all the time - I believe there are demonic spirits that try to discourage us, put fear and condemnation on us, and I believe there's the Holy Spirit talking to us. We need to learn when the Holy Spirit is talking. And you know, you can practice, and this sounds ridiculous but I've done this before, it's like, “Lord, please, I ask you to speak to me. Show me where my car keys are. I've really got to get to work, show me where my car keys are,” and all of a sudden, I get this thought or impression of where my car keys are. That sounds ridiculous but it's a small thing, but it's a good training tool to help me recognize God's voice. And another thing I want to encourage you with, step out. If you think it's God speaking but you're not sure, step out. You'll be surprised how many times you think it's God and you step out, you'll find out it is God. And so, you think you have a prophetic word for a friend, you can do it simply like this, uh, “Hey, Mike, I was praying and I believe I heard the Lord say that - you can pray about it - but I believe I heard the Lord say,” and repeat it to him. You'll be surprised how many times it actually is…is from God. And it's just– and sometimes it may not be, it could just be your imagination. And I've had people give me prophetic words, they claim it's a prophetic word, and I knew it's not from God, I don't worry about it, I just let it fall to the ground I don't worry about it. But I'm always paying attention to when God may be speaking to me through another person, when God may be speaking to me through another individual, a message that could change my life, something I really need to hear. You see, prophecy will confirm, it will exhort, it will encourage. And remember, prophecy is not always a predictor like in the Old Testament, you know, predicting the, the weeks and seven weeks and seven, of seven weeks, it's not always that. Sometimes prophecy is just God confirming His will for you, God giving you an answer to a solution, God showing you your purpose, God encouraging you, God comforting you that's what the New Testament prophecy is about, this gift is wonderful. And yes, it gets twisted and yes, it gets, it gets– people will misuse it because people are people, but don't throw the baby out with the bath water, I can say that because I'm from Tennessee, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just because you've seen misuse of the gift doesn't mean this gift is no longer good for today, and don't let people tell you this gift has passed away, that is unscriptural. You read it for yourself, read the book of Corinthians, the entire book of Corinthians, especially 12, 13, and 14 and you will see that these gifts of the Spirit are still in operation, they're for the church, they're for the body of Christ and we need them. 

So I'm Dr. Ray Self, I hope this has maybe helped you some. We'll talk some more about the prophetic gift, I could go on and on and on, I’m a preacher, I'm a professional talker. If you've enjoyed this show, even if you haven't enjoyed this show, I really wish you would download it. I need, I need as many downloads you know, like, follow, uh, review it, but download it. Tell your friends about it, share it with people. I appreciate this very much and if you'd like to donate to the ministry, we got some links there in the notes, you can go to patreon, forward slash, I think, self talk icm, or you can go to my college page, icmcollege.org and donate to one of my scholarship funds which I, I help a lot of people around the world get free education, free training. I appreciate you, God bless you, this is Dr. Ray Self. Love you much and I pray the Holy Spirit will open up your ears and open up your heart to receive what God is saying to you, amen. And that is the gift of prophecy.

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This is Dr. Ray Self, thank you very much for listening to my show. If this show has been a blessing to you and if the Holy Spirit so leads you, I would appreciate you becoming a partner with me so we can reach more people with the truth that will set them free. You can do this very easily by going to patreon.com/selftalkicm. That is patreon.com/selftalkicm. I appreciate you very much listening. Don't forget to check out my book, Hear His Voice, be His Voice, available on amazon.com. Don't forget to follow my show and download every episode, it really helps. God bless you.