2001-02-04 - Prophecy

Passages Related to Spiritual Gifts, Part 5

What comes to your mind when you hear the word "prophet?" If you are like I used to be, you may think it simply means telling the future. That's only one aspect of this gift. The word "prophesy" means literally to "tell forth the word of God." According to the Ryrie Study Bible (1995), for men and women who prophesy, their gifts are comparable to what we think of as teaching and preaching.

Romans 12:6 (NASB) Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith.

1 Cor. 14:5 (NASB) Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying.

1 Cor. 14:31 (NASB) For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted.

1 Cor. 13:2 (NASB) If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Luke 2:36-38 (NASB) (Scene: When Jesus and his parents visited the temple) And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Acts 2:18 (NIV) Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

Jan

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