In part
1 of this article I argued that the Bible most naturally suggests that the
gift of prophecy is one that God will give until Jesus returns. And I argued too that all Christians should therefore
certainly choose to obey the commands in 1 Corinthians 14:1, 39 to eagerly
desire this gift.
In part 2 I listed some objections that are made by those who say
that Christians should not seek to prophesy today. And I gave what I believe are good answers to
those objections.
SOME PERSONAL TESTIMONY
In this final part I will say something about my own experiences
of prophecy. I have seen God build up my
faith by the use of this gift. And I
want to tell other Christians about this.
Although I eagerly desire to be able to prophesy myself, I haven’t
yet been able to do this. But I have
benefited from the prophetic ministry of others. I have heard numerous Christians give
prophecies that I am sure, or in some cases fairly sure, were from God.
To be fair, at times I have also heard what I believe were false
prophecies. Sometimes when this has
happened, I have felt that the prophet was probably a fake Christian and
someone to be avoided. At other times I
am sure that the person was a devout and genuine believer who was nevertheless
making a mistake.
In what follows I want to concentrate on prophecies that I am convinced
were genuine. The fruit of them has been
good. They have helped me grow in my
Christian faith.
Some prophecies that I have experienced are rather personal in
nature. I don’t intend to share those. Others have not yet been fulfilled. And I don’t want to talk about them either. But that still leaves a few that I feel
comfortable sharing.
For some reason, in the last 20 years or so I have not had much
contact with Christians or churches who were using the gift of prophecy. And during that time there have been only a
few occasions on which someone has prophesied to me. None of these examples is really something I
want to share here.
In the first 10 years I was a Christian, however, I experienced a
lot of prophecy, from several prophets. And
during that time I had a close, older Christian friend who had an especially
strong prophetic gift. All of the
following prophecies are ones that he gave me:
Learning New Testament
Greek
In 1989 my friend, whom I had only recently met, prophesied to me
that God wanted me to learn New Testament Greek. I had never considered doing this previously. Nor was my friend just giving me advice that
he thought might be useful. He was telling
me what he believed God was saying to him prophetically.
After the prophecy, I began to pray about whether this prophetic
word was from God or not. And little by
little He showed me that it was.
The result is that I spent more than twenty years of academic or
semi-academic work based in large part around New Testament Greek. And during that whole time everything about
this work seemed right for me. I am sure
that the prophecy was from God.
It should be clear that this prophecy, which related only to my
own personal circumstances, in no way threatened the supremacy of Scripture. And I received direction from it that I think
it would have been impossible for me to have gained from the Bible alone.
Travelling to China
In 1991 my friend prophesied that I should go to a city, Urumqi China Urumqi China
I should also point out that this came out of the blue for my
friend too. He had never heard of Urumqi China
Anyway, after I was given this prophecy, I started praying about
this, asking God to show me if it was from Him.
A few months later I happened to meet a Chinese Christian couple
in Scotland Urumqi
Between the time of the prophecy and meeting this Christian couple
I can’t remember if I asked anyone else if they knew of anyone in Urumqi Urumqi
Over the next few months after meeting the Chinese couple God
directed me to a Christian organisation that was sending a party to Urumqi Urumqi
By the time I got to Urumqi
Because the prophecy had said that I would learn from the man I
met, I was wondering what I was going to learn from this old saint. I expected that he might say something
concrete that was valuable for me to know, or something like that.
I spent about an hour talking to him through a bilingual fellow
Christian. However, it was not what he
said that I remember so much as the moral fruit in his life. He was one of the few people I have ever met
who seemed to be utterly humble, incapable of any pride. He was also very peaceful. And He spoke without bitterness of spending
seven years in prison for his faith during China
I often think of that old pastor and make it my goal to imitate
the moral fruit that I saw in his life. I
am sure that God led me on this trip to the other side of the world. He used it to show me the importance of
dedication to Himself and humility. And
He also used it to strengthen my faith by meeting all my needs, financial and
otherwise, along the way. This whole
adventure was started by means of a prophecy given to me.
Again, it should be clear that this prophecy was no threat to the
supremacy of Scripture. What is more, it
would surely have been impossible for me to have received God’s leading to go
on this trip to China
Freedom from
oppression
I remember a time many years ago when I was being counselled by my
friend. Sitting there in the room, I was
suffering from strong demonic oppression with the demon pressing on my mind
with confusing thoughts. I really was
feeling terrible.
My friend then prophesied, ‘You need to forgive someone.’ I immediately knew who I needed to forgive,
although previously I had not been properly aware that the low-level feelings
of bitterness I held towards the person in question were something that God was
particularly concerned about.
Anyway, then and there I chose to forgive that person. And I believe I could sense God helping me to
do so. The feelings of bitterness left
and have never returned. Importantly
too, as soon as I forgave, the demonic oppression lifted as well and I had
peace of mind.
The prophecy on this occasion helped me to turn away from the sin
of unforgiveness. It also brought me
blessing and relief.
I should note too that my friend had no idea that I felt any
bitterness towards anyone about anything.
He didn’t give me advice that he thought might help my situation. He gave me a prophecy from God. And it produced good fruit.
Once again, it should be clear that this prophecy in no way
threatened the supremacy of the Bible. It
is true that in this case it didn’t give me information that I couldn’t have
gained from Scripture itself. After all,
the Bible teaches us plainly enough to forgive people. Nevertheless, for some reason I had lost
sight of this to a certain extent. And
the prophecy on this occasion helped me to put biblical teaching into practice.
Growing in holiness
I can remember phoning my friend and telling him that I was
struggling spiritually. I didn’t give
any details, but he got a piece of writing that he had near to hand and read it
to me prophetically. It ran as follows:
‘You have been trying too hard and it has upset you. Be still and know that He is God and that His power is flowing into you.’
This hit the nail of my problem right on the head. I had indeed been trying in my own strength
to do things for God. And the words of
the prophecy helped me.
I should stress for the benefit of those who might doubt whether
this was a genuine prophecy, that for me to have felt the way I did on that day
was unusual. It is therefore not the
case that my friend could have guessed from knowing me what the problem was. I have no doubt that God spoke directly to me
through this prophecy.
Again, it should be clear that a prophecy of this kind in no way
challenges the supremacy of Scripture. And
even though the insight in the prophecy is something that can be found in the
Bible, it still helped me to live out biblical principles. It also encouraged me.
Encouragement to
endure
On one occasion my friend prophesied to me the words of Paul in 2
Corinthians 4:16-18:
‘16 Therefore we do not lose heart. But even though outwardly we are wearing out, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary and light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs it all, 18 while we keep our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’
Over time I came to the conclusion that this prophecy was indeed
from God and that it was very relevant for my life as a long term word from Him. Through the years I have suffered a lot. And these words been an encouragement to me
in some very difficult times that God was with me and that the glory in heaven
will be worth going through it all.
Summing up
It should be clear that none of the examples of prophecy that I have
mentioned even remotely threatened the supremacy of the Bible. Some were used to help me live out biblical
teaching better than I was doing. And
others gave me specific direction for what God wanted me to do that I couldn’t
have gained from reading the Bible itself.
As I look back at these prophecies, everything about them seems right. I am sure that they were all from Jesus.
As well as the few examples I have referred to, I have also
experienced many other prophecies from various prophets that have also been
very helpful for me. God has used
prophecy to keep me away from sin, encourage me and lead me in a number of
ways.
CONCLUSION TO THE
ARTICLE AS A WHOLE
There are many Christians like myself who have experienced the
blessing and benefit of the gift of prophecy.
This is a powerful gift that God is giving and using today for His glory
and for the good of people.
Those who claim that God doesn’t speak in this way today are
making a very serious mistake. Either
they have not properly considered this issue.
Or they cannot or will not hear what the Holy Spirit is saying. Far from standing by the teaching of
Scripture, they are actually setting themselves against its teaching. And they are also missing out on something
wonderful.
Let me end where I began, with 1 Corinthians 14:1. As we have seen, this verse reads:
‘Pursue love, and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.’
This is a command that is for every Christian alive today as much
as it was for those in Corinth
Let all of us, then, who are following Jesus as Lord, be faithful
in heeding what the Spirit says in this verse of Scripture. We dare not disobey it.
So how can we practically obey this command? Well, we can pray that God would give us the
gift of prophecy. And for some of us, it
may be good to seek out people who are experienced in gifts of the Spirit,
those we feel we can trust, to ask for their help and guidance. The more of us who can use spiritual gifts,
including the gift of prophecy, the stronger God’s church is bound to become.
See also:
