Prophetic anointing: Part I

1 CORINTHIANS 14:1, 5, 39: “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

1 CORINTHIANS 14:1, 5, 39: “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

“I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.

“Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy and do not forbid to speak with tongues.”

Proverbs 20 :12: “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The LORD has made them both.”

Introduction The prophetic anointing brings great clarity and focus on God’s vision and heart for a church, a city and for nations. Prophets are able to see and hear directly from God and are divine channels that open portals in the spirit.

Their words are divinely sanctioned by God and anointed by the Holy Spirit. God has commissioned them to impart the prophetic anointing to the body of Christ in these last days. Jesus wants to communicate with His church and has things He wants to tell us today by way of the Holy Spirit.

However, prophetic words from other people should not be a substitute for hearing God for ourselves. We must develop a personal relationship with God as we begin to grow in the prophetic anointing.

God longs to communicate with His children. He specifically created us with ears to hear His voice. Proverbs 20:12: “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The LORD has made them both.” Any successful and loving relationship must by its very nature be a two-way communication.

Understanding the prophecy When men and women prophesy, the spirit of God inspires their speech and causes His own words to come forth. The prophetic anointing comes through the mouth of man, but it comes from the mind of God.

1 Corinthians 2:10-11: “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”

Prophecy is a spiritual gift given to Christians by the Holy Spirit. The gift should strengthen the believers and glorify Jesus.

To prophesy is to speak the mind of God for the purpose of direction, building and encouragement of the church.

Revelation 19:10: “And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

In the last days, the spirit of prophesy will be on all groups of people.

Joel foretold of the spirit being poured out upon every significant division of human kind and that they would prophesy whether through the spoken word or through visions and dreams. No one who claims to be a servant of God or His child should accept being worshipped by anyone.

Joel 2:28-29: “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.

“And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”

Men and women will prophesy. The young and old will prophesy. People of every race or group will prophesy. People of every social class will prophesy. Prophecy is one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, given by God to the church for:

Edification — to build up,

Exhortation — to stir up,

Comfort – to cheer up,

Redemption — to redeem,

Direction – to lead.

Prophetic words bring life. We can speak prophetically to dead and hopeless situations and release life.

Psalm 107:20: “He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.”

Prophets are called as one of the five-fold offices for equipping the saints to do the work of ministry.

Ephesians 4:11-12: “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.

“For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

Sources of prophecy Prophecy can come from three sources:

The spirit of God There are secrets of the future that are only in the heart of God and not in the heart of the devil. It is one thing knowing some details of future events, but knowing the timing is something else. For example, the devil knows his future, but he does not know when it will come to pass.

God has both the future and timing in His authority. The Bible is an accurate prophetic manual. When King Herod wanted to know where the Messiah was to be born, the religious leaders consulted the prophetic word.

Matthew 2:4-5: “And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

“So they said to him: ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet’.”

Many people will run to soothsayers and fortune tellers because they have a desire to know the future. But there is only one who knows the future and that is God.

When a prophetic word is released, those who are spiritually immature may not be able to discern the source of the prophecy. Always check the source of any prophetic word you may receive. Satan can give predictions, but he always uses deception for his own benefit. He will also be wrong about the timing of future events. Any word spoken over your life that is not Holy Spirit-inspired comes from another spirit. It comes from a false source.

Acts 16:16-18: “Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

“This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying: ‘These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.’

“And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit: ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And he came out that very hour.”

This woman followed Paul and was speaking the truth even though she was speaking by another spirit. But Paul’s spirit became upset and he cast the demon out of her because he knew that she was not speaking by the Spirit of God.

She was there to annoy him and wanted the attention focused on her so that people could see her as a spiritual woman. People could easily have seen her as Paul’s assistant and the devil would probably have used her eventually as a false minister of the gospel.

The Holy Spirit is the only source of prophecy. He is the Spirit of truth and His timing is always right.

1 John 2:20: “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.”

Jeremiah 23:16: “ Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD.”

To be continued . . . don’t miss out on next week’s edition of The Prophetic Anointing – (Part II).