Understanding the Prophetic Gift

Hey, welcome to Self Talk. I'm your host, me, Dr. Ray Self. Got an interesting show today. First of all, if you're listening to this before Christmas, Merry Christmas, and have a blessed New Year. Today I want to talk more about the prophetic gift: understanding it, getting clarity over it, why it's so controversial, how do you know when it is God, it's not of God, is it for today? There's a lot of things we can talk about on the gift of prophecy. Uh, I'm going to be coming from the book of Corinthians primarily. This is a very critical gift, a very important gift, may– maybe, according to the Apostle Paul, the most important gift. Definitely worthy of talking about and obviously, there are counterfeits so let's get started. Thank you so much for being with me today. As usual, the show is sponsored by the International College of Ministry, now enrolling at icmcollege.org. Love to have you. Answer your call, get equipped. God bless you; this is Dr. Ray.

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Okay, let's get started. Thank you again for joining me, Dr. Ray Self, on Self Talk. Heavenly Father, I thank you for each person listening to this podcast. I pray that I can be a blessing to them and I ask you that the Holy Spirit would come and just anoint my words today. We give you praise and honor, Jesus. Amen. Amen. 

So I want to talk to you more about the gift of prophecy, a very, very, very important gift. Now, I'm talking about the manifestation gift of prophecy that is so clearly and I mean very clearly talked about in Corinthians. So in 1 Corinthians 14:1, the Apostle Paul, writing, he says “Pursue love yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts but especially that you may prophesy.” Um, very clear scripture here and I think we can say that Paul wants us to do three things and he's not-- it's not really a question, this is more of a, a commandment. Actually, it is a commandment. Pursue love, okay, I should pursue love. God is love, we're called to love. This is the sign of a Christian, that we love one another. Desire spiritual gifts. Why? Because in chapter 13 it says that the manifestation of the Spirit - spiritual gifts - are for the common good. They're for the good of everyone. So spiritual gifts are for the good of others and we should desire them. But then he goes “...but especially that you may prophesy.” So he's asking us to love– desire spiritual gifts because they're for the good of the body of Christ. Spiritual gifts are for the good, healing, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, discerning of spirits, miracles, hey, this is important stuff. We need these gifts. The Apostle Paul was always about the church and the body and doing things and having things for the body of Christ that would help it. So we're called to desire the gift of prophecy, earnestly desire the gift of prophecy. He– and then he goes on in verse 4, 1 Corinthians chapter 14, “The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself but the one who prophesies edifies the church.” So he said look, when you speak in a tongue, you're building yourself up, okay? You're building who up? Yourself up. But when you prophesy, you edify the church, you edify everyone. So prophecy builds up everyone. Prophecy is for the group where tongues is more for you - you're building yourself up, okay? 

Then he, he goes on to, to talk more about it and he says um, but he says uh, in, in verse 39 of 1 Corinthians 14, he says “Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy,” King James says “...covet to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues.” So um, I don't know why tongues is always so controversial. I'm not doing a show on tongues right now, but it's very clear– clearly that we're not to forbid the speaking in tongues. A matter of fact, Paul also says um, I, I, I praise God that I speak in tongues more than you all but of all the spiritual gifts - and there's nine that are mentioned - in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is saying prophecy is the most important because it edifies the church. Some years ago, I was praying and I was kind of meditating on this gift and I said, “Lord, why is prophecy so important?” And this is what I believe the Lord spoke to me. He said very clearly to me that, “Prophecy is My voice speaking to the church.” And all of a sudden, the light bulb goes off. Dah, dah! Wow, what's more important than hearing God? And so prophecy - and this is talking about the gift of prophecy - is important. It is God speaking to the church, okay? He says the, the one who prophesies edifies the church. In verse three of chapter 14, “The one who prophesies speaks to men for edification…” that's the building up, “...exhortation…” that's encouragement, can be correction “...and consolation,” which is comfort. So it's pretty easy to conclude that the New Testament gift of prophecy is for three things: edification, exhortation, and consolation of the church. 

Now, in the Old Testament, the prophets were predicting the future and bringing– talking about future judgment that was going to come upon Israel if they did not repent. And there was a lot of heavy stuff. Interesting, in the Old Testament, prophecy only happened when the Holy Spirit would fall on certain people at certain times. It was not a continual thing, it was not continual, it’s– when the Holy Spirit would fall, fall upon Jeremiah, he began to prophesy. The Holy Spirit would fall on Daniel, he would begin to prophesy. The Holy Spirit would fall on Samuel, he would prophesy. The Holy Spirit fell on D– David and he prophesied. But now what the difference is in the New Testament, it's not the Holy Spirit falling. The Holy Spirit has come and is residing in you because you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so you have the Holy Spirit in you. In my opinion, I think very logically we can say if I am the temple of the Holy Ghost, as Paul very clearly said. That means you know, the, the temple. The New Testament temple is our body. We are the temple of the Holy Ghost. And if I am the temple of the Holy Ghost, then the gifts of the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, reside within me. If the Holy Spirit is within me, then His gifts are within me. 

Now the point is will they manifest? Will they manifest? You'll see again-- and you go into verse– chapter 12, it says um, there in verse four there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit. But in verse 7, 1 Corinthians 12:7, “For to each one…” That means each one, that's all of us, right? “...to each one is given the manifestation…” which, or evidence of the Holy Spirit, “...for the common good.” Then he goes on and explains seven different manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Words of wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, distinguishing of spirits, discerning of spirits, various kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues. And, but he said, “...the Holy Spirit distributes to each one as He wills.” So He distributes– these gifts are distributed to us. But the big thing that gets me about this is why would the Lord ask us to earnest– earnestly desire to prophesy and not allow us to prophesy? That's not logical. I– now, I'm– you can call this radical, but I believe all Christians should be able to prophesy. Now you say, Well, that, that's kind of extreme. Well, Jesus said “My sheep know My voice…” right? “...and they follow Me.” Well, the gift of prophecy is simply hearing something God is speaking and then proclaim it. Or maybe uh, getting a picture that God is giving and, and paint the picture or a vision and, and relate the vision. But prophecy is simply hearing the Lord and speaking it. 

Now, personal prophecy as we see in the book of Corinthians here, primarily is the Lord giving prophetic words for the church or for individuals. Now, what I like to say is that prophecy can be a prophetic word that the Lord gives, it’s simply for you, it can be a prophetic word for an individual, it can be a prophetic word for the church, it could be a prophetic word for a community, or, or, or a nation. I'm very blessed and I'm– I say this extremely humbly, but the Lord uses me - this gift - very, very often and I'm very, I'm very happy about that. Now, it's a humbling gift and it's kind of a scary gift because sometimes people get frozen. I call it analysis paralysis. They're afraid to speak something they think God is telling them because they may miss it and they end up not doing it. Or some people get so analytical, they think they've heard God give them a prophetic word but they want to analyze it and dissect it. And by the time they finish with it, it's, it's lost. Again, analysis paralysis. 

Um, the gift of prophecy is just us listening to the Lord and relaying what He tells us. What I like to do - and I've... teach this and, and I do this is, when I'm praying for a person - it could be over the phone or, or in person or through a Zoom call, but especially in person - I like to put my hand on them - maybe on their shoulder - and I begin to pray for the person. So many times, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of times - my wife and I do altar ministry at various churches - it may be after I minister or after I preach or somebody else preaches, but people come up to us at the altar and they want us to pray for them. And as I'm praying for a person, all of a sudden I get thoughts and impressions and pictures that come out of nowhere. And the book of Isaiah says very clearly that “My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways,” I think it's 55:8. “My thoughts are not your, thoughts My ways are not your ways,” So logically, what I look for is thoughts, pictures, and impressions that would not be something I would think of. And then I just speak and usually what I say is, “Excuse me, but I believe that I hear the Lord saying to you…” then I relate what I heard and then I zip it. I don't try to explain it. I don't try to interpret it, which is important because if you try to explain or interpret a prophetic word, so many times you're going to mess it up. Why do I say that? Because the prophetic word is not for you, it’s for them, and so it was not given to you. And so unless the Lord gives you the interpretation, I tell my students don't try to interpret it because you may– can totally mess up what the Lord is trying to say into that– saying to the individual. 

See, prophetic words… if it's from the Lord will bear witness and make sense to the recipient, not necessarily to the giver and that's very important to understand. Um, years ago, I got this prophecy from a pastor I barely knew and he knew nothing about me and he gave me this prophecy. And he - it was more of a picture - and he said, “I see you on a sailboat and I see you sailing across the water headed to an island. And as you sail, you're picking people up out of the water and taking them with you.” And I'll never forget this word, ‘cause it hit me like a, a ton of bricks. It really got to me. And what that pastor didn't know was that I have a passion for sailing. At that time I owned a sailboat and there was this big reservoir that I sailed on. It's a TBA lake and there actually is an island in that Lake that I sailed to quite often. And he was really painting a picture of my life, something that I really have a passion to do. And so it meant a lot to me. But if he had tried to explain that to me, he never would have gotten it right, okay? So prophecy should be given and not necessarily explained. 

Now, however, there's two sides to a prophecy - a prophetic word. We're all called to desire these gifts. I believe honestly, if we desire it, God will give it to us. Why would He ask us to desire something He wouldn't give to us? That would be insane. I believe that we can prophesy. I believe that we have a commandment from God to desire this gift and to use this gift, okay? Matter of fact, it says in Timothy, you know, do not neglect the gift. And in Peter, do not neglect– neglect the gift which was the– in you, okay? Do not neglect the gift which is within you. Stir up the gift which is within you. So we have a commandment to use the gifts. So the two sides of the coin are [coughs] excuse me. The two sides of the coin are receiving the gift– I mean, hearing the gift, speaking the gift, that's one side. And then receiving the gift. So my job is to deliver the message. Now, if I'm prophesying to you, your job is to determine if that's from God and to receive it with faith. Now, why do I say that? Because nobody's perfect and there'll be times when prophetic words are delivered but they're not from God. I've had people deliver prophetic words to me many, many times and I knew they were not from the Lord. What did I do? I didn't rebuke them. I said, “Thank you very much,” and then I went and I prayed about it and I used my gift of discernment because you see, my listeners, you have the Holy Spirit, I have the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit in you should recognize the Holy Spirit coming from another person. So if the Holy Spirit is speaking through another person, the Holy Spirit in you should be able to identify that and relate to that. However, if someone is claiming they're speaking from the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit in you will know if that's Him or not. So if somebody claims they're speaking from the Holy Spirit and it's not the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit in you will reject it. That's why you have to be tuned in by the Holy Spirit. That's why Paul said those that are led by the Spirit are the sons of God. So we have a responsibility to deliver prophetic words. We also have a responsibility to judge prophetic words that have been given to us.

Now again, what I have found out through experience is stepping out and moving prophetically is scary. It is nerve-wracking and it's, it's, it's, it's just difficult. You, you have to be bold. But I am bold, and I will step out and deliver prophetic words. But I know that I can also mess up. But I also know that God can judge His words. And people should be able to judge prophetic words. I would say this: that when I'm praying for someone and I get this impression that seems to come out of nowhere, I pay attention to that. Usually, it's a really fast, first impression. I pay attention to that because I found out that most, most of the time that is the Lord speaking to this person. I tell them again, “This is what I believe the Lord is saying to you.” You may encourage them to pray about it. And then I give them the word and I let it go and it's just it's incredible. You know, it's just incred– I can tell you story after story after story. I remember um, some years ago up in uh, the Pittsburgh area, I was praying over a couple. And um, I don't remember the exact prophetic word but I gave them a prophetic word about having a child. And what I did not know that at that time they had just experienced a miscarriage and they were very grieved. And I didn't know that and they were really upset with that word. You know, they didn't like that at all. I come back to the church about 2 years later and that couple comes running– running up to me and says “Dr. Self, Dr. Self! Here, I want to show you the baby that you prophesied.” And it's just an incredible moment. 

You see, Jesus said “I will tell you the things that…” are come to pass,  “...that will come to pass so when they come to pass, you will believe.” What prophecy does is it builds our faith. And so when these things happen, when they happen, our faith goes up off the Richter Scale. You know, I remember years ago the Lord spoke to me prophetically and said… I was going to a Bible College and He said, “I'm going to give you this college.” Strange word. I mean, where did that come from? I didn't want a bible college, I had no desire for a bible college. Nowhere in my, in my realm. Nowhere in my thought process. Long story short, I was able to finish my doctoral degree at this bible college. A month after I finished my doctoral degree, the president of that bible college came up to me and told me that he had been offered a job with another college and wanted to know will I please take this school? Will I still take the job of presidency of this school? I remember the Lord spoke this prophetic word to me that I thought was very strange but then the prophetic word comes true. “I will tell you what is to come to pass so when it comes to pass, you will believe.” 

So two things here. First off, “Lord,” just say, “Lord, I want– you tell me to desire the gift of prophecy. Lord, I desire this gift. I ask you to give it to me. Lord, I ask you. I receive it now.” And then stir up the gift. Practice the gift. Literally practice it. Pray for some– pray for your wife, pray for a kid, pray for someone. Just, you know, say, “Lord, I, I bless my friend. I, I bless, I bless Johnny here, Lord. I ask your Holy Spirit to touch him. I thank you, Lord, for Johnny.” And as you're praying, just be listening ‘cause God will inter– interrupt your prayers with things you would never think of and that's going to end up being a prophetic word for little Johnny. And you know, you stir it up and you practice it. You practice small things and then it will lead to larger things. And then what really happens, what, what… When I started moving in– this what just… what helped me grow in this was, as… I began to prophesy to people and then people would come to me and say, “Thank you. You have no idea what that means to me.” That built my faith and built my courage to continue. And so– and when you step out and you say something you would never say or something you would never think of and the other person confirms that it was touching their life and edifying them and comforting them and exhorting them, it builds your faith. It builds their faith; everybody grows. Prophecy is a faith builder. 

So how do you know? How do you know if it's from God? Well, first off, if you know the Lord, you should recognize His voice. If you're still not sure, is it in agreement with scripture? Does it violate biblical principles? Of course, you need to know the Word. Does it violate a Biblical principle? If it violates a Biblical principle, you know that's not from God. He's not going to violate His word. Does it bear witness with your Spirit? In other words, does the Holy Spirit in you have peace about it? Is there peace in your heart about it? Does the Holy Spirit have peace about– that's called bearing witness. The Holy Spirit recognizes the Holy Spirit. So if the Holy Spirit's speaking, the Holy Spirit in you goes, “Uhhuh, yes.” There's a yes in your spirit. If there's… in your spirit you feel something's wrong, something's off, then it's probably not from God, okay? Um, then take the word you get - prophetic words you're not sure about them - take them to a Holy Spirit-filled elder or pastor or maybe someone who really flows in that gift and let them help discern this gift for you. Let them help discern it. Take a prophetic word, write it down. You, you get a prophetic word, you don't know what to do with it, write it down. Hang on to it and see what happens, okay? 

So I got a prophetic word, gosh, probably 15 years ago, “I see you ministering in Arizona and New Mexico,” and uh, I had no intention of going there. I had no thought about that, no invitation to go, just didn't think much about it at all. I thought, “Okay, well thank you, God bless you,” you know, whatever. Just last year, I was invited to minister– guess where? Arizona and New Mexico. End up ministering to the Navajo Indians in Shiprock, New Mexico, right close to the Arizona border. As a matter of fact, I went to the border of Arizona in New Mexico and, and ministered. Then I remember that prophetic word that was spoke to me years ago. The Lord told me I was going to do that. What, what is that… why is that important? Because I knew I was supposed to be there. Because the Lord had told me, had told me about this. I knew I was supposed to be there and so my faith was built up and a lot of great things happened, amen. 

So the gift of prophecy is important and… but it's not… proclaiming… now not proclaiming judgment upon America. I mean, I've had some prophecies over America that I have spoken that actually came true. Um, I've had some prophecies over cities and areas which, which did happen, but primarily I think this gift - when you look at the context of what Paul was writing, he was writing about the church and he says, “...the one who prophesies edifies…” you know, exhorts, brings comfort, edifies. And he, he's talking to the church. He said edifies, edifies the church. And so I think that's just important to understand. It's not so much like um, the na– the nation of America. “America is going to go into bondage,” and blah, blah, blah. Um, he says “The one…” “...one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself,” 1 Corinthians 14:4, “but the one who prophesies edifies the church.” Okay? Then five explains it even more, “Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, even more that you would prophesy.” Even more that you would prophesy. “Greater is the one who prophesies than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so the church may receive edifying.” He wanted the church to be edified. So the gift of prophecy here, here I think is edifying people and edifying the church and it's a very, very, very important gift. 

Some of you know the story of my wife. We came together because of prophetic words. I, I got a prophetic word when I met my wife and it said “Ray, Christie is My perfect gift to you.” And that's what God spoke. Um, I thought it was… at this time Christie and I - my wife - were, were friends. We were not in a, a relationship. But you know, I was interested in her but we were still exploring, getting to know each other. And so I lived in another city. She's– I'm in Memphis, she's in Orlando. Uh, she called me. I was nervous but I finally told her what God had spoken to me. Very– you know, it was, it was hard for me to do that. And all of a sudden, my, my, my wife goes… she gasped. She says, “Hold on, hold on, hold on.” She runs, she grabs a journal, and three years previously, she had written down these words: your future husband will say that you are his perfect gift from God. In other words, she wrote down exactly three years prior what I was going to say, and you talk about a faith builder and a confirmation. I, I still get chill bumps just thinking about that. It's an incredible gift. And yeah, you can do it. And don't, I don't want to hear people… I, I get it all the time, “Well, that's not my gift. I can't do that. I just… I, I don't think so.” I've done prophetic impartations, activations, conferences, all around America and we pray for the Spirit of Prophecy to fall. And I cannot tell you how many times I've seen a 100 people stand in a room where maybe 80 of them say they've never prophesied before and they began to give prophetic words through activations and impartations. You can do this. That's my opinion.

Why would the Lord ask you to desire something that you could not do? And I know people… a lot of people say, “Well, that's not my gift.” I still… it says, “Earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you would prophesy.” I just find it unlikely that the Lord would tell us to desire a gift and not give it to us. And then in verse 39, he says, “...covet to prophesy.” And so more than likely, you can least say that…. conservatively, He's going to give you the gift. But it's up to you to stir it up, practice… and be bold. I mean, it's scary. It's a scary gift when you're operating in it but then when you give it and it turns out to be from God, oh my gosh does it make you feel good. And both people - the giver and the recipient. Anyway, it shouldn't be controversial but sometimes you know, sometimes it is. It should not be. Don't ever let somebody tell you the gifts are not for today. That is completely taking scripture out of context. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are still for today, just like the gift of salvation is for today. The supernatural is for today. 

Jesus said in John 14:12, “...those that believe in Me do the same works that I do, and even greater works because I go to the Father.” We're called to do the works of Jesus, and Jesus prophesied and He healed the sick and He raised the dead and He cast out demons. That's the call of God on the body of Christ, folks. That is… we're called to be supernatural, we are called to be supernatural. Let's pray. Let's pray. I want to thank you for listening to today and again, God bless you. Heavenly Father, I thank you for everyone listening to this podcast. I pray right now for those who are willing to receive the gift of prophecy that the Holy Spirit would fall on everyone listening to my voice now, and that these people be activated and imparted with the gift of prophecy. You would speak and we would hear. There'll be no hindrance, no doubt, and no confusion. Let Your gift of prophecy fall to all who are hearing this podcast who are willing to receive it. I thank you, Father, for the technology. I thank you for each person listening to Self Talk. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

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Hey, thank you again for listening to Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self. I appreciate you very much. Um, hey, don't forget to look at the uh, notes that come with the description. The notes that come with this podcast. There's a lot– there's links in there to a lot of really cool stuff. Um, you might want to get my book, Hear His Voice, be His Voice, that will explain the prophetic gift and how to recognize God speaking in much more detail. There's a link on there. Uh, don't forget to, to follow and subscribe. That really helps this podcast. It helps us reach more people, um, and you see the link but it's icmcollege.org/selftalk. icmcollege.org/selftalk. We have a new uh, podcast website also at Buzz Sprout and the link to that is in the show description notes. Um, if you'd like to partner with me, that would really be helpful. These shows are expensive and time-consuming. We are a 501c3. That's icmcollege.org/donate. If you have any questions or topic suggestions, or anything I can help you with, email me. drrayself@gmail.com. Don't forget uh, this December we're giving away $350 in free tuition to anyone who enrolls at… with ICM, International College of Ministry. We're offering degrees in ministry, theology, Christian counseling, prophetic ministry… we are accredited by ACI under the Florida Department of Education, Holy Spirit-filled, online seminary. You know God's calling, it's time to get equipped and get serious about it. Go to icmcollege.org/enroll. All these links are in the show description, and God bless you. We also got a store with all kinds of cool stuff. That's enough of all the promo stuff. The main thing is I want you to know that you're having a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year, and thank you so much for listening to Self Talk. It means a lot to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. God bless you.