Prophecy – Part II

“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” (Joel 2:28).

Prophecy has a two-fold application: foretelling and forth-telling. “Foretelling” isn’t the same as fortune-telling, palm-reading, star-gazing, crystal-gazing or zodiac sign reading.

To foretell, according to the scriptures, means to tell ahead of time things in the mind of God concerning a person or people, places or events.

“Forth-telling,” on the other hand, means to speak forth or tell out what’s in the mind of God. It’s the declaration of a particular Word from God to or about an individual, people, place, or event for a particular time. The gift of prophecy is given to any Christian who has the Holy Spirit as the Spirit desires.

It’s for exhortation, comfort and edification; and it doesn’t necessarily have to do with a revelation. The Bible says, “…you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged” (1 Corinthians 14:31). Every one of us can prophesy.

Prophecy, therefore, is a word of power spoken to either foretell events or bring forth God’s Word into a situation in the now. To operate in the gift of prophecy is to speak words of power, words filled with the ability of God to cause changes and make things happen.

When you prophesy, you speak words that affect not just your today but also your future. Your mouth has been fashioned by God as the compass of your life. You need it to arrive at the future of your dreams.