#104 Question:
How can a young prophet use his
prophetic gift to attract and impact his generation?
Answer:
A thoughtful question for the young
growing Christian.
Surprisingly and gracefully, we are informed
in the Scripture that God made every Christian as priest through His son Jesus
Christ.
Every born-again Christian is to
minister.
Whatever prophecy supposed to be given to
the world is been given and its all written in the scripture.
Understanding Prophecy
Prophecy is an important part of the
message of God as understood in the Scriptures.
Unfortunately, the nature of prophecy is
often quite misunderstood. Many think that prophecy always involves things that
will happen in the future. When the word "prophecy" is mentioned,
many start thinking maybe of Elijah or Isaiah, perhaps the Revelation to John.
So, What is prophecy? Who spoke them?
What were the messages spoken through prophecy?
Prophecy, in its basic meaning, involves
"a foretelling, prediction, a declaration of something to come,"
according to Webster's dictionary.
In the Bible, prophecy is the message of
God through the Holy Spirit as communicated by a prophet or some other person
whom God chose (II Peter 1:20-21; Jeremiah 2; Hosea 4; etc.).
That message, many times, does involve
the future, either in terms of future consequences that will arise on account
of the sin of the people, or the future promise that God has in store through
Christ and His Kingdom (cf. Isaiah 7; Jeremiah 31-34; Isaiah 2, 53; etc.)
Yet the message can just as easily
involve current events and condemnation of present sinfulness (Isaiah 1-3;
Jeremiah 2; etc.). Prophecy, therefore, does not always involve the future!
The Bible demonstrates that God normally
speaks through prophets.
There are examples of others who
prophesy by God's power (e.g. Eldad and Medad, Numbers 11:26-27; Saul, I Samuel
10:10-11; Caiaphas, John 11:50-51), but, in general, the prophetic message was
spoken through men whom God chose.
Many such men were called directly by
God (Elisha, I Kings 19:16-21; Jeremiah, Jeremiah 1, etc.), although there does
seem to be a class of prophets, at least during the days of Elijah and Elisha
("the sons of the prophets;" cf. II Kings 2:15; 6:1-2).
These men were called from all sorts of
backgrounds, everything from shepherds (Amos, Amos 1:1) to priests (Jeremiah,
Jeremiah 1:1).
All that was required of them was to
present the message of God through the Holy Spirit to the people.
They were not involved in the
interpretive process-- their messages were directly from God, and were not of
their own invention (II Peter 1:20-21).
This set them apart from the false
prophets who dared to speak as if God spoke to them, yet, in reality, they were
speaking from their own imaginations (cf. Hananiah; Jeremiah 28).
God would communicate through these
prophets in different ways. Many times they were to stand and present a direct
message to the people or to the king (cf. Isaiah 7; Jeremiah 7).
Sometimes God would communicate through
them with signs: God would use an example for instruction (the potter and clay,
Jeremah 17), events in the lives of the prophets for instruction (Isaiah and
Maher-shalal-hash-baz, Isaiah 8; Hosea and Gomer, Hosea 1-4), or command the
prophets to act in certain ways for instructive purposes (Isaiah 20; Ezekiel
4:4-17).
To others God would provide visions
(Daniel, Daniel 7-9; John, Revelation).
The gift of prophecy, of God
specifically inspiring an individual to provide a message, passed away at the
end of the first century (I Corinthians 13:8-10).
Nevertheless, there is a role even today
for those who would speak in the prophetic tradition.
Christians need to be told to repent of
sin just as Israel did (I Corinthians 10:1-12).
Let us properly understand prophecy and
promote God's truth!
Are there Prophets today?
Many starts saying they receive special
message from God. Some speaks to God over the phone!
They claim that God has picked them out
of 3 billion people to reveal unknowing and unverifiable facts about things
only God knows.
Bible says:
Matthew 7:15-20, “Beware of false
prophets , who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous
wolves. You will know them by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit,
but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a
bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree
that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore
by their fruits you will know them."
Matthew 24:11-13, “Then many false
prophets will rise up and deceive many.
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
2 Peter 2:1-3, “But there were also
false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among
you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who
bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow
their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By
covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their
judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
1 John 4:1,“Beloved, do not believe
every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false
prophets have gone out into the world”.
Conclusion:
Joh 20:30-31 Many other signs
therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in
this book: but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name.
2Ti 3:15-17 and that from a babe
thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Every scripture
inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be
complete, furnished completely unto every good work.
Bible is complete for any man to reach
Heaven.
If anything is missed out and somebody says
– God revealed to them, means we can add those verses after the Book of Revelation,
which is condemned. We are not authorized to listen anything beyond what is
written (1 Cor 4:6)
Every Christian has the responsibility to
Minister. Everyone is to diligently read the Scripture, Practice and Preach
others for the Kingdom of God.
Eddy Joel
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