Does prophecy have to be confirmation?

LinkH said:

I believe if we get a prophecy we are responsible before god to accept it if it is genuine and reject it if it is false, and the Lord will help us.

agreed

But I also see danger in teaching people, "If it doesn't bear witness with your spirit, then reject it."

I don't ... from my view it must be felt in the spirit if we are to worship Him in the Spirit ... I kind of see it starting with the Spirit ... in light of the Spirit is the One who leads, guides, and directs us

It can take a really long time for some people to realize that the Lrod is speaking to them. If we reject a prophecy out of hand saying, "That doesn't bear witnes with my spirit" we could be guilty of despising prophecies.

it sure can ... I disagree, however, that would make us guilty of despising prophecy ... the Lord judges on the intent of the heart ... if you were trying to understand, He knows that ... and He knew it before you were given the prophecy ... doesn't make it the end of the road .. in my mind to despise prophecy you would have to say no on all accounts and discount all prophecy as out ... not just the ones you didn't agree with ...

Kenneth Hagin' had a teaching that said since Romans 8 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God" we are led by the Spirit and not by prophets.

exactly! to be in the Spirit we must allow Him to decide which is which and speak it to us ...

The problem with that line of reasoning is that it assumes the Spirit can't lead through prophets. Spirit doesn't always talk to each individual in an audible voice. Part of maturing in hearing God is being able to discern God's voice talking through people. Some people have a gift to do this well from early in their Christian walk and teach people based on their own experience. The problem is if the people you are teaching don't have a spiritual gift in this area, and they have been talk to reject prophecies that don't feel right when they get them, they could end up despising prophecies.

I don't see it as assuming that at all ... I can't speak for others ... but I get spoke to in my spirit ... not an audible voice ... I don't see how that applies without boxing God in ... He meets each of us where we are ... not where someone else thinks we need to be in order to hear ... He knows exactly what to say to us ... this is a non issue to me

Does anyone have any Biblical basis for the idea that prophecies have to 'bear witness' or have to bear witness right away? Do you make room in your understanding of things for leaving a prophecy 'on the shelf' for a while while figuring out what to do with it?

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LinkH said:

I believe if we get a prophecy we are responsible before god to accept it if it is genuine and reject it if it is false, and the Lord will help us.

But I also see danger in teaching people, "If it doesn't bear witness with your spirit, then reject it."

It can take a really long time for some people to realize that the Lrod is speaking to them. If we reject a prophecy out of hand saying, "That doesn't bear witnes with my spirit" we could be guilty of despising prophecies.

Kenneth Hagin' had a teaching that said since Romans 8 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God" we are led by the Spirit and not by prophets.

The problem with that line of reasoning is that it assumes the Spirit can't lead through prophets. Spirit doesn't always talk to each individual in an audible voice. Part of maturing in hearing God is being able to discern God's voice talking through people. Some people have a gift to do this well from early in their Christian walk and teach people based on their own experience. The problem is if the people you are teaching don't have a spiritual gift in this area, and they have been talk to reject prophecies that don't feel right when they get them, they could end up despising prophecies.

Does anyone have any Biblical basis for the idea that prophecies have to 'bear witness' or have to bear witness right away? Do you make room in your understanding of things for leaving a prophecy 'on the shelf' for a while while figuring out what to do with it?

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kaykay9.0 said:

I agree that sometimes we don't understand a prophecy and we may have to set it aside and in time, it may make sense and we see that it was God speaking.

And yes, if a prophecy is of the nature that we can just "leave it on the shelf" and see what happens, fine. Yes, we could be wrong, but I think the prophet could be wrong too. So it's a balance. That's why prophecy needs to be discerned. Sometimes we may need to submit it others....again, especially those in authority over us.

I also think, though, that if we receive a prophetic word and we don't have some kind of peace that it's from God, I don't believe we should ACT upon it without prayer and further confirmation of some type that it's a valid word of the Lord for us. Others may see it differently, but personally that's how I would handle it.

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LinkH said:

I can't comment on this evangelist prophecy about whether it was from the Lord or not. But if you are called to pastor, that doesn't mean you aren't called to be an evangelist. Perhaps the prophecy was using Biblical definitions for these terms.

The meaning of 'pastor' in the Bible differs from the way a lot of Christians understand it. The meaning of 'evangelist' differs to.

In the Bible, 'pastor' is another way of translating the word 'shepherd.' But in English, it means the CEO of a local church who delivers a sermon on Sunday morning and handles administrative tasks. In the Bible, we don't see this type of one-man pastorate role. The apostles appointed a group of elders and told them to pastor the flock of God. (Acts 20:28, I Peter 5:2. Look up 'feed' or 'tend' in Greek, depending on your translation.) And they were not the only ones to speak in church either. In I Corinthians 14:26, 'Every one of you' spoke, and the rest of the passage gives instructions on how believers could take turns speaking in an orderly manner.

Growing up Pentecostal, an 'evangelist' was a guy who came and held revival meetings at churches or crusades in gymnasiums and other places. If they stayed around for a while, some of them only had a few sermons. Some of them had more. Typically, these evangelists came to churches or church sponsored events and talked to mostly saved people, preaching on ow to get saved. Sometimes people brought friends. The ones that came to church sometimes preached really loud and would talk on healing and other topics in addition to salvation.

But in Acts, Philip the evangelist went to a place where people did not know the Gospel and it explained it to them. Some of them prophesied. Philip also did one on one evangelism, explaining the gospel to him.

'Evangelist' has been redefined to mean an itinerant minister who goes from church to church encouraging the people through teaching, prophecy, and exhortation, but who has not settled down in a 'church of his own.'

I believe someone could be a pastor and an evangelist. I do not think itinerating is the key characteristic of an evangelist. Rather, it is evangelism. Someone could be gifted to take care of the sheep in one location and also be gifted to bring people into the kingdom of God through the proclamation of the Gospel.

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LinkH said:

My concern is with people thinking that if they hear a prophecy and can't sense it bearing witness, they disregard the prophecy (despise prophesyings.) The real problem with that is if the person doing so does not realize they may need to take time, pray, and discern God's will.

I don't see how you're going to change the way people change hearing or learning from the Lord ... but each to their own understanding ... where you loose me here is the despising thing ... that's equatible with extreme dislike or hatred ... I believe it's possible to reject it without judgement ...

My gift is in teaching, and I do slip into teaching mode quite often in these conversations.

And I can understand that ... and I've enjoyed this thread immensely without all the baggage ... on that note, I wish to say to you in love and friendship you should probably take a gander at the stickied rules at the top ... I'd like to see this thread continue

God bless you,
Link

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LinkH said:

It probably depends on what the word is. If someone gives you a prophecy to do something good or not sinful, that wouldn't have negative consequences, like read a certain chapter in the Bible, or give something to the poor, do you really have to pray and agonize over it before doing it?

If someone tells you to pack your bags and go look for a job in another city, that might some faith that the word is from the Lord before acting on it.

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