I missed this post.
You are putting words in my mouth. I adduced 1Cor 14:1 because you seemed so disparaging of prophecy, basically classifying it as something not to be trusted, and thereby relegating it to low-priority at best. Yet a literal reading of that verse seems to put it on the very top rung of the ladder alongside love, and thus as top priority. And you're right when you go on to insinuate that even a 10 year old could grasp the basic import of the verse.
I'm sorry your list of priorities is arranged in a different order than Paul's.
You see, you are making assumptions about what I believe concerning prophecy without knowing my background, training, and experience in the prophetic.
In my 20s, I spent three years under the discipleship of a mature traditional Pentecostal pastor who was very experienced in the ministry of healing, with a few notable miracle healings to his credit, including his own, having been sent home from hospital in his 40s with an enlarged heart and was expected to die. He prayed and trusted God and was totally healed. He actually died in his late 70s of pneumonia after suffering a major stroke. He was also very experienced in the prophetic, and believed that one had to be a man of the Word and of prayer to be able to move in it successfully. He was very strict, and did not hesitate to tell someone to stop and sit down if he thought they were prophesying something that did not line up with Scripture.
When he used to correct me, which was often, he would get out his big black Bible and show me through Scripture where I went wrong. He was never wrong with his correction of me. He was so strict, that I was too scared to open my mouth to give a prophecy unless I knew beyond doubt that it was from the Lord. When he told me that my gift was genuine, and I should never give it up, I took that as a serious badge of honour.
When they had a prophetic forum on CF, I offered to give prophetic words to those who needed one, and I ended up giving around 200 prophetic words, and only one person did not concur and said he would think about it. One guy messaged me and asked me if I ate prophetic cornflakes for breakfast and drove a prophetic car to work. All the ones who fed back to me assured me that the word I gave them was of the Lord for them. I was amazed at that, because often I would have just a few minutes in the morning before I had to catch the bus to work and I quickly would ask the Lord, and the impression would come and I would give it in faith. Often someone would tell me that the Scripture I gave as part of the prophecy, they had been reading that very one and my prophetic word confirmed things for them. I never felt prophetic when I gave those words, and often I was apprehensive that I was giving a wrong word, but it never happened.
Then a couple of others on the prophetic forum would start giving long, negative, judgmental KJV prophecies which caused the staff to shut the forum down. Also, when some started using me as their prophetic vending machine, wanting prophecies every day, I asked the Lord and He told me to stop, not because I was doing wrong, but the devil was starting to muddy the waters because he didn't like what I was doing.
So, when you are speaking to me about the prophetic, you are preaching to the choir!
I think after all our conversations, we might be speaking past each other from different perspectives. I link the prophetic with the written Scriptures in the sense that to be prepared to move in the prophetic one must be totally familiar with the written Scriptures to the degree that when an impression comes I have to know instantly whether the impression is correct or not. I think this awareness comes through meditating in the Scriptures and taking plenty of time fellowshiping with the Lord in prayer, discussing the Scriptures with Him. After soaking in the Scriptures and prayer over a good period of time (and this is why novices should not rush into the prophetic) one then knows in his spirit that when an impression comes, it is the right one.
If this is what you are referring to as direct revelation, then I agree with you, as long as it is linked with an overall sense of what the Scripture teaches about the ways, plans and purposes of God, and are familiar with the presence of God through regular fellowship with Him. I used to live not too far from the coast where there was a very long wide beach, and I used to go there, walk along for a couple of hours with my hands in my pockets, having very pleasurable and fruitful discussions with the Lord about many things. Through that I got used to when the Lord spoke back to me, giving me insights into His plans and purposes through the Scriptures.
This goes right along with "My sheep know my voice, and they follow me, and they won't follow a stranger". This comes because the Middle Eastern shepherd almost lived with his sheep, guarded them, and spoke to them often. They became familiar with his voice, and could tell his voice from that of a stranger.
But what I do oppose, is people like Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn purporting to get direct revelation that is obviously contrary to God's true plans and purposes, and are drawing people away from the true gospel of Christ, to putting trust in their usurped authority. That's the sort of direct revelation that I will not agree with, not in a million years. I also don't concur with the pope sitting in the chair of Peter getting direct revelation that becomes part of tradition that effectively adds to Scripture.
I guess I may be playing more into your hands now, or are we coming to consensus?
