Personal Prophecy
What is commonly called “Personal prophecy” is when a person speaks to an individual with a message that the speaker claims is a word directly from God. It is normally preceded by language like “Thus says the Lord”, “The Holy Spirit is telling me”, “God wants you to know”, “I believe God is telling you”, “God says” or “the Holy Spirit says”. The speaker gives the clear indication that he is speaking for God to the other person. This practice has recently become very common in Christian meetings and for some speakers, they act as though it is expected of them.
I am not talking about personal advice, counsel, encouragement, observations or opinions when someone is simply sharing his personal opinion and not claiming to be speaking for God. We all do that. Some people would have nothing to say if any of that was prohibited. And I am not talking about prayer for another where the Lord tells a person what to pray, if it does not include instructions. We are often led by the Spirit in prayer. And I am not talking about being led of the Lord when speaking to another person if the speaker does not claim to be speaking for God.
I am not talking about a manifestation of the gift of prophecy as defined and described by Paul in 1st Corinthians chapters 12 and 14. Biblical prophecy is easily distinguished from personal prophecy and will be addressed in the next section.
I am only talking about instances when someone claims to be speaking for God to another person, whether in a meeting or in private, and prefaces his words with “God says…” or words to that effect. It is almost universally referred to as “personal prophecy”, and those who frequent Charismatic meetings have surely witnessed this practice.
Is it biblical?
The important question that the church should be asking is whether this practice is biblical.
The simple answer is “No, it is not biblical”. There is nothing, as in absolutely nothing, in the New Testament to support this practice, and I challenge anyone to show me otherwise. It is simply not biblical, and for good reason. The bible does not contradict itself and personal prophecy contradicts everything in the Bible that teaches or illustrates how the Holy Spirit works in a believer’s life. It actually circumvents the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer.
There are nine gifts of manifestation of the Holy Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians Chapter 12. One of them is the gift of prophecy. I know of no one who is a stronger advocate of seeking and exercising this gift than I. Paul wrote “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” and “Therefore brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy”. (1 Cor 14:1, 39) I agree wholeheartedly. I believe that the gift of prophecy is the springboard for the manifestation of the other eight gifts and it is often the deciding factor that determines whether or not a service will advance into the supernatural.
I have routinely witnessed the gift of prophecy in operation and have seen the enormous benefit to a service when it is manifested. It is most commonly manifested at a time during the service when there has been worship and people are more able to be “in the Spirit” and the time for such a manifestation is appropriate. Referring to the gift of prophecy, Paul wrote that “one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.” (1 Cor. 14:3) When this gift is properly exercised, the speaker speaks to all present and for these three stated purposes. Paul continues to instruct in this regard by writing, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.” (1 Cor. 14:29) And “The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” (1 Cor. 14:32) That is the gift of prophecy in proper operation. It is a divine message delivered to the entire assembly, not just to one person, and it is a message for edification and exhortation and consolation (comfort), not for commands, instruction, guidance or leading, it is judged by the other prophets, and it is limited to two or three prophets and thus limited to two or three prophetic utterances. That is the only way that the gift of prophecy is properly and biblically exercised in the church.
With this knowledge, we can distinguish the gift of prophecy from personal prophecy. Personal prophecy is not delivered to the entire assembly, is not limited to edification, exhortation and consolation, and is not judged by the other prophets. I have seen both in operation many times and there is no similarity whatsoever. Anyone familiar with the exercise of the gift of prophecy should also admit that the two practices are quite different. Personal prophecy is not the exercise of the biblical gift of prophecy.
Nor am I talking about the gifts of a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom. These are the supernatural revelation of a fact or situation that the speaker could not naturally know, and after spoken, the truth or fallacy of the revelation is immediately made known and is routinely followed by ministry for the need revealed. Neither of those is personal prophecy.
In the book of Acts, there is the account of the prophet Agabus telling and showing Paul what would happen to him if he went to Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-11). This was not giving personal prophecy as people do today. He was telling Paul what would happen if he continued on to Jerusalem.
Nor is it like the time when Paul encouraged Timothy in a letter: “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed upon you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.” (1Tim. 4:14). This event bears no similarity with personal prophecy. Timothy was commissioned, or ordained, by the church elders as an evangelist. This was not personal prophecy. This was the church elders commissioning an evangelist.
As stated, there are nine gifts of manifestation of the Holy Spirit listed by Paul in 1 Cor. 12. Three are gifts of power: healings, miracles and faith. Three are gifts of revelation: a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge and discerning of spirits and three are vocal gifts: prophecy, tongues and interpretation of tongues. These nine provide what is necessary for the Holy Spirit to say and reveal what He wants to reveal to the church. All require that the minister actually hear or be led by the Holy Spirit. If someone hears from God and is instructed to share what he heard, he can manifest the appropriate gift of the Holy Spirit. This is how it is done biblically.
Get your arms around all that God has provided for the church with these nine gifts. So many wonderful supernatural things. So, what has the church done in response? It has invented a way to ignore all this good and substitute it with an imitation human substitute that is false in every way and undermines the real work of the Holy Spirit in the church.
It is not reliable
It is noteworthy to me that those who practice personal prophecy invariable sat silent through that part of the service when the true gift of prophecy is usually manifested. They were silent because they could not hear the Holy Spirit sufficiently to give a true prophecy. Presumably, if they could, they would. That would be normal. But they did not. But then, they are suddenly and inexplicably able to deliver numerous and lengthy messages to individuals supposedly from the same Holy Spirit. I don’t believe it.
I attended a church in my home city that was a member of the Iris Global organization. Our church was often the repository of those who were in training to be ministers in this organization, so they came to us so they could practice their preaching on us for one night. On one such occasion, a young woman was the principal speaker at our main service. When she got up to deliver her message, she told us that she had been constantly seeking God for over two weeks about what she should preach that night, but had heard nothing from God. She had also sought the Lord all day and heard nothing. So, she just stood there. What followed was a very long and awkward couple of minutes of silence. Then, suddenly, she started giving personal prophecies to people all over the church, most of whom were much older than her in the Lord and considerably more mature. I thought to myself, “Isn’t it remarkable that this young woman could not hear one word from the Lord for over two weeks despite constantly seeking Him in the privacy of her own home, yet can suddenly hear from the Lord enough for numerous long messages?” It was a joke, an abomination.
I attended a small gathering at which one of the speakers was invited from Finland. He was excited about coming and told us that he had been looking forward to our meeting for over two weeks and prayed a lot about it. When the man spoke, I wondered when he was going to say something, anything, useful, edifying or interesting. He spoke for over one hour and had absolutely nothing useful or relevant to say. It was all pure jibberish. Absolutely nothing useful or helpful, just jibberish. Then, after he spoke, he delivered a personal prophecy to a friend of mine telling him what his life’s calling and ministry was to be. I was furious. Such a man should have a tennis ball permanently stuck in his mouth.
Let’s say that you know the so-called prophet who is speaking to you for God. If he knows you, how do you know whether his knowledge of your life is influencing his words? Can anyone who knows you speak without this knowledge affecting what he says? It is not possible.
Or, let’s say that you do not know the so-called prophet. So then, what do you know about him or her? What are his beliefs, his maturity, his biases, his pet peeves, his motives, his agenda, his lifestyle, prejudices or track record? He could be a half-wit, unstable, troublemaker or showboat looking to make a splash. You don’t know. Is it any wonder that this foolishness is not biblical? The Lord and His Bible would have no part in such suspect, speculative, dangerous, unaccountable, unreliable and outright stupid behavior. Please do not base the course of your life or ministry on anything received in this manner. It is not scriptural. It is not God’s way. It is as dumb as a bag of hammers.
Real prophecy is spoken to the entire assembly for their edification and exhortation and consolation and is judged by the other prophets. Personal prophecy is totally and unquestionably unreliable.
It subverts and undermines the work of the Holy Spirit
The works of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer are set forth in the bible. When we come to faith in Christ it is the Holy Spirit who regenerates us, and of course, when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit who anoints us with His power. He also:
He empowers us: Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”
He is our guide: Romans 8:14 “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
He helps our weakness: Romans 8 :26
“In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;”
He is our intercessor: Romans 8:26-27 “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
He is in contact with God the Father in our behalf: Romans 8:27 “and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is”
He works out our sanctification: Galatians 5:16-17 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”
He comforts us: Acts 9:31
“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.”
He is our helper: John 14:16-17
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”
He is our teacher: John 25-26 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
John 16:12-15
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth”
He will tell us things to come to warn us: John 16:13 “and He will tell you things to come”
He is our edifier: 1 Cor. 14:4 “He who speaks in a tongue, edifies himself”
If you value any of this, you will not listen to personal prophecy. It is the enemy of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.
The thing that will have the greatest impact on your walk with God and success as a Christian is making friends with the Holy Spirit. You have heard me say many times that the best advice that I can give any Christian is to make friends with the Holy Spirit. Do you really want to subvert His efforts to make friends with you? So, just imagine how He feels when someone comes along and implies, “Hey, you don’t need to hear the Holy Spirit, I will tell you what He wants to tell you. Paul was just kidding when he wrote that those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God. Let me lead you. I will speak for God to you. It is a lot easier for you and it also really makes me look good.”
Is this person really more interested in grandstanding and being dramatic for the crowd? It is not possible for anyone to speak in that setting and not be aware of the crowd watching and listening. Will you let such a person speak for God to you? Are you out of your mind? Tell me why this is not stupid beyond all limits. Are you going to let some guy tell you what God wants to say to you? Are you nuts? This is no different than a pile of fresh poop on the sidewalk along the Rue de Antibes in Cannes. You walk around it. You do not intentionally step in fresh poop.
It is dangerous
Some of the online treatises on this issue equate the practice with psychics. One reads as follows:
“Sadly, those who practice personal prophecy in this manner are often not any different from those who portray themselves as psychics. In fact, there are prophetic hotlines as “Christian” alternatives to psychic hotlines. Some in the personal prophecy movement advertise with statements such as “come get your prophetic reading,” again, very similar to the terminology psychics employ. This understanding and practice of the gift of prophecy is completely unbiblical.”[1]
Others label it as divination.[2]
I have my own label. I call it BS. Total BS.
Quite often this word from God goes something like this, “God loves you and has a plan for your life. He knows you and will use you mightily. Your future will be greater than your past.” Oh really? What a shocker!! This is useless and worthless dribble, and should make you wonder, “Is this all God has to say to me? Useless and worthless dribble?” Did you need a prophet of God to break this big news to you? Do you really think that if God had the opportunity to speak to you directly, that this is all He would say? It is ridiculous. It is insulting to God. This is so stupid that I want to gag these people and throw them out the door.
Or if the so-called prophet has the audacity to tell you things reserved for God alone, like your calling in life, who you should or should not marry, or what job you should have, then they are assuming the role of master of your life’s course and direction and should be thrown out of the church.
I know several people whose lives have been greatly troubled by these so-called “words from the Lord”. They actually feel that if they do not do as this person told them, then they are disobeying God. It is very sad to watch. They are close to flushing their lives down the toilet because some glory-hound spoke to them in God’s behalf. Yet, when these quacks start doling out their “words from the Lord” to people, everyone seems eager to hear it. It is pitiful. Is this what the church has been reduced to? Has the church been reduced to platform musical performances that give us an emotional high and a sermon that entertains and comforts and the true gifts of the Spirit replaced with showmen who like to perform? It is a travesty.
Let’s put ourselves in God’s place for a moment, if we can, to look at this from His perspective. Above all, God wants close and intimate fellowship with us. God wants us to seek Him, come into His presence, sit on His lap and have an intimate loving time with Him, but it depends upon our desire for the same intimacy. And there are certain questions that gives us that desire to press into God, such as the knowledge of our calling and destiny, or our marriage partner, or our job. Big stuff. From God’s perspective, He knows that if we will not seek His presence to know these really important things, then we will not seek Him for anything. So, He reserves these things unto Himself. He wants to be the one, and the only one, who provides the answers to these really important questions. So, you can imagine how God feels about some hot-shot jumping into your life and telling you what your life’s calling should be, who you should or should not marry, what job you should have and so on. It is an abomination to God and a ruin to your life.
I attended a church service where the guest speaker called all the children up front. Unaware of what was to transpire, the parents sent all their children up. About 40 children ages 6-16 went forward. He then lined them up and went down the line telling each child what his calling in life would be. I almost wept at the horror of this. Hopefully the parents were mature and wise enough to undo this damage when they got home.
If the person who presumes to speak for God is trying to control someone’s life, it is akin to witchcraft. If someone says, “This is or is not from God”, then they are just imposing their personal opinion on someone in the name of God, which is witchcraft. It is usually very destructive. I know of an occasion where a Christian woman was told by one of these self-appointed prophets that God was going to bring her a husband and that she did not need to do anything herself in this regard. 30 years later she was still waiting and still not married, and her prospects were then down to almost zero. But this mighty woman of God did nothing to correct her mistake and continued to speak for God into the lives of hopeful people, only to destroy them. If this so-called-prophet lived under the Old Covenant, she would be stoned to death. (Deut. 18:22)
I am also aware of an instance where a Christian believed that she had heard from God and was contemplating stepping out in faith to do it. Then, another Christian told her, “I don’t think that is from God.” Whereupon, she took her friend’s words at face value, that is, as words from God, and failed to act. I believe she missed her gift and calling. In this case, one woman presumed to elevate her personal opinion to the highest level, the word of God, and had no fear about imposing this on another, resulting in a great tragedy. Where is this practice in the New Testament? How can anyone justify being so brazen as to decide what is God’s will for what amounts to the single most important question in life for another person?
Provides an open door for the devil
Allowing anyone to speak instructions or guidance into your life provides a very easy way for the devil to speak into your life. You have absolutely no way of knowing the real origin of the so called “word from God” spoken in personal prophecy. It certainly is not scriptural, so why would, or how could, the Holy Spirit participate in it?
God has set strict limits on what the devil is allowed to do. He cannot do anything that he wants, otherwise we would all be satan-worshipers or sick, miserable, poor and finally dead. But he can put thoughts in our heads. God has given him that liberty. (2 Cor. 10:4-5) He can and does. And given the opportunity, he will. What is to stop him from showing up at this most opportune of times to put thoughts into the head of someone doling out personal prophesies? He can, so why wouldn’t he? And if he can misdirect or derail a believer this easily, he certainly will. I have seen it many times. Entire lives ruined by some “word from the Lord” that popped into someone’s head. Has the church completely lost its collective mind?
Finally
God’s deepest desire is to have a close relationship with us. He is grieved when someone subverts and undermines this process. God does not want someone to come along and basically say, “Hey, I can tell you what God wants you to hear. You don’t need to seek God. I will tell you.”
Do not participate in this human substitute for the leading of the Holy Spirit. Do not speak for God to another person. Do not let another person speak for God to you. If someone tries to give you their personal prophecy, tell them, “No thanks. I am a child of God, so I am led by the Spirit of God.” (Rom. 8:14) Do not tell anyone what their calling in life is, who they should or should not marry, where they should live, or what job they should have. God reserves these big things unto Himself and you are not God. The only exception would be if you are the person’s father or pastor and they come to you for advice. Then, you can give your personal advice, but not “God says…”. And even then, be careful.
I attended a church where the pastor was associated with David Wilkerson’s World Challenge organization. This pastor had an important decision to make and made the very long drive from our hometown to David Wilkerson’s home to ask David for his advice. When he got there and told the great man his story and question, David only said, “Ask God, He will tell you.” Now, David Wilkerson was one of the greatest Christians to ever live. He was full of God, with many years of experience and wisdom. He no doubt had an opinion on the question presented, and the pastor was a close friend and had driven a long way to see him. But he did not share it. It was too important. It was for God alone to tell him, not David.
[1]https://www.gotquestions.org/personal-prophecy.html)
[2] http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/personalprophecy.html