Rhemalight

Hillary Turyayenda

Read Acts chapter 2:

The words in Hebrew and Greek which are translated ‘prophesy’ mean to speak for another or to speak for God or to be His mouth. Another meaning is to flow forth, to tumble forth or to bubble forth. Also to let drop is inferred in some cases. One who prophesies speaks by the inspiration of the moment. To inspire means to breathe upon. What he says does not have to be unusual. It just so happens that at that moment it is breathed upon.

Prophecy does not necessarily mean predicting the future. In its basic form, it does not contain predictions or revelations though it could. It is merely given for edification, exhortation and comfort (1Cor.14:3). Prophesying would not make one a prophet. A prophet would need to have at least two revelation gifts plus prophecy to qualify. The revelation gifts are: the word of wisdom, which predicts the future, the word of knowledge which reveals the present or the past, and the discerning of spirits, which is supernatural insight into the realm of spirits.

In Acts 21:8-10, the scripture contrasts Philip’s four daughters who prophesied, from one Agabus, a ‘prophet’. The prophet tends to ‘reveal’ things while the one who prophesies simply ‘inspires’ or lifts up. Notice 1 Cor. 14:27 says, ‘let the Prophets speak…and if something be revealed to one who sits by, let the first hold his peace…’ The prophet’s realm is that of revelations (see Gal. 1:12; 2:2; 2Cor.12:1, 2). In the Old Testament he was called a seer because he saw and knew things supernaturally. That is beyond just prophesying.

1 Samuel 9:9-12

9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spoke, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was formerly called a Seer.)

10 Then said Saul to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went unto the city where the man of God was.

11 And as they went up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them, Is the seer here?

12 And they answered them, and said, He is; behold, he is before you: make haste now, for he came today to the city; for there is a sacrifice of the people today in the high place:

Here we are emphasizing the simple gift of prophecy. 1 Cor. 14:1 says to desire to prophesy, and that is talking about the whole church. 1 Cor. 14:5 says, ‘I would that ye all spake with tongues but rather that ye prophesied’. ‘I would…rather’ means ‘I prefer’ that you prophesied. He would not prefer they did something that they could not do. We all can prophesy (1 Cor. 14:31).

We cannot all be prophets because he says, ‘are all prophets’. (1 Cor.12:29). He says Jesus gave ‘some’ prophets and others something else (Eph.4:11). Though the spirit of the prophet is the same in essence to that of one who prophesies, the degree of anointing varies. Someone said it is like the same spirit multiplied a hundredfold. A prophet carries a greater authority with his prophecies because his is an office - that is where he lives. Also because he carries the other credentials that make him a prophet, like predictions and revelations, his utterances would naturally carry more weight.

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Hillary Turyagyenda T

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