‘Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight.’ (1 Timothy 1:18)
The Apostle Paul considered personal prophecies given to his disciple Timothy significant:
- Personal prophecies helped Timothy focus his life and ministry according to the call of God
- The Apostle Paul kept the prophetic words in mind when it came to his leadership of Timothy and instruction to him
5 Ways to Make the Most of your Personal Prophecy
A personal prophecy can be a means of great encouragement and motivation. [1]
If you have received a personal prophecy, here are some ideas to help you benefit from it:
1. Record your Prophetic Word
Write out your personal prophecy. (Hab 2:2) If possible, keep an audio copy of prophecies that you have received. Sometimes an impartation takes place through the verbal delivery of a word that cannot be communicated in writing.
If a word was not recorded in audio format, immediately write out as much of it as you can remember, so that you can weigh it up, pray about it and review it.
2. Weigh up your Prophecy
‘Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.’ (1 Thess 5:19-21)
The Bible exhorts us to weigh up prophetic words. (see also 1 Cor 14:29) [2]
Some filters you can use include:
- Is it in accordance with what the Bible says?
- Do you have an inner witness that the prophetic word is from God?
- Does it line up with the nature of God? In particular, with the nature of the Father as expressed through Jesus?
- Will responding to the prophecy bear good fruit—the fruit of the Spirit in your life?
- If the prophetic word concerns your destiny, does it line up with the way God has created and wired you?
Make sure that you include a process of accountability to Christian leadership in relation to your prophetic word. This is especially important if you are considering a change of direction in response to a word you have been given.
This also enables your leadership to nurture the gift and call of God upon your life, as Paul did with Timothy.
3. Pray about your Prophetic Word
Always take time to pray about any personal prophecy that you receive. Seek confirmation that the word is from God, and ask Him for further insights related to the message, its timing and any action you should take. Remember that fulfilment of your prophecy will be conditional upon you staying on track in your relationship with God.
Later on, you may also be led to pray about the fulfillment of your personal prophecy. [3]
4. Allow the Prophecy to Enlarge your Vision
A prophecy may be used of God to stretch our perspective concerning ourselves; who we are, Who He is, and what we are capable of doing with the enablement of His Holy Spirit.
A personal prophecy may speak into your identity and destiny. The Father is communicating His perspective about your life. And that may be beyond what you have perceived about yourself up to this time.
A personal prophecy is an invitation from the Father to see ourselves as He sees us.
The question is, will we accept that invitation?
5. Store your Prophetic Word for Future Reference
‘Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.” (Hab 2:2-3)
You may immediately recognise that your prophecy is timely and relevant.
However sometimes the exact meaning of a prophetic word is a mystery at the time we receive it.
This does not mean that it is not of value. In fact, it may be of tremendous significance for a later date.
Consider taking a long term view of any prophetic word you receive, even if you believe it does relate to a current situation.
Sometimes a personal prophecy is like a puzzle piece—you are not sure how or where it fits in the picture until more pieces have been put into place.
And then when you do see the fulfillment of the prophecy, you are blown away. You realise that God knew the whole picture of your life before you had even been born. [4]
‘All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts,God! How vast is the sum of them!’ (Ps 139:16-17)
Notes:
[1] For Biblical examples of personal prophecy and a biblical basis for bringing personal prophetic words, see my article:
Is Personal Prophecy Biblical?
[2] For more information about weighing up prophetic words, see
How Do I Know If A Personal Prophecy Or Dream Interpretation Is From God?
[3] See the following post:
Is It Time To Birth Your Prophetic Word In Prayer?
[4] If unfulfilment of a prophecy you have received in the past is causing you discouragement, see Dealing With Prophetic Disappointment
See the updated version of this post here: 7 Things You Can Do With Your Personal Prophecy
© Helen Calder Enliven Blog – Prophetic Teaching
Enliven Ministries
A part of the David McCracken Ministries family
Hello,
I read your article and it helped in understanding regarding receiving a prophetic word. Can you help me understand in regards to receiving a prophetic word spoken over my husband and I which expands our life an extra 30 years. The reason for the extension is for us to fulfill what God spoke over us to do for His Kingdom here on earth. My question is do we have to fight for these extra years as we do the rest of the prophecy. Thank You and blessings, Cindy
Hi Cindy,
with any prophecy, there may be times where the opposite seems to be occurring and we can use the prophecy to pray and wage warfare. (1 Tim 1:18) For example, a prophetic word about long life, there may be occasional times where you need to wage warfare for your health.
With regard to the date (30 years), as a prophetic ministry, we are reluctant to attach specific dates and time frames to prophecy. However, I am assuming that you have prayed about this word and feel comfortable with it, and that your oversight has, also.
It is certainly a great promise to hold onto. 🙂
Hi 🙂
I am thankful for your ministry. God bless. I found out that the Bible we read was ‘ratified’ as canon by people at Nicea (Nicene Council). It seems these people decided which books were inspired and which were not. They decided to leave out books such as The Book of Enoch, 3rd Corinthians, etc. If the latter were not inspired then passages that cause so much controversy like ‘women being silent’ passages in Corinthians & 1 Timothy; also passages that talk about male headship over females & short hair for men & long hair for women(1 corinthians 11) are inspired? I find this quite unacceptable. Who decided which books had the criteria to make it into what is now ‘The Bible’? Which books are really inspired and have some books been left out because of some ‘diabolical plan’ or something? I will be very grateful for your illumination on this issue.
Blessings to you
Hi Venz, the question is off the topic of this post (which is about personal prophecy), but I have asked Clayton Coombs, who is a Theologian based here at David McCracken Ministries, to share some thoughts in answer to your question.
Bless you.
Hi Venz.
No, no ‘diabolical plan’ – except perhaps in the reckless imaginations of people like Dan Brown (author of the Da Vinci Code). In actual fact, the Council of Nicaea (325AD) did not address the issue of the canon of Scripture at all. The main issue on the table was the Arian heresy (though the date of Easter, the Melitian schism, and the readmission of those who had lapsed during a time of persecution were also discussed). The task of the Church in settling the Canon was not an arbitrary decision where many books were considered and only some ‘made the cut.’ It was more a formal recognition of those books that the entire church had held to be inspired from the beginning. The so-called 3rd epistle to the Corinthians and the ‘book of Enoch’ were nowhere near close to being considered as they are manifestly pseudonymous (written by somebody else) and much later than the 1st century.
The process of canonization did not involve a formal council at all, but was more of a gradual consensus that these 27 books of the NT, only these, and always these, had been uniquely inspired by God. Here (http://www.bible-researcher.com/bruce1.html) is a good article that will take you further than what I’ve written here. Its a complex issue and I’m happy to dialogue with you as you go if you choose to research it further. But bottom line: we can be very confident that what we have in our bibles is the very Word of God, the inspired Word of God, and the whole of the Word of God. God bless.
Hello,
I received a prophetic word from a friend two and one-half years ago where she said she saw a Pastor Rayney in the spirit for me as my future husband. She said that in “two years” I would meet him and we would connect. Two years went by and nothing happened. I knew this Pastor so I boldly told him of the prophetic word. He told me it was a “false prophecy” because he wasn’t thinking of me at all. Also, he shared that “God had promised him something and he was trusting God to fulfill it”. (It may be that he was waiting for the return of his X wife to return back to him). He did say to me after our conversation “your going to make someone very happy” and walked away.
I never was attracted to him physically but she said I was looking at his flesh and not his spirit.
I struggled with this word for two years since both she and her husband do not have a covering with a church and she proclaims to everybody that she is a prophetess.
She has been right about some things in the past, but I’m stumped with this one. I am 56 and Rayney is 65. Could you please give me advice on this? I’ve read all your scripture notes and points but still have reservations about this word.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you!
Please help me. I’ve shared this with well meaning friends to have them say nothing to help me.
Hi Andrea,
Thank you for sharing. I would like to share this article with you in case you haven’t read it:
http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2011/08/23/dealing-with-prophetic-disappointment/
I don’t have time today to share a longer response but may get back to this in a few days’ time. In the meantime, I trust the above will help. Bless you.
Hello,
I’ve read your message back to me and it was very informative. However, I do need to add that I saw this same man in the spirit as I cried out to God to ask who my life partner would be. It was like my whole being spoke to me (not head) and said, “you will know”. I had peace after this happened however, when I approached him a few days later to tell him of the “prophetic word” from my friend, he said “it was false.” (I never did tell him “I” saw him in the spirit.) It was in color.
Was this from God or from the enemy? (God knows as well as the enemy knows that I am desiring to meet my Boaz.) I AM SO CONFUSED!
Could you please pray and help me with this?
Andrea