Dear beloved: Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy Rev. 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him, And he said to me, " do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."... The testimony is truth, it is foretelling, you could also say the testimony of Jesus is the Holy Spirit, who always testifies and convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. All of these principles are the foundation of prophecy, which is encouraging to covenant faithfulness. As followers of Christ, we have the Holy Spirit within us and the spirit of prophecy, therefore beloved, prophesy. Speak the truth into people's lives as the Holy Spirit gives you prompting, be obedient to the prompting. It may just be a word or two at first, and then as you become more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, you will be led to speak more. It may be words of encouragement, of teaching, of rebuke or discipline. Just be ready to be led. John 16:13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. v14 He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. v15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine and shall disclose it to you." So you see, when we receive from the Holy Spirit, it all comes from Jesus and the Father.
I was in the prison awhile back, and at the end of the service a man came up to me and said he had a word for me. He said, the Lord says, "Whatever it is you are concerned about and praying about, it will soon be resolved." I didn't know I looked concerned or worried or anything like that, but I have prayer burdens that I carry for this ministry as well as things going on in my personal life that I pray about, just as anyone does. There are some issues that I have been praying about for quite awhile and not seen any breakthrough, but because of his word, I now know that a breakthrough is soon coming. It was a great encouragement to me as you can imagine. Sometimes just a word or two or one sentence can make a difference in a person's life. Often those not in ministry look at those who are and think things just come automatically to them, whether discipline to pray and fast, to teach, to prophesy, or whatever. But it isn't that simple, all in ministry need encouragement and the prayers of those they are ministering to. Paul said in Epesians 6:19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel v20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Paul goes on to state, that when assembled 1 Corinthians 14:31 you can all prophesy one by one, all may learn and all be exhorted; v32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; v33 for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. The gifts of the Holy Spirit, as outlined in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10, Romans 12:6-8, and Ephesians 4:11, are the tools of the Spirit filled Christian's trade. Please read them and pray about them, and then earnestly desire them. A good carpenter wouldn't head out to the construction job without his tools in his truck, it would be rather pointless to get to the job and say to the customer, "I know how to do this job, and it would look really great when I get done, I just don't have any tools with me today to do it!" That woudn't get him very far with the customer. Pray that God will fill up your tool chest with tools, and that you are ready when you get to the job to 'get er done.' God bless you this day as you work and pray, in Christ, Jim
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