We live in a time where there is chaos and calamity in the world. The church is the only institution ordained by God to bring clarity in the midst of it. The apostle Paul explained that there are “many kinds of voices in the world” (1 Cor 14:10, KJV). There are so many people speaking that it can become quite confusing and hard to know who to believe. In addition, there are tons of people proclaiming to be prophets sharing messages, dreams, visions or prophecies.
Many of these words even contradict another, however, God is not the author of confusion. The Bible gives us clear indication in 1 Corinthians 14:29 that we are to judge or evaluate prophecy. I’m confident that the Holy Spirit still speaks today and that prophecy is essential to the advancement and admonition of the church. Prophecy is also a sign and a tool to draw nonbelievers to Christ.
Just as there are authentic prophetic voices and prophecies, there are also the false voices that are rising among us. For this reason, we must be taught how to evaluate or judge personal prophecies as well as words given to the collective.
There are seven factors to consider when evaluating prophecy; to know whether it is from God or not.
1. Does the prophecy align with Scripture? The Spirit and the letter always agree. The Holy Spirit will not give a prophetic word that goes against His written Word, the Bible. If you receive a prophecy, vision or dream that goes against the principles of God’s written Word, then you must reject the word. It is not from God!
2. Does it glorify Jesus or is it self-glorifying? Ultimately all prophecy should point us back to Jesus Christ. If a person claiming to be a prophet is taking credit for a prophecy, miracle or the like, then that person has the wrong spirit. First John 4:1 (MEV) says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” The Bible tells us to test the spirits. This is important to understand when judging prophecy.
To learn more and hear the rest of the factors for judging prophecy, listen to the entire podcast here. {eoa}
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