I struggled off and on with bouts of depression as a young woman, so when the blues hit me three months after Scott and I got married, it wasn’t a new experience. I decided to ask for prayer at church.
We had recently joined a small start-up fellowship which numbered perhaps twenty and met in a tiny, rented building. Most of us were in our twenties or thirties. What we lacked in wisdom and experience, we made up for with zeal.
When I asked for prayer about my depression, more than one individual chimed in with a prophetic word. I was told the depression happened because I was accustomed to “wearing the spiritual pants” and that, now that I was married, I should align myself under my husband and let him take the lead.
Someone read Revelation 2:5, “Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” I was told if I failed to submit to my husband’s leadership, the Lord would take away my lampstand. I took that to mean my involvement in a singing ministry which I loved.
I was crushed.
The words spoken did exactly the opposite of what prophetic words should do. I felt discouraged, torn down, and more depressed than ever. Tragically, because I had no training whatsoever in evaluating prophetic words, and because I overly trusted others, I assumed these messages to be from God.
What I didn’t know then, I want to share with you now.
In his earliest letter, Paul writes,
“Don’t stifle the Spirit. Don’t despise prophecies, but test all things. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil (1 Thess. 5:19-22).”
He admonishes the Corinthians,
“Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should evaluate. But if something has been revealed to another person sitting there, the first prophet should be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that everyone may learn and everyone may be encouraged. And the prophets’ spirits are subject to the prophets, since God is not a God of disorder but of peace (1 Cor. 14:29-33a).”
In a similar vein, the apostle John warns,
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world (I John 4:1).”
In the New Testament, the hearer of a prophetic message no longer responds with unquestioned obedience as in the Old Testament. Rather, believers test and evaluate a word (and the spiritual condition of the prophet) before applying it in faith.
This is because New Testament prophecy was not on par with Scripture but exercised “in part” (1 Cor. 13:9), and subject to imperfection.[i] While prophetic revelation is from God, human interpretation and application make room for human error.[ii]
If I had understood the purposes of prophecy and how to evaluate it earlier in life, I would have been able to identify the elements of error within the words spoken over me when I asked for prayer.
I would have recognized the perfect storm of youthful certainty, out-of-context Scripture, and questionable theology which tragically produced an evil word (1 Thess. 5:22). I could have rejected that “word” instead of letting it oppress me for years.
Those of us who receive prophetic words have a part to play in ensuring prophecy is wholesome, helpful, and safe.
In a future post, I’ll offer specific markers you can use when a prophetic message doesn’t sit right with you.
***
This post is adapted from my upcoming book, Prophesying Daughters: How Prophetic Ministry and Women in Leadership Strengthen the Church.
Photo by Tiago Bandeira on Unsplash
[i]. Ernest Gentile, Your Sons and Daughters Shall Prophesy: Prophetic Gifts in Ministry Today (Grand Rapids: Chosen Books, 1999), 174.
[ii] Sam Storms, Understanding Spiritual Gifts, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 183.
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