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Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy -1 Corinthians 14: 1 NIV
Beloved, here we see the fruit of the Spirit (which is encapsulated by the phrase “the way of love”) and the gifts of the Spirit with emphasis on prophecy going together, hand in hand as it were. The simple reason for this is the truth that everything in the Kingdom operates by love. Whatever we do should be out of God’s love that has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). His love should be the motivating factor behind our desires for His gifts to operate in and through us. Let us not forget that God is Love. His very essence is Love. Anything done without love doesn’t amount to much,1 Corinthians 13, the popular love chapter in the Bible, makes that abundantly clear.
As we yield to the love of God that’s poured out in our hearts, we won’t have any other agenda, our desire will be to see others saved, healed, delivered, blessed, lifted up, restored and fulfilling their God ordained destinies. The gift of prophesy that flows out of love is never condemning, neither does it seek to bring fear, control or manipulation; the gift of prophecy will always edify, exhort and comfort others.
The gift of prophesy is for building people up, for comforting them and for encouraging or exhorting them. It is never for tearing people down (1 Corinthians 14:3)
Every believer can and should operate in the gift of prophesy, the Lord, through the apostle Paul, urges us to desire it earnestly, He calls on us to desire it above all the other gifts because He knows we – His body – need it very much and for that reason He desires to use you to prophesy, to speak His words of edification, exhortation and comfort to others.
In His wisdom, God has made a way for us to learn how to operate in this gift, and as we learn we become bolder and more fluent in flowing with the Spirit. The thing is, we cannot improve on the gifts of the Spirit; they are already perfect gifts from the Perfect One. What we can and are ENCOURAGED to do is to LEARN HOW TO BETTER FLOW or OPERATE in the gifts, and in this case, the gift of Prophecy
31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. – 1 Corinthians 14:31 NKJV
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Start where you are, when the Spirit of God reveals something to you for someone else and impresses upon you to share it with them, the in love, step out by faith and share it, even if it is a one liner such as “rest in the Lord” or “I love you” or “I’m with you”, that might be exactly what the other person needs to hear at that time. Don’t hold back and wait until you can prophesy paragraphs and chapters; faithfully start with what He reveals to you. Do not let fear hold you back, the Lord desires to bless others through you so partner with Him. Blessings!
