What is prophecy? Prophecy is when the Holy Spirit puts an idea in your mind and you share it with one or more people. God puts the idea in your mind and you put it in your own words.[1]
Normally prophecy is to encourage people and to build them up. It would be very unusual for the Holy Spirit to give a prophecy of correction to a person new at prophesying.
I remember once giving a prophecy encouraging the church to seek the sevenfold spirits of God. The last spirit listed was the fear of the Lord. Well, the associate pastor was preaching that morning and he almost jumped out of his socks he was so excited. His message was on the fear of the Lord. When a prophecy dovetails with the preacher’s message, the preacher is encouraged and it rubs off on the listeners. That would be a pretty typical prophecy.
Now the person new to prophecy may get the prophetic idea days before the time he or she is to speak the prophecy. Most often the person delivering the prophetic words has time to think them over, and possibly write them out. There is nothing wrong with that. Some people think all prophecies are always spontaneous and the person does not know what he is going to say before he or she says it. That is nonsense; God does not treat us that way. Spontaneous prophecies are very unusual in my experience.
How can a person be sure that they are to speak a prophecy? Each of us has probably been led of God to do something that was quite difficult for us to do. Perhaps it was to witness to someone we thought would be difficult to talk to, to write out a big check for a visiting missionary, or to take on a new responsibility within the church. What ever the task was, we had to be pretty sure it was God speaking to us before we did it. Afterwards we just knew God led us to do something good. If you are equally sure of a prophecy, go ahead and speak the prophecy. Sometimes the person new to prophecy starts prophesying is a small prayer group, Bible study or home cell group.
Timing when to speak a prophecy can be difficult. Pastors always seem to be in a hurry to get everything done in the shortest possible time.[2] Between choruses, I have seen the worship leader at the church I attend pray for God to speak to His people. Then the worship leader would pause to give you an opportunity to speak. Now that is a Spirit led worship leader. Perhaps there is a transitional pause just as the pastor moves to the lectern to speak, that could be a good time. Perhaps you are a little scared and missed the opportunity to speak the prophecy; if that happens, repent. Maybe you could write an email to the pastor asking forgiveness for not being bold enough to speak. Do this a few times and God will give you greater courage next time.
Prophecy is a wonderful gift for the church. It builds up and makes us stronger. Take courage and speak what God gives you to speak.
[1] That is generally how the Bible was written, the Holy Spirit put the ideas into the writers mind and the writer put it into words. Muslim’s claim God dictated the Koran word for word. According to Islamic teachings, Mohammad was little more than a dictation machine relaying words to the person writing the words. The Christian concept of biblical inspiration gives more credit to people who did the writing. God is not afraid to work through people. We are created in His image.
[2] That is an American problem and not so much of a problem in other parts of the world. American pastors know they are pushing for time and will typically stop speaking if you inadvertently cut them off.
