Spiritual Gifts : Prophecy - Part 2

Devotional

Day 1: When God Paints a House in Your Heart

A child’s simple drawing of a house with two doors becomes a divine conversation. God often speaks through ordinary moments, using images to reveal deeper truths about our choices and His heart. Prophetic pictures are not reserved for dramatic visions but emerge in the quiet spaces of parenting, play, or daily life. Like Jesus’ parables, these images bypass logic to awaken understanding in the spirit. When we pay attention to unexpected mental pictures—especially those that bring clarity—we practice tuning to God’s voice. What seems like imagination may be His invitation to see through His eyes. [12:10]

“The one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging, and comfort.”
(1 Corinthians 14:3, ESV)

Reflection: When has a mental image or metaphor suddenly clarified a situation for you? How might God be inviting you to revisit that moment as a conversation with Him?

Day 2: Rays of Light in the Darkest Room

A woman closes her eyes in worship, weary and ready to leave, when golden light breaks through her doubt. God’s reminders often come as subtle impressions—a flicker of hope, a persistent phrase, or a sensory detail that defies circumstance. These “nudges” are not random but carry the weight of His promise: He preserves a remnant even when all seems lost. Prophecy isn’t always about the future; sometimes it’s a present-tense anchor for souls in stormy seas. [14:41]

“For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds…”
(Job 33:14-15, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you dismissed a recurring thought or sensation as “just your imagination”? What if you asked God if He’s highlighting something through it?

Day 3: The Uber Driver and the Unlikely Word

A single word—“daughter”—opens a floodgate of tears in a stranger’s car. Prophetic words of knowledge often feel specific yet incomplete, requiring courage to voice. God uses these fragments not just to minister to others but to awaken faith in bystanders. Even misgivings about “hearing right” become part of the testimony when we step out. The goal isn’t perfection but partnership—trusting that God can multiply our faltering obedience. [47:33]

“To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit…”
(1 Corinthians 12:8, ESV)

Reflection: When has a seemingly random detail about someone else gripped your heart? How might God want you to prayerfully hold that detail today?

Day 4: Cows, Butcher Shops, and Collaborative Listening

A man’s puzzling vision of a cow becomes the key to another’s career crossroads. Prophecy thrives in community, where revelations are weighed, tested, and pieced together like a mosaic. Individual impressions gain clarity when shared humbly—not as pronouncements but as puzzle pieces. This process guards against error and deepens dependence on the Body of Christ. What seems absurd in isolation often makes sense in concert with others’ discernment. [57:28]

“Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.”
(1 Corinthians 14:29, ESV)

Reflection: Is there a “cow” in your life—a strange impression you’ve been afraid to share? Who in your community could help discern its meaning?

Day 5: Good Fruit Doesn’t Grow on Thornbushes

A prophetic word’s validity isn’t in its eloquence but its fruit: does it strengthen, encourage, or comfort? Jesus warns that false prophets are recognized by their outcomes—manipulation, condemnation, or self-promotion. True prophecy aligns with God’s nature, even when it convicts. It leaves hearers hopeful, rooted in love, and oriented toward Christ’s kingdom. The test is simple: does it taste of heaven or earth? [30:30]

“Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit…”
(Matthew 7:16-17, ESV)

Reflection: When have you received a word that left you feeling burdened versus liberated? How did each align with God’s character in Scripture?

Sermon Summary

Prophecy is a message, word, instruction, image, or declaration that God gives from the spiritual realm, and the Holy Spirit gives it as He desires. God often speaks in ways people brush off as imagination, a picture in the mind, a feeling, a dream, or a sudden understanding that helps make sense of something. Scripture calls believers not merely to tolerate this gift, but to “eagerly desire” it and step into it by faith.

Paul places prophecy in the context of love because spiritual gifts without love become noise, spectacle, and self-promotion. Love keeps prophecy from becoming a tool for building a platform, controlling people, or making somebody feel spiritual. Prophecy from God strengthens, encourages, and comforts people, while unhealthy words judge, condemn, manipulate, and build somebody’s own kingdom.

The contrast between tongues and prophecy shows why Paul gives prophecy priority in the gathered church. Tongues can edify the individual, but prophecy edifies the church because it brings understandable encouragement to people. The church should not quench the Spirit because prophecy has been abused somewhere else. Paul’s answer is not to turn off the faucet, but to test everything, hold onto what is good, and reject what is evil.

God’s voice can come through a word of wisdom, which gives direction for how to navigate a nuanced situation, or a word of knowledge, which reveals something only God would know. God can also speak through dreams, visions, music, art, a burden to pray, and even a strange picture that becomes clear in community. The picture of a cow, the Uber driver’s daughter, and prayer at three in the morning all show that God can use ordinary people who humbly risk listening.

Prophecy comes “in part,” so revelation, interpretation, and application should not be treated as the same thing. A person may receive a real picture yet misunderstand what it means or what somebody should do with it. The church therefore weighs words together, looks for confirmation, and refuses to make prophecy a private weapon. Scripture remains the first test, the doctrine of the person matters, and the fruit of that person’s character matters.

Prayer must become more than handing God a list. The Spirit invites believers to make room for silence, listen for His voice, and speak with humility: “I think God may be saying this,” or, “I got this picture, does it mean anything to you?” Prophecy should deepen fellowship with God, not make anybody more independent from Him.

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Key Takeaways

1. Prophecy should build people up [27:28] Paul gives a simple target for prophecy: strengthening, encouragement, and comfort. A word that leaves somebody crushed, controlled, or condemned is not carrying the character of God’s kingdom. The goal is not to impress people with spiritual insight, but to help them stand stronger in Christ. [27:28]
2. Love keeps spiritual gifts healthy [28:11] Love is not an optional warm-up before gifts begin operating. Love is the guardrail that keeps prophecy from becoming a show, a weapon, or a way to gain influence over others. Prophetic words may be striking, but without patience, kindness, truth, and humility, they amount to nothing. [28:11]
3. Test words without quenching God [20:19] Abuse of prophecy is real, and discernment is necessary. But fear of bad fruit should not cause the church to reject every good tree. Scripture calls believers to weigh words carefully, retain what is good, and reject what is evil without treating prophecy with contempt. [20:19]
4. God often speaks in ordinary moments [15:45] God’s voice may come through a picture, an impression, a dream, or a burden to pray at an unusual hour. Many people have been hearing from God without recognizing it because they assume every inner image is merely creativity. Humble attention helps believers recognize when the Spirit may be inviting them to listen. [15:45]
5. Humility leaves room for discernment [01:02:38] Prophecy comes in part, which means no person should act as though every impression arrives with a flawless interpretation. Humble language protects both the person sharing and the person receiving. A willingness to say, “Maybe that was just something I ate,” keeps the process honest and makes room for God to lead.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[06:05] - What Prophecy Is
[09:29] - Recognizing God’s Pictures
[12:10] - A Child Receives a Prophetic Picture
[13:37] - God’s Remnant in a Hard Season
[16:09] - Eagerly Desire Prophecy
[18:39] - God Speaks, But People Miss It
[19:55] - Test Prophecy Without Quenching the Spirit
[23:35] - Why Prophecy Edifies the Church
[27:28] - Strengthening, Encouragement, and Comfort
[30:30] - Healthy and Unhealthy Prophetic Fruit
[43:33] - Words of Wisdom and Knowledge
[49:20] - Dreams, Visions, and Many Forms of Prophecy
[53:12] - Revelation, Interpretation, and Application
[59:18] - How to Judge Prophecy
[61:24] - Making Space to Listen

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 14:1-3
“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.” [16:09]

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” [19:55]

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” [28:11]

Observation questions

In 1 Corinthians 14:1–3, what three results does Paul say prophecy should bring to people? [27:28]
What does Paul tell believers to do with prophecies in 1 Thessalonians 5:19–22 instead of either accepting every word blindly or rejecting prophecy completely? [20:35]
According to 1 Corinthians 13:1–3, what is missing when someone uses impressive spiritual gifts without love? [28:28]
What three parts of the prophetic process were identified, and why is it important not to treat them as if they are all the same thing? [53:12]

Interpretation questions

Why does Paul connect the command to eagerly desire prophecy with the command to follow the way of love? What problems can develop when someone wants to be seen as spiritually gifted more than they want to love people? [29:07]
Paul says prophecy is meant to strengthen, encourage, and comfort. How does this purpose help a group recognize the difference between a word from God and a word that is condemning, manipulative, or self-promoting? [30:30]
Why might Paul’s instruction to test every prophecy protect the church without causing the church to quench the Spirit? What could healthy testing look like in a small-group setting? [20:35]
If prophecy comes “in part,” why should believers separate a picture or impression from their interpretation and the action someone should take afterward? [53:29]

Application questions

Have there been times when a picture, dream, strong impression, or burden to pray seemed like “just imagination” at first? Looking back, is there anything that may have been an invitation to listen more closely to God? [15:45]
What would it look like for prayer to include a few moments of quiet listening rather than only bringing requests to God? What might make silence before God difficult for you? [01:01:43]
Is there someone in your life who could use strengthening, encouragement, or comfort this week? What is one specific, truthful way you could speak life to that person—even if it is simply ordinary encouragement? [40:12]
When you feel prompted to share something spiritual with someone, what humble language could help you share without pressuring or controlling them? [01:02:38]
How do Scripture, a person’s beliefs about Jesus, and a person’s character help you evaluate a prophetic word? Which of these tests do you most need to remember when discerning what you hear? [59:30]
When a word shared with you does not seem to fit, how can you respond with both honesty and kindness rather than pretending it was accurate or becoming cynical about prophecy? [01:02:44]

Sermon Clips

39s

“Here's here's two things. The difference between encouragement and prophecy. Encouragement is looking into the life of somebody and calling forth something you see. And we should do this a ton as a church. Prophecy is this though. Prophecy is looking through the eyes, through God's eyes at the life of somebody and calling for something good you see. It's very similar except you get a different perspective. We can make a whole series on encouragement by the way. We should strive to be the most encouraging church there ever was.”

40s

“As a church, how do we engage with this? How do we step into this? First off, we need to give God space to speak to us. Okay? Our prayer life needs to move from having lists to listening. I mean is instead of saying, God, here's my honey to do list, it's saying, I want to fellowship with you, God, and actually I want to hear what you want to say. In your groups, when you pray, your small groups and all these things, say, let's stop for a minute and just listen and see if God wants to say something. Some of you can't stand the silence.”

44s

“Number one, when somebody is speaking prophetically, you need to ask yourself, is what they're saying biblical? That's the first thing. That's an easy no brainer. Okay? God has given us a word that's an infallible word of God that has been proven right over and over again. The first thing to ask is, is this biblical? If somebody's saying I have a prophetic word and I feel like I'm supposed to divorce my spouse, that's probably not a word from the word. If somebody has a prophetic word that says, oh, God gave me this picture of how to cheat this financial system or like, these, right? These are obviously not words from God, right?”

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Spiritual Gifts : Prophecy - Part 2 | Jordan Oloomi