God is a God of revelation who loves to speak to His people. We are urged to eagerly desire to prophesy (1 Cor 14:1, 39) because we desperately need to hear God’s voice speaking truth and life to us. There are, however, many barriers which can prevent us from pursuing this gift, including:
- fear (so often we allow fear to hold us back from stepping out in faith, worrying about things such as ‘How do I know this is God?’, ‘Am I just making this up?, ‘What will others think of me?’ and so on. Fear of other people can hold us back (see Prov 29:25.))
- bad experiences (either having been on the receiving end of controlling, manipulative ‘words from God’ or being harshly rebuked for stepping out in faith and being condemned for this)
- indifference (believing that there is nothing really special about this gift and so it is not worth pursuing)
- feelings of worthlessness (‘I’m not good enough to be used in this way‘) or that one must reach a certain level of spiritual perfection before God could use us in this gift (the church at Corinth was certainly not perfect yet were used in spiritual gifts, so we must not equate perfection with availability)
- lack of faith (we are told to prophesy in proportion to our faith (Rom 12:6) and it seems that the more one exercises faith, the more it grows!)
- ignorance (we don’t know much about this gift or fail to see that it can be given in many forms, not just a thundering ‘Thus saith the Lord’ experience)
Let’s strive to prophesy, knowing that there is a balance always between our seeking and God’s giving (see Phil 2:12-13). We cannot ‘make’ prophecy happen, but we can earnestly desire this gift and seek to pursue it, being content with all God gives us but yearning more that ‘so much more’ which we know is available in Him. Let’s also create an atmosphere of acceptance so that we encourage others to step out in faith, understanding that we won’t always get it right, but that we need to be seeking to build up the church in love. Wayne Grudem says, ‘Churches should be willing to be patient and encouraging toward those who are trying this gift for the first time (as they would with other gifts, such as teaching, evangelism etc.’) (Wayne Grudem, ‘The Gift of Prophecy in the NT & Today’, P 180) May we seek the mind of Christ as we follow after Him and wait with expectancy for what He has to say to us.