A “prophet” came across my YouTube feed last night.
I was tired, it looked interesting, so I listened for a bit.
He sounded fine, at first.
He said the right things.
He had all sorts of programs, he had prayer meetings and teachings.
He opened the phone lines: A person called in.
He prayed for her. I noticed he was telling her what sounded a bit like words of knowledge for her.
Then, another person called in.
She said, I would like you to pray for my nieces. I have 3 of them. One has a mental illness
and they are not walking with the Lord and the other thing I would like is a personal prophecy.
Full stop. I quit listening.
Then, I noticed his name, he called himself a prophet. It was Prophet Mike or something like that.
That was the name of his YouTube channel.
No, thank you.
I do believe that one person can have a personal prophecy for someone else.
That happened in the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New.
Nathan had a prophecy for King David and its purpose was for the Lord to correct King David,
for him to realize his folly and sin before the Lord and to reconcile to the Lord.
Another time in the New Testament where there was a personal prophecy:
Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?
behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Acts 5:9
This caused great fear among those who knew about it.
So, yes, there are personal prophecies still today.
The key is this: Who is being exalted?
In the case of the man last night who called himself a prophet, the man was being exalted.
He was even taking the place of God: You call me and I will answer you.
A true personal prophecy is from the Lord. It glorifies the Lord. It edifies the person to be closer to Jesus,
to seek Him, to read His word, to follow Him.
By this person putting himself into the position that these people call him on the phone
and then he tells them a word from God is going to be spoken.
A true prophet will not give him or herself any credit. They are a vessel and they speak God’s word and ALWAYS glorify God.
They never take the credit. If they do, they are a false prophet. It’s pretty simple.
That is difficult for people to accept.
A personal prophet or even a teacher can set themselves up to be a mediator between people and God.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 1 Timothy 2:5
People who do not know the word of God well can fall into this trap.
Jesus wants each of us to have a relationship with Him.
A personal prophecy can sometimes be a confirmation of what God might be telling you.
Sometimes God might tell someone that they will be a pastor or have some other gift.
If a prophet tells you something, you still need to seek the Lord about it, to test it.
A prophet’s job is not to tell you what to do.
It is up to us to take what is said to us as from the Lord and question and seek Him
and never ever ever look to that person who said they prophesied to be as important to us as is God.
If God really is calling someone to do something, that person will know it is from the Lord
by verification in their own relationship with God.
A personal prophecy might be to encourage them to seek the Lord about it.
But under no circumstances are we to follow a person,
whether a pastor or a doctrine or a teacher or a person who calls themselves a prophet
to take the place of God in our hearts and minds and to follow what they tell us.
It can be confirmation, but never the only instruction we hear.
We all have the Holy Spirit and are instructed in the Word of God to listen to. and Seek Him.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth:
for He shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come. John 16:13
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: John 10:27
Find more scriptures in the Bible as you read.
You will see that prophets are not supposed to operate as fortune tellers or spiritual guides.
That falls under the category of divination and that causes deception.
Beware.