Prophecy reveals a message from God--nDeuteronomy 18:21-22 (HCSB) 21 You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a message the LORD has not spoken?’ 22 When a prophet speaks in the LORD’s name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
The Holy Spirit allows believers to prophesy-- Acts 2:17-18 (HCSB) And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 I will even pour out My Spirit on My male and female slaves in those days, and they will prophesy.
We should listen to God’s message-- 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20 (NIV) 19 Do not put out the Spirit's fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt.
True prophets speak God’s words-- 2 Peter 1:20-21 (NIV) 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Scholars can interpret the past; it takes prophets to interpret the present.
A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "PROPHECY".
Edythe Draper, Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Prophets".
