The Gift of Being Prophetic (PJ Smyth)

The Gift of Being Prophetic

Written by  PJ Smyth

Definition

In keeping with the ‘motivational’ theme of these gifts, you will have immediately noticed that I am calling this gift ‘being prophetic’. I am not calling it either ‘the gift of prophecy’ like the one in the 1 Corinthians 12 cluster of gifts, nor ‘being a prophet’ like I will in the Ephesians 4 cluster of gifts. However, as you would imagine there is significant overlap between these three distinctions.
Prophetic people (the group that we are looking at here) will usually have the gift of prophecy, and some will mature into full-blown Ephesians 4 prophets. But – and some of you will be relieved to hear this – it is possible to be prophetically motivated but not be much inclined to bring prophetic words. For you, it is the way that you think and speak and act that is prophetic. Let’s have a look and see what I mean…

Characteristics of prophetic people

• They tend to have a very direct way of dealing with things. They tell things ‘the way they are’ and see things as right and wrong. They are outspoken. They need to speak to express what they think. They are direct, frank and don’t waste words. They are verbally motivated. E.g. John the Baptist (Mk 6:18) – he just told Herod straight!
• They are provocative. Prophets provoke us to think about things in a new way.
• They tend to be uncompromising, bold, and forthright, and are concerned about the things of God. They like to motivate people to righteousness, and can therefore make strong leaders.
• They have an intuitive sense about where people are at, and how things really are. They see through facades. “How are you?” “I’m so blessed.” “Rubbish!” They have the capacity to identify, define and hate evil. But it is righteous anger. They get angry because the person is ruining their life! They hate the devil! Sin enrages them.
• They tend to make passionate and fervent pray-ers. They have a heavy concern for the reputation of God and His agenda.
• They like to confront things and to deal with issues then and there. Unless they hear the person say, “Yes, I am wrong, you are right, I will do that,” they are not convinced! They also like to see a visible change in a person.
• This gift often works well with the gift of prophecy, discerning of spirits, and intercession.

Misunderstandings / Weaknesses

• Their frankness may be perceived as harshness, and they usually have to learn how to speak the truth in love and present truth in the most helpful possible way with minimum offense. They can come on too strong. In their passion to ‘fix it’ they sometimes struggle just to listen and express empathy.
• Their focus on right and wrong (no grey areas) may be seen as intolerant.
• They can be rather intense and often need to learn to lighten up a bit.

How can a person like this help you?

So long as you can survive what they say and how they say it, the advice they give you can help you very much indeed because they cut right to the heart of the issue.

Growing my gift

Pray for more of it. Study it. Use it. But stay accountable and work on the “in love” side of things.