How can you tell if a prophecy is real or if it is false?
In a roundtable discussion, prophetic voices Troy Black, Chris Garcia, Alwyn Uys and Rob Sanchez cracked the code to some of the toughest questions surrounding prophecy.
One of the first things Sanchez pointed out is that prophecy is meant as edification, comfort and exhortation of the church. Garcia added onto this, describing the value of a prophetic word being part of the alignment of God’s Word.
“The Lord will never tell you something that is contrary to the Word of God,” Garcia says. “There will never be something God will say that is opposed to Scripture. So, Scriptures, the authority of the Word of God is absolutely paramount.”
Garcia also notes that prophesying does not mean that you are adding to the Word of God.
“The Bible is the final authority in which we are to live our lives,” Garcia says. “There’s no such thing as necessarily ‘new additional’ revelation on top of Scripture. Rather, we reveal and unveil what the Scriptures declare.”
Garcia further noted that a true prophetic word will bear witness to the spirit and act as a confirmation with a tone of love. Whether that tone serves to correct or restore, it will not be an embarrassment to the person receiving the word, nor will it bring confusion. Instead, it will have the characteristics of the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
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“Does it bring joy, love, peace, does it build you up?” Garcia asks. “Does it encourage you in your walk? Even warnings from God—warnings will also have tones of restoration, tones of bringing you back to where you need to be.”
Black also noted that prophesying out of a deficiency in our own lives can lead to consequences of adding in something that was not intended to be there.
“We can give something with the wrong tone or we can add something where we can like try to give encouragement or direction afterwards,” Black says. “But maybe that’s not God’s heart…God wants to give His children the keys and the ability to recognize when someone is prophesying an accurate word out of the wrong tone.”
Garcia further notes that part of knowing how to accurately give a prophetic word is knowing when to give that word in the right timing.
“There’s a harmony, there’s a timing, there is a cadence, there is a moment and a time to give that word, and there’s a moment and a time from refraining and marinating on that word before releasing it,” Garcia says.
While it will always take the discernment of the person receiving the prophetic word to know whether or not something truly is from God, these pieces of advice can act as signposts of what to look when determining the validity of a prophetic word.
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Abby Trivett is a marketing copywriter and coordinator for Charisma Media.
