Thu 10 Sep 2009
How Do I Know a Personal Prophecy or Dream Interpretation is From God?
Posted by Helen Calder under Dream Interpretation, Personal Prophecy, Prophetic Dreams, Prophetic Ministry
[14] Comments
Has someone given you a personal prophecy, or interpreted a dream that you have had? Here are some tests that you can put a prophetic word through, to check whether or not it is from God.
In 1 Thess 5:20-21, the Bible says, ‘Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.’
A personal prophetic word has the potential to be a great blessing to you. It can help encourage, strengthen and grow you (1 Cor 14:3), reveal to you that God has you personally on His heart, and remind you that He has a great purpose for your life. When someone shares information about you and your hopes and dreams that only God would know, it is a miracle. You encounter Jesus!
We need to remember, however, that a prophecy should be weighed up carefully (1 Cor 14:29).
Here are some tests that you can apply to a prophecy, or part of a prophecy, to check whether or not it is from God. Note, these principles also apply to dream interpretation:
1. The Character Test
Does the prophetic word or interpretation reflect the character of Jesus? Does it sound like something God would say to you?
He is loving and redemptive (that means He has a good outcome for your life, He has a purpose, He wants to bring you closer to Him). This is true even when a prophecy contains a warning.
2. The Bible Test
Does the prophetic word line up with principles God has laid out in the Bible? A prophecy should never go against what the Bible says—for example a prophecy that you should leave your spouse, cause disunity in the church or commit sin would not agree with scripture!
3. The Heart Check Test
1 John 2:20 says, ‘But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.’
Does the prophecy or message sit well with your spirit, or does it make you feel uncomfortable and give you a warning ‘check’ in response? You don’t have to receive a prophecy if it makes you feel uncomfortable.
4. The Confirmation Test
A personal prophecy should confirm what God has already spoken to you, or be consistent with the way He has wired you. If the prophecy does not immediately bring confirmation, it may over time, so feel free to shelve it.
Do not make a sudden change of direction in response to a personal prophecy. If you feel led to make a change in response to a prophetic message brought through another person, remember that God never pressures you. The following test will be helpful:
5. The Leadership Test
Ask, would my church leadership be comfortable with this word? Submitting a prophecy, along with your response to it, to a leader in the church is a wise way to check prophetic guidance. Having another opinion from someone who is mature in their Christian walk and who also knows you can be helpful.
6. The Time Test
Hab 2:3 says, ‘For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.’
You won’t know whether some prophecies are from God until you have given them time to be fulfilled. If you are unsure about a prophetic word, it is OK to shelve a prophecy, put it aside and review it at a later date.
7. The Prophet Test
Do you know the person prophesying, and are they known to the leaders of your church or recognised in the wider church for their gift? Don’t accept a personal prophecy from just anyone. Jesus said that some people would prophesy in His name but not actually know Him (Matt 7:22-23). He also said to watch out for false prophets (Matt 7:15-16) and that you could tell by their fruit, i.e. their character and what their lives are producing.
If the person who is giving you the prophecy is unknown to you or your church leaders, is not submitted to leadership, or whose life does not reflect the character of Christ, do not receive the prophetic word outright.
A word given by someone who has a prophetic gift but is living an ungodly lifestyle may be partly right, which can be very confusing. If this is the case, the prophecy may contain something that is ‘off.’ It is a bit like emails that come with attachments that contain a virus. The message in the email may be right and good, but when you open it, something that is bad for your computer is also downloaded with the message. So we need to take care WHO we are receiving prophetic input from.
A prophecy that is contaminated by an issue that is out of order in the person prophesying can pull you off the track God has for you unless you put it through the above checks. This is a reminder not to be impressed with an external show of natural charisma or even giftedness, but also to watch for character and integrity.
One time I was listening as a prophetic team brought a prophecy to a young woman at a training session. One of the young guys in the team seemed to have a powerful prophetic gift. However at one part of the ‘prophecy’ he came out with a message that had a suggestive innuendo about the girl’s physical appearance. Although the rest of the prophecy sounded good, I felt that it was probable he had a sin issue that was coming through in his prophecy.
Another thing to be wary of, is prophecy that is flattering or that attracts you to the person prophesying rather than drawing you closer to Jesus. When it comes to personal prophecy, it is OK to ‘eat the meat and spit out the bones.’
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Related Posts:
How To Make The Most Of Your Personal Prophecy
What To When You Have a Prophetic Dream
4 Things You Can Do With Your Personal Prophecy
© Helen Calder Enliven Blog
I received a prophecy from a respected church elder that devastated me.
She spoke of God’s plans and provision for me, but also pointed out my character flaws and areas I needed to improve.
In retrospect, I believe this was a mix of prophecy and her personal opinion. At the time as a fairly new Christian, I thought it was all from God, and it devastated me. She was not kind in the words she used.
I went home in tears from the public perception of me, and couldn’t stop crying. I felt dreadful, and tried to talk to God about it, but received no response that I recognised.
In order to regain some perspective, I asked to speak to the pastor about the prophecy – with the prophet present. I asked her to repeat what she had said, and filled in the details that hurt me that she had missed. The meeting was a debacle, with her walking out and saying she refused to talk while I was so upset.
The pastor explained to me that when God creates something new and beautiful in you, an attack from the devil is often around the corner, trying to tear you down. Somehow, the message from God – which was supposed to be uplifting – got dragged down and filtered through human concerns, and all I heard was criticism passed as prophecy.
As with all good lies, there was enough of a grain of truth to make it seem plausible – although some of what was spoken was in regard to past behaviour that I had already conquered.
What made it harder was that this prophet was very high in the church hierarchy, was someone in a position of respect and trust, and not someone I felt I had to be wary of.
I guess the moral is not to trust any one person when it comes to messages from God, no matter what their past record. ALWAYS test prophecy against the source before taking it as truth, particularly if there is anything of a critical nature in it.
I have since learned more about the nature of prophecy, that it is used to edify and build up the church, not to tear people down. If someone offers you a prophecy that really hurts… TEST IT!
Thanks so much for sharing this! I’m sure that many people have had a similar kind of thing happen to them too.
I so agree that prophecy should lift and build up, and impart life, and it’s so sad when the opposite happens. When we have positioned ourselves to receive a word from God, we have opened our hearts and are often vulnerable. Then, the missile fires at us. Prophecy should be a gift that reflects the heart of God towards someone, not tear him or her down.
You have brought out a great point about going to the person who brought the word—with a witness present—to share your hurt (Matt 18:15-16).
If the person who ‘prophesied’ harmfully is in your church and has not recognised or acknowledged their (intentional or unintentional) wrongdoing and prayed with you about it, then it may be best to find a safe person outside of your church to process this with.
Some things that can be prayed are:
· Express forgiveness towards the person who brought the harmful word
· Pray and proclaim the redemptive opposite of the word, i.e. God’s true heart, love and affirmation of you as a person.
· If the negative word has resulted in you feeling wounded, pray for healing of your heart and a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit
· In some cases, the ‘prophecy’ may have resulted in a curse that needs to be broken. You can tell down the track when this happens, because the negative outcome of the word begins to eventuate in your life. If a ‘prophecy’ is negative, breaking a potential curse through prayer is a wise precaution early on.
Even if the incident took place a long time ago, this process can still be helpful.
The further I move in the prophetic gift, the more I’m aware of the potential to get something wrong, through a blind spot or pride, or through filtering the word through my own opinions. These days I like to give people who have received a personal prophecy (whether the prophecy is from myself, my team or a visiting ministry at our church) a brochure that explains how to weigh up the prophetic word and what they can do with it.
Helen this is so practical and wise!! This issue is one that causes so much confusion at times for people and you have given a fantastic teaching here.
Excellent advice Helen. I am sorry that this has happened to this person. The person did the right thing by bringing it to leadership and openly discussing it with the person (prophet), good for you (that will always help in the healing process of a hurt or wounded heart). This letter will also help those of us with a prophetic gift to evaluate what a word spoken can do to someone when it is not given in a way that edifies the person, so again thank you for sharing what would have been very painful for you. We may well get words of instruction when prophesying for a person, but our responsibility is to ask the Lord what He would have us say to the person, it should never come from our own feelings, although unfortunately it sometimes does, but if we ask the Lord, He will always have you speak it in a way that blesses and not curses. I will give you an example – the Lord is showing you that this person does not have a teachable heart and takes any form of criticism poorly, you would not speak this into their life like this, you could however say, that “the Lord is showing me that you will grow in maturity and humility as you travel through this journey, you’re heart will open up to learn and receive the wisdom and training from others that will grow you in your calling”. You have now spoken a blessing into this person’s life instead of a curse, with a little thought, we can always make a word be a blessing. Let us all be wise in our treatment of others.
That’s great Sandi,
I believe one of the difficulties we can have as prophetic people is when we believe we have received ‘discernment’ from the Lord about the person we are praying for or prophesying over.
It may be true discernment (not opinion,as in the earlier example), but if it is NOT shared in the redemptive way that you have illustrated, it can be harmful.
The Lord gives us gifts of discernment to heal, not hurt.
I remember someone saying when praying for me at an altar call that they discerned a demonic spirit (named it) at work in my life. I was devastated! If they had used that information to pray a redeeming prayer over me, or to prophesy God’s purposes for the opposite to occur in my life through His Holy Spirit, how different the ministry would have been. Then they could have gently directed me towards some Prayer Ministry to be set free.
The reality is, that however diligent we are, this kind of thing will happen occasionally. It may be worth us including this discussion in future training sessions on prophecy and altar ministry…
Could you please email me regular teachings , trainings or appropriate material to help me develop the prophetic gift.
Hi Lorraine,
I’ve just subscribed you to receive the blog posts to your inbox.. but you will need to click on the link that arrives in your inbox before it is activated.
There is a lot of teaching already on the blog that may help you, feel free to browse, click on any category you are interested in or search a topic. Also, you may be interested in our David McCracken Ministries ‘Free Resources’ page here: http://www.davidmccracken.org/Resources—FREE-This-Month.php
Blessings,
Helen
Hi Helen Calder,
Please see the above dream: I dreamed that myself and (2) co-workers were driving in (3 drifferent convertiables we were following each other when we stop and had a conversation about getting gas and they both took off and I followed them they cross the intersection but when my turn cam I could cross there was too much traffic flowing both ways. I remain at the stop sign and waited the dream went away. I have praying for the interpertaiton of this dream but i have not received the revelation yet.
I need help in getting the revelation. Please advise.
Than you,
Colleen
HI Colleen, thank you for your note. Dream interpretation takes time and conversation to really get the fulness of meaning.
This is because many times the elements in our dreams are personal to us.
And a meaning can sometimes take time–even years, to be understood. That’s why it is helpful to record a dream in a journal or (as I do) on the computer.
I believe dreams can be spiritual dreams or soul dreams, and that both are significant.
You don’t mention whether there was any emotion that you felt during the dream? Or anything noteworthy about the atmosphere of the dream? Anything you felt when you woke up?
Leave me a note back and let me know.
From: Amy Simmons [mailto:simmo6a@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, 29 August 2011 11:10 PM
To: David McCracken Ministries
Subject: Need insight
If possible, I would like to contact mrs. Helen Calder. I recently
totally submitted myself to God about six months ago. Every since then
HE has continually brought me out.I have always been withdrawn, shy, and
quiet. Our church went on a corporate fast about 2 months ago, it was my
first time completing a fast. During the fast, I started having
revelations and started writing strong spiritual messages, even some in
the form of short stories. I let a few ppl read them and they told me
how moved they were or how the messages or stories hit them. When I’m
writing them it’s like I can’t stop, I never know what they will be
about when I start. I showed them to my Pastor and she asked me if I
ever thought that I was prophetic. I told her I didn’t know. She
believed that I was. A few days later while in church, my other pastor
layed hands on me and said that I was bold, creative, and prophetic. He
seems to think I will be a minister. The thing is : I have had visions
of me preaching the word, I just kinda thought it was a silly dream bc I
am shy. But last Sunday, I stepped up to give a testimony abt how fear
will no longer hold me back. When I was up there it was like I had no
fear in me, I saw the people, but I didn’t see then, the Holy Spirit
told me that morning before church that I would be denouncing fear on
that day…. There’s more to that testimony, but I will stop there…
After church that day another minister tld me I had some preacher in me,
my pastor also told me that another person in the church confirmed that
I had a calling to the ministry…. Is this confirmation?
Hi Amy, hopefully you will check back on this comment. I am really excited about what God is doing in your life! In short, you have several confirmations, the prophetic visions and words you have received yourself, the fruit of what happened when you stood up to testify, and perhaps most importantly, the confirmation of your leaders. That doesn’t mean you call is going to unfold quickly, but it does mean to put yourself in a place to prepare for it, while being faithful in serving where you are now. Shyness makes no difference to our Father, look what He’s done with me and I was very shy and fearful… I did send you a reply email in the last few days from my DMM address, I’m wondering if it’s got caught in your spam filter. Could you check and let me know back here?
xoHelen
I got the e-mail Ms. Calder. Thanks. It was in my spam folder. You are an inspiration to me, knowing that you were once shy, and is now doing what GOD has called you to do. Thank you for your words.
The things that I write have now taken the form of sermons to me. For example, this morning I was feeling kind of doubtful about some things, I finished my devotional and went upstairs to pray. I asked God for peace and joy on this day, along with other things.I felt HIM this morning, his presence was face to face with me. I needed that. When I stepped out of my closet, I immediately felt a covering of peace, then my spirit got so joyful, and I was happy. I heard: Bold, Confident, Prophetic, Creative, the exact words that my Pastor had spoken when he layed hands on me. I went into the bathroom and I was still talking with God, I told him that I needed to know if this was Him speaking to me or if this was self, because I don’t desire what self wants, so I needed so confirmation. Immediately my spirit started ministering to me using a unique story. I listened to it all, and I became so full of joy. I started preaching the message that holy spirt gave me to myself. I went to work and shared it with a few friends, they stated that it was deep, and gave me a look of amazement. They said the story really hit them and was much needed. I just want some insight. This kind of writing happens often. Holy Spirit just start ministering to me sometimes and it’s so good that I have to write it down
This discussion really moved me. I experienced the same thing at my church with someone who works for the church. She gave me a word and I had that reaction of being very crushed. I sought outside help from a well respected pastor who attended there, and he relayed shes done this before. More confusing was she was given another ministry to oversee. I forgave her but just having problems feeling comfortable in church, she caused me to question my walk, faith, prayers, and giftings and became not sure if the church was right, but I know it is, because of the past prophecy I gave in written submission to a pastor there for prayerful consideration, I saw it come to pass in their actions towards it. Just a servant here, not really looking to be recognized but learning to step up and keep my eyes on God. How does one emerge from this, I thought I was doing well untill I saw her about two weeks ago when I was in orientaion for a second ministry. I saw her and I think I felt a pain near my heart, and I was dissapointed that I felt that but non the less, I smiled at her also the Lord revealed to me in a night vision, she was “really” trying to be nice to me and that was enough for me, if God said it, its true, she is being nice. I am so glad I read one of your books and glad to have your site and teachings it helps so much when your experiencing prophetic things and theres really no one to at least in my church right now, that I feel comfortable to talk to but one pastor and its only because I wasn’t really that active but was in intercessory until this experience happend a year ago or less, I don’t feel drawn to be there anymore and for other reasons, I see. However, I really love those people they are so sweet but sometimes some see bad in everything, even natural things, and I am uncomfortable with that and misused of giftings.
Hi Liz, I’m sorry to hear of your painful experience with a prophecy. I pray that you will receive full healing from the negative effects associated with it. You mention that since this happened you have lost the sense of being ‘drawn’ to the church and that you have become uncomfortable. Another couple of things to check (as well as forgiving the person concerned) are that you have released her, and the church and leaders from any judgments (negative opinions you may hold) that have arisen from the experience, and secondly, check that you haven’t put up walls of self-protection (a natural thing to do) that have separated you in your feelings from the church. Both of these things reall hinder your ability to be knitted in and to benefit from the preaching and ministry there.
Here is another post that may help process this, in case you haven’t come across it:
http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2011/11/28/break-free-of-hurts-that-are-blocking-your-prophetic-gift/