The prophet's handbook

their headings. True prophecy is not empty words prayed or uttered by gifted people describing what they see. Rather, it taps into Creator God’s library and sees a page or chapter of a person’s life book written long before time began. God permits and perpetuates prophecy to steer our lives to His eternal existence and to refine us and make us flourish along the way. He also uses prophecy to assure that the gifts and talents He deposits in people are properly and prosperously used as He intends. According to Exodus 18, Moses performed this function for Israel as he told them the work they were to do. Question #8: Should people seek personal prophecy? Scripture does not say God’s people are not to inquire of Him by His prophets. In fact, it appears to say the opposite. Jesus said to receive a prophet in the name of a prophet in Matthew’s gospel; Paul encouraged Timothy to use the prophecies that commissioned him to wage a good warfare. Later he told Timothy not to neglect the gift he received by prophecy. (See 1 Timothy 1:18 and 4:14.) Why else would he instruct his young protégé thusly, except that prophecy is a powerful means of conquering this life? When questioning the propriety of seeking a bona fide prophet, consider this. If it is okay for you to seek counsel, prayer, intercession, professional or casual advice, but why is it taboo to inquire of God from a prophet? You can seek words of wisdom or knowledge from someone’s prayer, hear God through an advisor or a therapist, and benefit from a friend’s wisdom, but you may not seek a prophet. That does not seem to make sense. Meanwhile, as pointed out previously, Exodus 18 says Moses let God’s people inquire of him all day. As a prophet, he judged, taught, and instructed Israel according to God’s law. Later, in Exodus 18:20, Jethro’s counsel shows that Moses addressed their lifestyles and careers, clearly doing so by ministering personal prophecy. In 1 Samuel 15, Saul visited the prophet Samuel to learn what happened to his lost donkeys. Samuel was not surprised that Saul sought him on such a mundane issue. Furthermore, Samuel’s company of prophets suggests people sought them routinely for life’s answers. Question #9: Does Scripture allude to or record anything akin to a prophetic presbytery? A prophetic presbytery is strongly implied in Scripture based on several mentions of a company of prophets, also expressed as “the sons of the prophets.” These groups of stationary or itinerant ministers identify a body of prophesying voices who served from the palace to the villages. Jeremiah’s conflict with Hananiah in Jeremiah 28 further reinforces this practice as an