Knowin God - Deueronomy 18:22

(from Pastor)

If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord

but the thing does not take place or prove true,

it is a word that the Lord has not spoken.

The prophet has spoken it presumptuously;

do not be frightened by it.

Deuteronomy 18:22

In general, most of us assume that the prophets quit speaking with Isaiah, Malachi, and maybe John the Baptist. But here's what you need to know: God still can and still does speak prophetically.

Fortunately scripture gives us a test for evaluating whether an utterance is from God: Does it come true ... or not?

Now, sometimes we have the luxury of waiting and seeing if "a word" comes true or not. For example, if I said "the world will end tomorrow," we could wait until next Tuesday and say, "That probably wasn't a prophetic word!"

But what if it's more ambiguous? How do we know when someone is truly speaking a word from God?

My advice is this:

1. Read the Bible!

2. Read the Bible some more.

3. Train your ear to hear God's more common voice through scripture. 

4. Then if prayer, circumstance, and a spoken word from a faithful person confirm what you're reading, maybeit's from God.

5. And remember ... any true word from God will only enhance -- and never undermine -- God's word in scripture. It may apply a scriptural word to your current situation, but it will never undermine what's in the Bible.

In Christ's Love,

a guy who tries to listen to the Word

so he can speak God's word into situations

(but that's not prophetic and I'm no prophet.

I'm just a app for someone's occasional iLife.)

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I am very cynical when others tell me "this is from God" and then give me advice.  I prefer God to speak through his word as I study it.  I do talk to pastor to figure stuff out, but he has studied the word much more in-depth than I have.  I trust what he says, but also pray about it, try to confirm for myself in the bible and read the bible some more for myself.