Prophecy. Hearing from God and Telling Others

 Prophecy is hearing from God and telling others.

Some Old Testament texts would indicate it is better never to prophesy at all than to make a mistake when claiming to speak for God.

But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” Dt 18:20 NRSV

But as we read the New Testament, we see strong instructions encouraging all believers to prophesy, not only church leaders.

Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. 1 Cor 14:1 NRSV

How strange, that the Old Testament should warn against prophesying unless you know that you know that you are a true prophet who infallibly hears the exact words spoken by God.

How strange that the New Testament, inspired by the same Holy Spirit should encourage all believers to prophesy. Surely God knows that we will sometimes make mistakes! Surely He knows that we often only partly understand what He wants to tell us!

Scripture seems to put us in a no win situation. If we boldly encourage everyone to prophesy, are we encouraging false prophecy, confusion and condemnation?

Many Christian leaders today are intimidated by this problem. They teach prophecy is no longer for today. This teaching is without biblical evidence.

Others water down the concept of New Testament prophecy so that is just another word for preaching or general exhortation. 

There is plenty of New Testament evidence to suggest that God still appoints believers to hear messages from heaven and to tell others what they hear, not with the same authority and literal accuracy as scripture but still representing a direct message from God.

Others only allow pastors, elders or leaders to prophesy. But this too is dangerous. If prophecy comes only from leaders, and church members are not supposed to question their authority, then errors will go undetected and mislead many.

The best solution is for leaders to encourage all believers to learn to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and to learn to discern between the leading of God, their own thinking and the voice of dark spirits.

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. Jn 10:27 NRSV

Bible knowledge is essential but knowledge is not enough. 

If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. Jas 1:5 NRSV

God wants to speak to You

 What is God saying to you now?

There is nothing wrong with seeking wise counsel and teaching but this must not be a substitute for growing up in faith yourself. A Christian who is spiritually healthy is able to receive direct personal communication from God Himself.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; Jn 10:27 NASB95

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” Mt 4:3–4 NKJV

Here Jesus shows His faith in the Written Word of God but also in the spoken word of God. God speaks today and He speaks every day.

The Spirit of God brings the written word of God alive, so you know when God is speaking to you personally through a particular Bible text. But the Holy Spirit also speaks to your spirit in many different ways and He does it much more than most of us realise.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Rev 3:20 NKJV

In the New Testament, every believer is invited to hear the voice of God and to share with others what he hears.   

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. Acts 2:17–18 NKJV

Of course God also speaks to his children privately. Many of the things you hear from the Holy Spirit are for to keep to yourself.

 

Faith and Love belong together

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 1 Cor 13:2 NKJV

If we share bible truth, God can use the power of His own words to turn some people from confusion to faith, but that is only the first step. Many believe at first, but they fall away.

People in this broken world are desperate for love. Faith without a deep ongoing experience of love leads many converts down a blind alley.

Either they become fanatically religious without love, or they become disillusioned with false promises of love and walk away from church, or even from God.

Prophetic gifts can be powerful in helping people to believe in God. A Christian may receive a revelation from the Holy Spirit and tell a person something about him or herself which no one else knows.

On the other hand, Christians can prophesy over people to control them and keep them in bondage to manipulative religion. A preacher can tell a person, supposedly from God, that God has planted him or her in this church and he or she should not leave.

Spiritual gifts and bible teaching can help people grow in love, but they must never be a substitute for love and respect for each person.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 Jn 4:7–8 NIV

We must not think we are spiritual because of our bible knowledge or spiritual gifts. The mark of a true Christian is a character motivated by the love of God.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 Jn 4:9–11 NIV

• Love means we must not blame or judge people if they are not healed when we pray for them.

• Love means we must not try to manipulate people to grow our church or our ministry.

• Love means we must respect Christians with different doctrines or in different traditions.

If we genuinely and patiently continue to love people, we will see more people attracted to Jesus and more people continuing in faith after conversion.

In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, he sums up the essence of Christian faith, in which believing is essential, but faith is more than just believing.

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Th 1:3 NIV

In his letter to the Galatians, he also teaches the true nature of faith.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Gal 5:6 NIV

Miracles in the Last Days

 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. Acts 2.17 NKJV

When did that happen? ‘In the last days.’ What does that mean? In the last days of the old Jewish nation.

But this expression also has another meaning. We now live in the end times, shortly before the return of the Lord Jesus, the time when the last of all terrible world rulers will appear.

The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. Acts 2:20 NIV

But Peter’s message is also a message of hope.

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapour of smoke. Acts 2:17–19 NKJV

Some Reformed Christians believe that prophecy, signs and wonders were only for Bible times, but Martin Luther and John Knox shared prophecies that were fulfilled.

In 1909, some conservative Christians in Berlin declared that the signs and wonders in the Charismatic Movement came from below.

The Pharisees made exactly the same mistake when they declared the miracles of Jesus to be demonic.

I know a woman in Australia who visited heaven during an operation.

I spoke to a Persian woman in Germany who saw Jesus in a dream when she was a Muslim. Eight years later, she converted to Jesus.

A woman I know very well escaped certain death when God saved her from a collision.
It was too late for the brakes. She couldn't avoid a collision. Then she felt a terrible heat. The vehicle went right through her car, without noise, without causing any damage. It was like something out of a fantasy film.

The sensation of heat lasted for a few days.

The extreme multiplication of signs and wonders in our time is a problem for many conservative Christians.

Not all stories are true and not all supernatural phenomena come from God.

We have to test revelations, but if we condemn all strange events as counterfeit, we will also reject the miracles of God.
Maybe you come from a conservative background. You find these dramatic testimonies doubtful, but you are not sure.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. Jas 1:5 NIV

Don't stay where you are. A true disciple is one who always wants to learn from God Himself.

C. Peter Wagner was a conservative lecturer at a Bible school in America. He heard amazing testimonies of miracles in Argentina and Brazil.
He attended meetings in which poor people received new teeth or gold fillings. He was then convinced that it was not a deception.

Great Miracles before Jesus Returns

 The modern Pentecostal movement has been condemned by some as ‘from below’, but in China, South Korea, Indonesia, Africa and South America millions of people are flocking to Jesus, including Muslims and communists. Without signs and wonders, this phenomenon would be unthinkable.

Millions of Muslims are experiencing visitations from Jesus in dreams. Millions are converting to Jesus. But some question if this can be biblical.

In the Bible, God often spoke in dreams.

C Peter Wagner was a conservative, sceptical, by no means charismatic lecturer at an academic Bible school in the USA. He heard extreme stories of the revivals in Argentina and Brazil.

He wanted to investigate these reports and he visited South America. He attended events where amazing miracles happened. Poor people without access to a dentist got multiple gold fillings. The conservative academic Peter Wagner was convinced.

The Holy Spirit does work in our times and we see real miracles that are just as extreme as in the Bible and some real miracles that we don't find in the Bible.

“ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. Acts 2:17–18 NIV

But there are Bible teachers who claim that these phenomena were only meant for Bible times. We must seek the answer in the Bible itself, for God's Word is our foundation.

So let's read on in the passage.

I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. Acts 2:19–20 NIV

So these signs and wonders are for the last days, for the end times, even for the time just before ‘the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.’

If we do not understand our time in this way, we need to ask God for wisdom and revelation.

Aim High, Start Small

 Jesus was not a trained theologian. He had no time for it. As a young man, he had to provide for his family as a carpenter.

Nevertheless, he lived in close communion with his heavenly Father and studied the Old Testament in his spare time.

But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night. Ps 1:2 NLT

Even before his public preaching ministry began, Jesus was our role model.

Do you have no ministry apart from your family life and your work? When God sends revival in hard times, He will amaze you.

About 60 years ago, an American preacher received a prophetic vision from the Lord. He saw Christian housewives and other completely unknown Christians ministering on the streets. They prayed for the seriously ill and many were healed by God.

I know Christians in Australia who are already doing this. The sick are healed and many are converted to Jesus.

Unfortunately, there are some conservative Christians who question this. They quite rightly say that Jesus healed everyone infallibly, but not everyone is healed today. Quite right.

But if our faith and heavenly power are not on the same level as Jesus, should our ministry be completely invalid?

When the Jews returned to Jerusalem from Babylon, they began to rebuild the destroyed temple.

Some Jews criticised and complained because the new temple was not glorious like Solomon's temple. Perhaps they were like some critics today. All or nothing. In the healing ministry we are supposed to either be 100% successful, like Jesus, or our ministry is invalid or false.

Zerubbabel was the high priest who administered the rebuilding of the temple. His name means that he was born in Babylon. He was not a brilliant personality like Solomon, whose father was the great King David.

But God encouraged Zerubbabel, who was allowed to respond with anointed confidence.

“Zerubbabel is the one who laid the foundation of this Temple, and he will complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has sent me.

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” Zec 4:9–10 NLT

Don't you have a pulpit? If a colleague or neighbour has a headache, you can pray openly.

I was once at an event. When the pastor arrived, his wife had a headache. I stepped aside and prayed fervently. When I came back shortly afterwards, the headache was gone.

Start small. Prepare for an amazing manifestation of God's power in these difficult end times.

Miracles Still for Today

 There is a highly questionable and controversial teaching that the supernatural spiritual gifts that appear in the book of Acts and 1 Corinthians were taken away by God in the first centuries of the Christian era.

This idea is supposedly supported by some verses in 1 Corinthians 13.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Co 13:12 NIV

This clear recognition is intended to point to the appearance of the New Testament. But neither Paul nor most of the Corinthians had seen the complete New Testament.

How many Christians in our day who know the New Testament have a clear recognition of God that so surpasses the revelations of the apostles themselves? This makes no sense.

This verse in 1 Corinthians is not a new idea. David had the same revelation in Psalm 17.

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness. Ps 17:15 NRSV

The psalmist was David, who believed that in his afterlife he would see God himself directly.

I once looked for this text in various Bible commentaries in a Christian bookshop. The commentaries were not Pentecostal, but they all explained that 1 Cor 13:12 is supposed to be a reference to our encounter with God in the next life.

David expected that he would meet God directly and visibly after his death. This had nothing to do with the appearance of the New Testament.

In our time, we need God's supernatural help like never before.

And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mk 16:17–18 NRSV

In our time, millions of Muslims are becoming Christians. In millions of cases, they are converted after seeing Jesus in a dream or vision, and in many others they are converted after experiencing healing miracles.

I know an Arab Christian who was formerly a Muslim. A Muslim Arab tried to kill him with poison, but he was unharmed. When the would be assassin saw him alive, he was shocked.

The Christian man quoted Mark 16:18. … and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 1 Co 13:8 NIV

When will prophecies and tongues cease? When we see Jesus.
What about knowledge coming to an end? We still need knowledge because we are not face to face with God.
 

You can be a Missionary

 Maybe you are not a leader in the church, but you want to establish something for God in your school or office, or in your neighbourhood.

God raised up wonderfully gifted leaders in the Bible.

We think of Peter, Paul and John, outstanding apostles who were able to discern God's thoughts and establish new missions. They were trailblazers for Jesus.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Ephesians 4:11 NLT

 But not all missionaries and trailblazers were official church leaders.

Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews.

However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus.

The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord. Acts 11:19–21 NLT

We will know these pioneers in heaven, but in the meantime we don't know their names.

Maybe you can have a barbecue in your garden. You can invite your non-Christian neighbours, but also two or three Christian friends who are strong in faith. Then you can pray for your neighbours.

Once I talked to some friends who wanted to learn about the Bible. They had talked to Jehovah’s Witnesses and were interested in doing a Jehovah’s Witness Bible study. 

I immediately invited them to come to my house instead, and my wife and I spontaneously started our own bible study group.

I heard a wonderful testimony from a Christian woman who was active in a charismatic church.

One of the pastors, who was very prophetically gifted, organised a meeting, so that Christians would learn through practical experience to perceive God's thoughts and then pass them on.

Is that biblical? It is.

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. 1 Cor 14:1 NIV84

“ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17 NIV84

When are we to prophesy? In the last days, in the end times. When did the end times begin? 2000 years ago. Have the end times come to an end? Really?

Who is allowed to prophesy? "Your sons and daughters." So women can prophesy too? According to the Bible, yes. And in assemblies with men? In Acts chapter 2, clearly yes.

The woman in this true story had a friend over. She wanted to attend the meeting where they learned to share God's thoughts, that is, prophesy.

Her friend did not believe in God, but she was curious and wanted to come along.

The preacher told the Christians to pair off. The curious unbelieving woman wanted to join in.

Then the preacher told everyone to pray and receive a revelation or message from God for their partner and share it. A strange thought came to the unbelieving woman, and she passed it on. The Christian woman was deeply blessed because only God could know what she heard.

The unbelieving woman was amazed, and she became a believer.

Is this biblical? In the Old Testament, a donkey spoke a true prophecy.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, Ephesians 3:20 NIV84

THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WORST OF TIMES

"Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbour, Pressing him to your bottle, 

Even to make him drunk, That you may look on his (or her) nakedness! Habakkuk 2:15 (NKJV) 

In this chapter we also see the most horrible sin dominating the world in the darkest of times.

• It speaks of evil men using violent coercion and alcohol (or drugs) to sexually abuse powerless victims (male or female). 

  • In today’s world rape, kidnapping and trading slaves for prostitution is out of control. It is a huge global industry.

Liberal humanist governments have legalised prostitution in many countries, hoping this will prevent and help control violent criminal sexual abuse but such laws has often have often produced the opposite result.

The democratic freedom we rightly value comes from Western Europe, Britain and former British colonies. These are the countries where the Bible once had a profound influence on culture.

• It is true that classical Greece was pagan but that country only gave democratic rights to the male citizens, who were a privileged class ruling over women and slaves.

• It is also true that the French Revolution also proclaimed faith in Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. However the French Revolution was the scene of the most depraved mass slaughters, horrific wars and an epidemic of arbitrary executions.

Liberal democracy is only fully effective when there is a measure of respect for Biblical truth and moral goodness.

• When the God of the Bible is ignored or despised, Western Society, once known as Christendom, falls to pieces. That is what we are seeing today.

• All Western Countries are sinking under a mountain of debt and moral confusion.

Habakkuk Chapter 2 vividly describes this chaos. However, in this chapter we also find the solution to the problem.

I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected. 

• Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.

• For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.

"Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith. Hab 2:1-4 (NKJV) 

In the traumatic End Times, faithful believers will seek personal encounters with the Living God of Israel and He will not disappoint us. 

• God will share profound and powerful truths with those who love Him and listen to Him.

When God gives you a message to share, don’t wait until your pastor invites you to preach on Sunday because it probably won’t happen. 

• God calls you to share His messages with the people around you, at home, at work, on the bus and on the Internet.

• But don’t just preach. Live by faith. In these difficult times, only a profoundly personal faith in God will get you through. 

  However, the End Time is not only a time of darkness.

• God will answer our heart cry for His presence in a way we have not yet seen or understood, although many of us are beginning to experience fresh revelations of His glory.

For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea. Hab 2:14 (NKJV) 

We see a similar message in Isaiah.

Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. 

For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; 

But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. Isa 60:1 (NKJV) 

It is time for us to begin to see the glory of God in more dramatic abundance than ever before. 

• I believe we will see extreme miracles which will surpass the miracles of Moses and the Miracles worked by Jesus when He lived as a man.

Never before in history has the earth been FILLED with the KNOWLEDGE of the Glory of God but it will happen. 

• And it will happen in the midst of darkness and strife before Jesus returns.

WHO DOES JERUSALEM BELONG TO?

Both Israel and the Palestinian Arabs claim East Jerusalem as the rightful capital of their nations. 

• As Christians, we have only one Teacher, who is Jesus. 

• We have only one source of Truth, the Bible. 

What is EAST Jerusalem?

"East Jerusalem ... refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War ... and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. It includes Jerusalem's Old City and some of the holiest sites of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, such as the Temple Mount, Western Wall, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre."

"East Jerusalem is the proclaimed capital of the proposed Palestine although Ramallah serves as the administrative capital. Israel has declared all of Jerusalem, both East and West sections, as its undivided eternal capital."

What does Jesus say about Jerusalem?

“But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Matthew 5:34-35 (NKJV)”

JERUSALEM .... IS THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.

The apostle Matthew wrote the book bearing his name to present Jesus to the Jews as their heavenly King.

Matthew 1:1 (NKJV)   The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

Jesus is referred to in the New Testament as the Son of Man, the Son of God and The Son of David. 

• David was the first great King of Israel who conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital city over Israel, reigning from there for 33 years, which is the same time period as the earthly life of Jesus.

• The whole of Israel was given to David by God, including Jerusalem as its capital city.

• God also promised to establish the Kingdom of David as an eternal kingdom that would never pass away.

Psalm 89:3-4 (NKJV)   "I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David:  'Your seed I will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations.' " Selah

Christian tradition has spiritualised this and robbed God’s promise of much of its meaning. 

• Generations of Christians not understood that Jesus will not only reign has heavenly King of Kings.  

  • We must know Jesus will also rule and reign as the Jewish King of Israel on earth with Jerusalem as His capital city, the capital city of the restored Hebrew Nation of Israel and of the whole world.

Isaiah 2:3 (NKJV)  Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths." 

• For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 

Isaiah 60 speaks of a great spiritual world war in the end times. 

Isaiah 60:1-2 (NKJV)  Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.  

• For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; 

• But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.

Here we see God restoring His people to glory in a time of great spiritual darkness, which is surely today.

The glory of God is not yet seen in the lives of most Israeli Jews or in the lives of a great many Christians but God speaks of a time in which His glory will be revealed on all people who love Him and receive Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ).

• We have seen some of this glory already in the great revivals in Azusa Street, Wales, Korea and Latin America. 

  • We have seen hundreds of millions of Africans and Chinese turn to Jesus since the rebirth of Israel. 

  • We see a great Christian Zionist movement rising up to love the Jews and support Israel.

Isaiah 60 also speak specifically of Jerusalem as the centre of God’s End Times plans.

 Isaiah 60:14 (NKJV)  Also the sons of those who afflicted you Shall come bowing to you, 

• And all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; 

  • And they shall call you The City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

WHAT IS THE GREATEST MIRACLE?

What is the greatest miracle of all?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NRSV

What is the most amazing miracle?

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2
… AND …

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy ...Jude 1:24 (NKJV)

But does that mean we should not desire lesser miracles like healing and prophecy?

The Bible teaches us we should earnestly desire God's supernatural blessings here and now!! 

In Matthew 17, the disciples of Jesus failed to heal a sick boy because they could not cast out a demon. Jesus was not pleased. Jesus himself thought healing was important and He has not changed.

What is the greatest thing in the world?

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Co 13:13 NKJV

If Love is the supreme good, what value should we place on miraculous gifts?

Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. 1 Co 14:1 NRSV

A complete and balanced Christian life is a life of love and practical kindness but we must not forget that salvation is supernatural from start to finish.

We must not and dare not neglect to manifest the supernatural power of the love of Jesus.

Miraculous spiritual gifts are not necessary for salvation. All you need is to trust in the love of Jesus and the message of salvation. But in another sense, supernatural Charismatic gifts are essential for salvation, for the salvation of others. 

 

Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” Jn 4:48 NKJV

...and so it is today. Millions of people will never believe unless they see our faith, hope and love confirmed by miraculous spiritual gifts, such as prophecy and healing.