The Grace Gifts of the Holy Spirit
11 - Grace Gift of Prophecy, 2

Romans 12:
4 We have many parts in one body, but the parts don't all have the same function.
5 In the same way, though there are many of us, we are one body in Christ, and individually we belong to each other.
6 We have different gifts that are consistent with God's grace that has been given to us. If your gift is prophecy, you should prophesy in proportion to your faith.   Common English Bible

Prophecy is one of the grace gifts of the Holy Spirit.
If it is our gift, Paul says we should prophesy in proportion to our faith. One aspect of prophecy is foretelling. This is speaking about the future God’s will for our lives from His point of view.

God says that when we call upon Him and seek Him with all our hearts that we will find Him   (see: Jeremiah 29:11 – 13).
If you choose to find out your future using divination, your answer may come from a human being, an evil spirit or even Satan.
God must be our focus when we seek direction for our future. As we follow His principles for living that we find in His word, He blesses us and begins to lead us on His path for our lives   (see: Proverbs 3: 5 – 10).

But sometimes God may send one of His servants to warn us as happened in the life of the Apostle Paul.

Acts 21:
8 The next day we went to Philip's home in Caesarea and stayed with him. He was a missionary and one of the seven men who helped the apostles.
9 Philip had four unmarried daughters who had the ability to speak what God had revealed.
10 After we had been there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judea.
11 During his visit he took Paul’s belt and tied his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'This is how the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt. Then they will hand him over to people who are not Jewish'"
12 When we heard this, we and the believers who lived there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
13 Then Paul replied, "Why are you crying like this and breaking my heart? I'm ready not only to be tied up in Jerusalem but also to die there for the sake of the Lord, the one named [Jesus]"
14 When Paul could not be persuaded, we dropped the issue and said, "May the Lord's will be done."
15 After that, we got ready to go to Jerusalem.    Names of God Bible

The prophet Agabus told Paul that trouble would happen if Paul went to Jerusalem. Paul heard the warning and believed the words of the prophet, but sensed in his spirit that he should still go to Jerusalem.
Paul's friends who loved him, felt that this was God telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem, but Paul didn't understand the warning that way. Paul felt that God was warning him to prepare himself for the trouble that would follow.

Notice the attitude of the prophet Agabus. He understood that Paul was headed for trouble in Jerusalem, but he didn't insist that Paul take his warning to mean he shouldn't go to Jerusalem.
When you see trouble coming and warn someone about it, that's the end of your responsibility. Everyone is free to live their own lives as they see that God is guiding them.

Notice also that Paul didn't go seeking direction from the prophet Agabus. Paul went to the Lord for direction, and God sent the prophet to give Paul this warning.

Prayer:
Father in heaven,  we thank You so much that You are our God. You may choose to send us a word of direction through another believer. But Lord, our responsibility is to act upon what You have shown us as we seek Your path for ourselves.
We thank You for those in the body of Christ who do prophesy. But we also thank You that You require us to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness and all these details of direction will be added to us as we obey You.
Thank You that You are the one I must give an account to at the end of my life. Thank You for opening up Your path of righteousness before me today,   in Jesus' Precious name,   Amen.



Hope we can get together again tomorrow,
God willing.
Meanwhile, have a great day
walking with The Lord Jesus Christ!