The Vision by Rick Joyner
The Purpose of Prophecy
EPISODE 78
Prophecy is given for encouragement, but it is also given for edification. To edify means "to build up." Much of my life and ministry has been built on fulfilled prophetic words.
Almost every major aspect of our ministry, including the places where I go to minister or speak, is foretold prophetically. I do not consider doing something or going somewhere to minister unless the Lord has spoken to me in advance. Jesus did the same. He did not respond to human needs: He only did what He saw the Father doing. We do not have time to go places or start things that God is not leading us to do. I think that our devotion to hearing from the Lord before we do things enables us to be fruitful with the resources
and time entrusted to us.
I know of others who have successfully built a ministry or church on prophetic words. I also know of some who have been shipwrecked and others who suffered serious diversions because they did not know how to judge prophecy. Many of these problems happened because they received genuine revelation from the Lord, but misinterpreted or misappliedit. For some, this may sound too complicated, but it is the process clearly established by the Scriptures, and we will pay a dear price if we deviate from sound biblical wisdom in regard to prophetic revelation.
As Jesus said in Matthew 22:29, "Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures of the power of God" (RJV). Many today make errors because they know the Scriptures but do not know the power of God. Those who know His power often make mistakes because they do not know the Scriptures as they should. If we are going to keep from making mistakes, we must know both the Scriptures and the power of God.
Prophecy was never intended to replace the Bible, and the Bible was never intended to replace prophecy.
I have spent many hours with conservative evangelical leaders of major ministries to whom God has begun speaking through dreams, visions and prophecy. In many cases, He began to do this even when it violated their theology. This has become so widespread that I have begun to wonder if there are any conservative evangelical leaders with whom God is not dealing in this way. At MorningStar, there is almost a steady stream of contacts from those who are seeking help in understanding what is happening to them. What they may not understand at this point is that prophetic people also need their help every bit as much as conservative evangelicals need the help of those who have some experience with the prophetic gifts. For the church to achieve the maturity to which she is called, there must be a union between those who know the Scriptures and those who know the power of God, and this is now happening at a fast pace.
I have searched the Bible to verify that the teachings given in my experiences are biblical, and I am confident that they are. I do admit that some of them caused me to view certain Scriptures in a way that I had not previously seen them. Even so, I believe that this is consistent with the purpose of such prophetic revelations. Prophecy should not be used to establish doctrine. We were given the Bible for that, and I believe that the doctrine of the Bible is complete and must never be added to. However, the Bible itself has many examples of prophetic experiences given to individuals for the purpose of illuminating the Scriptures.
A prominent New Testament example of this would be the trance into which Peter fell, resulting in his trip to Cornelius' house and opening the door of faith to the Gentiles. This experience and the fruit it bore clarified for the church that the Lord also intended for the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles. This did not establish a new doctrine, but illuminated what the Scriptures said and what the Lord, Himself, had taught when He was with them, but which they apparently had forgotten.
Many of the experiences included in these two books did the same for me. They constantly reminded me of my own teachings and teachings I had heard from others, but at best had only superficially implemented in my life. In this way, these prophetic experiences were a constant challenge to me, bringing essential correction, and even judgment, to my own life and teachings. As I was the one having the experiences, I took them personally and do not presume that the same corrections are needed by everyone. However, I do believe that many of them, if not most of them, are generally applicable to the church in our time.
There are a number of recurring themes in this discourse.
Not only are there repetitious statements, but some of these themes are repeated from different perspectives or worded differently in various situations. I realize that this may have been done because of my own dullness, just as it seemed that the Lord had to repeat himself over and over to Peter. I als realize that such repetition is not good literary style, but style is not my goal here. Each time something is repeated, the probability that it will be retained is increased. I have therefore tried to repeat everything just as it was repeated to me.