Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, [that special endowment] which was intentionally bestowed on you [by the Holy Spirit] through prophetic utterance when the elders laid their hands on you [at your ordination]. I Timothy 4:14 (Amplified Bible, AMP)

I want to talk a moment about prophecy and what we need to do when we receive a personal word of prophecy. We see in this verse that a prophetic word was given to Timothy when the elders laid hands upon him. The operation of the prophetic is in full swing in these days- it has not been done away with. Both the gift of prophecy, in which any believer can operate at the will of the Spirit, and the office of the prophet, are fully functioning today.

When we receive a word of prophecy delivered to us, we need to do some things with it. A prophecy is not meant to be ignored, but we need to act upon it. Here is what we must do with a prophetic word.

1. First of all, we must determine if it lines up with scripture. For example, if someone prophesies to a married person that they are to divorce their spouse and marry them, you can bet it is not from God because the Word does not promote such behavior. To know if a prophecy is scriptural, we must study the Bible and know what it says. Yes, it works to go to check the Bible after we get a word, but it is better if we already have a good working knowledge of the Bible so we can better judge any prophecies.

2. Secondly, we need to determine if it bears witness with our spirit and with what the Lord has told us directly. A word of prophecy should confirm what is in your heart, not contradict it. For example, if someone prophesies that you are to move to the Alaskan interior and be a missionary, determine if it lines up with your desires and what the Holy Spirit has been saying to you. If you know you are not called to the mission field, you can toss that word out. If you are not sure, just shelf it. In other words, set it aside and pray about it and see what the Lord says and does with it in the days to come.

3. If we have determined that a prophetic word is scriptural and bears witness with our spirit, then we must receive it. We simply receive it by saying we accept it as a word from God. When we verbally receive a prophetic word, we are agreeing with what has been prophesied and it sets things in motion to bring it to pass.

4. If we know a prophecy is not of God, we need to reject it. And it is a good idea to reject it verbally, because false prohecies are often sent by the enemy to distract us from our real direction. By rejecting it out loud, we are taking authority over the enemy and his lies. You may choose to tell the person giving the word that you do not believe it lines up with what God has told you. Of course, don’t be rude to the person delivering the prophetic word. If you prefer, you can reject the word when you are alone and tell the devil to take a hike when others are not around.

5. For the word that we determine is of God, we must wield that word. What that means is that we need to wield it like a weapon is wielded in battle. A word of prophecy is given to us by God to use as a weapon to fight the good fight of faith. And you can be sure that once you receive a word, the enemy will come to try to steal it. To wield a word and brandish it like a sword, we need to speak it forth on a regular basis, thanking God for bringing it to pass. Hold onto that word, for it has been given as an additional aid to help you withstand the attacks of the enemy. Speak it out and use it to spear holes in the lies of the devil. When we stand on the written word and any prophetic words we have, we are too much for the enemy to handle. Stay joyful and expectant that what has been spoken will come to pass.

As we handle prophetic words with the skillfulness of a mighty warrior, we can be sure that we will see the manifestation of what the Lord has promised.