5 Types of Prophetic Gifts

These are the 5 different types of expressions of the prophetic. So number one is the word of knowledge. We see this in 1 Corinthians 12:7-8, where the word declares, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. Now prophetic ministry in general, as you look at the scripture, has to do with communicating on the Lord's behalf. The Lord will send you a message, give you an impression, give you a dream, and then that dream, that communication has been given to you so that you steward and obey. Now, sometimes the Lord will reveal things to you so that you can speak them. And other times the Lord will reveal things to you so that you can pray about them. And that really is gonna come down to knowing the voice of the Holy Spirit. If you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, you see that Paul is writing to the church about the special abilities that the Holy Spirit gives. So then if there's a supernatural element to what Paul is writing about, then this would have to mean that this couldn't be just your average wisdom or just your average knowledge. It would have to be divinely inspired, divinely acquired wisdom and knowledge. So for example, if I open a textbook and I read certain facts, I am by natural means acquiring knowledge. If I have a conversation with a friend and they tell me a situation that's happening with them, I'm acquiring by natural means information, knowledge. So then knowledge that is given by the Spirit, word of knowledge, bits of information, bits of knowledge, pieces of the story, that information that's coming to me comes by the Spirit. So it's not just knowledge in general, it's knowledge given to you by the Holy Spirit, the supernatural acquisition of knowledge. Now, think for example, of the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus didn't speak to her future. He spoke about her past. Because often when we think of a prophet, we think just in terms of knowing the future. And now that's one of the expressions, but this is another. So the word of knowledge deals with past and present. Why? 'Cause it's dealing with knowledge, information, things that are, and you know those by the Spirit. So again, John 4, the woman at the well. Jesus tells her her situation, that she had been divorced, that she had several husbands. And the one that she was living with now was not her husband. And what does she say to Jesus when he gives her information about her past and present situation? She says, I perceive, what? That you are a prophet. So that prophetic category includes information about the past and the present. I was ministering at a house church years ago, and I was praying for the pastor of that house church. And as I'm praying for him, I saw a woman and I saw a silver car. And I told him, I said, do you know a woman who drives a silver car? I wanna pray with her. And he said, yes. In fact, I think, I believe he said his sister. He said, my sister drives a silver car and she just wrecked that car a few days ago. And that knowledge, had I known the family, Had I had a conversation with them, had I been there at the scene, I would have been able to acquire that information through natural means, but this was the supernatural acquisition of knowledge. And so I prayed over her that God would heal her from— of her injuries from that accident that she was in, and that was a demonstration of the word of knowledge. Number 2, it's found in the same context, word of wisdom. Now, just as knowledge can be acquired naturally or supernaturally, so wisdom can be acquired naturally or supernaturally. So knowledge is simply the acquisition of knowledge. The word of knowledge is simply the supernatural acquisition of knowledge. Wisdom can be acquired naturally, and then there's the supernatural acquisition. of wisdom. And so this is daily navigation. For example, I myself, I never went to business school. I never knew how to manage finances. I never knew how to manage organizations. I never knew how to manage a media organization. It was something that the Holy Spirit helped to teach me. Now, of course, I had to apply myself also, but the Holy Spirit deposited that wisdom. So I'm relying on his wisdom, not mine. And that's what I prayed when I just got saved. I was reading James chapter 1, where the word promises that I can ask God for wisdom and he's not gonna get upset at me for asking. And he will give me that wisdom if I ask him. And so as a young boy, I said, Lord, I don't have very much wisdom. I don't know what I'm doing. I need you to give me wisdom or I can't do anything for you. And so the Lord began to, by the Holy Spirit, deposit that wisdom. And I began to see in my mind, Structures, organizational charts, strategies, next steps. The Lord just deposited all of that. Think about Joseph and his solutions. Remember Joseph, he interprets the dreams of Pharaoh, but not only does he interpret them through prophetic interpretation, but he's able to come up with a solution by the same Holy Spirit that would help them to use the information that they gained through the dream, to actually bring about prosperity? Well, that was by the Holy Spirit. So here we see that the Spirit helped him interpret the dream. That's prophetic. But then the same Holy Spirit gives him the wisdom to navigate the situation that was revealed by the dream. That's the Holy Spirit too. And that type of wisdom is in and of itself a prophetic expression. Number 3, discernment. This now is where you see the spirit. You can see the spirit they're coming in. Are they coming with a satanic spirit? Are they coming with a secular spirit, worldly spirit? Are they coming with the Spirit of God? In 1 Corinthians 12:10, we read, to another the working of miracles, To another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. So there we see the discerning of spirits. This is the ability to distinguish between the spirits in which they are coming. For example, I've seen certain manifestations in our services. Let's say I pray for someone and they go out under the power of God. I can often, not always, and by the way, discernment is not omniscience. People often ask in a very critical way, where was the discernment in some instances? And discernment isn't omniscience. Discernment doesn't mean I always know everything all the time. And so we have to give grace to one another. It doesn't mean you know everything all the time, but there are instances where you can sense it, you can see it. I'll pray for someone, they go out under the power, and sometimes I can see, ah, they're faking it. They didn't really get that experience. Now I don't embarrass them. I'm not trying to, maybe they felt they needed to, I don't know. But I just leave it be and I move on to the next person. And then there's sometimes I can see the power of God touch someone, and I can see by the Spirit, they are having a genuine spiritual encounter. But the way they are reacting to that genuine spiritual encounter, that's of the flesh. To where the power's moving on them, yeah, they can't stand, yeah, they might be shaking, but then they react in a way that exaggerates what they're experiencing. Well, now I can distinguish the two. I can see the Spirit moving on them and in them, the Holy Spirit, but then I can also see how out of their own spirit, they're reacting to that in a way that's not necessarily— That's not of the Spirit. beneficial. So it's not as cut and dry as, oh, they're faking it or they're not. It could be they are having a genuine spiritual encounter and then reacting very emotionally to it. So you can separate, that's the Spirit, that's the emotion. That's a genuine touch of God, but the way they're responding is emotionally. And these are ways that you can navigate the realm of the Spirit without being too critical, because discernment is not the gift of criticism. Isn't that interesting that that's what we think discernment is? I remember I was watching a friend of mine, and I think it was a livestream, and somebody posted, you have to use discernment with this guy. And I thought that was interesting because I asked myself, I thought we had to use discernment with everyone. Because when they talked about discernment, what they really meant was criticism. You have to be critical of this guy is what they meant. So it's not being judgmental, suspicious, or negative. That's not the same as being prophetic. Some people say, I'm prophetic. And what they mean is they don't trust anyone. Or I'm prophetic. And what they mean is they're very critical. Or I'm prophetic. And what they mean is they're very hard to please. That's not the same thing as discernment. It's not the gift of criticism. It's what you carry in the Spirit that helps you to see past the surface and not just see past the surface, but also the ability to delineate between what is of the Spirit What is of the soul and what is of the satanic. Number 4, this is prophetic insight. Very different here. This is where you see into the soul. Now I wanna be very careful of the way I word this. We cannot, by our own ability, look into people's souls. We can't read minds. We can't look into their soul and decide we know their motivations. Only God can reveal that. Let me say that very clearly. Only God can reveal that. And just like me, David Hernandez, I can't heal on command. A prophet is subject to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Now, a prophet may ask or inquire of the Lord, that's different, but God is the one who ultimately reveals. So in Matthew 12:25, we read, Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall. fall apart. And this is Jesus knowing the thoughts of the Pharisees who were criticizing his deliverance ministry. In 1 Corinthians 14:24-25, listen to what Paul writes here. But if all of you are prophesying and unbelievers, or people who don't understand these things, come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. Watch this, verse 25, as they listen, Their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, God is truly here among you. So it's not necessarily that you see into people, but you see in the Spirit by the Holy Spirit, and he sees what's in people. So again, word of knowledge, I can see the situation. That's the exterior past and present. Word of wisdom, I see the solution. I know how to navigate what's before me. Discernment, I see the spirit, I know the motivation in which they come. I know the source of their power. I know the source of what the manifestation is. And then there's insight. Now you're looking at the hearts and minds of men and women by the Holy Spirit. And he does that sometimes. So this is different than the word of knowledge in that it's not something that's knowable by natural means. Remember, word of knowledge, is the acquisition of knowledge, but you can acquire that knowledge in another way if you wanted to, by spying on someone, by looking at their computer, by reading their text messages, you can acquire a lot of knowledge about them. But to see insight, to see into the spirit realm, into the mind and the heart by the Holy Spirit, that now is more than just looking at knowledge that could have otherwise been acquired through natural means. There's no way to get that knowledge. That's why Paul writes, as they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed. They'll fall on their knees and worship God, declaring, God is truly here among you. And then we see prophecy. That's number 5, prophecy. And this now is foresight. This is seeing the future as revealed by God. In Mark 8:31, we see the prophecy about the future. And then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things. and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after 3 days rise again. So here he's teaching based on what he sees in the future. Or think of the, the prophets of the Old Testament who were able to look into the mysteries of the gospel and see types and shadows of what was to come, prophesying the coming Messiah, prophesying things about Jesus, details about the life of Christ Hundreds of years in advance. That is prophecy. That is looking to the future. And it's not educated guesses. Like if I wanted to, I could say, you know, in 6 months, the stock market will be up from the point at which it fell during the crash a couple months ago, or a month ago or so. That's an educated guess. And that's gonna happen because historically the stock market Goes up always, like the real estate market. Yeah, there's dips, but overall it's up. Or I could say, there are fires coming to Southern California. Okay, that's pretty much all the time. Or hurricanes are coming this September to the— I see the Southeast hurricanes coming over the Southeast. Yeah, 'cause it's hurricane season. So I always find it interesting, some— and I'm just gonna tell you, and this may sound cynical, but We have to be grounded in discernment. Sometimes the people you call prophets are really just people who pay attention to weather, politics, and all of the socioeconomic conditions. And they're able to make educated guesses. Like when we saw, like I saw some prophesying that Biden was gonna drop out. Well, we all knew that. I had friends in the political realm who told me, yeah, that's gonna happen. But that's just 'cause what the word is around the White House. And yet we had people getting on saying, this is prophecy. I'm saying, well, maybe, but that's not prophecy. That's educated guess. That's predicting based upon conditions. I'm talking about things that they can call out that nobody could have called out just by guessing. And that is the mark of a true prophet, not educated guessing, but prophetic words. Now, sometimes the Lord will reveal things that maybe, maybe someone else could have predicted. But there's gonna be a purpose behind that. That's not gonna— those types of predictions aren't gonna be the demonstration just for the demonstration's sake. There's gonna be a message behind those that's relevant and actually helpful and edifying to the body, which by the way, is the purpose of prophecy. So those all fall under, those are all the different expressions that fall under the prophetic, which is the category. So I'll review those one more time. Word of knowledge, see the situation. A word of wisdom, see the solution. Discernment, see the spirit. Insight, see the soul. Prophecy, see the future. So Lord, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for your people. I thank you for their generosity. And I pray that you would bless them and favor them. And Lord, cause them to walk in supernatural provision, Cause them to experience your healing touch. Thank you, Father, that you heal sicknesses and diseases of all sorts, and that nothing's impossible for you, Lord. There's nothing too difficult for you. So I pray, Lord, that your healing virtue would flow and touch their lives. And I pray, Father, you would set them free from all bondage and And Lord, let that heaviness begin to lift off now. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. And all of God's people typed amen. Now, biblically speaking, as you're blessed by the word from ministry, you as the believer are to sow into that ministry that the ministry might continue in Jesus' name. name. So this is where I need your help. I can't do this by myself. Yes, the Lord has called me, and yes, the Lord is the one opening the doors, but do you know how the Lord works in the kingdom? He uses people like you, filled with generosity and love and an understanding of what it takes to reach this world. And I believe that God is speaking, and I believe that the Holy Spirit Has ordained this moment. And so I want you to hear from the Holy Spirit now and step out and help us continue our work. Listen, I say this almost every time I create a content piece, but it's true every time. The doors are opening. The ministry is still expanding. After all these years, we're still seeing major growth. And in order to keep up with all of this, In order to say yes to the urgent need ahead, and it is urgent. There are doors opening now. There are souls waiting now. There are lives waiting to be transformed now. Don't discount yourself. Don't say, oh, my giving doesn't matter, or someone else will do it, or really only, I can only do this amount, or mine wouldn't really matter all that much. It's just a small gift. Listen, those are all lies. Don't believe them. Because the power is in our unity. All of us together obeying the Holy Spirit, that's an unstoppable force. The church, the ministry should be the most well-funded initiative in the earth today, because it's the most important. So help us to do this. Step out in faith, give in the Spirit, give with faith, that is do something that challenges you. Give with generosity, that is, go above and beyond for the Lord's work. Help us continue in ministry. I'm asking many of you right now to become my monthly ministry partner. You can do so by going to davidhernandezministries.com/partner. You can also give a single gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com/donate. Give what you can. I believe there are even successful business people watching that the Holy Spirit is speaking key amounts to you, significant amounts. that can help push our agenda forward. You can call me delusional, I don't care. I am a man of faith, and I believe we can win the world to Jesus. I believe that we can see this kingdom expand, this gospel preached to the ends of the earth. We are in the battle for a soul of a generation, and I need your help. The work can be done. The harvest is plentiful. Help send us to the harvest. One more time, davidhernandezministries.com/partner to become a monthly supporter, /donate to give a single gift. And if you enjoyed this teaching, make sure to also check out my teaching, 5 Behaviors That Push the Holy Spirit Away Without You Realizing It.