In this teaching, the speaker clarifies the distinction between the spirit of prophecy—a universal, spontaneous outpouring of the Holy Spirit that can fall on anyone, even non‑believers—and the office of the prophet, which is a specific, divinely‑appointed role within the fivefold ministry (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher). The spirit of prophecy is illustrated through everyday actions such as writing Bible verses on clothing or receipts, and biblical examples like Caiaphas and Saul, showing that prophetic utterances can occur without a formal calling. The office of the prophet, by contrast, involves a front‑row seat in the courts of God, hearing the "mind of God" for particular people or situations, and delivering weighty, edifying, exhorting, and comforting words (1 Cor 14). The speaker describes the prophetic function as carrying dunamis (powerful) words that can correct, comfort, or direct individuals, often after a deep personal relationship with Jesus is established. He outlines a typical progression: personal intimacy with Christ, recognition by the local church, and eventual commissioning for broader ministry, emphasizing order and accountability. Throughout, the teaching blends biblical exposition, practical illustrations, and personal anecdotes to help viewers discern whether they are experiencing the spirit of prophecy or operating in the prophetic office.
Chapters
Hello everyone, we're continuing on our prophetic series. In day 2, we're here to talk about the differences between being a prophet of God and actually having the spirit of prophecy. Now initially, this may sound a bit confusing to understand the differences, but ultimately I'm hoping that this video will clarify that. So if you are interested in the prophetic and, uh, or potentially already have been called into the office of the Please like and share these videos. These are more longer-form videos that I'm producing on YouTube, and hopefully we'll be able to educate people, to clarify what many people may think is a confusing topic but ultimately really is not. So where do we start with the difference between the spirit of prophecy and the office of the prophet? Well, it starts with Revelation 19, verse 10, and towards the end of it, the angel tells John The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So what does that mean? What is the testimony of Jesus? Well, to be clear, the spirit of prophecy can fall on any person on the planet, period. There is no restriction in the context of the spirit of prophecy. You don't have to be called. You don't actually even realize that you may be actually doing prophetic things because there is no requirement. As an example, if you decide to wear a hat that says John 3:16, or a shirt that says, um, maybe Genesis 1:1. If you're familiar with The Chosen series and, and you actually, uh, have the verse, uh, follow me, come and see— those are actually biblical verses. And so that is the essence of the spirit of prophecy, is, is that you are actually sharing the word of God, which is the testimony about Jesus. And so therefore it becomes the spirit of prophecy. Uh, you— and another example that I've seen people do from time to time is they'll get a dinner receipt at a restaurant and they'll write a Bible verse. They'll say, God bless, or John 3:16, or Romans 8:1, or whatever they decide they feel led by the Spirit to put down. That is all forms of the spirit of prophecy. We actually even see this in the Bible when the high priest Caiaphas— if I remember correctly, it was Caiaphas— when he prophesies over Jesus and saying, hey, it's better for one man to die for the whole nation than for the whole nation to be destroyed. He wasn't even a saved believer, yet he prophesied. We see that with Saul in the Old Testament when he came near the prophets, that the, that the Spirit of the Lord dropped on him and he started prophesying. We see that throughout scriptures. And one of the key things to understand is, is that the spirit of prophecy just happens. It's part of how the Holy Spirit moves. You don't have to be a saved believer in order to actually speak prophetic utterances. Those are things that just come as a part of the unction of the Holy Spirit, and sometimes you don't even realize it's happening. I've had situations where I had a really stormy part of my life. I was going through a very difficult season last year, and I had God literally speaking over and over again through people in my situation, just reassuring me over and over again. Like, I'm asking them questions and God is just redirecting the conversations to just comfort me and just bring me a sense of peace, which I really needed in that time. And so the spirit of prophecy is this beautiful testimony. It's us sharing the word of God. It's us talking about Jesus, evangelizing about him, and doing all these beautiful things. That's the spirit of prophecy. And then you don't have to be saved. Now, as it comes to the office of the prophet, that's different. So what is the office of the prophet? Well, the office of the prophet is one of the fivefold ministries: the Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Just to be clear, you can operate in multiple offices as a prophet, but there's really one primary one. And when you're called into the prophetic, more times than not you're going to stay as that your primary office, even though you may have some apostolic gifts, like if you're building churches or you're planting ministries. Those can be seasonal, but ultimately a prophet is a prophet. Yeah, don't get too hung up on the title. I mean, our identity is our sons and daughters of God. That's who we really are. These are just a part of the role we play in the larger ministry as a part of God. So how do you know that you're a prophet versus operating in the spirit of prophecy? Well, there's a couple major league differences, and I just want to kind of highlight them, but ultimately God is the one who's going to help you walk through them in your particular life. So one of the key things in the context of a prophet is, is that you stand in the courts of God. And what does that mean is, is that you hear the mind of God. Our spirits, because we are hidden in Christ Jesus— talks about that in Romans, that we are seated in heavenly places. Paul talks about that through his epistles. We are seated in Christ Jesus. We're hidden in Christ Jesus, so we're seated at the right hand of God. So we have a seat, a front row seat to the Father. But prophets can hear the mind of God. This is different than the word of God because the word of God is clear. It's the Bible. That's what it is. It's clearly documented and it's beautiful. But the mind of God is hearing the Lord speak, the Father speak, in particular situations for individuals or groups of individuals at that point in time. An example could be is, let's say you're praying for, uh, where I should move or what job I should get or what spouse I should marry. And God gives you very specific advice about that situation. You may have someone come to me and say, hey, the Lord had dropped this word in my spirit and now I have to share it with you. And so that's what the prophets operate. Prophets hear the mind of God, but then they filter that prophecy through the heart of God because sometimes it can be a little weighty. The, the office of the prophet focuses on edification, exhortation, and comfort. So what we have here is 1 Corinthians chapter 14. If you want to understand the prophetic, this is the chapter to study because you talk about prophecy and it talks about tongues. And prof— the prophets are those who know things that they would not otherwise know because the Holy Spirit has ordained them to understand things. Again, the spirit of prophecy can still come into play, but the, the prophets generally have this higher level anointing That operates almost all the time. And when you get into the mode where you're surrendered to the Holy Spirit and you've spent time in the quiet place, the spirit of prophecy that's going to be— or sorry, the, um, the being a prophetic person, the spirit of prophecy and being a prophetic person is on your life so strong that it just becomes who you are. An example is, is you can walk up to a person and the Holy Spirit will just tell you all kinds of things about them. He'll tell you about their history, things that are paining them, things that they they want to do, their sins, all the different things. And so he puts you in a position where you can give that back to him and say, what should I do with this? And sometimes you don't do anything with it. Sometimes you just return it to the Holy Spirit, and you're there to be an intercessor and pray over them and, and come into agreement with them. Sometimes the Holy Spirit may reveal pieces where he says, hey, I need you to filter this and give it to them because they need a word of encouragement. They need someone to say, look, you are capable of doing something. You are called to do this. It is okay. I know God has heard you. You've praying for something so consistently and persistently, but now you're trying to break through and push people through. So when you're operating in the office of the prophet, the word of the Lord is going to come very, very often, and in many cases very heavy for a person. Exhortation is a— as it's described, is what's considered a sharp correction. So think of it as someone who's driving on the road and and not paying attention, and all of a sudden they start to drift, and you're like, hey, pay attention to the road. And it becomes this like, oh, you course correct. Words from a prophet change the course of life, because when God drops a word in your spirit and you share it with those around you, that resonates in a way that other people speaking into them, it doesn't. There's— it's a term called dunamis power. It's like dynamite. It has weight. Another aspect of a prophet is, is that they bring comfort. A lot of people may be losing a loved one. They They're broke up from a relationship, or they lose a job, or maybe their house is being foreclosed upon, or they lost their car. There have been many instances that I have seen in my life where I'm not even sure exactly what God is telling me, but I'll go up to a person and say, look, this situation is about to happen in your life. It's— something's going to be really bad, but know that God's got you. The next day it happens, and they're at a point of comfort because they know God's going to take care of them. And in the end, God does. So What the intent is as a prophet is to lean deeper and more intently into the Lord, and the words of the prophet weigh more heavily because they're more revolutionary. Like in the in the context of not necessarily like it's you speak the unknown in a way that makes it known, and it brings people together in a very powerful way and points them back to Jesus. Because really, ultimately, at the end of the day, prophecy is all about Jesus. Like that's really it is when you see prophets focusing on politics. You see prophets focusing on these other areas. At the end of the day, are they prophets to the nations? Maybe. I'm not going to necessarily judge them, but I know from my experience when I get a word of the Lord, it's almost always about some form of structured word that allows me or those I'm giving it to a way to get back to Jesus. Because really, that's what it's all about, is our life is to build a relationship with Jesus. to end this endless toil that we're in and focus on resting in him, trusting in his plan for us, and participating in the way that he sees fit on a day-to-day basis. And so really, the difference, going back to between the spirit of prophecy and a prophet— again, anyone can have the spirit of prophecy on them. We talked about that, Revelation 19:10, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It's very structured in the sense that you're sharing the word of God, you're wearing verses. You maybe talk to God and then you reword it and you send it out there. You may not even realize it, but that's the spirit of prophecy. The prophet is a separate office that in which individuals are called by God and ultimately in time commissioned by man to start operating in the local church and be able to have a larger metron or influence in areas. And so usually what you'll see with a prophet is, is the the prophets will focus ministry on themselves first, build their relationship up with Jesus to the point where it becomes solid, and then it expands to their family and friends. And as that continues to grow, it's much like the, the parable of the talents. And so you start with 1 talent, you go to 2, and then eventually all of a sudden the church starts to recognize you, other people in the church start to recognize you. God's starting to call you to minister to people in a surrendered or under direction, you know, because you can't just to minister in a church without actually having approval either from leadership or the people you're ministering to. Because remember, God is a God of order. And then eventually you can be commissioned into the local church, and then you can actually be commissioned to the prophet of the nations if that's something that you're called to, if you're going to be speaking to leaders and other folks in high positions. So hopefully this clarifies between the two of the differences. And if you have any questions, I'll be happy to read them over and, and talk about it further. God bless.
