And do not despise prophecies

[Ebn Barbara]

“ And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit “ (2 Peter 1 : 19 – 21).

You do well by keeping these words in your hearts..
Peter the apostle say these words, because he knew that the prophetic word is a light that shines in the darkness that will come our way with the Lord, whether personally or ministry wise..

This light will turn into the morning star, that will lead our steps and light up the way before us, so we can succeed in everything we do, especially when we know that this morning star, symbolizes the Lord Jesus, for the word of God says:
“ I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star “. (Revelation 22 : 16).

Beloveds: during the ministry of Eli the priest, the spiritual level of the people was so down, and Eli’s sons made a lot of evil things in the house of the Lord, they were committing adultery with the women coming to the temple, they were stealing the offerings of the Lord, and many other bad things, and it is not by coincidence that the Holy Spirit wrote:
“ Then the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli, And the word of the Lord was rare in those days, there was no widespread revelation “ (1 Samuel 3 : 1).

And when we read this verse, we understand the reason behind the falling of the spiritual level of the people:
“ Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint… “.
(Proverbs 29 : 18).

God’s messages were so few, and since without revelation the people cast off restraint, what happened took place, and the reason was the absence of prophets, but God raised the prophet Samuel and used him as a light that shines in the darkness and straighten the way.

Beloveds: as church we are in a real war against the kingdom of darkness, whether we like it or not, and this war get more intensified when we have the vision to win souls and to conquer new territories, and in wars there is nothing more important than delivering the commander’s directions to his warriors during all the war stages, and it is well know that not delivering these directions might shake the warriors, and cause the loss of the war, that is why the armies use the best communication equipments, and secure their protection, and make sure they have many of them so they can use them in case one or more machine get bust, and the enemy who is aware of the importance of this call, works hard from the beginning of the war to destroy and confuse these calls and communication..

It is clear without a doubt, that God was and still is till today delivering His directions to His people through the prophets.. the missing gift of these days, unfortunately.. but not anymore in Jesus Christ name:
“ Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets, A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy? “ (Amos3 : 7 – 8).

The lion of Judas is roaring on our enemies, and his roar reaches the enemies through the prophets, when they deliver God’s word to Satan and his kingdom, putting terror and defeat among them.

A great multitude surrounded the city of Judas during the days of Jehoshaphat, and he didn’t know what to do, but that gift.. the gift of prophecy, wasn’t buried during his reign, so the Lord sent His precise directions to the king and his people on the mouth of Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, for the king to stand upon it and say to his people:
“ Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper “ (2 Chronicles 20 : 12 – 20).

They believed in the prophets, so they got the victory and defeated that great multitude, and they were 3 days in gathering of the spoils..
Will we do like them?
Will we defeat our enemies and rob the souls and the blessings they keep?

For these reasons we already mentioned, and through the ages the prophets are a main goal for the enemy..
Because the enemy knows that, when he succeeds in cutting the connection between the warriors and their leader.. he would guarantee the victory for himself..

Satan had used many ways and many people to execute this dangerous strategy, and the most hypocrite one for instance was the evil Jezebel, who scared the prophet Elijah and made him run away without fulfilling his mission:
“ For so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord… “.
(1 Kings 18 : 4).

She tried to cut out the prophets of God, and if we take a look at what Elijah did we would understand how things occurred more clearly:
“ Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again, Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God! And Elijah said to them: Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape! So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon, and executed them there “.
( 1 Kings 18 : 37 – 40).

He gathered the people for they were without a vision without prophets, that’s why they worshiped foreign gods, but the presence of the prophet Elijah at that time turned their hearts back to God, so they seized the prophets of Baal whom Elijah executed!!!

The lion has roared who won’t be afraid; the Lord has spoken who won’t prophesy..
The Lord brought Ezekiel the prophet, and put him in front of a land full of dry bones, and asked him:
Will these bones come to live?

The prophet’s answer was:
Oh Lord God you know..

But the most important is that God commanded that prophet, to prophesy over the bones..
The Lord God has spoken, who won’t prophesy..
“ So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over, but there was no breath in them… So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army “ (Ezekiel 37 : 7 – 10).

Are your bones dry?
Is there any death in your life?
Death in your ministry.. death in your church?
You feel like these dry bones.. you feel like if you are in a tomb?
Don’t be afraid.. God’s message to the church today is.. the spirit of prophecy revives the dry bones.. and ends all death..
The spirit of prophecy brings us closer to each other, bone to bone..
The spirit of prophecy makes us a great might army who stands on his feet..
The spirit of prophecy lights the darkness.. till the morning star comes back and shines in our midst.

And the spirit of prophecy is for the New Testament church, the apostle Paul says:
“ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets… “. (Ephesians 2 : 20).

We all know the meaning of the word “ foundation ”, a building without foundation or with a weak foundation, will fall.. sooner or later..

The apostle Paul said to us more in this area, due to the importance of the spirit of prophecy:
“ Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts , but especially that you may prophesy… But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied… For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged “ ( 1 Corinthians 14 : 1 - 31).

A call from Apostle Paul to all to prophesy, with emphasis twice:
But especially that you may prophesy.. and the goal is all what we’ve mentioned above.. add to it, the edification of the church !!!

At last..
Make sure that we ask the Lord of the things to come, believing that the Lord as mentioned earlier:
Doesn’t make anything, without revealing its secret to His prophets:
“ … Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me “ (Isaiah 45 : 11).

Yes.. we have to ask Him.. and He will do anything without revealing it to His prophets..
We ask Him to light all darkness the enemy is trying to surround us with..
We ask Him to bring to life our dry bones and raise us from all death..
We ask Him to build our church and our people..

His word commanded us:
“ Do not quench the Spirit, Do not despise prophecies, Test all things; hold fast what is good “ ( 1 Thessalonians 5 : 19 – 21).

By despising the prophecies we quench the Spirit,, especially the spirit of prophecy..
At the same time, we should test all prophecies and hold fast what is good..

Ezekiel the prophet wrote to us twice in the passage we included here:
I prophesied as I was commanded.. I prophesied as He commanded me..

The apostle Peter said to us as well:
“ for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit “.

So don’t be afraid.. this is not an invitation to accept all prophecies without boundaries.. for the word of God was and will still be our only reference.. and the apostle Paul said:
“ Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge “.
( 1 Corinthians 14 : 29).

Do not be afraid of the prophets and the prophecies, do not despise them as long as they are according to the word of God.. for as long as you are walking according to this word, as long as you belong to a church.. and the prophets prophesy in your church.. and they are evaluated by the pastor and the leader of the church, and as long as their lives are revealed and supervised by the church leaders, and found without blame..
Pray to God and say to Him:
Raise prophets among us, light all darkness that comes our way.. bring to life every death and every dry bone that is among us, build our church, lead our steps, expose every lie and cheating in our life, let us hear your directions and roar in order to succeed and win and overcome, and defeat all our enemies, and win new territories, and capture many souls from Satan’s hand.