 Okay, so we are studying the gifts of the Spirit. We've looked at the gift of tongues, interpretation of tongues and prophecy and we're looking at different uses of gift of prophecy, how it blesses. It brings strength, encouragement, comfort, it motivates, it reveals the potential of a person, the potential that the God has placed in the person also brings confirmation of what God has already been speaking to that person and also inspires prayer. So you feel something moving us to pray for that particular need, pray for that person, pray for that need, pray for that nation. I remember once we were, as a worship team, we were just praying and God showed the shape of the nation. If you see the world map, shape of a country, out of somewhere, out of nowhere. You were not even praying for nations that day, but then that was a revelation and then began to pray for that. So God inspires prayer to bring guidance, to bring correction, to reveal, to give fresh insight about scriptures, about the Word of God, to alert believers to warn of what is ahead, to reveal secrets of people. And that we see in 1 Corinthians 14 again, we see that, well, here comes someone, total stranger, but the secrets of their heart are revealed and they realize that no other human being can know this, there's no way this person can know these things, information about me. I remember there was once in church again a prophetic ministry time and there was some people who were ministering and that day the person who was praying and ministering about someone, he said, this is what you are planning to sign, sign some papers and God says, God is behind that and he's fine, go ahead, you've been praying, asking God for confirmation. So that person was very surprised, very surprised, more than surprised shocked that no one else knew and this person was not from Bangalore, from somewhere else and there's absolutely no way this person would go or know about this detail, but God knows, God reveals, so there was much peace and there was much confirmation and then there was a turning of heart. Towards God, even more a recommitment towards God and saying, God, I'm surrendering, I'm opening up my life, all those defenses which were there came down. So in prayer, to intercede, to wage a good warfare, to appoint people into ministry, that also happens because Paul writes to Timothy 1 Timothy 4 and verse 14, do not neglect the gift that is in you which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. So what happens is that Timothy was actually appointed for ministry in Ephesus as a pastor to take care of that church, that fellowship there. So Paul is writing and he's recalling that event when the elders prayed over him. So he's saying, this is what happened. Don't neglect the gift that is in you, which was imparted to you by prophecy. So which means that, and he says, okay, that by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the eldership. So there is this appointment, this commissioning that happened at that time, but also the impartation of the spiritual gifts that happened at that time. We don't know what the gifts were, but then Paul is saying, don't neglect those gifts which was given to you by laying on of hands by prophecy. And also to declare the purposes of God. So the question is this, okay, this is wonderful, but how is prophecy received? Okay, so how can I receive this prophetic word from God? So we learned about how we are spirit, soul and body. So we learned about how we have physical senses, hearing, seeing, taste, everything, touch, feel. Same way, we also have spiritual senses. There is a parallel. So we receive information from the Holy Spirit through our spiritual senses. It could be something genuine, it could be something in our spirit. It could be like a moving picture. It could be a word, something audible that you hear in your spirit. It's not naturally, but then you hear in your spirit, a prompting. So all this is possible. Let's look at a few scriptures. Hosea chapter 12 and verse 10 says, the Lord is saying, God is saying, I have also spoken by the prophets and have multiplied visions. I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets. So what is he saying? I have spoken by the prophets. And then I have multiplied what? Visions, something visual. I have given symbols. So again symbols, something that is visual, an image that is symbolic. So what does that mean? What is something that is symbolic mean? I have given symbols. So God shows you a tree. That doesn't mean that God wants you to go plant a tree. That doesn't mean that God wants you to. Let's say there's a tree and maybe there's a watering that is happening and you see yourself in that picture watering the tree or doing something and then looking and admiring the tree. So does that mean that God wants you to plant the tree in your garden? So the tree is signifying something else. It is symbolic of something. Maybe a work that he's assigned to you and he's saying, you nurture it and you make sure that it grows and it will be a blessing. So maybe it is something like that. What you see is a symbol of something else. Maybe you're going in a car and you're sitting there and then you see that in the driver's seat there's no one else. There's nobody there but the car is moving and you're feeling very panic and then you move to the driver's seat and you sit and you hold the steering. You sit and that's the end of the dream. So what does it mean? Does it mean that tomorrow when you're going that there won't be a driver or driver falls out and you need to step in? Does that mean? It could be literal but many times it's symbolic. Symbolic of maybe a group of people travelling with you, maybe a family on a journey going together and there is nobody who is leading that family. To be your own family and maybe you feel that, okay I'm sitting there but I'm not giving leadership spiritually in other aspects. I'm not really leading, taking the lead. So maybe this dream could be to the head of the family saying you need to go sit and take charge. Hold the steering wheel, take charge, steer, direct the movement of that group of people travelling together. It could be ministry, it could be. So these are symbolic. So God speaks, he gives visions, he says I have given symbols through the witness of the Holy Spirit. Now you might even ask, God, why do you speak like this? Holy Spirit, why? Why can't you just come and tap my shoulder and say, okay, go do this. This is how God is done. This is how God chooses to. He wants to engage with us. He wants to have that relationship with us so that we ask him and we ask for interpretation and so on. But this is how he engages with us. He chooses to speak this way. And many other scriptures, if you look at Numbers 12 versus 5 to 8, you can probably note that down. Numbers 24, verse 15, 16. If you see that God over and over again chooses to do this, speaks. He chooses to quicken his word. From the logos, he gives us the Ramah. He quickens the word to us, to our hearts. So we see all this happening. It could be a still small voice. It could be a still small impression, a knowing, a picture, a scripture, a scripture portion, sometimes even scripture references. You get up in the morning, I need to read this verse. You have a sense, I need to read this verse. I don't know from where this reference is coming on. Oh, it could be, I need to sing this song. There's one line of the song that keeps coming. I need to look into that song. So God can speak in these ways. So what do we do? We first pray, ask the Lord, God, what is it that you want to speak? To me, what is it that you want to speak through me? And have be in a state of faith and expectation. If you're going to be sitting there saying, okay, God, if you want to speak, you speak, otherwise don't. Or if you're saying that, okay, if he speaks, let's see. No, this Bible is very clear. You desire spiritual gifts. First you love, desire spiritual gifts. One contains 14 and verse one. Be in that state of desiring, expecting. Because God is a God who speaks. He's a living God. He's a God who speaks here and now. So do that. And then second, so there are three letters, three words, pray, perceive and prophesy. Three P's, pray, perceive, prophesy. So what does perceive mean? Perceive means come to a state of awareness. Be aware. Come to receiving something. It could be our senses receiving something. To become aware or conscious, to be able to recognize and so on. To understand. So perceive it. What is this information? Then the third one is to actually do something about it. To prophesy. Now, like I said, there's going to be a very in-depth study, the whole semester about the prophetic. So you will get into a lot more details, how it was in the Old Testament, how is it in the New Testament, prophetic dreams, prophetic prayer, all those things. So very interesting. But then today we'll just see, okay, how can I, when I'm receiving, how can I validate or evaluate what I'm receiving? What are those things we said? How can I check whether it's just my own emotions or it's from God? So what did we learn? What are the some checks that we can do even as we are receiving? How can I test? How will you test? I don't know if anyone, whether it's in agreement, alignment with the Word of God. Why? Why should we do that? That's the foundation. If you want scripture, 1 John chapter 5, I'm not sure about the verse, but talks about how the Father, the Word and the Spirit are one. And in John chapter 14, 15, when the Lord Jesus talking about the Holy Spirit, He said that He will testify of me, will take over what is me and reveal. So He's not going to... And Jesus is the eternal Word. He's not going to say something that Jesus agrees with or Jesus puts His... He's not going to say something which is against what Jesus agrees with or Jesus approves of. He's not going to say, I know Jesus said this, but then you do this. He's not going to say that. So it's going to be in agreement and that's why this is the safest place. You know the Word of God. We filled with the Word of God. We renewed with the Word of God. Then we will know what we are hearing is actually from God's Word or not. So that's the first thing. Second one, does it bring? Okay, so does it edify, exalt, comfort? Now in that, we need to be a little more careful because it could be a warning. We are alert. But then, even with that warning or alert, alerting the person, it can bring edification. It can bring exhortation. Why? Because we know God's heart is a redemptive heart. His nature is to restore and not to destroy. So that's something. So these are some broadly, some checks that we can employ. The other thing is also to validate whether it's me or is it my own emotion or is it from the Spirit? Again, the plumb line is the Word of God. So Hebrews 4 verse 12 talks about how the Word of God is sharper than it was. So piercing even to the division of bone and marrow, even to the thoughts and the intense of the heart, the soul and the Spirit. What is of the soulish realm? What is of the Spirit? The Word of God will actually testify. The Word of God will distinguish. Okay, out of our emotions, it's possible. For example, I'll just share this example. This person who was actually ministering, praying for this couple, they did not have a baby for a long time. So they were praying and this person prayed prophesied. God revealed something saying that they will have a baby by whatever time. So he prophesied. He was very excited because he has been praying for that couple. But when it came to actually delivering the prophecy, he said, God is giving you a boy baby. Okay, so why? Because he was, I don't know, he was excited. He just said, God is giving you a boy baby. I know you've been praying, God is giving you. So Lord behold, baby was born, baby was girl. So then they wrote back to the person saying, thank you, you prayed, you prophesied. We are blessed, we are happy, praise God. But just wanted you to know that it's not a boy baby, but a girl baby. So this person wrote back saying, thank you, I apologize for the mistake I made. And he said, I was very excited. Looking back now, I feel that I was very excited, very happy for you. And in my excitement, which is emotions of the soul's realm, I said boy baby. So there was a mix. The information was correct, but because this person was excited. But no harm done, because that is why we have in 1 Thessalonians 5 where we are called to test. Hold on to what is good. Just because of this, don't despise prophecies. Don't call that person a false prophet and stone him. Test. So even as we receive, we are validating. Oh God, is it from you? But don't be validating it, evaluating it from a place of fear. What if I get it wrong? What if I want to be absolutely right, absolutely clear, absolutely accurate. I don't want to say anything that is not of you. And you're just waiting, waiting, evaluating, analyzing, over. The time is over, gone. And then you're still wondering, should I not say, burn has gone, buses gone. So as we learn about this, as we practice this, go ahead, step out. But do this, you evaluate and also give permission for that person to check and tell you, you are right, you are wrong. That's humility. You're saying, I heard from God and this is what God says. And then the other person is brother, I think you are wrong. Have that humility. Have that humility to say, I place this before you is what I feel, I sense. And I'm sure, you know, as we grow in the prophetic that, you know, a place where you can say, that says a lot. But we are again called to test and submit for testing. Like, you see that in accordance 14 also, where you all can prophesy, all can learn, all can prophesy, but he says that, you know, let one person prophesy, let the others judge the prophesy, discern it. So it's a very biblical thing to submit it and test it, validate it. Okay. So does it align with the written Scripture? And the wonderful thing is we have the Holy Spirit who's living in us. So he gives us a sense whether it's right or wrong. He gives us a sense. Okay. Even as, because he, I'm sure you've experienced, you know, maybe you're doing something wrong, even intentionally or something you said, immediately you know something is not right. Either it's your own senses or the Holy Spirit is revealing. He's just holding up the red flag saying, stop it. You know, that's dangerous territory. Enough. Okay. So we have the presence of the Holy Spirit. You sense the presence of, as you grow, as we, you know, grow in the relationship, you sense the presence of the Holy Spirit and you say, God, yeah, I need to continue in this some more or sense that, okay, it's time. I don't think I should. Right. So you sense the anointing, the presence of the Holy Spirit. Then the other thing is this, you know, do you have any bias in your heart in your mind? What does that mean? A prejudice. Okay. A bias. You could have bias about certain kinds of people. You could have a bias like people say, you know, oh, these rich people, you know, they're all like this. They're all wicked. Like we see, you know, maybe we see somebody driving off in a good car or, you know, having a good house and we say, I don't know how he got it. Yeah. I don't know how many, you know, how many things he cheated, must have got it. We sometimes we have that bias. We don't immediately think, oh, he must have worked hard. This person must have worked hard. This person must have, you know, have God's favor. And then you don't think that way sometimes. Oh, let's say politician. Okay. To look at a politician, somebody in government of immediately what comes to your mind? This person is integrity wise. What they say, what they do. We have that bias, prejudice, right? So do you have any kind of bias about people, about a language, about a situation? Now, that also is something that could actually interfere with the property. So that's also something that you check, validate on the inside, evaluate it. Do I have any bias? No, you know, do I have any bias against poor people? Do I have any bias about, you know, rich people? Do I have any bias about, you know, people speaking this language? They're coming from this state. Do I have any kind of bias? Get clear. Say, okay, God, this is a child of your child. And I'm going to just be a vessel to love, to prophesy, to honor, to respect, right? Let your word bring whatever it's your word. I'm going to be, I'm going to commit to speaking it faithfully. I'm a delivery boy. Let me deliver it. If I, on the way to the house to deliver, if the delivery boy takes one slice of the pizza that you ordered, that's not what was sent by the restaurant, right? And that's only, you know, that's not the whole thing. And it doesn't glorify the, you know, that actually the people are going to complain about the restaurant, complain about the person, all that. So faithfully deliver. Don't have bias. Don't have prejudice. Okay. So if you're doing it in a group again, let everybody participate, let everybody speak, share. Now the thing is, you know, many times we think I'm not getting anything. No visual, no word, nothing in my heart. I'm not getting anything. It's all blank. No problem. Especially when it comes to ministering to another person. And just pray. And you'd be very surprised when you start praying. You're actually praying for a prophetic prayer. Because you ask God, you said, God, I, I believe, you know, I want to minister. I want to this person. I want to hear from you. I want to share. Nothing has happened. Everything is blank. But when you start praying, you're praying for the needs of the person that person didn't even repeat. Praying a very prophetic prayer over that person. Right. So don't write yourself off saying, I didn't see anything. I didn't see God is not using me. No problem. Right. Just go ahead and step out in faith, be assured. Right. And step out into it. Okay. Some don'ts. Okay. This is all these do's don'ts is don't try to be a fortune teller. Like, okay, maybe people said, what is God saying? What is God doing that? Just encourage the person to hear from God themselves. Right. They should not become dependent on you. Right. Just because God is using you in the prophetic should not come and say, okay, how about this matter? What is God saying? So encourage the person to depend on God, on the Holy Spirit, on the written word. Right. And of course, pray and if God reveals something, if God confirms anything, definitely, you know, we need to share. Right. So don't become a fortune teller. Also, don't use the prophetic to manipulate. That means to try and control the person. Right. Okay. This is what God is saying. You need to do this. You need to honor the man of God. Have Biryani ready when I come home. Do that. Right. There's an extreme example, but then we could certainly man play people emotions just because they are innocent and, you know, trusting. So don't do not panic. Because God says that that is witchcraft. Okay. Where do we see that? That actually when you try to manipulate people, it is akin to witchcraft. And so do not do that. Okay. So this is all that we have about the prophetic gift. Okay. It's very interesting. Of course, it results in a lot of change in people in ourselves. And we need to really fully foresee that. You know, every gift, of course, all the gifts that are listed there precious because these are expressions of the Holy Spirit. Okay. So let's look at the next one, which is word of wisdom. Okay. Word of wisdom. Next, talking about word of wisdom. So word of wisdom. What is wisdom? What is wisdom? Sorry. What? Putting your knowledge into practice. So what is knowledge? Sorry. Information. Learning. Right. News, whatever that you pick up skills, maybe. And this wisdom is when to use, how to use all this information that you. So that is what we normally call is wisdom. So wisdom results in change, wisdom results in solving something. Right. Wisdom results in maybe some wise counsel. Right. Guidance. So all that. So here we see this gift, which is listed there. One contents 12 talks, it says word of wisdom. So what is a word? We have alphabets. We have letters. We have words. We have sentences, paragraphs, you know, whole books. What is a word? No. Yeah. Of course, that is also the word when we say it's a word of God, the eternal word, the living word, but when we normal English and we say word, it means there's a group of alphabets put together, which makes sense. Right. It's a small part of a bigger part. It's part of a sentence. That's a word. Right. So a word of wisdom. So it's not wisdom to change the world, you know, completely. This is the whole solution. This is what it is. It's not that. It's a word. It's a part. Right. And it is super naturally imparted. It's not experience that you get from your life experience. You know, if you're a cook in the sense, you know, you're very good at, you know, in the kitchen, you have that experience. You have that wisdom already. You know, now if there will be difference between how you make sambar and how I will make sambar. Right. I will go by the book. Two teaspoons. Just measure out exactly. But you might go and say that is it. No, this is what I'll put up there. Why? Because you, it's that experience practice. Right. So that's wisdom. That is also important. What we acquire. Maybe people have taught that is also wisdom. But this wisdom that we're talking about is not something that we have acquired like that, but it's super naturally imparted to naturally given in that moment. Why? Because it's a gift of the spirit. A gift of the Holy Spirit. So he, the Holy Spirit brings into our heart that supernatural wisdom. Like you didn't, you didn't really train for it, but here's that wisdom. Okay. So it is, it could be to solve a problem. It could be something that you want to decide, you know, what to do. Do I go left? Do I go straight? Do I take right? Do I buy this? Do I, you know, sell this? Whatever. Wisdom. It could be about what is coming up in future. Right. It could also, what a wisdom also to release some creative ability in us. Okay. Now, what a wisdom again, it's very useful for the body of Christ, for the believer. And we see some examples, right? Old Testament examples would be Joseph. Okay. Joseph is there in Egypt and he interprets the Pharaoh's dream. Right. That dream about the famine. Okay. About the seven, I mean, seven, the cattle coming out of the river and also the seven stick of corn. Okay. He interprets the dream and what does he do? Interpretation. He says interpretation comes from God. Right. So interprets the dream. This is what it is. This is what it represents. It means seven years of famine, seven years of, sorry, seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. What else does he do after that? Yeah. So he gives a strategy. He doesn't stop by saying, okay, this is, this is what you'll have. Plenty, then problem. So he gives a strategy. Now we see that, that also he has received from God because he's not a strategy. He's been working in, you know, he's been imprisoned and all that, but God gives him that wisdom. This is what you need to do. So it could be something like that that God gives in that moment. So we see that example. And there are other examples like Bezalel who receives, God says that I've anointed him for this, what creative things to make woodwork and precious stones and design those things. Even King David, you know, he's shepherd boy. He's, he becomes a king. He's now leading a kingdom. And God gives him, God puts in his heart a design for the temple. That's finally Solomon. He receives that in his heart. Again, a wisdom, word of wisdom. Right. So we see all that happening in the New Testament. You know, the, we see, well, the wise men, wise men being warned by in a dream not to go to heaven, not to go back. Right. Because he is seeking to kill the baby, not to go back. So they receive an instruction. Right. It is a, it's a step that they need to take or they need to avoid. Right. That is one. And then also Paul, Paul's directions to go to Macedonia. He receives in the form of a dream. He, Paul also declares, okay, this is what will happen if you actually, you know, they are in the storm, it's a life threatening storm. And, and he gives this word of wisdom. He says, this is what God says that there will not be laws of life. The ship will be damaged, but there will not be laws of life. So here's this thing. This is what is going to happen, something that is in the future. So we see that word of wisdom has something for the present and something for the, or something for the future. Usually it's that. Right. It could be something for the present to solve something in the present or it could be something in the future. I could take care of something in the future. So we see that. Okay. So how is the word of wisdom perceived? It is, it is the same way. You be sensitive and train your spiritual senses. We understand, right? When we say spiritual senses, the term spiritual senses, like to be sensitive in this, but how are you receiving? How are you hearing? Are we seeing anything? Are we feeling anything in our heart? Or even, you know, are there any physical sensations also? Right. There's a quickening of scripture. Very important, you know, very foundational. There could be a knowing on the inside of us. It could be something visual that we are seeing. It could be a dream. It could be, you know, you're having a conversation and you begin to speak something, share something that you did not plan on speaking or sharing. Right. So that could also be nothing planned, premeditated, but it was by inspiration, by the Holy Spirit. Right. Something that takes care of, it's a godly council that takes care of a problem that takes care of something, solving something which is, you know, some challenge that we're facing. Okay. So we'll stop here and then we'll come back after the day.