If you have been with us for the Kingdom IQ Learning season, then moving into encouragements on the spiritual gifts should be easy. We have embraced a spiritual mindset rather than an earthly mindset. We are excited about our new supernatural nature that has overcome the old nature of flesh and death. We love the Holy Spirit, the very culmination of the Good News of the Kingdom (who, incidentally, is not an afterthought), and trust his best for us at all times. Supernatural gifts, for us, are our “situation normal” and now we just need the tools to move forward. 
Prophecy
First, let me help you think of the gifts in some order. Did you know the gifts of the Spirit are “ranked," as it were, and should be prioritized? Read 1 Corinthians 14 and see what you think is promoted as the top priority.

What is prophecy? I will give a couple simple notes to help you answer this question. Let's read Revelation 19:10. If I say, "He has a spirit of anger," what am I saying? What if I say, "She has a sweet spirit"? To say that means that anger or sweetness is the essence, or life, of that person. It is the energy that seems to define it. The word spirit here is like a word for “internal breath.” We would say, for example, “Art is their lifeblood!” and we would be saying the same thing. So what is the essence, or the lifeblood, of prophecy? Take a moment to write some ideas down.

Continuing our look at Revelation 19:10, what do you think the word "testify" means? To testify is to give an account of something from a personal perspective. You can also think of it like providing evidence that proves something. Though words are important, there are many ways to provide that proving testimony, like a map, a clue, or physical evidence. So, this passage says the spirit of prophecy is to bring proving evidence to the person of Jesus. It's clear to me that this means that all prophecy in the Old and New Testaments are bringing insight and affirmation to the work, the person, and the purpose of Jesus! The same should be said for the prophetic voice in our fellowships today, shouldn't it?

Now, providing evidence of Jesus seems like a much broader understanding of the prophetic than just telling the future doesn’t it? Are you uncertain? Read Acts 10:43 to see it again. Yes. Now, so that you don’t think I am minimizing the “foretelling” aspect of the word (looking at the strict definition of the word): what would you call speaking about the future in a way that promotes Jesus and reveals his purpose in the future? Yes, prophecy. If you spoke about the future, or about anything, and Jesus was not affirmed and discovered in it, would that be Biblical prophecy? No, it wouldn't be. Prophecy, then, is not strictly telling the future, but rather anything that speaks out the purpose and work of Jesus.

Let’s think of it this way: Remember, we discovered the word "word" in the previous Learning Guide as a communication tool that relays the ideas of the speaker. Jesus was the perfect word to relay God's ideas. So if Jesus is God's perfect word, we can think of prophecy like this: a word that relays ideas of God from the spiritual realm, and since this word is the testimony of the word, it will always be under the direction of and in order to fulfill the purposes of Jesus. This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:24-25, “But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’” (NIV).

Are you with me? This why prophecy is not just a natural ability to preach or to explain things. Prophecy is the voice of heaven being relayed through us. It is not from us, but it is a spiritual communication that is being relayed through us so that the natural world can hear and understand it. Aha!

Now, when you read 1 Corinthi