He who speaks truth declares righteousness, but a false witness, deceit. There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health.
—PROVERBS 12:17–18, NKJV
IN ORDER TO fully understand the power of prophecy, we need a revelation about the power of the tongue. Jesus said that the words He spoke were spirit and life. Words—especially the words that come from God—are like spiritual containers that carry spirit and life.
Words have power for both godly and ungodly purposes. The entire universe came into being through words (Gen. 1:3). And words can be used to bless or to curse (Prov. 18:21). The Scriptures are filled with verses that emphasize the power of words and the tongue:
Heaviness in the heart of man makes it droop, but a good word makes it glad.
—PROVERBS 12:25
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it crushes the spirit.
—PROVERBS 15:4
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
—PROVERBS 25:11
Job 6:25 says, “How forcible are right words!” Right words are forcible. The right word spoken at the right time carries tremendous power and force.
Words cannot exist without speakers, and speakers use their tongues in order to speak. Therefore the Scriptures emphasize that the tongue can be used for good as well as for ill:
No man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring yield at the same opening sweet and bitter water? Can the fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a vine, figs? So no spring can yield both salt water and fresh water.
—JAMES 3:8–12
If words are this powerful, just imagine the power of Spirit-inspired words! Words anointed and charged by the Holy Spirit carry tremendous power to change lives. Prophecy is powerful because it is the word of the Lord, and no word from God is without power.
God desires to release His word by means of your tongue and mine. He has given every believer the gift of the Holy Spirit to accomplish His will. When the Holy Spirit comes, the results include comfort, strength, and the ability to speak forth the word of God boldly.
Acts 2:4 says the Holy Spirit gave the disciples “utterance,” which in Greek is the word apophtheggomai, meaning “to enunciate plainly, declare, say, or speak forth.”1 The first thing that happened when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost was inspired utterance, which is prophecy. In other words, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the doorway into the prophetic realm.
Prophecy is the result of being filled with the Holy Ghost. John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, was unable to speak until his tongue was loosed through the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Then he not only spoke some words for the first time in months, but he also prophesied:
His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying…
—LUKE 1:67
Spirit-filled believers should prophesy. By virtue of being filled up with the Holy Spirit, we should overflow. Filled is the Greek word pimplēmi, meaning to “imbue, influence, supply.”2 Spirit-filled believers should speak by the influence of the Holy Spirit because they have been imbued, influenced, and supplied with an abundance of the life of the Spirit of God.
When we yield to the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, the word of the Lord can drop like rain. We read this line in a familiar psalm: “The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God” (Ps. 68:8, KJV). The heavens “drop” at the presence of God. What does that mean? Drop is the Hebrew word nāṭa
, meaning “to ooze, to distill gradually, to fall in drops, to speak by inspiration”3—in other words, to prophesy.
One of the ways God inspires us is by dropping His word upon us. This usually happens during corporate worship when the presence of God is strong. The word of the Lord falls like rain, and there are usually many in the service who get inspired to speak. Some will be inspired to sing prophetically as God drops a song upon them.
Words from the Lord also bubble up. Nāḇā’ is the Hebrew word for prophesy, and it means to “speak (or sing) by inspiration (in prediction or simple discourse).”4 The word carries the sense of bubbling or springing up, flowing, pouring out, gushing forth. The word for prophet is nāḇî’, which means an “inspired man.”5 The word for prophetess is n
ḇî’â (or nebiyah), which means an “inspired woman, poetess, or prophet’s wife.”6 In other words, both men and women can be inspired to flow or bubble up with the words of God in prophetic utterances.
The inspiration to prophesy can fall upon us like rain (nāṭa) or bubble up from the inside (nāḇā’). It is the same Holy Spirit who inspires in both ways, and the result is also the same—inspiration to speak forth the word of the Lord.
Scripture says the Corinthian church was “enriched…in all utterance” (1 Cor. 1:5, KJV). The Holy Spirit will enrich each one of us in all utterance. When somebody or something has been enriched, it has had something extra added to it. The word carries the idea of wealth or abundance. Because we have been filled with the Holy Spirit, we should abound in utterance. The Holy Spirit is a free Spirit (Ps. 51:12, KJV), which means He is liberal, generous, and magnanimous (willing to share Himself with us). He pours Himself out upon us, and His life flows out from within us. Most often the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is released in an outpouring of prophecy. That is why we are urged not to limit the Holy Spirit by quenching His inspiration.
Inspired utterances are anointed by the Holy Spirit, and these words carry tremendous power and authority. When we are under the influence of the Holy Spirit, we can utter words that bring deliverance, healing, strength, comfort, refreshing, wisdom, edification, exhortation, and direction, and there is always an abundant supply of such utterance given to us by the Holy Spirit.
Do not be drunk with wine, for that is reckless living. But be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
—EPHESIANS 5:18–19
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, anoint my words. Let me yield to the inspiration of Your Spirit so my words will be filled with power and authority to bring healing, comfort, and deliverance. May I never quench Your Spirit. I rebuke any spirit that would hinder the flow of Your Spirit in my life in the name of Jesus. I bind Satan, the deceiver, from releasing any deception into my life (Rev. 12:9). I bind and cast out all spirits of self-deception in the name of Jesus (1 Cor. 3:18). I bind and cast out any spirit of sorcery that would deceive me in the name of Jesus (Rev. 18:23). Lord, let no man deceive me (Matt. 24:4). I bind and rebuke any bewitchment that would keep me from obeying the truth (Gal. 3:1). I pray for utterance and boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel (Eph. 6:19). Father, let me speak to others by revelation (1 Cor. 14:6), and let Your glory be revealed in my life (Isa. 40:5) in the name of Jesus.