Should we ‘teach’ children to prophesy?

[alison (Alison Townsend)]

@lindsay

since we are supposed to teach children God’s Word, and God’s Word teaches about prophecy and prophesying, then we should teach about those things. I think not teaching them about prophesying could be harmful to them since they can and will learn about it from other sources. That, in turn, could be harmful to someone else

You’ve summarised that really well, and I feel encouraged to use this approach with my own children. I’ve had such conflicting examples of using prophecy in the past and it makes me nervous but I’m equally nervous of quenching the Spirit in my own life, and my children’s lives. The examples of hearing from God that you referred to in an earlier post require the leading of the Holy Spirit. You could not have done those things in your own strength and it’s really reassuring to know that we don’t need to ‘practise’ any special skills to grow in prophecy, other than developing our own relationship with God through prayer and the study of His word.

@lindsay

The problem with Holly Pivec’s idea about prophecy is that she is promoting an unbiblical teaching in regards to prophecy: “learn to prophesy according to the measure of their faith…”

Sorry, I should have phrased myself better here - Holly is quoting a NAR leader who believes that prophecy can be “learned according to the measure of their faith”, but this is not Holly’s position. She is actually calling out this belief as errant. She says:

God does not give a pass to people who give false prophetic words merely because they mean well and because their words are heartfelt.

I’m also still working out if this position is true, so thoughts are welcomed too. Hopefully it at least represents her stance on the topic, and that she doesn’t stand with NAR teachings on the matter.

@lindsay

The examples of false prophesying in the Old Testament, as in Jeremiah, are ones of intentional false prophesying since the false prophets would have already known the Word previously given by the Lord regarding His coming judgment should Israel break her covenant with Him. There is a difference between making mistakes and prophesying something we know directly contradicts God’s Word already given. Not only did the prophets lie to the people about what God was going to do, but they misrepresented God in His character. They did this by essentially asserting that God would not do what He said He would do; they made Him out to be a liar.

Thank you, I appreciate this approach to considering OT prophecy in light of NT. I’m just considering whether it is possible to represent God and His character well, whilst making a mistake in a prophetic word. Either way, I guess we should therefore make proclaiming God’s goodness and character our purpose, rather than seeking to receive prophetic words. Nevertheless, if we are reading the Bible and teaching it to our children, we must teach the whole of the Bible, including the fact that some will have prophetic giftings as they grow in their walk with God. We can teach that there is a difference between forcing a spiritual gift to happen (and consequently likely delivering a false prophecy), and being open to receive it if God wishes to give it.

I always appreciate your insight, thanks