Paul lists three reasons why God uses prophecy among us Christians: “One who prophesies to people speaks about building up, helping out, and talking into things.” (1Co 14.3 KWL) These are not the only purposes of prophecy; Paul also refers to the fact that a skeptic who hears us prophesy will become immediately convinced that God is among us. (1Co 14.24-25) But one should be able to assume that among Christians we don’t need to convince skeptics. So we can focus on the three things that Christians need most: Edification, assistance, and encouragement.
Dictionary time.
Edification (Greek iko-domí) literally means “architecture,” and Paul speaks specifically of the architecture of the church. (1Co 14.12) This is about building us into the body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, that we’re collectively meant to be. It’s usually interpreted to mean edification of the individual—that when the solitary Christian hears prophecy, it’s about building up that Christian to be a better follower of Jesus. But that’s not the context of 1 Corinthians 14. Paul already got into what edifies the individual Christian—speaking in tongues. (1Co 14.4) Prophecy, in comparison, is not about the individual, but the group. The individual is a block in the temple; you don’t build a block. You build something of the blocks, and in prophecy, the blocks—the Christians—encourage one another so that together they form a stronger temple.
Assistance (pará-klisis) refers to calling people to assist you. The related word pará-klitos was used by Jesus to refer to the Holy Spirit, (Jn 14.16, 26) and used by John to refer to Jesus. (1Jn 2.1) In those contexts, Jesus refers to the Spirit as our assistant, not like a secretary who does what we tell him, but more like a boss who facilitates his employees’ jobs. And John refers to Jesus as a sort of legal assistant, who pleads our case when we stand before the Father. That’s why some translations render this word as “helper,” and sometimes “comforter”—because we feel better knowing that God gives us aid.
Still again: This aid is not for the individual. When we receive encouragement in prophecy, it’s not in the form of, “Relax; God knows what you’re going through and will be there to help you through it.” As Christians, we should know that already. Like edification, it’s about the group, so it usually takes the form of, “Relax; God has provided you help in the form of your sisters and brothers in this church. They’re going to come to your aid.” Sometimes God will name specific names. Sometimes the prophet will call to those specific people and say, “You—God wants you to help.” Like I said, pará-klisis is about calling people to help you, and God will call upon people as he sees fit. And when he calls on you, realize that he wouldn’t pick you if he didn’t know you could help. He’s already empowered you to help. (And sometimes he hasn’t empowered you to help—but in order to grow your faith, he’ll give you the power to help at the very instant you obey him. So obey him and see what happens.)
Encouragement (para-mythía) refers to any speech made to persuade others, or talk them into helping out, or calm them down and comfort them. Sometimes it’s a diversion. Sometimes it’s a lecture. In general it’s to talk you into doing what God needs you to do, which is why I render it “encouragement,” although other translations go with “exhortation” or “consolation,” depending on the slant of the translators.
This is the sort of speech that most people associate with prophecy: The Old Testament prophets, shouting at the Hebrews to obey God for once, and stop it with the idolatry and hypocrisy and taking God’s grace for granted. The OT prophets got a bit angry and graphic, from time to time, and sometimes Christian prophets think it’s okay to adopt that sort of behavior. It’s not. We’re to encourage others, not angrily denounce them. We’re to talk them into following God, not condemn them and pass judgment on them for not doing so. Judgment belongs to God, and we need to avoid that language in favor of the love that is meant to be our highest goal. (1Co 14.1)
Moving in the prophetic.
If you want to be a prophet, start by putting yourself in a place where God can speak through you regarding these three subject-areas. Put yourself in a place where you can edify, assist, and encourage. In other words, don’t wait for God to give you messages: Be the message.
Edify your church. Help the people in it work together. Help smooth out disagreements. Compliment others by pointing out their strengths, and encourage them to work in those strengths. When they stumble, don’t condemn; forgive and help get them back on track. When they struggle, sympathize, and give them practical help. Not just advice; any fool can offer advice. Help them.
Assist your church. You notice there’s a lot of overlap between assistance and edification—and there will be some overlap with encouragement too. They’re all of a kind, you see. But also be sure to assist your church in ways that don’t have the extra agenda of edification or encouragement: It doesn’t necessarily edify people, or encourage people, for you to clean up spills in the church’s kitchen. But it does mean that someone else won’t have to do it—and now that person can devote time to building up the church in other ways. All the other ways that you can contribute to your church, and the people of it, is likewise a form of moving in the prophetic.
Encourage your church. Rile people up to accomplish the tasks God has for them. Get them excited. Lead by example. When they think they can’t, show them how they can. When they feel overburdened, offer to lighten the burden. When they feel underqualified, demonstrate how God likes to use the underqualified—it shows just how involved he is.
Now, doing these things are not the same thing as prophecy. Sometimes Christians teach that any kind of edification, assistance, and encouragement is simply another form of prophecy. Wrong: Prophecy is when God gives you a message through another Christian. God can use a Christian’s edification, assistance, and encouragement to tell you something; and the purpose of moving in the prophetic—of doing these things—is so that we create scenarios where God will use them to talk to us. But the things themselves are not prophecy. Don’t mix them up. Not all encouragement is prophecy. But all prophecy will encourage. There’s the difference.