The second purpose of prophecy is to exhort, which in its most basic sense means to call someone near to God. Prophetic exhortation can powerfully draw believers and even unbelievers right into the presence of the Lord. It can reveal to people just how real God actually is.
Brother Kenneth E. Hagin used to tell about a woman he once knew who was particularly gifted in that aspect of prophecy. He said that when she would stand up in church and exhort people to come to the Lord, the whole congregation would often be overwhelmed by God’s manifest presence. As a result, even hardened backsliders would repent. Sometimes every lost person present would come to the altar and give his/her life to the Lord.
Today we don’t usually think of prophetic exhortation as a soul-winning tool. But it is. In fact, it is one of the most effective evangelist tools we have. The Bible says that through prophecy, the Holy Spirit can address the secrets of a sinner’s heart in such a way that he will fall down on his face and say, “God is truly in you!”
I saw a striking example of that kind of prophecy back in the early 1970s. At the time, I was with the teacher of the first Bible study I attended and we were out witnessing to people on the street. We’d found a couple whose hearts were receptive and we were just about to lead them in the sinner’s prayer when, seemingly out of nowhere, a Japanese man walked up to us and began mocking God.
Suddenly, the people we were about to pray with began drawing back. They were being influenced by what the man was saying. You can imagine my surprise when my teacher responded by praying out loud in other tongues (at least it sounded like other tongues to me). As it turned out, the tongue he spoke in was Japanese so he was actually prophesying to the man.
Tongues and interpretation are always equivalent to prophecy. In this case, the Japanese man received the interpretation himself because my Bible teacher was speaking his native language. That was such a sign and wonder to him that he stopped mocking God and got saved instead.
Think of it: that Japanese gentleman got off the train to hell and onto heaven’s highway because one believer let the words of the Holy Spirit bubble up from within him. He is saved today simply because somebody prophesied!
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 14:18 – 33
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”