Prophecy

God is calling his church to pray, but what and why are we praying?   I believe we have all prayed for  breakthroughs of various kinds and revival is on our hearts.  We want to keep the fire burning and we love the fresh moves of the Spirit.   I have been lead to the book of Malachi chapter one, where Gods people are being called to honor Him with the best of their first fruits.   They were bringing lame offerings...oh my goodness, how many of us are attending Church each week, but bringing lame offerings.     Malachi two is about the corruption of the priests and the command to honor one another, to stop dealing treacherously with each other, specifically the wife of your youth.  God is speaking to the body of Christ, covenant relationships and marriage.!

Eph 5:30-32

For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones

."For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

" This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Mal 2:15

But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. 

'He seeks godly offspring'  In otherwords our spiritual sons and daughters are birthed through the body of Christ and covenant (godly) relationships..   This is why God hates divorce!   
Mal 2:16
 "For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one's garment with violence," says the LORD of hosts. "Therefore take heed to your spirit,

Malachi three is about the purging of the sons of levi (the leaders in the house) and the giving of  tithes and offerings.

"Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts. 

 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness.'

Our God is an awesome God!  The prophetic word that Malachi brought to Isreal, the church,  offers deliverance from the curses and opens opportunity to enter into the blessings of God. 

Mal 3:10
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.

                                                           
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The Body of Christ is Prophetic in its nature! 
  
Acts 2:17-21    'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.

And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.
 I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.    And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

The beginning of the last days started when 'God poured out His Spirit on all flesh'  In other words we are living in the last days.   The amazing phenomenon is that God broke through cultural and gender barriers and poured out of His Spirit on all flesh. Men and woman, young and old, master and servant. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God gave you and me the ability to hear His voice and speak His word.   This is powerful!    We can all prophesy life into our circumstances and situations.  So what is prophesy?  The dictionary says, its the ability to predict the future.  A practical interpretation of prophesy for the born again Christian is, 'the ability to hear the voice of God and write or speak what you hear.'  I am not talking about becoming a prophet, Im speaking specifically to every born again believer who has experienced the outpouring of Gods Holy Spirit and is a part of the body of Christ.

We have a diversity of God given gifts within the body of Christ, but Acts 2:17 and 1 Cor 14:1-4
show us that the gift of prophesy is for everyone who desires to edify, exhort and comfort the body of Christ.