I just finished reading the Everyday with Jesus Newsletter from Lifeway. I kind of liked it, but I have to take exception with it in a small way. Philip's four prophesying daughters in Acts 21:9 are seen as courageous and creative for speaking up despite their singleness and their femininity, which wasn't valued much back then.
I think that we don't much understand these days what the word prophesy means. I don't suppose any special brilliance about Greek or anything. It just seems like I understand the Word best when I test it and really try to live it out. To me, the word prophecy has come to mean having something to say that's not my word, that's God's word. Sometimes, if I'm not careful, God's word will get me so excited that I'll start embellishing it with my words. I ABSOLUTELY MUST NOT DO THAT. God's words are standalone. They are what they are. I have to just say them and then let people do what they will with them, without my help. Nothing I can add can make God's words better. When I hear what this writer from Lifeway says about Philip's daughters, I want to say . . . don't you get it? If the God who made heaven and earth tells you to say something, you say it. Period. If you don't say it, you bear the responsibility for it. You have to say it. Lots of people don't really want to hear what I have to say. It doesn't matter. I won't be able to sleep until I've said those words to someone. If I don't say them to this crowd, I'll feel so guilty because I know this is what God wants. Sometimes, I'm not really sure whether it was really God or whether I'm just crazy. But if there is a question, I would rather have gone out on a limb for God and looked like a fool than to have sat around my whole life wandering if that could really be God's voice calling me.
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