This week at our church we began a discussion of spiritual gifts based upon Romans 12.  One of the points that our pastor made was that spiritual gifts can become like a Christian zodiac because of the way Christians mystify them, “Oh you’re a Taurus? Well, I am a prophet!”  Spiritual gifts aren’t supposed to be weird or magical; instead, they are simply the outpouring of a normal Christian life.  Do you know where you are spiritually gifted?  If not, maybe you’d like to take this test.  I thought it might be a good idea, over the next few days, to discuss how these spiritual gifts work themselves out in the context of church worship.

The first gift that Paul discusses in the Romans passage is the gift of prophecy.  Prophecy, at least in the context of this discussion, is not Christian magic.  Prophets can’t automatically see the future or discern the mysteries of the universe.  However, someone gifted with the gift of prophecy has the ability to speak truth into a situation, cutting to the core of a problem, and even seeing beyond the surface motivations of people into the truth of who they are.  A prophet often has the skill to make accurate first-time judgements about a person’s character, and within the church body, prophets are called to address sin and speak words of encouragement to the church based upon their insights.

How might a prophet utilize this spiritual gift in a corporate worship context?  One obvious way is by speaking out truth that is made evident to him or her during the worship time.  Many churches have an opportunity for corporate response during the worship service (like a testimonial time), and this might be a good opportunity for a Spirit-led prophet to share the insight that God has given him with the rest of the church body.

The biggest responsibility for the prophet in the church, at least in my opinion, is that of quality control.  Often a prophet is able to discern the spiritual problems in other Christians’ lives, and he should use that ability to encourage his spiritual brothers and sisters to lay aside the sins that are keeping them from success in Christ.  In the context of corporate worship, the prophet is able to see whether or not the church leadership is truly sincere, and this insight allows the prophet to keep the worship leadership of the church accountable to God.

What do you think?  How else might someone gifted with the gift of prophecy add to the corporate worship time in the church?