My team here in Haiti is prophesying over each other right now after debrief. It's normal in their church, but I gave a quick teaching on what exactly prophesy is from 1 Corinthians 14:3 (read it before you size this post up), shared that it's not a "thus sayeth the Lord" thing or time to give constructive criticism, then gave an example of prophesy, and presented them an opportunity to simply do it - and they started prophesying over one another immediately!

MAN, I LOVE THIS! It's been going on for about 45+ minutes now and is still rolling strong with no plans or restrictions.

Did you know that you have total freedom to uplift, encourage, and console each other in Christ as often as you please? It's such an honor that God trusts us and gives us the ability to simply hear from Him and pour it into one another with joy.

I may seem complicated, but can be as simple as, "Mary, I really love the way you were interacting with that family across from us at the restaurant last night. You genuinely care for people and they know it. That's just one of the many reasons why people listen to you so well when you speak. You can't hide the joy of the Lord and it shows when you interact with people. I can't imagine the overjoyed feeling the Lord gets when He sees you love on His people like that."

Yes, some may squirm in their boots or freak out when they hear the term "prophesy", but let's make sure we are Biblical in our understanding first. Granted, prophesying (1 Corinthians 14:3) can get confused with being a prophet (Deuteronomy 18), but it's such a joy to see people realize what prophesy actually is and that we CAN upbuild, encourage, and console one another daily as we receive from God, and that it is even encouraged to be a continual and a most often thing practiced in the church... and it's GOOD!

When's the last time you received from the Lord and prophesied over a brother or sister in Christ? I release you. Go and give freely.