Early in the modern prophetic movement in 1988, I remember learning the importance of the three-stage process of properly handling revelation. These three basic but essential principles each build upon one another: (1) revelation; (2) interpretation and (3) proper application.

Without discovering that framework, we might have continued to take every word literally, never realizing that God might sometimes speak in symbolic language. These three principles have become vital building blocks for understanding the prophetic.

We also learned there is a trifold nature of the prophetic. It is: 1) partial; 2) progressive and 3) conditional. So, let me build on these foundational principles with some additional understanding to unpack the anatomy of a prophetic word.

  1. Discerning pure revelation. How can we know if a word is genuine? It is too easy to dismiss a word as being “off” simply because we do not consider all of the factors.

First, we must evaluate the source of the word. We must learn to discern the difference between three different primary voices that come our way: God’s Holy Spirit, our own thoughts and flesh, and the demonic noise thrown to us by demonic forces.

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