David Diga Hernandez - How to Know You're Prophetic: 3 Signs

So I want to give you three truths that will help you understand whether or not you have the gift of prophecy or if you are prophetic. Now, these three signs that I’m about to give to you can actually apply to all of the spiritual gifts, but right now we’re just talking about the prophetic. First Corinthians chapter 14, verse number one, says this: «Let love be your highest goal.» So that’s the foundation of the spiritual gifts, but you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives, especially the ability to prophesy. Now, I don’t want to talk much about it right now, but it’s important to know that in 1st Corinthians 14, Paul the Apostle is comparing the gift of prophecy with the gift of speaking in tongues. Though he says that the gift of prophecy is better than speaking in tongues, he is not, by any means, saying that the gift of speaking in tongues itself is therefore bad; he’s just saying that prophecy is better. But here I want to draw out this main point: he tells us to desire the spiritual gifts, especially prophecy. Now, why would God want us to desire a spiritual gift? Obviously because He wants to give it to us. So, number one, one of the signs that you know you are prophetic is the desire to prophesy. Now, in some cases, prophetic people don’t want that gift. I think of Jonah, to whom God gave a message, and he was meant to deliver this message, but he ran in the opposite direction; he wanted nothing to do with it. That didn’t mean that God didn’t call him, but one of the signs can be the desire for the gift itself. I’ll never forget the first time I had an experience with the gift of prophecy. The gifts that I asked the Lord for were the gifts of healing, the gift of word of knowledge, the gift of miracles, and the gift of teaching. There were others, but those were the main ones that I prayed for. I was about 12 or 13 years old when I asked God for these spiritual gifts. So, I prayed this prayer, I went to church later that week, and I’m sitting in church when God starts to speak to me, and I didn’t even know God was speaking to me. Afterwards, we all went and were hanging out with our friends, and I remember we were standing in a circle. I had a few of my friends there, and there was this one girl. I looked right at her; I didn’t try to prophesy, I wasn’t trying to hear God, I wasn’t reading her to see what I could see in the spirit, but out of my mouth came these words: «Do you have a friend that you were talking to yesterday? This was a midweek service. Do you have a friend you were talking to who is suicidal?» She said yes. I said, «And she’s suicidal because her father is verbally abusive.» She said yes. I continued, «And I see her; she’s talking to you right now. She’s sitting up against her locker, she’s holding her knees together, and she’s crying while she’s explaining this to you.» This girl’s jaw just dropped. She said, «How did you know that?» I said, «I don’t know,» because it was just knowledge that had come to my mind for all that I knew, but it was just this deep inner knowing—the word of knowledge had come to me. Now, that came about as a result of praying for the gift, and that prayer for the gift came about because there was a desire for the gift. Look, let’s just be honest. Let’s just look at this logically: God would not tell you to desire something that He didn’t want to give to you. Why would He ask you to desire something that is contrary to His word? Why would He ask you to desire something that’s contrary to His will? There’s no way He would do that. So, if God has placed a desire in your heart for a spiritual gift, it’s because He wants you to have that gift. Now ask yourself, because some people get a little nervous and say, «Well, how do I know it was God that gave me this desire for the spiritual gift?» Well, your flesh wouldn’t want the gift because the flesh wants the glory that the gift brings, but it doesn’t want the gift itself. It doesn’t want the gift that helps people; that’s why it says, «Let love be your highest goal.» The flesh wouldn’t be motivated by love; it would desire other things. Yet there’s this desire that comes out of you that wants the spiritual gift, that you might be a blessing to others—that’s of the Spirit. Would the enemy want you to have a spiritual gift? Of course not. So this desire, if that is in you, is likely from the Spirit, and therefore that desire is something that God wants to fulfill. Number two: recognition. Now, some might disagree with me on this, but I have found this to be a great indicator that someone has a spiritual gift. It’s possible that you desire to have a spiritual gift that has not yet been developed; it’s possible that you desire to have a spiritual gift that has not been stirred. This is why recognition is one of those truths that I’m giving you—one of those ways that you know if you have a spiritual gift. If you have a spiritual gift, you don’t have to go around self-promoting and saying, «Hey, I have this spiritual gift!» Proverbs chapter 18, verse 16 says, «A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.» Now, in the book of Proverbs here, I believe this…