Prophecy

We talked a bit about prophecy yesterday at the Bible study (probably because of the role the Holy Spirit plays in that spiritual gift). I mentioned that the amount of prophecy that occurs today seems rather small - those who think they are prophesying are usually fakes (i.e. those who said that Christ would return in the Y2K). Dr. A mentioned something to the effect that prophecy also includes those occasions where people feel a need to pray for someone. That was a definite twist on how I've been used to understand prophecy - took my mind a bit to wrap around the concept - but the added dimension just might work. I guess if God urged me to pray for someone, he would do so before the final danger had been realized. I would therefore have knowledge of the need before it fulminated, even if it was only a few seconds before...
Well, I'll have to research that idea a bit. If the new proposed dimension to prophecy is true, then prophecy does occur fairly often in the US. Hmm, maybe I have even benefited from it.)

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Without expanding my usual definition of prophecy, I suppose it may occur more if we relied more on God. Those who really need the protection a look into the future would provide may currently receive prophecies more often (eg those in anti-Christian countries).

Perhaps listening to the Spirit would become a larger part of my life if I heeded more inklings that pop into my brain. However, I am reticent to do so because I think a lot of them are just the result of my brain's workings. The more I followed through with those inklings, the more my brain would create them and I could soon be a neurotic, obsessive compulsive mess. On the other hand, it is important to not quench the Spirit... Perhaps I shouldn't worry about this much. Maybe it would be very clear to me if I actually had received an inkling from the Spirit, maybe I would have very little doubt, would follow through with it, and all would be good. More to think about...