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What is the price for rising above entry level prophesying?
1. Faithfulness.
If you read my testimony, you will discover that a book, Power in Praise by Merlin Carouthers, played an important part in my salvation. Its simple instructions told me how to give my life to Jesus.
But also, the book suggested I ask the Lord for something called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I had no clue what this baptism meant, but I figured, “In for a penny, in for a pound.”
So, I went back into the bathroom, closed the door, knelt in front of the sink and said, “Lord, whatever the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is, I’d like to have it, too.”
I got back up, went into the living room and continued reading. Honest, that’s all I did.
Fifty days later (to the day and almost the same, exact hour), I spoke in tongues while driving my car. My tongues or prayer language consisted of just four syllables, sort of had a do, re, me, fa ring to it.
What good can come out of this stuff, I thought.
As soon as possible, I asked a friend, “What am I supposed to do with my prayer language?”
“Well, the Bible states that we are to pray without ceasing,” he said. He continued on, but the “without ceasing” attached itself to the walls of my brain.
Thus, I prayed all the time. If I was alone, I prayed aloud. If not, my tongue clickedy-clacked behind my teeth, “do, re, me, fa, do, re, me, fa, do, re, me, fa, etc.
Now, do you have any idea how boring it is just praying four syllables for hours and hours on end? A whole bunch! But what did I know, right? After all, I had only been saved two months; and before that, I was an agnostic.
I continued on and on until finally two months later, something broke within me. Out of my mouth gushed a prayer language without end. It was new. It was exciting. I was edified beyond belief.
And with the breakthrough in my prayer language came the unlocking of the other spiritual gifts in my life. Word of knowledge. Word of wisdom. Prophecy. Interpretations. Varieties of tongues. Healing. Working of miracles. Faith. Discerning of spirits. (1 Corinthians 12: 8-10)
Now, the only spiritual gift which I have any sort of control over is my prayer language. It is up to me to use it or not. All the other gifts are operated “as the Spirit wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:11)
Okay, so what does all of this have to do with prophesying, right?
In Matthew 25: 14 – 30, Jesus told the parable about a man giving talents to his three servants. One received five; another two; and the other just one.
The first two servants labored with their talents and doubled their values. The third servant did nothing with his talent because he was afraid of his master.
Jesus ended the parable by saying:
“Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness… (Matthew 25: 28-30)
This Kingdom of Heaven parable reminds us that we need to be faithful with the gifts (talents) He has given us. If like me, you are given just a small gift, labor with it. Work. Study. Use it. Don’t give up. Be faithful.
The Lord will eventually reward your faithfulness and raise you up to a new level.
(Continued in Part 6)
*I have used the word prophesy in a general sense to denote prophecy, words of knowledge and words of wisdom (1 Corinthians 12: 8-10).
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A couple of years ago, I watched 
In my lifetime, I have watched tattoos shift from just appearing on the arms of a few sailors into being accepted by many who are in the mainstream of America.
Starting on Monday, 
Many years ago, I worked as a maintenance man in a motel. Some of the other workers were track athletes from the local university. One of them was from Kenya.
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Larry Who 