What is the gift of prophetic encouragement and how is it used?

Everyone has this gift lingering inside them. Only some use it. And of those who do use it, they don’t use it all the time. It isn’t one of those gifts that God sprinkles over a few “special ones.” No, this gift is given in stereo across the breadth of humanity.

But this gift requires humility, as any gift does.

Gifts are for others. They make us humble. Gifts come forth out of love to and for others when others come first, through our expressed acts of love. Gifts are from God. Gifts are for others.

So, the first hint about this spiritual gift is it’s those blessed with humility who use it best; or, better put, humility is in any of us, when we put others first to the degree that we do acts of love toward them.

See what Rick Warren says in describing what I call prophetic encouragement:

Jesus called Peter a “rock” when the fisherman was still acting on impulse (Matthew 16:18), and God called Gideon a “mighty man of courage” when he was hiding from the enemy (Judges 6:11-12).

Prophetic encouragement expresses the positive potential we see in another person, which builds them up, causing them to grow further into that vision of that gifting we see in them. If God did this for Peter and Gideon, calling them what they would be at a future time, modelling just the right way of doing it, we certainly can.

See how prophetic encouragement encourages through the potential that is seen?

See how God called these two men better names than at the time they deserved?

See how the Holy Spirit calls us to the same ministry of seeing, which is prophecy, and encouragement, which is equipping?

I commonly use prophetic encouragement before a person has acted that way, as a way of calling them to self-awareness; that they might say, “Wow, this person saw THAT in me! I wonder if it’s true? I liked the feeling of that encouragement. I want to become more like he just said I was.”

If the word of encouragement sticks, it’s from the Holy Spirit and they go on to express what I prophesied, but if it doesn’t stick, I accept it wasn’t of God.

If we see someone has the capacity for kindness, and yet they haven’t been very kind, but suddenly we see them do an act of kindness, it’s encouraging for them when we point that kindness out.

I know a particular female pastor (a former teacher) who does this extremely well; she hasn’t chosen to criticise people when they perhaps would have deserved it, but she has pounced on times when they did the right thing, to make an example of that right thing. “That, did you see that; I did,” is what that says to me, with her big encouraging smile of loving goodness.

What a beautiful way to shepherd people in a particularly trying world. To wait for the time of encouragement, praying that it would arrive, that we’d be ready, and then to utter a timely kindness.

In a world that often rewards the wrong behaviour, we can see here how much better it is to ignore that which would only demoralise someone in favour of calling attention to what we want more of.