About the Book
Book: Assessing Your Prophetic Self
Author: Paula A. Price PH.D.
Genre: RELIGION / Christianity/Pentecostal & Charismatic
Release Date: June 19, 2020
The Prophetic Primers are a series of smaller books based on the best-selling The Prophet’s Dictionary and The Prophet’s Handbook that will bring clarity, discovery, and definition to the training of prophetic gifts. In Assessing Your Prophetic Self, Dr. Paula A. Price provides diagnostic tools, as well as language and knowledge, to discern, measure, and encourage the gifts of novice prophets. Readers will receive links for an online prophetic assessment test. Dr. Price also sets specific and measurable objectives, goals, and outcomes for the formation of a prophetic ministry. Also includes an introduction for the seasoned prophet looking to mentor others in the ministry.
Click here to get your copy!
My Review
I
thought this book would help me assess whether I have a prophetic
gift or not. That's not what the book is about. This book contains
Price's thoughts on prophetic ministry. She does reference, at the
end of the book, online questionnaires and assessments readers can
take at her website. It seems readers are to develop their own
personal assessment from information in the book. (167)
There
are some aspects of the book I like. Price says the prophetic
ministry needs an overhaul to garner credibility, respect and
dignity. I like her clarifying that some Christians may avoid
prophets because they are inept and immature. (100) Prophets
shouldn't say they are being persecuted when people are merely
responding to uneducated amateurism. (101)
The
kind of prophetic ministry Price writes about is something much more
than we see in the local Charismatic church. She calls for education
and suggests it should be professional, regulated. (122) Psychology
and similar disciplines should be included in the training. (151)
Developing the prophetic may take up to fifteen years. (144) The
prophetic should be reclassified as a scientific discipline, not
strictly a religious practice. (109, 122) She also writes that
prophets can set fees for services rendered and meetings with
prophets should be treated as professional sessions. (108)
There
were several aspects of the book I did not like. Price's writing
style is of an academic nature. She frequently uses a difficult word
when a more simple word would have been clearer and more reader
friendly. Examples include cogitating for thinking, illuminations for
insights, initialers for primers. She even includes several footnotes
defining and explaining words used in the text because they are so
unknown or obscure. Sometimes I was just not sure what she was trying
to communicate. For example, upon identifying fifteen “potencies”
she writes, “They should become part of your critical thinking,
analytics, and evaluable processes.” (154) I have no idea what that means or how to do it.
Sometimes Price's teaching is confusing. At one point she writes that God does
not need us to act as a translator of His thoughts. (114) Yet
earlier she said prophecy must be disassembled and handled by those
who receive it in order to convert it to human language. (111) We
need to “translate what God says into human speech and
understanding...” (111) “[His messages] need our interpretive
faculties in order to relay them to other people.” (111)
And
one last point that involves a pet peeve of mine. Price says those in
the prophetic need “structured, line-upon-line,
precept-upon-precept training” and references Isaiah 28:10,13.
(111) The latter part of verse 13 says they will receive teaching
this way “so that as they go they will fall backward; they will be
injured and snared and captured.” (NIV) Is that the result we want
of prophetic training? The context of the Isaiah passage is that they
would receive only bits at a time because of their obstinate
behavior. It is not a positive description of the learning process.
I
am not sure who will appreciate this book or for whom it was actually
written. The average layperson will find it difficult reading and may
not feel the text actually helps them assess their prophetic gift,
whether they have it or not or their maturity in it.
My
rating: 3/5 stars.
About the Author
Paula A. Price is quickly becoming the international voice on the subject of apostolic and prophetic ministry. She has founded and established three churches, an apostolic and prophetic Bible institute, a publication company, a consulting firm, and a global collaborative network linking apostles and prophets together for the purpose of kingdom vision and ventures. Although she has written over twenty-five books, manuals, and other course material on the apostolic and prophetic, she is most recognized for her unique 1,600-term
The Prophet’s Dictionary, a concise prophetic training manual entitled Church Prophets, and her follow-up,
The Prophet’s Handbook, a tool for establishing prophetic ministry in the church. Paula is host of her own program,
Let’s Just Talk: Where God Makes Sense. She has a D.Min. and a Ph.D. in Religious Education from Word of Truth Seminary in Alabama. She is also a wife, mother of three daughters, and the grandmother of two. She and her husband Tom presently pastor New Creation Worship Assembly in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
More from Paula
My previous books, THE PROPHET’s DICTIONARY and THE PROPHET’s HANDBOOK have sold extremely well and have offered guidance and wisdom to many. This new book, ASSESSINGG YOUR PROPHETIC SELF is the first of The Prophetic Primer Series that will bring more clarity and discovery to your training in the prophetic.
Blog Stops
I received a complimentary digital copy of this book through Celebrate Lit. My comments are an independent and honest review. The rest of the copy of this post was provided by Celebrate Lit.
(My
star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it,
1-I hate it.)
While
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J
thorn earned a B.A. in American History from the University of
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