We see a contrast between two women. There was Lydia from Thyatira whose heart the Holy Spirit opened to receive the message of salvation. On the other hand, we see a young slave girl who was prophesying over Paul and his fellow laborers:

“As we were on our way to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who was possessed by a spirit of divination [claiming to foretell future events and to discover hidden knowledge], and she brought her owners much gain by her fortunetelling.

She kept following Paul and [the rest of] us, shouting loudly, These men are the servants of the Most High God! They announce to you the way of salvation!

And she did this for many days” (Acts 16:16-18 AMP).

Now bear with me for a moment while we compare love, edification, comfort and exhortation to control, one of the devil’s ways of perverting the purpose of prophetic ministry. To control is to exercise restraining or directing influence over, or to have power over another person. Prophets need to exercise self-control through the power of the Holy Ghost, but have no business seeking to control anyone else. Yet, I’ve seen a few too many prophets’ ministries sidetracked by this spirit, which is commonly called Jezebel.

Here’s an example: I couldn’t find my cell phone this morning. She said she saw it one minute and not the next. She basically misplaced it and I wanted to see if she’d take responsibility for it. I asked her, “Do you think the devil came and got it?”

She considered the question, then she said, “Well, it couldn’t be the devil because the house isn’t on fire.”

Hmm. I couldn’t quite figure that one out. “What do you mean the house isn’t on fire? What does that have to do with the devil stealing my cell phone?”

The Apostle Paul himself said it is better not to marry so that we may be devoted fully to the Lord rather than being concerned about the needs of our husbands. I’m not against marriage between a man and a woman, and I certainly haven’t refused to marry by any stretch of the imagination.