My experience of prophecy, is that it is to expand or explain the Word of God. Yes, Willie, the written Word of God, which you frequently seem to have such distain for. A pastor prophecies the Word during a sermon. As the sermon continues, the Holy Spirit will illuminate what the preacher is saying. I know each time I preach, someone will tell me something God really showed them. Sometimes, it has little to do with the sermon. In other cases, God will give them a Word directly from the Scriptures, illustrations or other parts of the sermon. Or, for that matter, something else that happened in the service. And people hear completely different things. Sometimes, they don't even hear the purpose or conclusions that I have said, because God has given them a different perspective, and that is how it should be. I do believe God speaks to each one of us individually and in manys ways.
As for as personal prophecy, I am very much against it. I am not saying that sometimes it is not accurate and from God. When my husband and I were young Christians, we went to an evangelistic dinner, and the speaker prayed over us, and gave a word of knowledge. It was totally accurate. In fact it shook my husband to his boots, because he had not seen it before that moment.
But, I think there is too much room for abuse these days. I also think that we do need to grow up in the Lord, and pray and seek God for personal matters. That means both consistent prayer and study of the Word. I know if I read something in the Bible, and then hear that verse over and over that day, or in the days to come, that is not coincidence but God.
I remember before Christmas, studying and translating Matt 6 in Greek. The next day, I was doing my read through the Bible in English, and Matt 6 was the Scripture. So was it coincidence? Not when after I finished reading both in English and Greek, I picked up "The Divine Conspiracy" by Dallas Willard, only moments later, and he was expounding the same verses in Matt 6. It was amazing.
God is speaking to me about an area in my life I need to work on right now. It seems like every time I talk to someone, open up a book, go to a Christian website, it is about this area. No one needs to give me a special word of knowledge or prophecy to know what God is saying to me. And usually, the sermon at church, no matter who gives it, always illuminates what God is saying.
So, if God wants you to move, you are the one that needs to seek him for the answer. A generic Word from the pulpit, may not even be directed at you. I know I wouldn't want to move based on a Word from the pulpit, unless it was the confirmation of everything God had been saying in the written Word and in many people. And especially something I had prayed about. If you feel uncomfortable about a Word of Knowledge from the pulpit, then it probably isn't for you. I always have such solid assurance when God is speaking to me. The words of other people, even if they come directly out of the Bible, should only be a confirmation of what God has already told you. In other words, I would never do something just because it was said in church or elswhere. I would always take my direction from God.
Finally, as far as Timothy and the gifts which he had been given at his ordination, or "laying on of hands" these were special gifts for him, in a time with little access to copies of the Word of God. It was a personal letter, which is not to say we cannot read and apply it, but we do need to remember that Timothy was a real person, and the words were first written to Timothy, who lived in the 1st century AD in Ephesus, where the church was quite the mess - men as well as women! That doesn't mean God isn't still allowing these gifts, of course, but it does mean we do need to keep in mind who it was written to and why. It would be narcissistic to think the book of 1 Timothy, (or any other book in the Bible,) was God writing specifically to us in the 21st century, although we can ALWAYS learn and grow, and hear from God through the reading and preaching of the Word.
