What is prophecy?

It is quite interesting how people nowadays are hunting for prophets and yet we have the largest number of churches than never before in history .Many people have taken prophecy to be nothing non other than "foretelling the future ".What is prophecy? Prophecy is the proclamation of a message revealed by the Holy Spirit, suited to the specific needs of the moment, in the language of those who hear it.Prophecy is a sign of God's "nearness and concern", that he Lord is still there with us to build up, tear down, or console (as per 1 Corinthians 14:3; Isaiah 40). Prophecy serves as God's way of getting through to people in a particular situation (2 Samuel 12:7; 1 Corinthians 14:24; Acts 8:30-35). It can, within that context, offer a view of what is to come -- especially if repentance is not forthcoming. This is true for societies as a whole -- the prophets and apostles of old pronounced judgement on all and called all to righteousness, even the pagans, for societal evil and injustice.
Prophecy is something done within a context, the context of God's covenants with human beings, shown through the Word as revealed in Scripture. If it is not within that context and in full accord with it, it is false and not from God, and furthermore it will quite likely prove evil in its effect. What prophecy can do for us today is to show how in daily living we have set aside the biblical truths and went our own way; it can place into the foreground what we have been avoiding and burn the true way into our hearts. It can convict us of our current path and provide us with new direction; if so, other gifts will follow which will empower the new direction