The prophets transcend both Old and New Covenants, with various roles and contributions throughout the scriptures. I guess that means it is a gift that the church simply cannot live without.
Yet prophets limp so often as they feel their gift is not celebrated, honored and validated. While pastors and other leaders have had such bad experiences with real or pseudo prophets that the only true victor in this story is the enemy who loves to silence the prophet — at all costs!
I think there is a way forward. Through the width of the prophetic journey, we can with humility and honor find a God solution... here is my longing:
- To see prophets spoken of with love, honor and gratitude,
- To rediscover the collaborative partnership between apostles and prophets — they really do need each other,
- To see the office of the prophet given fresh conversation as to their New Testament "job description" and the role they play translocally into communities,
- To find creative ways that can father / disciple / train up the emerging prophets, that they don't have to stumble and stutter their way forward as their forebears had to — what is the modern 'school of the prophets'?
- To discover the right ways that they can be used as "impact players" to break open new contexts or to go in and blow open the wells of churches that have faltered and fallen in the heat of the battle,
- To find ways forward to empower prophets to be released to be given to His presence and the courage to salary them to do just that,
- To explore the way forward for prophets to be truly accountable with the words they bring — to make sure they are well weighed, they are revisited to see if they did happen, forums for correction where error occurs [but in a context of honor and celebration],
- To be courageous enough to discipline a prophet if and when needed, so the sheep can truly feel secure with this great gift, knowing it can be trusted, for when it errs there are consequences,
- To create forums where prophets and pastors can iron out their differences and see in each the value that they themselves do not carry - can we get rid of the suspicion that sometimes enters these relationships?
These are some of my reasons to reenter the conversation... maybe I am an incurable romantic but I naively believe this can happen.
I hear you Chris. Love what you are saying. You seem to have a good understanding of the prophet’s journey. We prophets (not necessarily talking about those solely in the office of a prophet ) normally go through a lot of rejection which I know makes us prophecy with compassion and is a necessary part of the process in order for us to present the Lord in the right way. The enemy does, as you say, try to shut us down from the womb. Cos he calls us from the womb (Jeremiah 1:5).
ReplyDeleteI believe a prophet should be so submitted to the elders that they can be openly told that they are out of line. Prophet people know that they may not always hear correctly and that the message can be corrupted. I would rather miss it though than not speak what I was hearing.
I normally prophecy through scripture, it’s very rarely that I prophecy a stream of things for a church or person that does not have a scripture as its base. After all the Word never returns void.
1 Cor 13: 9-10. We know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, what is partial will be brought to an end.
School of Prophets. What? Where? How? What was the Old school of prophets and why didn’t I know about it? Just joking! Not much training going on for the prophets. Keep exploring that possibility.
I am sure that many people would love to be set apart completely as a Seer. Growing in the gift. Enjoying His presence, the Word and hearing from Father the prophetic purpose/direction for a specific church or geographical area obviously with a heart of intercession.
Interesting concept; full time and functioning in the gifting of a prophet/Seer?
As a prophet person I know it is not always easy to operate in your gift, but especially if you’re female. So easy to be misunderstood or intimidate! I believe the gift and anointing takes precedence over gender. What is your take on women in ministry (preaching, prophesying etc.)? Anyway, amigo would love you to blog about that sometime. Blessings, Julie Roux