What I love about prophets...

I am not a prophet. By being surrounded by prophets — family and friends, for so many years, I have seen the inner room of divine incubation as they have wrestled with their God, their gift, their mandate, their personality. When we pull the trigger of criticism too quickly, we are forgetting some pretty key wars that surround these precious people. It is true to say, most prophets, I mean true, real salt of the earth prophets, would be ready to give up their gift for it is a very heavy burden to bear. It is not a mantle they carry lightly. It certainly does not give them much rest.

As I am writing this in the early LA morning, my heart does smile as so many of my prophet friends come to mind. This is what I love about them:

• They absolutely love God - the glorious three person God whose mysterious first dance, before the beginning, has captured their heart,
• They desperately love His bride — if they guard their heart against hurt and pain, the love that I have found in the soul of the prophet is profound. Their love is passionate and all consuming [Zeal for your house consumes me], kinda like table turning love,
• They love their nation — most prophets hear the Father's groans about a nation slipping from her divine tracks and inheritance. Their love is often less sentimental and patriotic and more divine and eternal,
• They love the word — it may not be all of the word in that they tend to lean towards the texts that bring clarity to their journey, but the good ones are big word lovers for sure,
• They speak to see change — there is an inability in them to simply placate the pleasant. They can see the change needed, so it is not conceptual or philosophic — they can see it [what do you see Jeremiah?] and therefore declare it,
• They are soul stirred to open up the blocked wells — where the life of God has been stifled. The sheer joy on their faces when they see folks flowing in true, pure and fresh God life is a delight to behold,
• They love working in team - OK all you grumpies who have had some bad experiences with prophets, listen for a moment... when Paul and Barnabas got going in Antioch the prophets came down from Jerusalem - they want to gig with apostles, I think it is in their pre-pain DNA. Together apostles and prophets lay foundations [Eph 2:20] and prophets and teachers are found collaborating in Acts 13 - they do want to team together,
• They are the best hope the church has from getting stuck in the mud of systems, principles and bureaucratic "the law" thinking — they need to be celebrated...