A Prophet's Call - Set Apart

"Before you were born I consecrated you, I appointed you a prophet to the nations..." Jer 1:5b.

These are massive words. The prophet knows! I am yet to meet a true prophet who does not know that they are one. The prophet awareness often does not start somewhere in year 10 of their spiritual journey. Many would say that, looking back, there were some of these stirrings in place even before they officially came to faith. They may have struggled to make sense of them, but this is a gifting that was seeded in them even before they were born.

The prophet knows! They may not want their gift, like their gift or even operate in their gift, but they know that they have this gift.

The prophet knows! We are not talking about being prophetic, the spirit of prophecy or the grace manifestation of prophecy of 1 Cor 12 that many may step into from time to time. I am taking about the full "doma" of prophecy - the Jesus ascension gift [its all about him isn't it?]

The challenge that begins to emerge, is that these prophets find it very difficult to work with or supposedly be accountable to some who are uncertain about their gifting, unclear about their calling and mediocre in their journey. They are often told to be accountable to their elders [of the local church] but they find this extremely difficult. As believers , ordinary men and women, these prophets have a very good God gift in local community and its leadership, where they are accountable for who they are as people, to leaders who see them on a daily basis.

However, as far as the gift goes, I am not sure that the local elders / pastors are the correct biblically empowered leaders who can or should provide prophet partnerships. In older models, elders tend to be business types who are concerned with the business affairs of the church or pastors who are more concerned with the peace of the sheep than with the "now word" from heaven. True pastors will recognize the weight of this gift, will provide a safe shepherding enviroment for their wrestles, will love them deeply, and pray with and for them often, caring, trusting, encouraging them consistently.

Scripture seems to offer this matrix for prophetic co-journeys:

• Prophets and apostles journey together, each needing the other - Eph 2:20, Acts 11:27 - 30,
• Prophets and Teachers - Acts 13:1 - 3,
• Prophets with prophets - 1 Cor 14.

I hope this helps and does not confuse. We are wanting to learn from our mistakes so that the next generation of prophets, elders, pastors and apostles do not have to painfully learn the lessons that we can pass onto them easily.

A Prophet's Call - DNA

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you" Jer 1:5a

One of the most amazing things about prophets is that it is in every pore of their being. It is something that those around them don't always understand, and they themselves want to switch off.

Jeremiah is told that God knew him before his was formed in the womb. That little window is very powerful to get a glimpse into a number of prophet realities:

• The prophet is formed in intimacy and thrives there,
• The prophet begins to dry up when the community times are great in friendship, word and even good hymn singing but lack divine intimacy,
• They simply cannot live without eternal intimacy,
• Their whole DNA is wired to this end - the way they eat, sleep, think, see and feel even the way they relate to people, generally they are not able to cope with compromise or mediocrity - anything that reflects God poorly,
• Their gift does not switch off as it is the central essence of their existence - they can do no other,
• This level of intimacy knows the heart of the Father in a very deep and honest way - that is why they get into trouble sometimes because they speak the Father's heart [it may be in a very clumsy awkward even accusatory way] and it is rarely well received,
• They grieve consistently because they can feel the Father's heart for the well being of the church...

I hope this conversation helps...

A Prophet's Call - the Word

"Now the word of the Lord came to me..." Jer 1:4

Recently I had meals with two prophets in about a twelve hour window of each other.

Well, I did not know that God had so much to say. Hardly anything that happened did not

have a "And the Lord spoke to me about..." in there. Sheesh, I felt quite awed by the number

of "God spoke" moments in our conversations.

I love prophets. They are so black and white, so persuaded that God speaks and they hear

him consistently, continuously and correctly. That is both inspiring as well as dangerous. We

know that none of us hear God perfectly all the time and even if we did, we only ever prophecy

in part, we hear in part and we understand in part.

Joseph believed he got the right interpretation of his dreams that he shared with such

pride, joy and naked ambition. May I suggest he missed the whole point? At the end of his life

if one was to ask him what the big 'google' picture was of his life, [did he still interpret the

dreams in the same way?]I think he would not have said that it was that his brothers bowed

down to him. Rather I suspect he would have said that the big picture / whole story of

his life was that he would always serve another man's story... first his dad, then Potiphar, then

the jailer, then the cupbearer, and then Pharoah. Joseph took a small part of the puzzle of his

life and made it the whole story with tragic consequences. Prophets are passionate to hear God

speak, but they must be reminded he never gives one person the whole story.

A Prophet's friend's longing...

I am not a prophet. So why write a blog series about prophets? There is something very beautiful about those who reside in the Father's presence. The radiance that emanated from Moses' face when he had been with the Father, was striking. Of all the gifts that Moses may have commented on it was only of this one that he said: "I would that all God's people would prophecy".

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.

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...

Making too little of Prophets?

I am a bible guy. Both in theological content [I am on a quest to know him and be known by him], as well in the architectural artistry of the divine designer, the scripture is beautiful in its creative revelation. There is a tendency by the church community to either live comfortably with modern expressions of form and shape more than with the textual design. Then of course there are those who carry the design like a badge of honor as self proclaimed, self promoted deliverers who view their gift as a divine right. and to be obeyed at all costs.

Can we enter a conversation on one of the most gracious gifts from the Father, when he gave us "prophets"? I am not adding the great disclaimer "-ic" as we do not want to simply speak of being 'prophetic' although that is certainly a most worthy conversational piece.

The subject of "prophets" is charged with dynamite. The vociferous protagonists who share their view that the prophet's voice ended at the end of the so-called "Apostolic Era," I am not sure we can truly engage meaningfully after we both communicate our differences, I guess we can have coffee together and talk about football.

The other extreme is equally challenging. Many prophets have such bruised souls, that they have retreated into their own reality — a world where God speaks to them endlessly and their hearing is the only one that can be trusted. This is a very dangerous world.

However, when John Wimber spoke of the "Quest for the Radical Middle," there was no element of compromise or reductionism. I suspect he simply wanted to re-empower the world with the wondrous reality of a super — natural collaboration that is not weird, damaged or excessive. I would love to see us celebrate the return of the office of the prophet — taking their rightful place in the plethora of other gifts and offices. To see the celebration of these offices, each honoring and appreciating the value of the other, is a dream that resides in my heart.

With no axe to grind, nor agenda to promote, I believe that the Father gave the church [his bride] all these gifts [not most or some of them] to ready her for this journey of faith. It requires true humility to say: "I have need of you". And then of course the scripture records the Father's heart by saying: "For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret [ plan-NIV] to his servants the prophets" Amos 3:7 ESV. If that is true, then maybe it is time to listen a little.

I would love to hear your story...

New Chapters

The Father is writing a glorious redemptive story. One chapter at a time. One

evolving moment at a time. As with the big meta-narrative, so with our lives. The Father

has been fastidious with the story of our lives. We are not the Darwinian products of random

chance plus miracle, in disconnected fragmented moments. Rather, we are the

wondrous players in a divine adventure, one chapter at a time.

Holding that each chapter has the full four seasons experienced, it is so sweet to see

the flow of the God life, as He sets out fulfilling his story in us - seeking to complete our

mandate as well as bring us to maturity.

So each chapter seems to have these ingredients:

1. New theology - God will reveal more of himself in each new chapter. It is so good to

find out what that is early in the chapter, not forgetting what he revealed to us before,

2. New faith - God is always loving to see our faith both current and fresh, ever growing -

that brings him so much joy - we can trust him,

3. New roles - that is so difficult. We do tend to attach so much punch to the identity /

roles we carried in the last chapter - especially if it was a very good strong, robust

time. Every new chapter does tend to change our roles. That tends to be very

vulnerable and uncertain, but it is the way of the Lord,

4. New financial trust - every chapter will have a new financial faith quotient. We often

desire that part to be of our story is now over - namely, we have learnt the lesson,

now we live in financial security, without challenge. This is simply not so.

5. New relationships - we certainly carry many of our relationships over from

yesterday's moments. However it seems like the scripture tends to indicate the

delight of new relationships in every new day.

6. New partnerships - there certainly is more to this Christian journey than only

engagement around the last chapter's collaborations. That is how denominations are

formed. The kingdom advances with new partnerships with each chapter... Here

loyalty and sentiment are volatile foes of the kingdom

Hope this helps... we have been there a few times. They are exciting but vulnerable times.