A Pilgrim’s Guide
Inspired by the Spirit
Understanding the Prophetic Ministry
Robert Weston
Inspired by the Spirit -
Understanding the Prophetic Ministry
1: Introducing the Prophetic Ministry
6: And all the people replied . . .
1 ~ Introducing the Prophetic Ministry
Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says . . . Be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. (Deuteronomy 5:27,32,33)
Have you ever
had the privilege of meeting a prophet? I am not speaking of someone who brings
an occasional word of prophecy but someone who lives in the presence of God,
and brings His insights to bear. We have received various words that have
brought vital steering touches, reassuring us that the Lord not only knows our path but is actually directing it. Like the time we spent
with Alex Buchanan shortly after we were married. He foresaw the times of
intense testing and trials that we would be called to go through for the Lord.
Thanks Alex! But there has always been the underlying assurance, that this
really is the word of the Lord. May we be as much and do as much for others!
What did the
Lord intend Israel to be? A demonstration to the nations of the world of what a
righteous society living under the rule of God could be like. In His plan the
prophets had a vital role to play. ‘The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up
from Egypt: by a prophet He cared for him.’ ([1]) Let’s not be afraid to use the word: God appoints
them, we need them and every church and organisation needs them. And even
though we may not be full-blown ‘prophets’ ourselves, we should undoubtedly be
seeking to become more ‘prophetic’ in all we do.
Prophets are
the ‘eyes’ of the church. The trouble is, the way we see things tends to be so
different from God that He has to take us through a whole series of upheavals
to help us see things His way, and to apply the word of the Lord accurately.
The good
news: the Lord promised that He will do nothing without revealing His plan to
His servants the prophets ([2]). Whenever He needed to warn or to restore Israel,
He raised up prophets to do the job. In
times of crisis, it was the Word of the Lord through the prophet that,
again and again, saved the nation from its
enemies ([3]). The prophets had a vital role to play in God’s plan for Israel after
He brought them out of Egypt ([4]).
More good
news: the testimony of Jesus is (still) the spirit of prophecy ([5]), and He invites, instructs even, His people to be
eager to prophesy.([6]) But just as that Moses’ ministry reached maturity
in the wilderness, rather than when he was a pampered prince in Pharaoh’s palace, so the Lord will need to take us
through some form of rigorous training programme. That’s good news too. But it
may not feel like it at the time. We’ll look at the process in more detail
later. For the time being, let’s take a step backward to consider the prophetic
ministry.
1.1 The prophetic ministry today ([7])
It
was the end of the meeting. A group of people gathered round a man from the
church who was paralysed and suffering from MS. Everyone except the visiting
preacher, Heidi Baker, knew that he had had a dream six years before that he
would one day walk again. But how many believed it would be in this life? After
all, he had been prayed for more than six hundred times with no apparent
effect. The group continued to pray for a full half hour. Something was
happening. Feeling was coming back, now to the left foot, now the other.
Suddenly it happened. With the aid of others, he stood to his feet, and soon
was walking. Within days he was pushing other MS sufferers around in their
wheelchairs. Within two weeks he was playing football! An incredible miracle
had happened. And the speaker declared: ‘This is a sign of God’s desire to
bless the paralysed church in the United Kingdom. The power of God is at
hand!’
In this
section we are going to look at various aspects of the prophetic ministry. Our
purpose is both to be more open to be used by the Lord ourselves, but also so
that we can welcome the input of those to whom God has given a special ability
to listen.
God loves to prophesy! He does not speak lightly or aimlessly but sends
His Word in order that His plans should come to pass. He always has a
deliberate objective in mind.
The spirit of prophecy is much in evidence from the very beginning of
the Bible records. ‘Let there be light . . . Let there be a firmament’ ([8]). God could have just thought the
world into being; He chose to speak it.
In C.S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew there
is a magnificent account of the creation of the imaginary world, Narnia, in
which Aslan (who stands for the Lord) sings
creation into being. It is a beautiful concept!
Jesus is
prophet, priest and king. He will share His glory with no other ([9]) – yet when He speaks through fallible human beings,
something of His own power and authority are released. When the Word of God
became flesh and dwelt among us, Jesus declared that the words He spoke were
spirit and life ([10]). The whole of His ministry demonstrated this: by
a word the blind were healed, the paralytic walked, the dead restored to life
and evil spirits cast out. By the word of Paul’s mouth a spirit of divination
was cast out of a slave girl, and the eyes of a sorcerer were temporarily
blinded ([11]). By the words of the apostles lame men walked,
the sick were healed and the dead were restored to life ([12]).
1.2 All ministries are to be ‘prophetic’
When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you
into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears,
and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking
from what is Mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is
Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it
known to you. (John
16:13-15)
Wouldn’t it be tragic if
God gave up speaking? Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel . . . what giants these Old
Covenant prophets were: giants with well-tuned spirits! In Jesus’ day,
however, the prophetic voice had long
been silent [13]until John the Baptist
‘emerged.’ There was a widespread expectation, however, that there would be a
revival of the prophetic flow before the day of the Lord. On the Day of
Pentecost, the promised Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church, and His
blessing became a gift that all believers could exercise.
Although God sets aside
certain people for the office of the prophet, the Lord wants all of us to wait on Him concerning the
things that we undertake. The sensitive pastor will be concerned to bring an
inspired word to his congregation, just as the teacher will wait on the Lord to
discover exactly which passage of Scripture the Lord wishes him to expound.
To teach doctrine ‘x’ when God is emphasising aspect ‘y’ of His kingdom
is still to be technically true to the Word of God, but in reality to miss the
heart of what God was wanting to communicate or direct His people to. To be
prophetic is to walk in step with what God is doing now. To bring a teaching with a prophetic edge is to be
breath-takingly up to the minute and full of power because it means we are in
in line with what God is doing in the hearts of His hearers.
It is so much more
satisfying, as well as relevant, when we are in tune with the things that are
on God’s heart.
Living prophetically involves far more than just speaking words from God. From first
reading of the biblical prophets, it is
easy to assume that they were
receiving words from God day in and day out, but in reality their oracles were probably more like scoring a goal in the edited
highlights of ‘Match of the Day’ rather than a minute by minute experience. When Mother Teresa recognised God’s
heart for the people of India and gave her life for them, surely she was being every bit as prophetic (and in all probability
far more fruitful) than people who bring ‘words’ from God at every meeting.
In His great task of restoring His Bride, and bringing in His Kingdom,
God is raising up a people to make Him known in our land; a New Testament
equivalent of a prophetic nation ([14]).Wise is the church that recognises and nurtures those who have
particular gifts and burdens, whether they be creative gifts for the body of
Christ, for their professions, or for the wider community. I believe that God
appoints watchmen who have a special burden for their professions as well as
for their churches or their geographical regions. For more than twenty years I
worked with outstanding musicians who allow the Lord to express and reflect His
heart through their music and in the process bring the presence of the Lord
close to His people.
1.3 Nurturing the
prophetic Calling
The real prophets of our day, are those who can
perceive what is happening in modern society, see where it will lead us, and
give a value judgement upon it . . . We should not just absorb facts, but think
about their significance. (Richard
Foster, The Freedom of Simplicity, SPCK)
So significant is the
ministry of a prophet, that the actual moment of commissioning of many of the
biblical prophets is recorded for us ([15]). Such men were love-gifts from God. Even when the message they brought
was a hard one, it was out of God's mercy and kindness that He showed people
how things really stood.
The Church in Antioch
included prophets as well as teachers in the ministry team, so why shouldn't
we?([16]) Our nation has long nurtured a relative abundance of Bible teachers.
Now is the time to welcome those the Lord is raising up with a prophetic
insights for the Church, for specific issues or professions, to help us grow in
the beauty as well as the knowledge of God.([17])
1.4 Prophets are the ‘eyes’ of the Church . . .
Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite,
Moses’ father-in-law, ‘We are setting out for the place about which the Lord
said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the
Lord has promised good things to Israel.’ But Moses said, ‘Please do not leave
us. You know where we should camp in the desert, and you can be our eyes. If you come with us, we will share with
you whatever good things the Lord gives us.’ (Numbers 10:29-32)
Once, when we had been
going through an exceptionally turbulent time, with shocks and difficulties
coming at us from every angle, I arranged to meet with a couple of prophets who
have often been used in the past to speak the word of the Lord to me. These men
work best by knowing least. We turned to prayer and immediately sensed the
Spirit of the Lord moving through the garden we were meeting in. The Lord
recognised the pummelling we had been through and spoke profoundly of His love
and of imparting a new level of authority. It was the intimacy that these men have in God that makes it easy for them to
pass on such profound encouragement.
The prophet’s
relationship with the Lord is itself an asset for the body of Christ. Their
insights and experience will likewise be invaluable in leading the people of
God into seeking
the mind of the Lord over specific issues, as well as for leading congregational prayer
and intercession.
Prophets see with the eyes of faith and hope
– and therefore can believe for things which humanly speaking appear completely
impossible. One way to communicate this prophetic perspective is to stoke
people’s memories with the recollection of what God has done in the past. God
specifically tells people to remember great deliverances that He has done (Psalm 105:5, Josh 4:4-7, cf Neh 9:17,
Psalm 78:42). By drawing attention to
God’s character through these (without in any way becoming nostalgic) people
can use them as a springboard for faith in the future.
1.5
Prophecy is not divination
Prophecy does not consist
exclusively, or even chiefly, of predictions concerning future events. The
future is the Lord’s concern, and He will show us the way when He feels that it
is right to do so.
It is obvious that Satan
has some insight into the future (as well as a detailed record of our past),
all of which he is quite prepared to share with anyone who will compromise
their soul through involvement with things that are contrary to God’s word.
Psychics and those hosting familiar spirits are able to reveal details of
family history and suchlike with great accuracy. But horoscopes, palmistry,
tarot cards, ouija boards and so on are nothing but devilish counterfeits: nothing compared to the peace and
security that we as believers can find in our relationship with God. An
important part of our prophetic task is to turn people away from such things and to the water that truly satisfies. We
are to exercise the gift of discernment, and steer ourselves and others well
clear of all such practices and to pray deliverance for those who have had past
involvement with them.
Fortune tellers, new age
prophets and a host of others involved in cults and the occult declare insights
that, strictly speaking, may be true
but they are not helpful. The evil
spirits recognised who Jesus was before the disciples did, but the Lord
silenced their testimony. ([18])
1:6 The matter of timing
Few things cause more
confusion or need more careful handling than the matter of timing. The many
biblical prophecies have multi-layered fulfilments, referring to specific
events in the near future and then to far more distant ones - we were never
meant to chart how all the details will work out. They are usually pointers,
whose meaning becomes clear afterwards. Who, for instance, could have predicted
the events of the Nativity from the references to Bethlehem in Micah 5? There
is a warning here for those who try to predict the exact details of the
end-time prophecies in the Bible. A fresh set of circumstances may have to
develop before a prophecy can be fulfilled.
1.7 Levels of inspiration
True prophecy is usually
inspired proclamation concerning the character and majesty of God and the
principles by which He works. Only occasionally does it take the form of
specific commands or directives. Prophecy that is essentially God-sanctioned
personal encouragement is entirely different from warnings, which if ignored
can cause us to seriously miss the mark or even totally shipwreck. This calls
for care and accountability. Whereas a word of encouragement can never do any
harm, a wrongly given word of correction or so-called direction most certainly
can. Much wisdom is required here. Ponder words that you have received (either
directly from the Lord or through others). What ‘level of inspiration’ would
you say they belonged to?
Pastors are
enormously aware that a word, once spoken, has enormous power for good or ill.
If something is said which does not prove to be correct, people may have
considerable difficulty shrugging off the effects of this false word and may,
as a result, be less willing to heed genuine prophecies in the future.
If we are sharing a prophetic word with
someone, the manner in which we deliver it and the language we use can
make all the difference to people accepting or rejecting it. David du Plessis' advice is to submit (rather than impose) a word of prophecy to someone for
testing – and preferably in the presence of someone who knows them well. That
way, if anything is shared which does not ring true, it is easier for them to
shrug it off. They will also be more confident to accept an authentic word from
God. This simple advice has helped to avoid much hole-in-the-corner
foolishness.
Graham Cooke and others
speak of the need to test ‘heavier’ words with the pastorate before speaking
them out over a wider fellowship. This has the advantage of avoiding certain
things being exposed in public at the wrong time or in the wrong way. It is the
equivalent of an early warning system that saves people the heartache of having
to cope with an invalid prophecy. On the down side, this approach removes the
Body from the loop, and leaves all testing in the hands of those who are,
hopefully, experienced in this field.
1.8 So where does the Bible say that then?
It is obviously important
to stress that prophecies should be scriptural, but since many are of a
personal, local or specific nature, they may not always have clear-cut
precedents or parallels for them in the Bible. What we can say is that no true
prophecy will ever contradict Scripture.
It is significant that some
of the world’s most powerful religions - Islam and Mormonism for example - had
their origin in prophecies which purported to be from heaven, but which fail to
pass the test of biblical standards. Above all, these religions deny the
uniqueness and the divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. ([19])
For Reflection
It is
always wise to beware the grandiose! Suppose someone had come to Billy Graham
when he was a few weeks old in the Lord and told him he would one day be leading
countless thousands to Christ. The word would certainly have been correct, but
would it have helped the young convert to focus on developing his walk with the
Lord? Beware endless words that have lots of noughts on the end. All to often
there is a high admixture of presumption and wishful thinking!
Here is a simple guiding principle. Be especially
wary of anything that makes you out
to be too special, especially if it also slags off other Christians. The scene
is then set for seeds of division and disunity!
1.9 Praying prophetic visions into being
The message they heard was of no value to them because
those who heard did not combine it with faith. (Hebrews 4:2)
All too many Christians and churches through the centuries have shared
the fate of the ancient Israelites. They had too much head knowledge of Christ
but too little desire or ability to apply that knowledge by faith. As
‘partners’ with Him in the vision, it is important to sort out what only He can
do, and what we should be doing. Prophecies of blessing need to be prayed
through to fulfilment, just as warnings should be heeded in order to avoid
judgement.
Most prophecies are best
considered as being conditional rather than deterministic (automatically bound
to happen). What are they conditional on? Our faithfulness, our obedience and
sometimes our repentance. Jonah's doomsday words against Nineveh appeared to
present the city with an inescapable ultimatum. But when the people repented,
disaster was averted. ([20])
Realistically, many visions
are never fulfilled because people sit on words that need to be prayed into
being. If we accept that a word is from God, we must be prepared to pay the
price to pray what God desired into being. We are not called to sit and wait to
see what happens, like Jonah sitting under his broom tree hoping against hope
that God would zap Nineveh.
Don’t get me wrong, I am
not talking about trying to fulfil prophetic visions by our own efforts. Too
many of us have tried that and come unstuck as a result. Ever seen a cat spring
to catch a bird and miss? They put on a ‘I wasn’t really trying’ sort of
expression and do their best to restore their composure! God’s promises can never be realised by our own efforts
alone. But if we refuse to move in the direction that
God is pointing us to, we can most certainly prevent His promises from being fulfilled. There is nothing worse
than being an armchair critic who misses genuine opportunities that the Lord
was quite prepared to grant had we only had the faith to step out as He was urging
us to do.
2.1 The Imagination: God’s gift to us
Are you one of those people who pop back to the
house as you set off on holiday to check if you really did turn the cooker off?
If that’s you, then you may take a bit of convincing that the imagination
really can be considered a blessing! Let me convince you by quoting what Hannah
Hurnard has to say about the imagination – it may change your whole approach to
it.
Personally,
I believe that far and away the best and most glorious and most blessed
function of the imagination is to make it possible for the invisible and
eternal things to become real to us . . . If we would but picture Him as
vividly and as clearly as possible as He is revealed to us in the Gospels, and if
we spoke to Him as we would if we actually saw Him, we would find all the
unreality vanish away. Some people are honestly terrified of using their
imaginations in connections with their faith
in the Saviour ‘But it is a very dangerous thing to imagine things [they
say]. Imaginary things are not real, we make them up ourselves.’
But
of course when we pray we do nothing of the kind. For nothing is more sure and
more attested to in the Scriptures than the fact that our Lord is actually
present with us in some lovely and mysterious way, and therefore, we are meant
to behave and to speak exactly as we would if we could see Him. We do not try
to make Him present and real when we use our imagination, because He really is
there, and when we happily and thankfully use this God-given faculty it simply
makes the wonderful truth more real. Half the time those people who complain
that spiritual things are so unreal to them, and that they cannot realize the
Lord’s Presence, do not understand that is simply because they are afraid to
accept and believe the glorious truth, that the Lord really is present with His
people.
Nobody
can pray drearily or despairingly to their Saviour, or think of Him as unreal,
if they saw Him close beside Him. Through the eyes of our imagination, we may
see Him, vividly and gloriously present. An imagination used as God means it to
be used, in order to visualize true things described to us in the Scriptures,
does indeed make us a soul ‘full of eyes, within and without.’ (Winged Life, pp 53-54)
For
Reflection
Harnessing the imagination is all about practising
the presence of God. By living and acting ‘as if’ He were close to us, we can
be assured of His real presence with us, however we may be feeling (cf. Heb
13:5).
2.2 The
prophetic draws out and releases new giftings
‘Greater is
He that is in us than he who is in the world’ ([21]) – and greater are God’s purposes than most of us
we have yet perceived. Years ago, at university, I used to look at fellow
students who had received certain spiritual gifts and wonder how it was
possible for anyone to do all the things they were doing. The next stage of
spiritual growth always seems impossible – but once God equips us it becomes a
normal part of our walk with Him. Right from the start I made it my aim that I
would do my best to listen to Him, even if I made a lot of mistakes in the
process.
I have seen people receive words promising them
some new gift, and then watched as it began to operate immediately. The Lord
told a friend of ours, who works in the media, that she was going to meet
people who would develop an international dimension to her work. A few hours
later she felt the Lord prompting her to tell someone she met on a train about
her television work. The person turned out to work for Sky News and to have the
precise skills she needed.
2.3 First steps in allowing ourselves to imagine
If you are
one of those people, like so many sincere evangelicals, for whom the mere
mention of the word ‘imagination’ is enough to make you wince you probably have
excellent reasons for being wary. After all, so many of the imaginations of our
hearts are a mixture of the self-deluded and the hopelessly impractical. Were
God to grant our wilder requests, we would be the first to be dismayed a short
time later.
God spoke
in Noah’s day of all the imaginations of people’s hearts being evil ([22]), and He reminds us through Jeremiah that the
heart is deceitful above everything else ([23]). Flick a switch, give an inch and there most of
us are – only too willing to indulge fancies and fantasies that place us firmly
centre-stage. We may dress up our ambitions in spiritual clothing, of course,
but that only makes them all the more insidious.
But to
suppose that all the thoughts of our imagination are so bad that God cannot
speak to us is far too gloomy a picture. We must never allow the awareness of
our sinfulness to loom larger in our thinking than the grace of God, and the
delight it is to Him to lead His children.
If we are
instinctively afraid of rocking the boat, or have had unfortunate experiences
in the past, we may find ourselves inadvertently resisting the call of the
Lord. When a person suggests a new or different way of doing something, all too
many churches, organisations and institutions react with a backward defensive
stonewalling. People look askance; fearing ‘what people would think,’ they
change the subject and put the person who first brought the challenge firmly in
their place. They are dismissed as being presumptuous or cocky.
Alternatively,
people may use the excuse that the idea is a good one but the timing is wrong –
or that it worked elsewhere but would not be suitable here. Even genuinely worthwhile ideas are dismissed out of hand,
instead of being weighed, ‘customised’ and enthusiastically embraced.
The chances are that we will at some time face
something like this. If Moses had heeded the ‘wisdom’ of his time, he would
never have set out on his mission. After all, he was way beyond the
conventional retirement age! ([24]) And how about Abraham’s call to father a son?
Family Planning for the over Ninety’s?
How do you
fare in this respect? When God gives you a new commission, are you inclined to
take an initial step backwards into the supposed safety of the tried and
tested? Or are you open to act on what God is showing you? In the Shetland
Isles, where we live, people are researching alternative forms of energy by
harnessing wind, wave and tidal power. Let’s make it our aim that the Lord will
harness our imagination powerfully and effectively to discern gifts in people
that are not yet outwardly visible, opportunities where doors are not yet open
and wisdom where situations are currently deadlocked.
2.4 Enlarge the Place of your Tent (Isaiah 54:2)
And
Jabez called on the God of Israel saying,
‘Oh
that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory,
that
Your hand would be with me,
and
that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.’
So
God granted him what he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:10 NKJ)
Almost overnight,
millions of Christians have begun praying what has become known as the ‘Prayer
of Jabez’ after Bruce Wilkinson published his hugely successful book([25]) on the hitherto somewhat overlooked passage
tucked away in the genealogies of 1 Chronicles. It has almost reached the point
where we could say, if you are not praying the prayer, then why not?! To pray
to make a real impact and to have an increasing influence for the kingdom
is an entirely worthy aim – and so very much richer than seeking our own
self-aggrandisement! Praying Jabez’s prayer can help us to live prophetically
by opening our hearts to God’s perspective – even if following His leading
takes us into entirely uncharted territory.
I might make
a Jabez prayer for this book along the lines of: Lord, I pray that these writings
will stir peoples’ spirits – not just to grasp the salient points, but to
experience real intimacy with You as You lead and direct their paths. In Jesus’
name, Amen.
Try
‘crafting’ your own ‘Prayer of Jabez’
to match your particular situation. It will make an excellent platform from
which to face each day.
Some Bibles highlight the
words the Lord Jesus spoke in red. No wonder. His words are the most important
God has ever said to mankind. But don’t forget all the other Scriptures in
which God speaks in the first person.
An in-depth study of the
writings of the prophets will go a long way towards helping us see how we too
can develop a truly prophetic outlook on life. Resist the temptation to skip
over these prophetic oracles in search of more familiar pastures. They can
bring us an immense awareness concerning God’s sovereign working and the
response He is looking for from us. Even a lightning overview of some of the
prophetic books will show us something of the Lord’s heart and ways and that is what this chapter is about. We are in
for a treat!
3.1 Seeing and perceiving: The Sovereignty of God
The finest truths of
Scripture are not placed together in convenient charts and graphs. They are
more like pieces of buried treasure waiting to be discovered and put together.
The prophets urge us to look beyond purely economic or military considerations
and open our eyes to the God of first causes.
It is supremely Isaiah who shows us the God of first causes, and who
declares, ‘I am (this or that) and I will (do this or that)’. It is He, not
economic or military might, who raises men up or who casts them down ([26]). Though Isaiah, in a sense, leads the charge in this respect, all
prophets have a living understanding of the sovereignty of God. It was the Lord who brought Israel up from Egypt,
the Philistines from Crete and the Syrians from Kir – just as it is He who
delivered Israel from the tyranny of the Baals – and us from our own many
scrapes! ([27])
The more we immerse
ourselves in the real world the
prophets operated in, the easier we will find it to trust the God of the
prophets in our own lives – whether concerning apparently irresolvable problems
that we are facing, or in search of biblical parallels to contemporary
situations that we are going through as a church or nation.
Before you read on, why not
ask the Lord to deepen your understanding of the prophetic writings? It will
help you to be on the same wavelength as ‘giants’ such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and
Amos. Don’t worry if your knowledge feels a bit patchy or threadbare – it is
about to be extended!
3.2 The prophetic brings to life
All over the world, the
Lord is drawing people into His presence and giving them visions of eternal
realities and of the kingdom of God impacting the world today. And God uses
those with special prophetic gifting to get us looking in the direction He
would have us focus on.
The task that every prophet
faces today, as Isaiah, Jeremiah and all the prophets
faced, is how to set about convincing people to address issues that God
is concerned about, but to which they are blind and deaf. Because these people
have stood in the counsel of the Lord, they are well placed to understand the
link between cause and effect and to explain His heart.
We have already looked at
how prominently Isaiah viewed the sovereignty of God. Everywhere in his
utterances we see that the Lord Himself is the underlying bulwark of all
history (which, of course, is His story).
It is here that we see God’s lordship over life and creation spelt out most
clearly, in language that reaches sublime spiritual and poetic heights. If you
read chapters 40 onward in the light of this thought, it can hardly fail to
expand your perception of the sovereignty of God.
Or take the prophet Amos.
How could he get the people of this day to see the danger their ways had
brought them to? First things first, he had to get his hearers ‘on side’. The
skilful (and no doubt popular) stratagem he used was to denounce the sins of
the neighbouring nations. It would be rather like an Englishman pointing out
the shortcomings of the French! But then the prophet pays out some rope and
begins to address the sins of Judah. We are dealing now with the equivalent of
Scotland or Wales – and his hearers are no longer certain whether to jeer or to
start getting afraid!
3.3 The Blessings of Bad News
Finally, Amos does what he
was wise enough not to have done at the outset. He tightens the noose and
springs the trap. Israel (or ‘England’ in our analogy) you are no better! You
stand under judgement too! ([28]) The people had no leg
left to stand on. Amos’ skilful tactics had sowed necessary doubts into the
hearts of his complacent hearers, and now he could proceed with his message.
God has no ‘favourites’. His judgement affects us in proportion to the light we
have received. 
Have we have responded to
the opportunities – and the warnings – that have come our way? Then we have
little to fear. But if we have dodged issues and cut corners, we will find God
saying to us what He said to ancient Israel.
Those who minister healing
to the soul must do so with a pure heart; so too must those who bring
challenges from the Most High. Amos, like his great successor Jeremiah, is
living proof that we have no right to denounce the sins of others unless they
are also prepared to weep and pray for them. In chapter 7 we find Amos pleading
for his people. His prayer mitigates the severity of the judgement, but it
cannot prevent it altogether. The sins of the people have reached too high a
pitch. Judgement, in the form of a terrible earthquake, would still visit the
nation. But in His mercy, God gave a glimpse of blessing beyond the shaking.
Even when individuals, churches and nations are ‘levelled’ by God’s
chastisement, they can rise again and serve Him with greater holiness and
humility.
What can we learn from
Amos’ seemingly roundabout approach to tackling really thorny issues? Prophets
often prefer to hint at issues and to leave it to people’s conscience and
intelligence to decide what to do next rather than spelling everything out in
detail. At other times, hints are not enough and matters need to be spelt out
plainly. Ask God to give you wisdom to know what God is saying in a particular
situation and how to speak words of life into the challenge you face.
3.4 ‘Why aren’t You doing something, Lord?’ (Habakkuk)
Just as Amos’ intercession
was unable to prevent the earthquake, from time to the Lord may warn us that
certain outcomes are going to be immensely distressing. Let’s drop in on the prophet
Habakkuk, who was working late at the office one night, pouring out his heart
in complaint to the Lord about the violence that was so marring society (sound
familiar?). The answer he received to his complaint
was so surprising, and so disturbing that God had to go into overdrive to
convince His prophet that the message he had received was genuine. The
conversation went something like this:
‘Lord, things are in a
terrible state. You’ve got to do
something about it.’
‘I am, Habakkuk. But if I
were to show you what I am about to do next, you wouldn’t believe it.’
‘Want to bet on it, Lord?
Try me for size.’
‘All right then. I’m
raising up the Babylonians to be the scourge of My people.’
‘What??? You wouldn’t do
that, Lord. You’re far too holy to use evil people like that to fulfil Your
purposes.’
‘I did warn you that you
wouldn’t believe Me. But you need to take the message on board because that is
what’s going to happen!’
What adjustments Habakkuk
had to make! To his credit, he did get over his initial shock, and eventually
worked his way through to a profound place of trust and acceptance, despite the
horrors that were going to assail his nation.
Have you known times when
the word of the Lord is as unwelcome to you as it was to Habakkuk? It happens
from time to time. The quicker we accept what He says, and refuse to tinker and
compromise, the wiser we will be – and the safer too! May we respond as well as
Habakkuk did and continue to seek and praise the Lord even when there are no
proverbial figs on our trees or cattle in our
barns.([29])
3.5 ‘The Weeping Prophet’ (Jeremiah)
Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the
Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before He brings the darkness,
before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. But if you do not listen, I
will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly,
overflowing with tears, because the Lord's flock will be taken captive. (Jeremiah 7:28; 13:15-17)
The book of Jeremiah
portrays a sad epoch in the history of Judah. It also draws us intimately
closer to the life and struggles of this heroic man than we get to any other of
the other prophets. There was nothing easy about his calling. The Lord warned
him from the outset that he would face opposition and even informed him that
the people would not listen to him. He said much the same thing to Isaiah and
Ezekiel. ([30])
Measured by our ideas of
what constitutes success, which would presumably be the turning of the nation
to the point where God could bless it rather than judge it, none of these
prophets had any greater measure of success than their predecessors had done.
But God does not judge by such standards. He calls us to wholeheartedly embrace
the tasks He gives us to do, and to leave their outcome to Him. Is a saint who
dies young on the mission field less of a success than the one who completes
his three score years and ten in active service?
In the meantime, we must
find ways to cope when people prove reluctant to hear the word that God has
given. Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah all had to set their faces like flint to
fulfil their calling, they guarded their hearts, for the most part, against
bitterness and remained grief-stricken but compassionate towards the people’s
stubbornness. They could see all too clearly that the people’s attitudes would
lead the nation to suffering and captivity. It is not so different today.
3.6 ‘I am with you’ (Haggai)
By the time we reach the book of Haggai, we are into an entirely
different scenario. This is a generation that has experienced judgement and
exile - a nation who knows just how terrible it is when God calls time on sin.
Any prophet speaking in these circumstances at least had the advantage that
people believed that God could judge them. The trouble was, the pendulum had
swung so far the other way: they had come to believe so much in God’s
discipline that they no longer had much expectation left that they would ever
know what it was to live again in the light of God’s pleasure. God may have
miraculously moved to bring the first of the exiles back to Israel but their
mindset was dominated by all the difficulties they set their eyes on: a ruined
land, a crumbling infrastructure and a Temple that was just a pile of ruins.
But God, who had
specifically taken His people into exile on account of their sins, wanted them to rebuild the nation. He
didn’t want them to absorb the compromised spirit that prevailed amongst the
people who still dwelt in the land. But the people were so discouraged and
self-centred… How would God start to reach their hearts? Study the two short
chapters of Haggai and you will be much the wiser.
Prophets stand in the
courts of the Lord, and understand why certain things happen. They then have to
find a way to communicate what they have learnt. They have to help people
address the real reasons why things are as they are. Haggai’s questions are
pithy and pertinent; they push through people’s weary self-centredness and
force them to consider why their
resources are drying up and why even their best intentions to rebuild the house
of the Lord are proving so spectacularly unsuccessful.
The answer is simple. In
their discouragement, the people had ended up looking after ‘number one’ rather
than attempting the seemingly impossible and trying to redeem the nation for
the Lord. It was time to reverse the pattern. If they would only put the Lord’s
work first then their own needs would be met!
No sooner had the sorry
truth begun to dawn on the people than the Lord hastened to reassure them that
He would be with them in the days to come. To be sure, the task looked
impossible, but if they were prepared to put their hand to the plough, His
presence would be with them. That was it: the simplest of reassurances – but it
was all it took to get the people trusting, hoping and working again. Almost
overnight things turned round. Within an astonishingly short space of time the
house of the Lord was rebuilt – and all because a prophet asked people the
right questions and motivated them to start working again. ([31])
For Reflection
We will often come face to
face with people who feel disheartened and discouraged. To kick-start faith’s
engines back into action is a fine achievement! Ask the Lord to help you ask
the right questions in the right way at the right time. Above all, it is His
presence that rekindles hopes and releases His power. There is little more
important than drawing these discouraged ones back into the Lord’s direct
presence.
3.7 ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says
the Lord’ (Zechariah)
God is into teams! When He raises up one, He often calls another to
provide friendship and support. Two are better than one, and prophets work best
when they are not obliged to ‘go it’ on their own. The succinctness of Haggai
is matched by his better-known contemporary, Zechariah. His prophecies are a
delight, revealing not just God’s hatred of sin so much as His heart for His
people.
Zechariah encouraged the returning exiles that God was a ‘wall of fire’
about His people, and that He would do for them what they could not do for
themselves. Countless times, as we face situations that are beyond our
immediate resources, we will lift up our hearts and repeat the Lord’s promise
to Zechariah: ‘not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord.
Zechariah’s experience is more overtly ‘charismatic’ than Haggai. He
talks with angels, receives numerous visions and ends with the finest overview
of the end times in the Old Testament. Chapters such as Zechariah twelve to
fourteen are key pointers to what God is doing in unfolding His purposes in
history.
3.8 ‘I’ll ask the questions and you can answer them!’
(Malachi)
For our final example from
the Minor Prophets, we will move on to consider Malachi. Here is another
example of the message being more important than the man, about whom we know
precisely nothing. But he, like his predecessors, had to find a way to
communicate a fundamentally unpopular message to a people who would not want to
hear it. The strategy this messenger of God hit upon was brilliantly imaginative.
He envisaged an imaginary dialogue between the people, who thought they were
all right as they were, and God, who thought otherwise.
With high drama, wisdom and
insight, Malachi’s rhetorical questions stressed not only how much God loved
His people, but revealed the extent to which the people had become smug and
lukewarm. How easily this happens when we no longer face any immediate threat
to drive us back to God!
In much the same way, the
Lord Jesus asked questions of His hearers. With consummate skill He turned back
on His interlocutors the issues with which they were using to try to trick Him.
He pierced their delusions and drew them on beyond their prejudices to reveal
eternal truths.
It is not only
children who ask questions. It can only be right to ask the Lord for prophetic
wisdom to know how to proceed when you are faced with challenging issues.
3. 9 Understanding God’s heart for
Israel
Zechariah
presents us with a stark overview of what will happen to Israel at the end of
this age. To understand this, however, we need to understand how Scripture
‘works’. There are many today who claim that the Church has inherited all the
promises God made for Israel. When they do this, however, they are highly
selective in which promises they
adopt. It is as though they claim that all the ‘good’ promises belong to the
Church – but the ones that spell out warnings and judgements are left in
Israel’s court! This is poor exegesis, to say the least. It makes me want to
say: ‘Don’t play dodge ball with the Scriptures!’
The fact is that there are
more than seventy references to Israel in the New Testament. In all but one of
these, it is unequivocally clear that Israel stands for the actual nation of
Israel. To start substituting the one for the other has causes much needless
error and confusion. People schooled in today’s even-handed approach may not
like it very much, but God selected the Jews for much the same reason that He
chose us: to be a demonstration to the world of what He can do through a small,
stubborn and insignificant people. Israel is His first-born son; we, by grace,
are ‘grafted in’ and have full citizens’ right in the kingdom of heaven because
of what the Lord Jesus did on the cross. But that does not necessarily mean
that God has forgotten His first-born son. ([32])
Understanding God’s heart
for Israel opens up a whole new vista for our understanding of the world. What
it must not let us do is become bigoted in any way. The Lord loves Palestinians as well as Jews – and Israel is every
bit as susceptible to judgement as any other nation. Special ‘chosen-ness’
always implies special responsibilities in the Scripture: to whom much is
given, much is expected.
The history of Israel in
both Biblical and more recent times is a microcosm of God’s dealings with
mankind. No wonder Paul tells us to consider both the mercy and severity of God
([33]). Zechariah shows us that the spirit of supplication that will be poured
out on Israel comes at a time of intense national distress. At long last the
nation will come to believe and open their hearts to the one who came to save
them, not to be an elite nation but from their sins.
3.10 Understanding the Second Coming
A major part of the
prophetic thrust in Scripture is to prepare people for the return of our Lord
Jesus in glory. For every prophecy in the Old Testament that points to the
coming of the Lord Jesus there are far more that speak of His return. If every
a would-be prophet needs to be a student of the prophets, then every Christian
needs to devote time and energy to the subject of the second coming. After all,
this is what the whole of history is leading up to!
Don’t worry - I’m not going
to go into huge detail chasing the weird and wonderful doctrines and ‘time
lines’ that so many have put forward concerning the sequence of events in the
end times! Studying the doctrines of a-millennialism, pre-millennialism
raptures and post-millennial tribulation is useful up to a point but can
distract us from daily discipleship.
It led David Pawson to
declare himself a pan-millennialist – it will all pan out in the end! What will
help our understanding of the prophetic ministry, however, is to look at Mark
13:4, where Jesus speaks about the end of the world. At first glance, the
time-scale appears as confusing here as it does everywhere else. No wonder
Peter warns that there sometimes millennia rather than minutes between a word
and its fulfilment! ([34])
The key is to realise that
Jesus was actually looking at two events.
When we understand that, everything else begins to make sense. Within this one
chapter, Jesus foresaw the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, and the end of
the world and His return in glory to Planet Earth. Verses 18 and 29, for
example, refer to AD 70, whereas verses 24 and 26 refer to the time of the end.
Not surprisingly, Jesus’
disciples found it hard to differentiate and sort out the two events. Why did Jesus speak in this way? Is it
simply because, as so often with prophetic utterances, time is ‘telescoped?’ It
is as though you look through a telescope and see the mountain peaks that stand
up highest, but pass over the valleys in between. Thus AD70 was a critical
event, the regathering of Israel as a nation was another such moment as, of
course, will be Jesus’ final return to Earth.
Jim Graham draws a helpful distinction when he speaks of the general future and the specific future. The general future
refers to the fact that many people will be led astray in the last days – not
just because they are taken up with pleasure-seeking but because they fall prey
to perverse cults and deceptions. Minds will fall prey to delusions of all
shapes and sizes even as hearts are thrown into turmoil and confusion by the
world-shaking events that characterise the last days (vs. 5-8).
The gospel must be preached to all nations but this
will happen against a backdrop of intense opposition. And let us bear in mind
here that three languages out of four in the world today currently have no
Scriptures available.
Verses 9-13 speak of a
great persecution that will stem from both religious and political sources. It
is heart-breaking when evil rulers hold sway over a nation. It is even worse
when religious leaders oppose the work of the Spirit. The Pharisees, of all
people, should have welcomed the Lord Jesus. Instead they resisted Him
implacably. We find the same thing throughout church history. Those who are on
the cutting edge of God’s Spirit come up amongst those who are unwilling to
alter the established order of things. Even those who have been greatly used of
God can prove hostile when God moves in new ways. How we need to keep our
hearts humble and sour spirits attentive to what He is doing, so that we can
stay on track with what the Lord is doing.
Hard though all this is to
bear, verse 12 highlights the betrayal that comes from family members and those
we thought were our friends and colleagues. This is the worst pressure of all.
No wonder Jesus tells us emphatically to: ‘Stand firm to the end’ – a refrain
that is taken up again throughout the book of Revelation.
Verses 14-23 take us back
to a specific historical event: the dreadful destruction of Herod’s Temple,
which occurred in AD 70. Jesus mentioned a specific sign that His followers
were to watch for, so that they would leave the city before it was put to the
sword. And this is precisely what happened nearly forty years after His
prediction. When Jerusalem was besieged, the Roman troops retreated at one
point to go in search of more supplies. Instead of being caught up in the
general euphoria, the Christians used the interlude to leave the city. It is
thought that there were no Christians left in Jerusalem when the Roman general
Titus returned to the city and put it to the sword in a blaze of violence.
Jesus then went on to give
simple pointers describing the general state of affairs in the world before His
return. He also made it clear that His return will be highly visible. Nobody
will be left in any doubt as to whether or not it has happened – a safeguard
against the lunatic claims of so many cults that Jesus had already mentioned.
In the phrase ‘If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would have
survived’ we see the kindness of the Lord in saving us from truly intolerable
suffering.
This is a splendid example
of what is sometimes referred to as the ‘prophetic past tense’ – something we
find from time to time in Scripture when an event is so certain to happen that
it is described as if it had already happened. Although the date remains known
only to the Father, this is not a conditional prophecy. It will undoubtedly
happen, and it is right for us to live in such a way as to be always ready for
His coming – and to echo in our hearts the longing of Christians through the
ages by crying ‘Maranatha, Come,
Lord, come!’
4.1 The training of a prophet is rigorous
I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He
cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does
bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful . . . If anyone does
not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire
and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you
wish, and it will be given you. This is to My Father's glory, that you bear
much fruit. (John 15:1-2, 6-8)
I am always interested in
how God prepared His servants for their prophetic ministry. How many years, for
example, from the moment Samuel informed David that he was going to be king for
it to come to pass? More or less two decades! There is nothing in the least bit
unusual in that. Receiving the call is only the starting point; it is the
equivalent of kneeling down on the starter’s blocks in readiness for the race
to begin.
God saw the potential in
David, just as he does in us, affirmed it clearly by giving precious promises –
and then began a spiritual training programme, the rigour of which matches that
of the SAS. The strange thing about this training is that much of it appears to
take us right away from the direction the Lord had called us to. The more we
humble ourselves and yield to God, the sooner we will come through this
process.
Look at Jacob, who was
called and blessed but exiled and made to suffer for fourteen years at the
hands of Laban, the harshest of masters. Or Joseph. How could this youngest son be elevated above his brothers? There
simply was no way in a hierarchical society for Joseph to usurp the hereditary
succession. God had a plan for doing so, but so convoluted and painful that one
would scarcely have dared to script it for a film. It involved being betrayed
by his brothers and being imprisoned for a prolonged period of time for a sin
he had resisted rather than committed.
If the young Joseph strikes
us as being on the brash side who exalted perhaps a little too much in the
‘great things’ that God had promised him, we find maturity in him later - when
it really mattered. And we can trace the reasons for this maturity precisely to
the things that he had suffered. Suffering either causes us to give up – or to
grow bitter – or it develops the necessary steel in our character that will
enable us to prosper in the ways of God.
If the reversal of Joseph’s future is a dramatic
foreshadowing of the greatest miracle of all – the resurrection of Jesus from
the Cross – then we should note that Jesus taught so much on the need for
perseverance, precisely because what God asks of us is always bound to seem
impossible at first sight. Giving birth to a vision requires great stamina!
If listening
to the Lord were a natural part of our lives, the Church would do all it could
to welcome the watchmen and gatekeepers the Lord raises up. Unfortunately,
‘because our sins are so many, and our hostility so great, the prophet is
considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. The prophet, along with my God,
is the watchman over Israel, yet snares await him on all his paths, and
hostility in the house of his God.’ ([35])
If Paul was made to suffer
for his discernment, when he expelled the familiar spirit from the slave girl
in Acts 16, we can take it for granted that we will suffer too when we
challenge vested interests or error, whether in the Church or society. The
opposition can be intense. Satan’s hordes are strong and tenacious – but they
are as nothing compared with the host of heaven.
What visions are you in the
midst of birthing? The Lord give you grace to persevere through the ‘pain gap’
until what He has promised comes to birth – and wisdom and discernment to know which battles are ours to fight.([36])
4.2 God is careful in what He allows to come our way
Bob Gass once made the
profound and thought-provoking comment that ‘Jesus needed Judas as well as the
beloved disciple John in order to fulfil His destiny!’
If you have had a problem with a particular person or situation, have
you noticed how God seems to send a similar person or situation into your life
at a later date? It doesn’t mean that God has given up on us, merely that He is
testing us to see if we are able to handle them in a godly way – and so He
sends us a rerun. He would not have allowed these things to come our way if
they had been too difficult. In God’s heart, there is grace for our failures
but a realistic expectation of our success.
But hearing can be a delicate matter, and specific
words that people say to us can cramp and block our spirits. A respected leader
challenged a friend of mine: ‘How do you know
the Lord speaks to you?’ The challenge may or may not have been
well-intentioned, but the effects were devastating. Although the Lord continued
to speak to her in the course of the day she found doubts creeping in, to the
point where she lost the desire to sit with the Lord and ask Him what He was
doing.
The Lord spoke to me about this. He showed me that
it was a specific ‘mid-spectrum’ blockage in her ability to hear the Lord. It
turned out to be part of a recurrent pattern. When she had been a teenager she
had begun to minister in healing, but had stopped doing so after her best
friend urged her to lay off ‘because it was so embarrassing.’ The Lord prompted
me to ask about her birth. It turned out to have been traumatic and
life-threatening. The ‘squeeze’ mirrored the spiritual clamping that had
occurred and gave us a key to pray for renewed freedom in the Spirit.
God is careful in what He allows to
come our way – but it will often take the eye of faith to see our circumstances
in the light of God’s sovereignty when we are going though the mill. The Body
of Christ is full of wounded healers, exhausted burden bearers and those whose
confidence to listen has been severely dented by all manner of discouragements.
Make no mistake about it: this is a central battle area.
4.3 Testing for idolatry
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols (1John 5:1)
It is as well to be aware
that the enemy is adept not only at using our weaknesses against us, but also
turning our strengths against us. This is such an important issue that I feel
the need to return to it. The enemy does not
necessarily have to concoct new sins
for us to fall into; he simply pushes buttons that expose and attack existing
weaknesses in us. The devil’s aim is to get us to think, say or preferably do
things that will get us into trouble – even to the point where God has to
exercise a measure of judgement against us Himself.
The moment we
begin to put anything, even the needs of others or our ministry, ahead of our
relationship with the Lord we begin to lose our cutting edge. The trouble is,
we have taught ourselves so effectively to say ‘the Lord comes first’ that we
rarely recognise this process happening.
Try this simple
test for where your heart loyalty lies. Given that the thing that most
dominates our mind effectively runs the risk of taking God’s place, how would
you feel if God were to ask for it (or that special person) back again? If you
find that the thought provokes fear or anger, could it be that there is a
potential idol in your life?
Because the
Lord is a jealous God, He may need to take painful action, drastic even, in
order to get us to refocus on what matters most to Him – the undivided devotion
of our hearts. The more we yield willingly, the less painful we will find it.
After all, it proceeds from His heart of love and is designed to refine and
sharpen us, not so much to knock us out. Painful as it may be, it is born of
the same passionate love for us that inspired Jesus to the cross and, as with
the cross, it is for us, not against us.
4.4 Time Out: Sin Bins and Desert Zones
If we do not respond to the
discipline God sends our way, He has to send a larger dose of it. Isn’t this
the way any parent disciplines a child?
God sometimes has to pull
us up short and sharp, because He sees that we are going to go badly off course
if He does not. We cannot afford to be naïve or sentimental about this. If we
are ever tempted to think that we are in some way so special to God that He
would never have to discipline us then we are as foolishly deluded as the
people in Micah’s day who thought that God would never deal with them that way. ([37])
For Reflection
Judgement only begins when
discipline is ignored. God is extra stringent with those who speak in His name
and move in His authority. How can we minister if we are inwardly hungry for
forbidden things? Or minister to brokenness, sorrow or of the pain of being
rejected if we have known nothing of these things in our own lives?
If it takes serious
humblings and major setbacks to bring us to a place of greater anointing, God
is not squeamish. He will do all that
it takes to make us men and women after His heart. The process is our
qualification – not our note of dismissal.
Think
how close Nineveh came to being judged. All because a certain prophet took
exception to God’s clear command and ran away from his mission. God had more
difficulty getting his reluctant prophet Jonah to go there in the first place
than He did in convincing the citizens of that most hard-hearted of cities to
repent before Him. But many of us argue and fight against His calling in just
such ways.
Nebuchadnezzar spoke from
first hand experience when he declared: ‘Those who walk in pride He is able to
humble.’ ([38]) How is God shaping and humbling you? Has He ever had to do to you
something as drastic in its own way as what He did to Nebuchadnezzar? Only
once? May we be flexible tools in His hands!
4.5 Prophets without Honour
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everybody appreciated the efforts we make on
their behalf and the words and ideas that we bring? Trouble is, it doesn’t
always work quite like that! Because we will often be called to challenge the
status quo – to uproot and tear down as well as to build and to plant ([39]) we are sure to face misunderstanding and opposition. When this is
through our insufficiently thought out plan or presentation, we deserve what
comes our way. But the cost of bringing the ways of the Lord remains
high.
Prophets
see new ways of doing things, and make suggestions that threaten the way people
have always done things. Which is easier, to embrace the new or to make life
uncomfortable for the would-be prophet? When we have done all we can to
minimise misunderstanding, and to explain most carefully what we believe God is
saying, certain people may still prove unwilling to respond along the lines
that God is ordaining. That is not our responsibility! We
are answerable to God and must go on saying what God is saying, without fear or
favour.
4.6 The Matter of our Vindication
We have made it abundantly
clear by now that prophets in training are in for a white-knuckle ride. A
substantial percentage of us will experience nervous breakdowns at some point
in the carrying out of our tasks and even end up being rejected by our church
or organisation. What will enable us to continue when the going gets tough?
Ø
A strong confidence in God’s call.
Ø
A dogged refusal to allow a foothold to bitterness or cynicism in our
hearts.
Ø
A spirit of praise.
Ø
A sense of humour.
Ø
A least one sound friend who believes in us!
We must face a simple fact:
people’s expectations of prophets and the prophetic ministry are often
impossibly high. One departure from the high standard expected of us and people
can be down on us like a ton of bricks. One reason for this is that people –
not least pastors – are often subconsciously jealous of anyone who appears to
have a closer walk with the Lord than they do and are quick to chastise any
apparent inconsistency.
Nothing can stop people from saying the strangest things about us behind
our backs. But if our attitude is gracious and forgiving, there is every
possibility that many of them will eventually relent. Some may even become
friends! In the meantime, we must pray for the Lord to make our hearts sharper
rather than harder through the things that we suffer.
Many times I have known in my
spirit that I am being spoken against. Sometimes the Lord has shown me who is
doing this and has given me the grace to go and talk to the person or people
concerned, which has sometimes served to clear the air. At other times there
seems to be no alternative but to trust the Lord to be our ultimate
vindication. Who said it would be easy?
For Reflection
Since the Lord often seems
to lead us in ways that appear strange to the outsider (as well as to us!) we
are wise if we leave the matter of our reputation firmly in the Lord's hands –
especially if we are leaders! ([40]) The Lord alone vindicates our words and our calling. In the meantime,
how do you guard your heart against feelings of self-pity when misunderstood or
misrepresented? ([41]) Be careful not to build such strong walls around you to protect yourself
that you inadvertently end up keeping both the Lord and His people at a
distance.
4.7 The way up is often the way down
I used to think
it a tragedy that Watchman Nee, after years of fruitful sacrificial ministry,
was thrown into a communist jail for nearly a quarter of a century and made to
study Maoist doctrine. He was finally released only in order to go home and
die. What a waste of twenty-five precious years. Or was it? All the time he was
imprisoned, his writings were influencing countless Christians and sowing seeds
from which there has been glorious ongoing revival.
God has
designed it that we can only reach the place where we bring abundant life to
others by going through some sort of a death experience ourselves first. ‘What
you sow does not come to life unless it dies,’ Paul wrote([42]), graphically illustrating Jesus’ teaching
that it is only when the original seed dies that the real harvest comes.([43])
If Joseph found
that the way up often appears the way down, then so will we! It will feel at
times as though God has forgotten all about His promises to us. But He has
forgotten nothing. His eye is still on us. He will find ways to demonstrate His
love and commitment, and to bring about the utterly impossible. Meantime, as we
pass through our own ‘dungeon’ experiences, God trains us in spiritual warfare
and teaches us new skills. We are not only not our own: we are bought at a
price and we are being led by the Lord.
For Reflection
I believe that
many of us have not progressed as far as we could with the Lord because we hold
back at some point from yielding to His purposes. We are inclined to make
bargains with Him. ‘If You will do this, then I will do that . . .’ We cannot
afford any ‘no go’ areas in our life. It is poor discipleship that says, ‘I am
willing to do anything and to go anywhere except
...’ Wisdom lies in letting the Lord have His way - unreservedly. He knows exactly what He is planning to do.
Everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their
strengthening, encouragement and comfort. - 1 Corinthians 14:3
Here, in one
short sentence, Paul summarises how the heart of God can be communicated to the
people of God. Paul said, ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in
your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming’ ([44]) Prophecy is all about putting courage into
people.
5.1 A Burning Fire in our Hearts
Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has
My word speak it faithfully . . . Is not My word like fire, declares the Lord,
and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23:29)
The word of God
was burning so strongly in Jeremiah that he could not hold in, even though it
would bring him repeated pain and rejection. At a less intense level, have you
never felt your heart beating faster when the Lord is alerting you that He
wants you to speak out? Fearful though you probably were, it was usually
easier, and certainly far more satisfying, to give the word than to keep it in.
Sometimes the leader of a meeting declares, ‘I sense
God wants to speak’. How can they be so sure? Why are they spelling it out
instead of just letting it happen? To impress people by how sensitive they are?
Hopefully not. Rather they are declaring what God wants to do as a stimulus to
encourage people who are ‘sitting’ on a word to speak it out.
We may be given
just a short sentence, or a very simple picture, but that may be exactly what
somebody needs to hear. It often happens that the Lord reveals to us just the
gist of a message. It is sometimes best to ‘hold on’ to it for a few minutes to
see if the details become clearer and stronger. At other times we have to speak
out in faith, not knowing exactly what we are going to say. We need to be
especially careful then that we are indeed being led by the Spirit of God, rather
than carried along by the excitement of the moment.
Don’t be in too
much of a rush to pull away from the Lord’s presence to share what He’s been
saying with others. He may have something more to say to you! Here’s a way to
picture it. It’s a bit like getting an e-mail from God, complete with title.
‘Great!’ you say, and promptly rush to tell people you’ve had an e-mail from
God. But if you had waited a bit longer you could have read the main part of
the e-mail that the Lord was wanting to share with you! Sharing too hastily
might be rather like receiving the title of an e-mail and forwarding it on
instead of waiting for the body of the text to arrive.
Pluck up
courage and act on God’s promptings. As your words are accepted, so you will
gradually come to have more confidence that God can and does indeed speak
through you.
5.2 Drawing others in: Prophetic Etiquette
and Courtesy
Being prophetic
means getting away from the structured safety of having one man, or one team,
in charge, with all slots, activities and spaces neatly accounted for and
pre-programmed. For leaders to hand over to the Holy Spirit means trusting the
people in their charge. The reality is that it may well not always work out
well. The prophetic craft can be as messy as any other apprenticeship. Resist
the temptation to retrench when things go wrong.
Wise are the leaders who learn to sense when God is
asking them to involve others and to stand aside. For example, you sense the
Lord’s anointing on someone to contribute. Make a platform for them to share.
If you are not entirely confident in their abilities, invite them to share a
contribution rather than handing over the rest of the meeting to them!
Pray for
opportunities to share words of blessing into people’s life, but in such a way
that it will help them to grasp the positive and to deal with the negative
without straying into flattery, condemnation or delusion. Encourage people to
carefully test what you share. Likewise, take hold of words that have been
given to you: weigh them first then weave them into the way you approach life.
What’s the use of the Lord speaking if we do not take them on board and commit
ourselves to what He has said? May all the Lord has spoken over you come to
pass!
5.3 When people don’t want to hear
These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to
listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, "See no more
visions!" and to the prophets, Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path,
and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!
(Isaiah 30:9-11; cf Jeremiah 7:28)
Isaiah’s
listeners were prepared to listen to him – but only if the content of his
message was trimmed to suit their own desires. Jeremiah’s hearers were more
inclined to scoff. But prophets have to keep speaking God’s message faithfully.
True, we may sometimes be able to shape what God has shown us (to find the best
way to present it), but we can never afford to dilute it. Let’s face it: God
wouldn’t be God if He didn’t show us home truths we are reluctant (or
incapable) of seeing. What matters is how we respond.
Wisdom is
knowing what to do with the message God has given us. Deviousness is to try to
manipulate crucial facts. Paul became all things to all men in order to win
them for Christ ([45]) but he didn’t present another Christ in
the process. His approach to the Athenians (who had no knowledge of the God of
Israel) was very different to when he met the Bereans who were made up of orthodox
Jews. ([46]) Paul deployed all his God-given wisdom to
reach his hearers. Isn’t that precisely how the prophets sought to reach their
audience?
We can lose our
audience entirely by presenting matters one way, when another approach would
have won their hearts. For example, much that we receive from the Lord can be
introduced into prayer or conversation without necessarily being prefaced by a
‘Thus says the Lord’. But there are limits. To find God’s angle for sharing a
message is sheer wisdom; to ‘doctor’ or dilute it in order to make the message
– or the messenger - more acceptable ends up compromising the non-negotiable
and misrepresenting the Lord altogether.
Neither are we wise to adopt a style that is simply
‘not us’ unless God clearly tells us to do so. When Billy Graham first went to
Cambridge he switched from his normal style and tried to adopt an academic
approach to present the Good News. When he met with little success, he reverted
to his normal style of preaching - and far more students were won for the
Kingdom!
There is
nothing wrong with giving considerable thought to the matter of presentation
and to study literary styles and other forms of communication. Many of these
will become familiar and intuitive for us once we have grasped the principles
that lie behind them. You may find my publication, ‘The Art of Creative
Writing’ helpful in this respect.
5.4 Listening for Others: Crafted Prayer and Prophecy
Graham Cooke has recently published a
series of short books including an excellent one on Crafted Prayer (Sovereign World). The concept of crafting a prayer
about situations that we face, or for people who we care for, is an excellent
one. I have adopted the model he used in a workshop in which he divides people
into pairs (often with people who have never met before) to wait on the Lord
for that person. As the Lord begins to speak, carefully record these insights
and thought associations, but without saying anything to the other person.
After a few minutes, work these ideas into a ‘crafted’ prayer for the person as
if writing a letter back to God, asking Him to do the things that He has
already told you He wants to do. Before you share this with them, however, go
one stage further and turn it into a word as if it was coming directly from the
Lord. That is, take time to share with the person both the prayer and the
‘prophecy’.
It may sound a somewhat mechanical and
calculating approach – presumptuous even – but I have found this a most
valuable way to help develop the word of the Lord. Certainly the first time I
did this exercise, the Lord spoke to me clearly through the person praying for
me. It has proved a consistently worthwhile tool to work with.
We can apply the concept of crafted
prayer to complex subjects and topics as well as to individuals. Why not chose
such a subject or a person and have a
go?
5.5 The prophetic draws out and
releases new giftings
‘Imagination is the greatest of all the gifts which God has given us. It makes us full of eyes, without and within.’ (Alexander Whyte)
‘One in the eye is worth two in the ear!’ (Boxing Manual)
People often assume that the prophetic
ministry is primarily concerned with addressing people’s faults and failings.
It would be nearer the mark to claim that it is even more about seeing the best in each other and finding ways to
draw out these qualities in them. It is a wonderful gift to be able to see
beyond a person’s sins and shortcomings to see their deep heart longing to be
different and better. True prophecy strengthens and treasures what people can
become in Christ rather than just what they are.
When the Lord called Gideon a ‘mighty
warrior’, it hardly sounded like an objective comment, least of all to Gideon
himself.([47]) But God saw what Gideon could become
and spoke it into being. The Lord sees potential where we see only weaknesses –
the oak tree that the little acorn will become. The prophetic addresses the
treasure that God has placed within people, things that they themselves may be
entirely unaware of. His words release us into an entirely new level of
confidence and sphere of anointing to do things that would previously have been
completely beyond us.
What a privilege to be, as it were,
embarked on a glorious treasure hunt to identify and help release God’s gifts
and blessings into people’s lives.
The Lord is always looking for people
to raise up and promote. Just before our first wider prayer conference, our
pianist fell ill. Everybody we invited to
replace him was unavailable. I was really upset!
Walking in town the day before the conference was due to begin, I bumped into
someone who had been part of a group I had led. When I asked him why he had
come a day early, he replied that he had felt prompted to come and offer his
services as a pianist. I had no idea he even played the piano! As we watched
him leading worship the following evening, someone had clear discernment that
this marked the beginning of a wider ministry for him. The whole conference was
greatly enriched because the pianist had waited on the Lord and received
instructions to come early. Sure enough, his ministry has long since gone from
strength to strength.
Elijah's
final commission was a truly prophetic action: to appoint a young farmer called
Elisha as his own successor. Whereas Saul had hounded David, his potential
successor, at the point of his spear, Elijah would do everything he could to
develop the ministry of his young apprentice. The contrast between Elijah's
nurturing spirit and King Saul's insane jealousy could hardly be greater. Any church or organisation that is failing to plan
ahead to raise up its successors is lacking in its vision. The Lord is always
thinking of the next generation. Who are you reaching out to mentor or be
mentored by?
5:6 The prophetic enables us to discern strongholds
Just as we are to see potential in
people, so the Lord also wants us to uncover the roots of historical and
spiritual blockages. In the wings of the political and social stage today lurk
many dangers and wrong practices the Lord would want to alert some of us to([48])
When there was prolonged famine in
Israel, David sought the Lord. It was revealed to him that it was due to the
Israelites’ violation of their promise to spare the Gibeonites. Not until this
had been atoned for did God again answer prayer on behalf of the land.([49]) Coverdale delightfully translates
this last verse ‘God was again at one with the land’ – the true meaning of
at-one-ment.
It is important to realise that
‘ordinary’ prayer would not have been sufficient in this instance to end the
famine. Why? Because there was an underlying cause which needed to be brought
to light and attended to. Prophetic insight should therefore be a natural part
of our prayer. So many of our prayer meetings concentrate on what has already
happened. We rush to prayer action-stations in response to some trouble or
need, rather like a fire-brigade racing off to put out a fire. Prevention is
better than cure!
When God judged Judah through
Nebuchadnezzar after nearly forty years of warning from the prophet Jeremiah,
the Lord declared that it was primarily for the sins Manasseh had let loose in
the nation that the nation was being judged. But Manasseh had lived nearly a
hundred years before! What’s more, the sins of Manasseh’s day, had, to some
extent, been reformed under King Josiah. In the Lord’s eyes, the repentance had
clearly been insufficient. Jerusalem fell, and the people went into exile.
Before we translate this scenario into
a contemporary setting, and complain that it wouldn’t be fair for us to be
judged today for something that was done at the turn of the last century, it is
important to grasp that it is not for isolated misdemeanours but for
accumulated sins that nations are judged – ‘for three sins, even for four’, as
Amos puts it.([50]) Our own society may have long since
left behind the worst excesses of the appalling working conditions that
prevailed in the mines and factories of the Victorian era, but has it really
repented of the grasping, exploiting attitudes that lay behind these outward
social ills? The evidence is clearly against it. And the Bible tells us that we
reap what we sow.
The good news is that nothing here is
fatalistic. As a nation Britain sowed the wind through the unspeakable
atrocities of the slave trade. Many years ago the Lord led intercessors to pray
for the cities which had been at the heart of the slave trade and which, at the
time, were showing signs of acute racial unrest: Bristol, London and Liverpool.
We believe the Lord has answered prayer and is bringing new life to these cities
despite the guilty past. God is in the business of redeeming. Prophets like
Martin Scott and many others are working hard on praying for bad roots to be
removed and the power of God to visit our physically affluent but spiritually
needy communities.([51])
6 ~ And all the people replied . . .
Do not quench [put out] the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with
contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. (1
Thessalonians 5:19-22)
So you’re
pretty sure you’ve heard God say something to you? That’s great! The next stage
of the process is to know what to do with what you’ve heard.
6.1 What next?
Some churches are so unfamiliar with the
whole dimension of prophecy that they do not know how to respond. In all too
many other cases God’s words are not taken seriously enough for a rather
different reason: they come so thick and fast that there is no mechanism for
pondering them. We hear and accept His words and yet would be hard pushed to
remember them only a few hours or a few days later. We are not unlike the
people of Ezekiel’s day who heard the prophet’s words, approved of them
wholeheartedly, but did nothing to change their way of life. ([52])
The flesh may
scream that we should share some word that we have just received now (after all, it gives us a certain
kudos to be able to present such a powerful word!) but the wiser course of
action is often to wait. Many of the words the Lord gives us can be written
down, tested and presented later when we have had time to see what else the
Lord wanted to say about the matter in hand.
All this points to a huge need to record
prophecy carefully and to weigh it properly. God wants us to take the key
promises and messages that He sends us seriously. These will come in different
forms – Bible passages, specific prophecies, or illustrations that we hear
which we recognise as having a specific relevance for us. We need to meditate
on what God gives us, and let its message reach right down into the depths of
our hearts. And then, having pondered its relevance for us as individuals or as
a wider grouping, we must look to see it outworked – without falling into the
trap of trying to bring the vision to pass by our own efforts. God will bring
it about in His way and in His time, but it is right that we pray and work
towards it.
Sometimes God says things
just because He wants to! Not everything needs to be spoken out or even prayed
about. Some things, it seems, are just God sharing His heart because He wants
to.
6.2 The Fitting Forum
Sometimes the Lord uses a particular meeting as a window of opportunity
in which to release a word in our
hearts but that does not automatically make it the right forum in which to
share the word. If it is always right for our first question to be what are You saying, Lord, our second
should be when and how do You want us to pass this word on
to others? Should I speak it now? Does something else need to happen first?
Christine Larkin shared how
the Lord gave her a word one January about something bad that was going to happen
in the autumn. She did not say anything at the time because it might have
induced fear. After the bad thing had happened, however, she was able to share
it – not as a prophetic word about what would
happen in the future but, as God had intended all along that it should be a
message of comfort in a difficult time.
Have you known times when
God has shown you something that is best kept in prayer between yourself and
God? That is something we should increasingly expect as the ‘overflow’ of our
intimacy with the Lord. At other times our best course of action is to take
what we have been shown to our leaders rather than to share the matter
immediately with all and sundry. To share certain warnings in public might
excite fear or gossip. If the prophetic and pastoral are working together in
tandem, we can leave it to the discretion of the leaders how they respond to
what God has said.
It is always worth
remembering that what we are given are only ever partial words or
understandings about people and situations. They may not even make any sense to
us, but if we pass them on with as much accuracy, love and wisdom as possible
(resisting the temptation to elaborate or exaggerate what God has said) we will
often delight to discover that these insights give a great deal of strength and
confirmation.
6.3 Let no word fall to the ground ([53])
Prophecy comes to the whole
church. The responsibility for recognising that the Spirit of the Lord is
speaking, and for acting on the word given, lies with the leaders of the meeting,
who are acting on behalf of the whole Church. Some churches delegate this
initial testing to those who have shown themselves to be particularly gifted in
this realm: a prophetic team in other words. This is an excellent idea – so
long as this prophetic team does not ‘stifle’ contributions from other people
by approving each other’s words and frowning on anything that comes from a
different quarter.
If we fail to test
prophecies, we are actually failing to do what the Lord has charged us to do. I
have seen churches warned through prophecy of dangers which they have refused
to face up to, just as Saul did not heed Samuel’s rebuke and was ultimately
rejected by God as king over Israel. ([54]) ‘If you will not listen I
will weep in secret because of your pride,’ the prophet says. ([55]) There are always serious consequences when
societies, professions, cultures and individuals do not heed God’s wisdom.
For
Reflection
Taking the word of God
seriously means finding ways to ponder it, distribute it and then to pray it
into being. Would the Lord show you some way of improving this vital aspect of
the prophetic ministry? How do you and your fellowship test words, personally
and corporately?
6:4 Hold fast to that which is good
Leaders must be free to do
as they think right with a prophecy. If they are happy with it, they can
release it to the wider body. If they do not feel comfortable with it, the
kindest, as well as the wisest, thing to do is to spend time with the person
who gave the word, explaining why they do not feel able to release it wider.
After all, the person concerned probably required considerable courage to share
it in the first place. Loving feedback will help them grow and develop in their
gift. It is nonsense to think we can learn to prophesy accurately overnight.
But prophetic skills can be refined and, to a considerable extent, taught.
We saw earlier that prophets are the eyes of the
Church. Blessed are the pastors and leaders who make room for that gift – and
who stand by people who sometimes ‘run out
of words’, or who ‘continue beyond their anointing,’ and make inevitable
mistakes as they develop their ministry. At
the same time, leaders must be on hand to reassure the fellowship by preventing
false words from being acted on.
If Paul tells us
specifically to hold fast to that which is good ([56]), the implication is that there will be other parts that are not worth holding on to. There have been
times when people have ‘dumped’ on us words that owe more to their particular
outlook on life (or to wishful thinking) than to the authentic word of the
Lord. If we can identify these
‘words’ for being what they are – something much less than a full-blown word of
the Lord - they will not do much harm. But that is a big ‘if’. It requires
considerable courage to affirm that they are not right. We are right to be cautious of rejecting a genuine word
of God, even whilst needing to guard against the spurious.
Sometimes it is even more
complicated. For example, the spirit behind the word may be sound, even if
certain aspects of the prophecy stray beyond the anointing. If so, we are wise
to separate out the over optimistic without dismissing the whole thing.
6.5 Grace to step out
In change management
theory, certain types of people are seen as facilitators whilst others are
resistors. So much will never come to pass as long as people resist the
Spirit’s leading and refuse to step out.
Jackie Pullinger highlights
our fear and our reluctance in the whole realm of listening to God by pointing
out that when a tongue is given in a meeting, almost everybody immediately
begins to pray for somebody else to
be given the interpretation! Many of us have held back in such ways and as a
result have not developed the gift that the Lord has given us.
At the end of the day, you
can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. Not everyone will
embrace the leading of the Lord. May the Lord show us how to create a nurturing
environment that will enable as many people as possible to respond to what He
is saying. May the Lord grant us courage first to listen, and then to act on
what He is showing us.
6.6 The spirit of the prophet is subject to the control
of the prophet
In the
final analysis, the way a word is
given is less important than its anointing and content. After all, we have less
than no idea of the immediate context in which many of the Biblical prophecies
were given. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for being unnecessarily wacky.
Years ago I heard a tongue being spoken (shouted would be a more accurate description)
in a Pentecostal church in London. On and on it went, becoming increasingly
intense and urgent. I waited with baited breath for the interpretation, feeling
sure that at the very least the Lord was warning us that the building was on
fire, or that Doomsday had come. The interpretation, no less enthusiastically
declaimed, assured us that the Lord loved us, and that it was a good thing to
read our Bibles! Why did she need to shout?
A cursory
glance at prophecy in the Old Testament might make us think that it is normal
for the Lord to speak in a didactic, authoritative manner. If so, the
temptation will be for us to assume that we are likewise merely to become
‘voice channels’ for the word of the Lord when we prophesy. I prefer to think
that most prophecy is an overflowing of the wisdom and compassion of our
Heavenly Father than a command to do this or to do that. Neither are we ‘taken
over’ by the voice of God, as mediums are in seances. It is God who gives us
our unique character and personality, and He delights to express something of
His own heart through them.
One important principle to
bear in mind is that God does not force Himself on people. True prophecy never
takes away a person’s free will. But there is an enormous risk of manipulation
and control when prophecy takes a directive nature.
I always feel uneasy when I
hear directive prayer or prophecy – that is people telling for x to do y. As leaders, we should not permit such prayers or prophecies to
go unchecked. There are enough insecure and unscrupulous power and
position-seeking believers who are willing to use and abuse the prophetic
ministry in order to manipulate and control people for their own ends. All this
borders on witchcraft. Why? Because it imposes someone else’s agenda onto others
and brings them effectively into the orbit of the person who had the word.
Father, may our words and
our service draw people closer to the Lord Jesus, rather than into our own
orbit. Soften our hearts so that You can reveal more and more of Your heart to
people. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
6.7 Shadow Boxing
The Lord loves to give specific gifts and ministries to His people.
Unfortunately, as we hinted above, the prophetic ministry by its very nature
attracts a certain percentage of insecure people who are looking for a niche
and a platform to make them feel wanted and special. Fluent in prayer and
prophecy, such people often appear to have a ready answer for everything – but
their words and attitudes are less convincing. Discerning people suspect that
there is a ‘gap’ between the words and the person’s own lifestyle – and that,
in turn, makes them question the words.
‘Superspiritual’ men and
women, by contrast, are caricatured by their words and promises. They endlessly
concoct theories and shape verses from the Bible to support their fascinating
if misguided prophecies – but where is the fruit in their ministries? Such
people’s fervent exhortations to ‘trust the Lord!’ are undergirded by much
exhortation but little identification with where other people are really at.
They do not easily weep with those who are weeping, because they feel that
faith does away with the need to weep!
Insincere or immature prophets were clearly a problem in the early
Church. Jesus warned His disciples frequently about false prophets. He said
that they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Wolves have a ferocious and a
potentially dangerous appetite - and so do Christians who are out to make a
name for themselves. We have spoken already about words that ‘tie’ people to
themselves. Characteristically, immature or ‘soulish’ prophets display a
profound self-centredness in all they say and do. If such people are unwilling
for their words to be tested, it may be better for them not to prophesy at all.
There have always been
those prepared to use the name of Jesus as a cover for pursuing their magical
arts. Even in the hey-day of the Celtic church many inadequately converted
druids became priests because they saw in the priesthood their best way to
retain their hold over people who were shrugging off the old pagan ways. No
wonder the Lord hates all such ‘religious’ ways – but loves those who seek Him
with all their hearts.
When the sons of Sceva
attempted to ‘use’ the name of Jesus in their exorcisms, they found themselves in real danger. The demon they were trying to
exorcise turned and attacked them violently, forcing them to make a highly
undignified exit from the house – stark naked and severely wounded. The name of
Jesus is no open sesame into the supernatural world!
The sons of Sceva
would not be blessed to know that they have become an object lesson in how not
to do it! Their ‘playing around’ with spiritual forces they did not understand
did not prevent the Lord from working in power. Many made a clean break with
their pagan past, and publicly burned their magical scrolls and regalia in
order to demonstrate that they were severing all ties with their occult past
and were now following the Lord Jesus Christ. ([57])
Lord, we ask
that You will show us where we are being held back by any of these tendencies.
Set us free in Jesus’ name to minister in the power of Your name, Amen.
6.8 Renounce all occult links
The Lord warned the
Israelites: ‘I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and
spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from
his people.’ ([58])
Some people appear to assume that ‘discernment of
spirits’ refers primarily (even exclusively) to spotting what the enemy is up
to. This is far too narrow and negative an approach. Leanne Payne reminds us
that we are not called to be demon spotters (like grown up train spotters!) –
we are called to be God seekers.
Nevertheless,
the spirit world needs careful handling. I have known times when a person has
brought words, which, on the face of it, seem to be uncannily accurate. On
reflection, we have realised that their ‘discernment’ was mixed actually with
divination – the ability to know or to predict things by means other than the
Spirit of God.
If you have
dabbled in any such activity as reading tarot cards, playing with ouija boards,
consulting palms, tea leaves, attending séances, taking horoscopes seriously,
ancestor worship and many such things, you will find spiritual confusion
dogging your steps until you are cut off through repentance and prayer. (This
is something that is best done in the company of people who know what they are
doing). It is the same for people who have been involved in such things as
Freemasonry, yoga, transcendental meditation, the Bahai faith and many other cults
and -isms.
For Reflection
There are many ways we can
test the direction of a person’s heart and hence the words that they bring.
Before we turn to examine a few of these, let’s do some ‘spring-cleaning’ in
our own hearts. Can we discern any tendency towards controlling others? Any
‘superspiritual’ attitudes? How about any involvement with the occult, either
in your own life or in your family line?
6.9 The Shepherd leads but the butcher drives
When we sense an urgent
prompting in our spirit, we must discern between God’s leading and the enemy’s
compulsive urges and distracting tactics. A helpful principle to bear in mind
is that ‘The shepherd leads but the butcher drives’. It is only practice that
enables us to distinguish the still small voice of the Spirit from the flurry
of signals that assail our mind. As always, it is important to check what you
think you have heard with other Christians.
6:10 In Tandem or in Tension? Pastors and Prophets
Prophets are invaluable in
helping the Church to find the best way forward. Their words stir people into
action, break up the unploughed ground and shatter complacent attitudes. ([59]) Blessed is the church which knows how to harness and encourage the
talents that already exist in their midst. But prophets work best in teams! I
mentioned just now how the Lord sent two
prophets to speak wisdom into our predicament. Haggai and Zechariah were doubly
effective because they brought the same message to their generation in
different ways: almost, as it were, in stereo. The apostle Paul, likewise, was
no lone ranger. Have you noticed how he starts his letters? We read of Paul and
Silas, Paul and Barnabas, Paul and others.
But how does this work out with the rest of the
Church? Kenny Borthwick, the leader of Christians Linked Across the Nation
recently gave a talk entitled ‘Can prophets and pastors be friends?’ They most
certainly should be, yet times without number, the prophetic ministry finds
itself in tension rather than in tandem with the pastoral team. This is so common
an experience that it needs unpacking.
Prophets and pastors are clearly designated in
Scripture as being separate roles. When they work in tandem in their different
roles, it is so much easier to work together towards clear objectives. Human
nature being what it is, such diversity is unfortunately often more perceived
as a threat than as an asset. The pastor, by his very nature, is concerned to
protect his flock. Prophets, on the other hand, are eager to bring to the
Church whatever challenge, correction or encouragement they have heard in the
Father’s presence.
Pastoral leadership, almost by definition,
inclines to playing safe. Trouble is, by seeking to keep everybody in step, it
can inadvertently keep the lid on things God is longing to release. The Spirit
may be directing our attention towards some particular need, or to lead them to
develop some new emphasis, but “the planned agenda,” can make it extremely
difficult for His voice to be heard. It is though the Holy Spirit advances,
knocks and waits, but then is obliged to tip-toe away – grieving.
How wonderful it is when leadership is open and
sensitive enough to discern where the Lord is leading, and to make room for the
people and strategies that God has in mind. If that means occasionally foregoing
the preaching or some other part of the service because the Lord is leading so
clearly in another direction, then so be it.
Prophets see over the horizon and in that sense
are ‘ahead’ of other peoples’
understanding. Pastors have then to implement what has been seen in the
heavenly places ‘at ground level’. Churches led only by pastors tend to be on
the slow side, whereas churches led by prophets can race away and fail to deal
with foundational issues. The Scriptures do not say ‘God appointed in the church
first pastors, then pastors, then a handful of elders and deacons!’ It says that God has appointed in the Church first
apostles, second prophets and third teachers. ([60]) It is the
mixture of the prophetic and the pastoral that achieves something far more
interesting, that makes room for evangelists,
those with healing gifts, workers of miracles and other callings.
There is often an overlap
between the roles of course. By virtue of their intimacy with the Lord,
prophets often play a useful role in the pastoral life of the Church, and are
looked on by many as mother and father figures to whom people can turn in times
of trouble. The fact remains, however, that there is a necessary tension
between the two callings. Pastors have to be aware that their desire to
safeguard the flock may tempt them to brush aside the prophet’s call for
change.
When prophets end up
isolated and mistrusted, there is enormous frustration to the prophet and loss
to the Body of Christ. When the ‘eyes’ of the Church show us the best way
forward and we refuse to alter course we can get into considerable trouble (as
individuals or as churches) trying to change direction later on. When we are
finally convinced that we need to do something about it, there is almost always
tension between those who want to adopt the new approach (which basically
involves going back to the fork in the road where we failed to take the new
turning) and those who insist on ploughing on as they were, hoping that things will turn out all right in the end.
Great wisdom is needed at this point. If we give in to the objections of
those who want to go at the pace of the slowest (and so maintain the status
quo), we will fail to press on and reach what God is asking of us.
Prophets are, and need to
be, intercessors. They need solitude to wait on the Lord and to pray through
the implications of their calling. But recognising this need to be apart with
God is in no way a licence for individualism. John and Paula Sandford
illustrate this in their perceptive book The
Elijah Task (Logos) by showing that when the Church has reached a point of
celebration, the prophets will already be crying out for it to move on in new
and deeper ways. Conversely, when it is bemoaning its powerlessness (and being
led into times of deep repentance) they will be rejoicing at such an obvious
sign of grace. But even though the nature of their calling may sometimes cause
them to remain somewhat detached from it they must be submitted within the
Church or organisation because prophets are only fully effective when they are
working in close co-operation with the other ministries of the Church.
For
Reflection
Prophets see visions and stir up the troops.
Pastors (and other leaders) are ultimately the ones who have to implement the
prophetic vision. Which category do you
instinctively lean toward? (It may well be a mixture – but it is hard when one
person is obliged to wear both hats).
6.11 Handling directive words
We are on safe ground if we
say that prophecy serves to confirm us in some course of action rather than to
direct us to something entirely new. But would it have occurred to Noah to
build an ark, or for Elijah to go and confront Ahab in Naboth's garden? David,
likewise, would never have left his stronghold and gone into the land of Judah,
had not the word of the Lord summoned him to do so through the prophet Gad.
Neither would the believers in Antioch have sent special gifts to their
brothers in Judea had they not been warned through prophecy of a forthcoming
time of scarcity. ([61]) To say that prophecy must always be of a confirmatory nature, however,
is to be less than faithful to the biblical picture.
There have been documented
occasions when God has spoken through prophecy to individuals and even to
nations. Armenian Christians, for instance, were warned at the turn of this
century through a prophecy to flee to America. Those who did were singularly
blessed; those who did not were brutally murdered during the Turkish massacre
of 1913. Demos Shakarian, who founded the Full Gospel Businessman’s Fellowship,
was one of those survivors – and how much fruit his vision has borne!
We ourselves have benefited
from such directive words of God. While we were living as newly-weds in a flat,
a friend told us that the Lord had impressed on him that we should go and buy
ourselves a house. Largely because we were living by faith, I had supposed that
we would never be able to obtain a mortgage. Spurred on by this word, we not
only found a suitable house, but were led to one specific building society. The
manager turned out to be an 'on-fire' Christian, who had read one of my books,
and who was only too willing to help us secure a house. A few weeks after we
left, the landlord of the flat we had been renting died, which might have led
to all manner of complications. We can never thank God enough for getting us
into the housing market in the way that he did.
It cannot be overstated how careful we must be, however, in handling
‘directive’ words. Suppose that someone comes to us, claiming that the Lord has
told them that we are to follow some specific course of action that had not
previously crossed our mind. We should be very wary of accepting their advice
and basing our decisions solely on this one piece of 'guidance', unless the
Lord was already pointing us in this direction – in which case He will
undoubtedly confirm it in a variety of ways.
May we share with you how,
seventeen years after buying our first house, the Lord brought us another
‘directive’ word? A couple we had never met before, but whose spirit was
manifestly in tune with the Lord’s, brought us this course-directing word a few
years ago: ‘Your life has been proceeding in one direction, but it is now about
to take a complete 90 degree turn.’
How were we to handle such
a challenging (but imprecise) word? To be told that we were about to embark on
a completely new direction but with no indication whatsoever of what that
change might involve sounds, on the face of it just the sort of vagueness the
enemy thrives on. But this was a word from God! We shared it with our fellow
trustees as a matter of accountability but then left
it with the Lord to see if other indications emerged that would point in some
new direction.
They did! A few
months later, the opportunities opened up totally unexpectedly to explore the
possibility of moving to Shetland. The word had served to ‘break up the
unploughed ground,’ so that our hearts were prepared. But there was an
additional word: the instruction that we would have to ‘set our faces like
flint’ was a warning that it wasn’t going to be easy to uproot ourselves from
the heart of family, church and community.
I am so glad
the Lord warned us ahead of time. The emotional upheaval involved in departing
was very high, and words such as this made all the difference as we catapulted
into a complete lifestyle change. To stress the point again, the word was
valuable precisely because it proved to be one of several strands of confirmation. In other words, we did not base
everything we did on it.
In both cases,
the Lord spoke so clearly to us because He was leading us to attempt something
of such magnitude that we would, in all probability, not have felt able even to
contemplate it without such clear guidance. We needed the help of such
directive words for our faith to reach take-off point.
Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart (Psalm 24:3-4)
How are we to evaluate prophetic
utterances? Our lives, as well as our words, must testify that God is with us. If we are putting anything else in the place of God (our
pleasures, desires, relationships or money) we should beware: the fire of God
will ultimately consume these things.([62]) The more deeply we have
surrendered them to Christ and are living in the spirit of repentance, the less
likely our words are to be tinged with personal bias or tainted by our fears
and desires.
7.1 Words have power when there is a
holy person behind them
Why is it that some ‘godly’ folks inspire us while others turn us
off? Suppose you are having a specific difficulty and go to someone for help.
You start by saying, ‘I’m really having difficulty trusting the Lord over this
issue.’ They look at you pityingly and reply, ‘Just trust the Lord, brother!’
It makes you feel as though you have been rapped on the knuckles and kicked in
the shins!
Then you go to a kinder and wiser person and tell them the same
thing, that you are really having difficulty trusting the Lord over some issue.
To your surprise they give you precisely the same answer. ‘Hmm. Just trust the
Lord, brother.’ The effect, however, is completely different. Whereas the first
person made you feel half a metre small, the second brings a deep reassurance
and makes you feel secure that God is in control.
In the moment between you sharing and their replying you sensed
that they were hearing from God as well as from you. They had taken the matter
to the Lord, and He had reassured them so that they could reassure us. Your
spirit began to kindle and your faith to rise. It was the character of the person that made the difference: their love, their
brokenness, their integrity and their closeness to God.
For Reflection
To illustrate how important this dimension of our character is,
close your eyes and think back to your earliest teachers at school. Bless their
memory as they come to mind.
Of all the thousands of words these people must have spoken in
your hearing every day, how many can you remember now? In all probability, very
few. But the impression of how the person was is quite possibly engraved in the
deepest memory vaults of your mind. For better or for worse these people helped
to shape your life.
Now do the same with certain Christians who have helped or
hindered you at key moments of your pilgrimage. Again, you will be able to see
how these people’s words had the
power that they did because of the character
that lay behind them.
Father, please work in us in such a way that we bring Your
presence close to other people. May it be that when people rub up against us
that they hear an authentic rather than a hollow sound. May our heart be at one
with the Lord’s rather than at war with ourselves or with anyone else. Do
whatever it takes to make us truly infectious for You. In Jesus’ name.
