What Is A Prophet?
Simply speaking, a prophet is someone God has appointed as His spokesperson. It is one who delivers God's message to God's intended audience in the manner God wants it delivered. When a prophet speaks, the prophet does not represent him or herself. Instead the prophet represents God. (See 2 Peter 1:20.)
If that sounds scary, it should be. It is a serious thing to claim to speak for God when you are not really speaking for Him.
When people think of prophets, they often think of the Old Testament greats like Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, etc. We see these Old Testament prophets speaking for God, and we also see them offering leadership and doing signs and wonders. I believe that the modern parallel of those prophets is more along the line of apostles than of present-day prophets. However, the prophetic is still very crucial and active in the church.
We see, in 1 Cor. 12:28, that God appointed prophets in His New Testament church. He released many gifts and offices into the church, and the prophetic is one of them. The main purpose of the prophetic, according to 1 Cor. 14:1-5, is to build up the church, to edify, strengthen, encourage and comfort. The reason God released the prophetic in His New Testament church was not to speak judgment and condemnation, but to build up the Body of Christ. He actually appointed some people into a prophetic leadership role, putting them there to equip believers and to build up the Body of Christ. We see this in Eph. 4:11-12: "It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up."
God expects the church to pay attention to what He speaks through His New Testament prophets. 2 Peter 1:19 makes this very clear. It says, "And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."
The book of Acts shows prophets operating in the early church. There are male and female prophets. We see female prophets in Acts 21:8-9. It says, "Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied."
We also see examples of New Testament prophets interacting with the New Testament apostles in the book of Acts. Here is one of them from Acts 21:10-14:
After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.' " When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, "The Lord's will be done."
We note from this example that prophets do not tell the apostles what to do. Rather they bring information from God and the apostles use that information to make their leadership decisions. Agabus did not tell Paul what to do, he merely told Paul (and Paul's traveling companions) what would happen should he continue on his way to Jerusalem. Paul understood that God was asking him to lay down his life for the gospel, the word prepared him for what lay ahead. The others (not the prophet who delivered the word) tried to use the word to influence Paul's decisions. However, Paul refused to be swayed by their arguments and obeyed what God had spoken personally to Him.
Sadly, not everyone who claims to be a prophet really is one. 1 John 4:1 warns us that there are false prophets operating in the church, and therefore it is necessary to judge prophecy. It says, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
Modern-day Prophets
Modern-day prophets operate on either of two scopes, and many operate in both. Those are: personal prophecies and corporate prophecies.
Some prophets give personal messages from God to individuals. We call this "personal prophecy." God uses personal prophecy to speak to those who have not learned how to hear/discern His voice. Since they can't hear God directly, He sends one of His prophets to speak to them. But God also uses personal prophecy with those who are good at hearing His voice. He uses it to give them confirmations on what He has said directly to them. He also uses personal prophecy to encourage His children.
It is important to understand that God never intends for personal prophecy to become a substitute for His people learning to hear and recognize His voice. It is God's heart and desire for each Christian to know His voice because He desires to speak directly to each of us.
Some prophets operate on a corporate scope where God speaks through them to groups (such as in a local church meeting). The Lord may have a word of encouragement or challenge for the group, and He will use a prophet to deliver it to the group during the meeting. God loves to encourage His children and He frequently releases prophetic words of encouragement during the worship portion of a service.
Sometimes God releases corporate words when He wants to alert a group (or the Body of Christ at large) to something that is going to happen. One of the most poignant recent examples of this is the word that Chuck Piece gave shortly before the November 2000 elections in the USA. God wanted to alert the American church that this election would be critical for the nation and that they needed to fast and pray and seek that God's will be done in this election. At that time, none of the American believers dreamed of the Florida election recount battle that would break out. And none knew that a terrorist attack would be launched against some key East Coast cities and that America would be going to war against terrorism. None knew this particular presidency would be during one of the most critical times that the United States has experienced in recent history. But God knew all of this in advance. He wanted to alert His church to this fact. This is why He released a prophetic word through Chuck Pierce alerting American Christians to fast and pray about the upcoming elections.
Sometimes God releases corporate words when He wants to share His strategies or direction with the church. This can happen on either of two scopes. Some strategies and directions are for the Body of Christ at large, they apply to all believers. For instance, many prophetic voices are declaring that God wants to pour out His power and anointing in the lives of everyday believers. He is bringing most believers through a time of refiner's fire and purification, so that we can be holy vessels to carry His anointing. It will soon be "natural" for everyday believers "to walk in the supernatural" (as John Wimber would say). God is getting His church ready to be vessels of His power, glory and anointing. That is an example of a prophetic word to the entire Body of Christ.
There are times when God releases directions and strategies that are specific to a local group of believers. For instance, Jesus' prophecy to the church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7) applied specifically to that church. It did not apply to the church in Smyrna (Rev. 2:8-12), nor did it apply to the church in Thyatira (Rev. 2:18-28). In fact the church in Ephesus is praised for its holiness and good works, but chided for allowing its love of God to grow cold. On the other hand, the church in Thyatira is praised for its love and faith, but it is chided for the unholiness that has sprung up in their midst. God directed one group to work on restoring their first love, and directed the other group to clean up their act and walking in holiness. He had different messages and strategies for different local groups (churches) because the churches were at different places in their walk with God. He still does this today.
Sometimes God releases directive words in a church service that can change the order of the service. If God gives this type of word, it must be delivered with care and in the right way. In most cases, God will have put one person (usually the pastor) in charge of the service, and He will release the directive word through a different person (one of His prophets). The prophet is not in charge of the service and does not have authority to alter or change the direction/flow of the service. So God expects the prophet to run the directive word by the leader, and allow the leader to determine what to do with it. The prophet is not to release a directive word directly to the body unless he has first touched bases with the leader and gotten a "go ahead" to deliver it. If the leader chooses not to release the directive word, the prophet's responsibility is ended because the prophet delivered the direction to the leader. And God will hold the leader accountable to do the right thing with it at the right time.
To review, we have talked about two types of prophecy: personal prophecy and corporate prophecy. Personal prophecy is a message from God, given through a prophet to a specific person. Corporate prophecy is when God uses a prophet to give a message to a group of believers at once. Corporate words can apply to a specific local group (church, home group, etc) or to the Body of Christ at large. Some prophets give only personal prophecies, some give only corporate ones and others give both.
Clarifying A Few Things About Prophets
Clearing Up Point Of Confusion About Prophets
A lot of people confuse when God speaks to them personally (which is true for every believer) with being a prophet. John 10:27 makes it clear that each believer is expected to hear God's voice and that God will speak personally and directly to them. For the most part, God speaks to His children through one or more of these methods:
- We hear a "still small voice" that sounds similar to our own thoughts
- God shows us pictures
- We sense or "just know" something
- We feel a sensation in our body
- A passage of scripture comes to mind and the Holy Spirit quickens it to us and we suddenly understand something for our current situation from that scripture
- God quickens things to us from every-day life and/or object lessons
- Through dreams
A lot of people hear God speak to them in one of these manners. Some get confused and think that if God is speaking directly to them (which He does for all believers), that this places them in the "Office of Prophet." But a prophet is one who is called to speak for God to others. There is a big difference between hearing God speak to you personally and being a prophet.
Just because God speaks to you personally about something, that does not necessarily make it a message for the Body of Christ. Let me give an example from my own life. In my youth, I used to read a lot of science fiction and fantasy books. I got caught up in fantasy and eventually a demon got involved in it. Then I committed my life to God and committed to Jesus' Lordship in every area of my life. After a while, God brought me deliverance from that spirit of fantasy. Then He instructed me not to read science fiction or fantasy books because that would give the demon grounds to come back and bother me. God's instruction was specific for me - I used to be an avid science fiction reader, but I am not to read science fiction books anymore. If I had taken God's instruction to me as instruction to the Body of Christ, then I would be preaching that all Christians should abstain from reading science fiction and fantasy books. (That may be good advice for some individual believers, but it was NOT a mandate from God to the Body of Christ.)
The problem comes in when a believer assumes he is in the office of prophet because he heard God speak to him. God speaks to each one of His children, and it is His desire that we all be able to hear His voice and respond to Him. Hearing God speak to you does not automatically make a person a prophet.
The 'Bad Reputation' Factor
Misconduct of flaky prophets can give real prophets a "bad reputation." There are so many of the "imitations" out there who behave poorly. And they pre-condition people to assume all prophets are flakes or are false prophets. There are some really wounded people out there who cannot interact healthily with other people. They claim to be prophets, but instead of delivering God's words, they deliver their own issues and critical nature. This turns people off to the real thing.
Let me share an example of what I mean from nature. There are jellyfish on some beaches. They are in the shallow water that laps your ankles when you walk on the beach in the tide. The jellyfish is an amazingly pretty creature, but it has a really nasty sting. People who get stung by jellyfish learn to avoid jellyfish. The sting hurts a lot. Once you have been stung once, you learn to recognize a jellyfish and give it a wide berth to stay clear of it so you won't get stung again. It might be "pretty," but it is not something you want to touch you, because if it touches you, it stings you. People don't stop going to the beach because they've been stung by a jellyfish. They don't stop wading in the water or body surfing, but they learn to recognize a jellyfish as dangerous and avoid it.
Likewise, a person who has been abused or injured by a flaky "prophet," may become suspicious of the legitimate ones. Some of the people who mistakenly call themselves prophets are very wounded people with a lot of their own issues. Many times these people are lacking in interpersonal and communication skills. When such a person comes into a church and disrupts the service, that is going to affect the pastor's perspective on prophets and prophecy. (It will also affect many people in the congregation.) A person may start out feeling natural or open about prophets and prophecy. If they end up being exposed to a flaky and disruptive "prophet" before they see the real thing operate, it may sour them against prophecy. I have visited churches were it is a big no-no to prophesy in the service because of past abuses. It happens. The fake can ruin it for the "real."
Along those lines, prophets-in-training sometimes make serious mistakes. (A prophet in training is someone who has a prophetic gifting and is in the process of learning how to use them and one who God is still molding/developing/maturing and has not released as His prophet.) Mistakes are a part of the learning process, and it is OK to make them so long as the trainee is not trying to pass himself off as a seasoned prophet. When people know you are in a learning curve and you may still occasionally make some mistakes, they will usually give you grace and be understanding. But if you try to pass yourself off as a seasoned prophet while you are still in training, you may inadvertently misrepresent the prophetic to people. Those who have not been exposed to the real thing may get a wrong impression and conclude that prophets are inaccurate, unreliable, immature, emotionally unstable, etc.
An Example
Let me share a recent exchange I had with someone who I think was an excellent example of a flaky "prophet" - the kind of person who tends to ruin it for the real prophets.
One day the Lord prompted me go to the prophetic-school chat room during a non-facilitated time. To my surprise, there were about 10 others there. Shortly after I arrived, a fellow came in. I knew he was going to be problematic when the first thing he started talking about was how prophets are always rejected because of the message that they bring and how hard it is to be a prophet "because everyone hates you."
I said that this has not been my experience at all. I find that God likes to encourage His children to excel in Him, and most people I meet are eager for a word from the Lord and love the prophetic. This fellow suggested that perhaps I was not a prophet since everyone did not hate me and reject what God spoke through me. I did not respond to him on that.
He then began spewing about how he was ordained even though he was not a pastor. Most of us sort of ignored him and let him rant. He dropped the name of what he thought was a big name prophet (only one person in the room was familiar with the person he named). Then he went on and on about how he had this person's home phone number, was buddy-buddy with him, etc. Then he said that this "big name" person was supposed to go minister with him to this church in Kentucky, but he cancelled it because the pastor of the church had been lying to him. He went on for a while trying to convince the people in the room of how important he was. Unfortunately, he did not impress them very much.
He knew I was the "leader" and took jabs at me and put me down about three times in front of everyone in the room. I simply ignored his jabs and did not respond to any of them. The people in the room got tired of him and started a corporate worship session. He began to talk to me in private messages. He had some really odd twisting of scripture and wanted to involve me in a debate, but I did not want to waste the time with him because I was busy with some other stuff and he clearly had an "attitude."
He found some very creative ways to twist scripture. He did not belong to any church because he could not find a pastor who respected him as a prophet. (I wonder why?? ) He was not submitted or accountable to anyone. Yet he tried to convince me that I was to submit my ministry to him and be accountable to him because he was a prophet and 1 Cor. 14:29 says that prophets are to judge what the other prophets speak. (The actual verse in NIV says, "Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said." The passage is talking about order and corporate words in the service, not about prophets submitting their ministries to other prophets.)
He suggested that it was out of God's order for me to be accountable to my pastor, to Christian International who credentials me and to the GodSpeak ministry's board of directors. He told me that I was to be under him and accountable to him because he was a prophet and, according to 1 Cor. 14:29, I must submit to him. (And he would not even tell me his name!) He felt God had sent him to take over the GodSpeak ministry because I was running it wrong and was outside of God's order. He implied that I was a false prophet because I would not submit to him and let him control how GodSpeak was run. He finally left in a huff, with a veiled threat that God would get me because I was rebellious and out of God's order.
I am familiar with the true prophetic and have had a lot of exposure to it because I head a prophetic ministry. So I knew this person was simply off-base. I understood that he was not really a prophet coming to me with a message from God. But what would someone who has not been exposed to the true prophetic think of this type of encounter? If this type of thing were their initial contact with the "prophetic," do you see how this could sour them against the prophetic and make them leery and suspicious of it?
There are many godly people out there who have been exposed to the imitation or exposed to the flakes. This sort of inoculates them against the real thing. So sometimes a prophetic person has to face a level of resistance to the prophetic because people like the one in this example. It is sad that some people are exposed to abuses in the name of prophecy, but it does happen.
The Cost Of Being A Prophet
Just as with any other five-fold office, there is a cost associated with being a prophet. There are actually many costs, but I will touch on just four of them:
- God's character refinement program can be painful.
- Some prophets not recognized/accepted/listened to because they are bringing God's message to those who don't want to hear it.
- Prophets are not usually appreciated/recognized in their own circles.
- Many prophets persecuted (some are even killed) for delivering their message.
Let me develop each of these briefly.
God's Character Refinement Program
God is actively working in the lives of all of His children to refine their character and make them think and behave more like Jesus (which they call "being conformed to the image of Christ"). Hebrews 12:6 puts it this way, "For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives." But prophets, and also the other five-fold offices, seem to get a little bit more of God's attention in this area. They can't seem to "get away" with the same things that other believers can get away with. It is almost as if God holds them to a higher standard because He has given them a bit more authority.
God will "mess with" His kids. He will stir up issues, He will cause character flaws to rise to the surface so He can heal them. If you are in the office of prophet, He seems to be more thorough in doing this. Those whom God releases into this office have usually gone through several (over 10) years of character refinement, most of which is not very much fun. He has been actively transforming their nature and desires to line up more closely with Him. Also, God will usually take a prophetic person through a period of isolation (lack of friends or being misunderstood) where he is forced to learn God's voice because he has no one else to talk to about things that are important to him. (I am not saying that prophets are socially dysfunctional. I am just saying that for a season (maybe a year or two) God will isolate them and cause them to go to Him so they can learn to better hear His voice.) This development process can feel rather uncomfortable when you are going through it, but when you "look back from the other side" you can see how God was working in it.
Some Prophets Not Recognized/Accepted/Listened To
I don't need to say a lot about this. You can look in the Bible and see that the message of many prophets was ignored because the people did not want to hear what God had to say. Jeremiah spent many years in prison because he delivered God's word to a carnal Israel. Elijah had to run for his life on multiple occasions after delivering the word of the Lord to the authorities of his day. God sent Moses to someone (Pharaoh) who He had purposely hardened his heart so he would not listen. Moses was "set up" to fail in delivering his prophetic message to Pharaoh because God had already decided He wanted to manifest His power through the ten plagues.
Modern-day prophets can experience the same sort of thing. One of God's messages to the church today is, "Get your house in order. It's time to clean up your act and make God your number one priority. God wants to heal you of the issues in your life that hinder you in your walk with Him, but that may involve some painful inner healing. But now is the time to deal with this stuff because God is getting ready to do something BIG. And God wants the church to be committed to His priorities and to His agenda and to obeying Him so He can fill and anoint them and show His glory through them."
Many believers grasp this and receive it eagerly. God has been doing a powerful healing and clean-up work in a lot of lives/hearts as His children yield to Him. But there are some believers who do not want to hear that. They do not want to be told that they have to make God's priorities more important than their priorities. They prefer to cover up their issues instead of letting God expose and heal them. They want "church as usual" instead of having God show up and take control. (Personally, I don't understand their mindset, because things get "so good" when God "shows up." But a lot of people feel that way.) They want God to bless their plans instead of abandoning their plans for God's agenda. They are more worried about their jobs, homes, children, income, comfort, possessions, etc than they are interested in advancing God's Kingdom. Their focus is on their own needs and comfort instead of on what God is doing. They want to control how they spend their money instead of giving God Lordship in their finances.
A lot of time, these people do not receive what God has to say through the prophets. They may be polite, they may give lip service to the words, but they don't implement them. They don't make the changes God asks them to make. They go on with "life as usual." Some will become hostile or rude to God's messenger because they don't like the message God is sending.
Prophets May Not Be Appreciated/Recognized in Their Own Circles
Jesus had this problem. He was revered and honored many places where He went, but when He tried to minister in his hometown, it did not go well at all. Matthew 13:57 describes it this way: "And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, 'Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.' "
There is a saying that "familiarity breeds contempt." Prophets face this to some degree. Let me give you an example from people I know personally. Jim Paul is an internationally proclaimed prophet (he is also a member of the prophetic school leadership core). People all over the world value Jim's ministry so much that they fly him in at great expense to minister to them - Germany, England, and all over the world. Jim is also the pastor of a local church in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). His congregation loves him as any congregation loves its pastor. But they do not show him the same respect he is shown when he travels. They don't hang on his words at his home church like they hang on his words when He does a conference in Cleveland or London. You see, the people in his church see him all of the time (except, of course, for when he is away ministering internationally). Jim tries to limit his travels and put his main focus on his own church, so they see him a lot. They know where he lives. They know his wife, they know his kids. They see Jim more as a friend and pastor than they do as a prophet. So when Jim prophesies to them, some of them don't take it as seriously as when another internationally acclaimed prophet (who they don't know personally) comes to minister to them.
In general, prophets are not taken quite as seriously in their local area or church as when God sends them somewhere else with a prophetic message. There are some exceptions to this; it is a general rule, not an absolute thing.
Many Prophets Were Persecuted or Killed for Delivering Their Message
Acts 7:52 says, "Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him." James 5:10 says, "Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord." And Rev 16:6 says, "Or they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve."
There is biblical precedent that some prophets will be persecuted (maybe even to the laying down of their lives) to deliver the message that God gives to them. I believe we will see an increase of this persecution in the future.
Wrap-Up on Prophets
Prophets are a good thing. They are a wonderful gift to the Body of Christ. God uses them in marvelous ways and He gives them spiritual authority and power. But He also expects and requires a great deal from His prophet servants. One person put it this way, "The price tag for being a prophet is really high." That is because God will do a great deal of character refinement while developing and training His prophets. He will throw them in the refiner's fire more often and leave them in there longer. He will usually hold them accountable at a higher level and it is an absolute MUST for a prophet to obey God in every area. And there are a lot of drawbacks to being a prophet - rejection, not being taken seriously, and sometimes even persecution because of the message God gives you to bring.
If God has called you as a prophet, He will give you the grace to go through all of those things and He will empower you to be effective for His Kingdom. But if He has not called you in this manner, then you want to stay away from this area because the "costs" of being a prophet can be very "expensive."
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