Chapter One (cont)
What is your thinking about the prophetic? In Eph. 4:11-12, we read the following:
[Eph 4:11-12 KJV] 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Who is the “He” in this verse? It’s talking about Jesus. Jesus came out of the grave leading captivity captive, and before He ascended up on high, He stopped long enough to impart five “office gifts” to the church, including the office of the prophet. There is no record of that office ever being withdrawn by the hand of God’s providence. That means that since there are pastors and teachers and evangelists in the earth, therefore, there MUST BE prophets and apostles.
Let me ask you a question. Who is your pastor? Unless you are a part of a small minority of people who don’t believe in having a pastor when I asked that question the name and face of your pastor came up before you. You need to have a pastor. Pastors are not optional. Isn’t that true? If you met someone in the grocery line and they professed Christ but didn’t see the need for ever having a pastor, wouldn’t you be concerned about that? You would remember all the sweet and tender moments when you were in great need, and your pastor was there for you.
When you look at the list of ministries in Eph. 4:11-12 is the pastor singled out as being different than the other four ministries? Is the pastor like the steering wheel of a car (every car must have one) but the prophet, for instance, is optional like a moon-roof? That is how we tend to think about the prophetic, but it is contrary to what Eph. 4:11-12 implies. If you need a pastor (and you do), then you also need a prophet. 2 Chron. 20:20 tells us that prophets are in our lives to prosper us (that word “prosper” in that verse means “come to breakthrough”). So, the question is, “who is the prophet in your life?” If you do not know, then you do not have one. That needs to change. Pastors are here to mature and nurture us. Prophets are here to bring us through their influence to a place of blessing and breakthrough that the other ministries are not intended to operate in. Pastors don’t make good prophets and prophets don’t make good pastors. We need both, and they are two different offices that we need in our lives along with the others mentioned in Eph. 4. Let’s look at 2 Chron. 20:20:
[2Ch 20:20 KJV] Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
Notice in the verse above that believing the Lord and believing the prophets are two different things. A dear mother who believed the prophets asked her son if he wished a prophet to pray over him. He smirked and answered, “mom – I’ve got Jesus, I don’t need a prophet…” That is a foolish answer by a foolish young man. He was established because he believed the Lord, but he wasn’t prospering, in fact, he was in his 30’s still living with his mom spending all day frittering on his computer. That doesn’t sound like a breakthrough to me but if he had obeyed 2 Chron. 20:20 then things would have been different for him. Someone else answered the question who was their prophet by naming a prophet who died recently. How convenient to make such a claim. A dead prophet will no doubt tell you all you want to hear with no accountability at all. What if you thought that way about your pastor? What if you told someone that brother so-and-so was your pastor, but that pastor had been in a graveyard for 20 years? That would be ridiculous. We need the prophets.
The move of God that the Father showed Kitty was described as “Precisely the Prophetic.” We need to know that the prophetic is not an end in itself. John the Baptist was a prophet whose office was to bring forth Jesus the apostle and high priest of our faith (Hebrews 3:1). We see then that the prophet is intended to be a forerunner of the apostle. Most prophets don’t get that, and even John struggled, and as a result, he lost his head. He didn’t like how Jesus was operating and challenged him, and the next thing we know he was gone. Strangely many prophets in our day have died before their time of head wounds, brain cancers, and things related to accident and disease affecting the head. Could it be we need to reassess the prophetic move and realize it is destined not to be an end in itself but to bring forth something much greater?
The prophets operate in demonstration of the Spirit. Apostles primarily move in demonstration of power (or at least they should). This was true in John the Baptist’s case as well. Read the following verse:
[John 10:41 KJV] 41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John, did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.
John the Baptist moved in demonstration of the Spirit as a prophet, but he did not move in the demonstration of power. Why is that important to make note of? John the Baptist did no miracle BUT Jesus didn’t do any miracles until He was baptized of John in the Jordan. What does this tell us? It indicates to us that the demonstration of the Spirit in the Prophetic is intended by God to be the forerunner of the demonstration of power that is coming and that will be accompanied by validated, empowered apostles of God in the earth. Did you know that the early church fathers believed that just as there were 12 founding apostles of the Lamb that there would be 12 finishing apostles raised up in the second millennia from their day? We are living in that time! God has raised up the prophets to make room for outpouring of the power of God in the end time flowing through a seasoned, validated restoration of apostolic authority and power in the earth. That is why the current and emerging movement of the Spirit is “Precisely the Prophetic” to make room for the greater works that are coming in the demonstration of power
