A peep into the Prophetic!
The ability to see revelation and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit when you need it most is the secret to all spiritual battles. That ability is also called ANOINTING. Prophets are people who carry the presence of God always with them and they are able to decree a thing by the Word or by His Spirit and it is done.
Many people who walked in the prophetic ministry started small and then grew with time. Some started prophesying when they were in their teenage years with a lot of confusion.
Many people who walked in the prophetic ministry started small and then grew with time. Some started prophesying when they were in their teenage years with a lot of confusion.
Others started seeing visions in dreams right when they were children, without even the slightest knowledge of Christ and many of these visions came to pass.
Brief History of early Prophets:
From the Bible, we see that different people who became prophets took different routes to the same destination. For some of them, an angel foretold their birth and the assignment God has chosen them to do, while for many other prophets, the word of the Lord came to them in their different profession and businesses.
Ezekiel was a Priest in the land of Babylon when the Word of the Lord came to him. Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, the Priest when the word of the Lord came to him in the land of Benjamin. In the case of Amos, Amaziah was infuriated by his prophesies that he advised him to flee to the Land of Judah and prophesy and eat bread there and never to prophesy in the land of Israel.
Amos had to explain that he was not a prophet or the son of a Prophet, but a Herdsman, looking after the sheep and gathering sycomore fruit when the Lord took him from all that to prophesy to His people - Amos 7:10-17.
Daniel became a prophet in adversity - Being a servant of God endowed with wisdom, knowledge and understanding, he rejected the King's food, preferring to eat beans and water. This action pleased God and He added excellent spirit to him so that he can interpret dreams and him in Babylon explain sundry mysteries - the main gift that eventually established as a servant of God.
Daniel loved God and Jerusalem so much that he sought God in prayer three times daily interceding for Jerusalem and the people and it was not long before he began to speak the mind of God - as a Prophet.
Who is a Prophet?
A prophet, therefore, is a spokesman and a watchman of God, who daily wait on Him in prayers for the people of the land and the progress of the work of God.
A Prophet is a vessel in the hands of the Almighty God for almost any assignment that God wants to do on the earth. They are obedient and loyal to God's command. We see in the bible that God once asked a prophet to go into a harlot and raise children from her and he did so quickly. We also saw how God asked a Prophet to walk naked for many days and he did so.
The Prophet may be the person seen prophesying and talking, but his source is the Holy Spirit of God. As a friend of God, the Holy Spirit is his commander in chief and so whatever the prophet touches produce the result.
The prophet does not take the grace of God in his life for granted. He knows that God is not a respecter of persons, and so if a righteous man departs from his righteousness, he stands alone and all the good works he did is passed away.
Prophets are always attached physically and spiritually because people hate the truth and the devil and his agents hate him for the work of deliverance they do.
So, who can prophesy? How are they trained and raised?
In the church and outside the church, there is a great hunger for the prophetic arising from the troubles of life and the failure of human efforts. So many know that if they can get God's mind or opinion on something and follow the instructions through, a lot of pain and frustration will be avoided.
But it takes humility to receive from God and humility to communicate the information to people without being proud and arrogant. The prophetic gift is one of the primary gifts ordained for equipping and edifying the saints of God Ephesians 4:12. It is for the effective functioning of Pastoral, Evangelistic and Teaching ministries.
What are the Principles of the Prophetic?
In this piece, we are looking at some prophetic principles. I believe principles talk about what to do in a particular field to be effective and practice that profession effectively. Some of the points I am s going to discuss here are some of the basic actions and steps of prophets on a continuous basis that make them stand out.
1. Holiness:
A prophet is acquainted with the Word of God and holiness should be his lifestyle. If you want to be a prophet, there are things you must cleanse yourself of - lies, cheating, pride etc. Everyone understands that no matter the prophecy that has gone forth on you if you live a careless life, a life of sin, that prophesy may never come to pass in your life. Without purity, no one can move forward with God.
Righteousness is the lifestyle of most prophets of God as the Lord God cannot behold iniquity (repeated sin). With sin in the heart, filthiness, envy, bitterness, and unforgiveness, our prayers are not heard, not to talk of being answered. Once the Prophet's prayer is not answered, you begin to wonder whether he hears from God indeed.
When sin gets in the way, there will be a gap or spiritual separation between the prophet and God. This means that prophesy will cease or reduce to the barest minimum and visions in the day and night will also stop. So, now you know why I said that Prophets are 'sin-conscious' and guide his heart, word and action wittingly in order not to offend God or sin against Him.
2. Obedience:
Prophets obey the Word of God written in the bible and His voice when He instructs them to do something. In Jeremiah, the Lord told him, he would have to go to where ever He would send him and whatsoever He shall command him Jeremiah must deliver His instructions.
Obedience is the first key to knowing and walking with God. Christ Himself, though He is the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Ghost, yet He was obedient unto death at the cross. Obedience to God's command immediately He directs you without considering anything else is the secret key that makes obedience profitable.
3. Highly Disciplined:
Prophets are highly disciplined people. They appear gentle and harmless, but when it comes to doctrine and the Word of God, you can hardly get them to compromise their stand...you are sure to meet a brick wall. A compromising prophet is looking for trouble as agents of darkness his prayers had affected in the past, will plan revenge.
4. Man of Faith:
A prophet is a man of faith in God and in His word. The bible is his best companion and you will surely see the bible with him almost everywhere. He knows that with God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. A Prophet can never doubt God and His Word - If it is in the bible, then it is done. The Lord will fulfil ALL HIS PROMISES to us if we meet His conditions.
He knows that whatever the Lord says must come to pass and frankly speaking, without faith, without seeing what God is seeing and knowing His word, no one can operate in the supernatural. In the bible, there are fathers of faith who prophesied by the Word of God they knew. Joseph is Eqypt prophesied before his death, that the Lord will surely visit the children of Israel and that they should take his bone along with them, and never to bury him in Egypt. God did not speak to him, but he knew it from the Word of God written in the books.
5. A Man of the Word:
A prophet is also a man of the Word. He is a man of prayer and you cannot have effective prayer without the Word of God.
It is important for a prophet to know the Word as well as the dealings of God and His power. When you study the Word and meditate on it, you are practically visiting God and if you do so every day - then you are renewed every day with a better and deeper understanding of God. You know God by studying His word daily and meditating on it.
6. A "Watchman"
A prophet is a watchman for God. From the book of Jeremiah, it is evident that God invests so much training in the life of a prophet and he is duty-bound to do the bidding of God, no matter how challenging the assignment might look.
God told Jeremiah I have made you a prophet to the nations and you shall go to all that I shall send you and whatsoever I command thee, thou shall speak. You are His watchman to stand in the gap for God's people and His mouthpiece to speak His commands and instructions to the people without any fear. Jeremiah 1:4-10
7. A man of Prayer:
One of the qualities that make a Prophet is his prayers and endurance. Have you heard of prevailing prayers? Have you heard of intercessory prayers? Have you heard of commanding prayers? Have you heard of warfare prayers...All these and more are the daily 'food' of the prophet.
8. A man of the Spirit:
A prophet deliberately seeks knowledge and develops his spiritual life to understand deep spiritual things. Make no mistake, the devil has powers to do a lot of evil and harm, the devil is also very wicked to both his servants and especially to the children of God. The devil has a kingdom that is well organized with levels of authority, starting with the devil himself, the Principalities, Powers, Rulers of darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places.
A prophet understands the operations of the dark kingdom, their various weapons and modus operandi. He also knows the weapons of God to counter them effectively. This explains why many of the prophets are vast in deliverance ministry.
9. A man of the Holy Spirit:
A prophet can prepare himself, but when it is time for the people to be blessed, he submits himself to the Holy Spirit - For no man can do the work of God without the Holy Spirit. The very effective prophets do not even come out until they can sense the presence of the Holy Spirit.
This is why the Prophet may be like the ordinary person at some times, but once he handles the Mic to teach or preach, after a little while, he is no more the same person. This is true when he is doing what God assigned him to do. Because they are men of the Word of God, they can preach and teach until the presence of the Master is around and the spirit of prophecy, healing and deliverance comes and the place will literally catch fire.
10. You must address your Foundation:
Any man who wants to go far with God must address his foundation, the prophet is not an exception. We saw this demonstrated in the case of Gideon when the angel told him he was a man of valour, he wondered how he could be such a man, and yet they were in bondage under the Philistines.
Then the Lord said to him, I will demonstrate it to you that you are true, a mighty man of valour - for you will deliver my people from this same philistines, but first, you must deal with the idols of your father's house. You must address your foundation and thereafter stand on a solid foundation.
Without a solid foundation, the devil will disgrace any man or woman of God. Once he knows your foundation is faulty, or weak and you are commanding so much success, the devil will move quickly to withstand such a prophet on technical grounds and if you don't know the rules of engagement, your fall has started, God forbid.
FIRE...
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