I was thinking about the distinction that’s been drawn between the prophetic gift and the sheep hearing the voice of God themselves. It seems to me that Scripture does draw a distinction of sorts, but that we are prone to struggle over what that is.
I. False distinctions:
A. The
prophets hear and the sheep don’t. When God first pours out the
prophetic spirit
upon a church, there can be the impression that the prophets can hear
God and
the rest cannot. Even though there is now
a recognition that all the sheep can hear, we still occasionally use
exclusive language. I.e. “there was jealousy and resentment because
some could hear and some couldn’t.”
In truth, ALL could hear from day one--if we include categories like conviction of sin, Scriptural highlighting, faces and names coming in intercession, etc. Further, it is this false distinction that causes the jealousy and resentment. On the other hand, there IS something distinct about the experience of the manifesting prophets (heretofore dubbed “the prophets”). Out of this comes another false distinction:
B. The prophets manifest and the sheep don’t. Sometimes we distinguished the prophets and the sheep by manifestation. If you manifested while prophesying, you were a prophet. If you didn’t, you weren’t. At least this is an impression we gave by way of testimony. In retrospect, we’ve discovered that one doesn’t have to manifest to prophesy, but do we also know that one needn’t manifest to be considered a prophet? Hopefully that’s behind us, but what I’ve observed of this is that if I start manifesting, there are silent implications (overstated here for effect):
1. “You need to listen to me because now I’m REEEEALLY prophesying.”
2. “I have a green light to correct and direct. You’d better submit/obey, because this is God talking now.”
3. “It is less likely that my word needs to be weighed and tested and especially discarded if I’m manifesting. Beware of contradicting me.
Hopefully the errors here are obvious when verbalized.
C. There is a prophetic “zone” that prophets can access but the sheep can’t.
Sometimes when I prophesy, I feel like I’m “in the zone.” It’s like this place in the spirit that I become fully focused; the hearing is crisper; and the sense of God’s power resting on me is more intense. Again, this may establish false distinctions and implications that may never be verbalized:
1. Prophets go to the zone. Sheep do not.
2. Manifestation is evidence that I’m in the zone.
3. When I’m in the zone, I’m more accurate. Again, from the zone, you need to listen to me, even if its correction or direction, and beware of challenging me (including testing or isagreement).
Let me respond to these, because I think these still exist in some force:
1. The sheep can go to the zone, too. We can all be taught to pray “in the Spirit” and hear with increasing clarity and prophesy with increasing power. Why? Because the zone is not a place where the prophets go. It is a place where Jesus comes, i.e. “the sheep-fold.” When Jesus comes in to meet with the sheep, His presence among them and in them IS the Zone. The Zone is wherever He is. The prophets don’t leave to go there… They are signalling that He has arrived.
2. I believe that prophesying under manifestation is a sign of the “zone”. It is not that the prophets are those upon whom the Zone has exclusively come. They are the watchmen who open the door to the shepherd and have invited Him in to speak to all the sheep. Our manifestations do not make us the Voice of God. Manifestations are simply the door-bells that God rings to announce His arrival. He doesn’t always use the door-bell, nor once the door is open does he always need the prophets to re-open the door. But at His pleasure He may use the prophets to ring us and allow them to open the door for Him to us.
Furthermore, I also know now that the zone will take on a variety of forms–the prophetic zone does not always require manifestation or even the presence of prophets. For example, the “meeting place” is also a “prophetic zone” which God denies NO ONE. When any sheep goes there, they are in “the zone” whether they feel it or not.
3. When I’m in the zone, I am not necessarily more accurate. I AM however generally more confident. Yet my experience has proven that prophesying from the zone has its own hazards. In my confidence, I am less likely to encourage others to test me, while at the same time I am MORE likely to get carried away and prophesy from my own flesh (b/c I get so wired there). Further, some of my most accurate words, including predictive prophecy and important warnings have come through very vague and quiet impressions, when I was NOT in the “zone” as I perceive it. Conversely, some of my most damaging and public blunders came when I was definitely “in the zone.” The command stands, “test all things. Hold fast to that which is good.”
II. True Distinctions: Then what is the true distinction between the prophetic gift and the hearing of the sheep? Some suggestions follow:
A. The prophets are the watchmen who open the door for the Shepherd to speak to the sheep. They are gifted for this in this way:
1. They are generally those in a community who first introduce the Voice of God to the sheep. I.e. when the Lord begins speaking messages to the church (not just to individuals), those who hear these messages and share them are acting as prophets.
2. They are generally those who release the Voice of God to the sheep in a church. I.e. This does not mean that they are pressured or privy to speak for God to the sheep. Rather, they announce the arrival of a Shepherd who speaks–they introduce the sheep to God’s voice so they know to listen and hear for themselves.
3. They are generally those who train the sheep to hear and then confirm what is being heard. They have a responsibility to gather and test what the sheep “are getting” and deliver it to leadership for pastoral response. This means they model how to share the prophetic word so that the sheep don’t abuse each other with it.
4. They continue to serve the body by sharing the corporate messages they are receiving. If they’ve done their equipping work adequately, the bulk of the Body will concur that they’ve been hearing the same or that this new word rings true to them as they weigh it.
B. The prophets have an ongoing ministry to serve the pastoral leadership of the church.
1. Prophetically encouraging, comforting, strengthening the leaders.
2. Prophetically interceding for the advance of the kingdom through the church and its leaders.
3. Prophetically warning the leadership about demonic strategies that are being launched against the body or the leadership.
4. Giving prophetic input to the leadership that becomes the pastoral prerogative to act upon OR NOT, esp. in direction or discipline. Once such words are delivered to the leadership, it becomes their sole property so that the prophet’s responsibility is done at that point.
Conclusion: Do we need prophets? Absolutely! Do the sheep and the leadership need their service in the body? Totally. I never want to pastor again without them! Do we need to see some distinctions between them and the rest of the sheep. I think so. May God help us correctly discern where those distinctions are and where they are not… To His glory.
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