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.