Equipping Series – Part IV: Prophets

“Ephesians 4” Call To Equip The Saints For The Work Of Service As A Prophet:

I believe the five fold passions and points of view are in every believer in Jesus Christ since the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ indwells them.  So how do we allow the artesian well of the Holy Spirit to surface the prophetic spirit that is in all believers?  That is the calling of the five fold ministry of the Church.

If it weren’t for the prophet, heresies, or cults would thrive in the body of Christ, dead religion would reign instead of a living church, and the spiritual revelation of “Jesus Christ” would be lost to academia and a political system as occurred in the Dark Ages when the prophetic word was silenced.  So, how can we, the 21^st century Church learn from the past, and allow the creative prophetic spirit to arise in believers, aiding, caring, developing, and then releasing him to produce fruit for the Kingdom of God?

I certainly don’t have all the answers, but encourage you to ask the creative Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ to give you “revelation” of who He is and how to show that to others.  I only offer a few suggestions:

Be Grounded in the Logos Word: Like the five fold teacher, the prophet too must be grounded in the Logos World.  If their “prophetic revelations” do not line up with the Logos Word, then they are in error.  The purpose of the prophet is to bring “revelation” to the Logos Word, and that must always be “revealing Jesus Christ”, who and what He is, and his fulfillment of the Logos Word.  Jesus is the alpha & omega, the first and last Word, so all “revelation” should be about him!

Don’t Be A Samuel, The Only One Hearing The Voice Of God:  The most effective five fold prophet will be one who teaches each and every believer in Jesus Christ that he/she can hear God for themselves.  In a time of darkness and dryness in Israel, only Samuel heard the voice of God.  But today, the veil in the Temple has been rent; God’s spirit and voice is no longer confined to the priesthood of Israel, but to all believers in Jesus Christ.  If God’s Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is in you, then the voice of God is in you.  Prophets need to teach all believers how to hear that inner voice and be obedient to it.  Being in God’s “rest” is learning how to prophetically stop, look, and listen to that inner voice, then practice obedience.  As Jesus would say, “it is written, ‘to obey is better than sacrifice.’”  This is a prophet’s contribution to the five fold.

Your Mission Is To Bring Revelation of Jesus Christ.  Do It Practically, Not With You Head Stuck In The Heavenlies:  I have heard some prophets give utterances in prophetic “jargon” that only those who claimed to be prophets could understand.  Again “practicality” is far more effective than “religious jargon.”  The prophet should try to make the “revelation of Jesus Christ” that they attained to be as understandable by all in the body of Christ than just among their band of prophets.  As the saying goes, “one can be too heavenly minded for our earthly good.”  The prophetic is powerful: the practical revelation of one’s life, like the Woman at the Well, the laying on of hands and the Holy Spirit falling on Jew and Gentile, and the understanding of a practical experience in the terms of a “revelation of Jesus Christ” to them that is scripturally sound!  When this gift is misused, it ushers in disastrous results, but when used practically, insightfully, in a humble spirit of service, it is one of the most powerful ones in the body of Christ.

Releasing The Prophet:  The worst thing to do after training or equipping someone is then to stifle their vision, their enthusiasm, their drive, their passion, and just let them sit back. RELEASE THEM TO SERVE!  You have equipped the prophet for the “works of service”, so let them serve!  They can serve the lost through prophetic evangelism or the Church by revealing Jesus Christ in a living way.  Let them do what drives them: Serve the Body of Christ through Revelations of Jesus Christ!  Don’t place restraints on them that the other four in the five fold could do for them.  They need not have to birth, nurture, teach, or see over developing Christians.  The passions of the others can aide them in the development of Christians spiritually by releasing them to teach the body how to hear the voice of the Lord personally and corporately and be obedient to what they have seen or heard.  Release them.  Will we ever think one is “ready” to be a prophet? Probably not; will they make mistakes? Yes, of course, we all do, but the evangelist will energize them through their excitement for birthing, the pastor/shepherd will nurture and care for them, the teacher will ground them in the Logos Word, and the apostle will give proper oversight, “seeing over” what and how the Holy Spirit is doing in the prophet’s life.  The prophet will submit to the ministry of the other four as they minister to him bringing proper accountability in his/her life.

Church, let equip, nurture, care, then release, while continuing serve the prophet bringing accountability, and we see a “new day” in a “new way” that the Church does church!

An Air Of Expectancy

The Fruits When the Prophetic Is Present

It has been a while since I have attended a worship service with an actual air of expectance, an excitement that something different is about to happen because the Holy Spirit is present.  I am getting so use to a regimented service, that one can quickly lose the anticipation of the Holy Spirit’s moving and really expect nothing but the usual usual, or same old same old.  There is safety in knowing what is going to happen because we are in control, but there is anticipation and expectancy when the Holy Spirit is in control.

When the Holy Spirit is freed to move the way he wants, a lot of ministry takes place and a spirit of unity and awe prevails.  Things just mesh, fall in place, dove tail.  There is usually a definite message or theme that flows throughout the gathering.  Many are involved, often most if not all are involved in his moving.

If you have been following my blogs, I often refer to the prophetic as the passion to release the Rhema Word, the active, living Word that is based on the Logos or written Word.  “In the beginning was the Word….” (John 1) “And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.”  Jesus’ disciples did not know how blessed they were when they witnessed the Word that was the basis of their Torah in living, human form right before their eyes until he was gone, resurrected, returning to His Father in heaven.  God’s Spirit in the flesh, active, alive, living!  Today, God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is still active, alive, and living in the flesh in the believers of Jesus Christ.  We, believers in Jesus Christ, must learn to activate that Spirit, release that Spirit, and trust that Spirit if we want a life of expectancy and anticipation in our faith journey. On Pentecost, the early Church  believers gathered, anticipating, expecting a “promise” Jesus had made them, not knowing how that expectancy would manifest itself.  When it came, it did not come as another sacrificial service in the Temple, or a grain offering, or a peace offering of a dove, or what they had become familiar with when going to the Temple, but it came in the form of tongues of fire, a life rejuvenated, a life of faith on fire.  After that day, their gatherings were not for the purpose of traditional exercises of faith like prior to Pentecost, but an anticipation that the Holy Spirit would move among them and an expectancy that he would manifest himself in any way he wished.  Just as they arrived corporately, the Holy Spirit would also arrive, usually arising out of their spirits.

If you have the Logos Word without the Rhema Word, there is a good chance your faith will dry up in traditionalism, but if you have the Rhema Word without the Logos Word you will burn up by falling into heresy. We need the refreshment of the written Logos Word with the fire of the Rhema Word to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ!

We have to realize we need the written Word and the spiritual living Word.  Jesus told the woman at the well that there would be a day we would worship the Lord in “spirit and in truth” and today is that day.  We do not have to be like the traditionalist Jew who not only worshiped at his temple but ended up worshiping his temple and his Torah, nor do we have to be like the spiritualist Samaritans and worship on their mountains.  We are to be grounded in the written Word, the Logos Word, and release the living Word, the Rhema Word so we can anticipate and expect the Word to be our foundation as well as our life.

A true prophet sees spiritual insights when reading the Logos Word.  Passages come alive!  Soon the life of those passages become the foundation of our faith journey, and the anticipation and expectancy of the moving of the Holy Spirit becomes a normal thing we Christians should be doing.  I urge you to release the Holy Spirit in your life and begin to expect him to move in your life making the foundation of your faith, the written Word, the Bible, alive in your spirit.

If we first practice this as individual believers, then we can begin to practice it as corporate believers, and a new dynamic will become a reality in our corporate Church gatherings giving new meaning to a “worship” service.  Can we just gather not knowing what will happen, but trust the Holy Spirit to arrive as those in the upper room did at Pentecost?

There’s A Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part LIII

When there is revival, a whole lot of shaking is going on!  Things get stirred up; change is imminent.  Often with revival comes messy situations with all the stirring.  When I cook in our kitchen, I usually make a mess to clean up because there is a whole lot of stirring, a whole lot of shaking, a whole lot of baking.  Getting all those different ingredients into the bowl is one challenge, keeping them from spilling out on the counter is another.  Only after the stirring comes the baking which solidifies all those different ingredients into one solid object, usually to be consumed.

As a public school teacher, I know that there is a whole lot of shaking and stirring going on, politically, and through educational reform.  Facing budget cuts in Pennsylvania, the education system from its State sponsored Universities down to its public schools are facing tough decisions.  Teaching, which has been looked upon as a stable profession, is about to get its legs cut out from underneath them.  As I said in earlier blogs: Teachers were revered in the ‘70’s because of the space program, respected in the ‘80’s due to Reaganomics, but in the ‘90’s it began to be the scapegoat of our society, being blamed for everything and labeled as failing.  That attitude was reinforced at the turn of the century as education was not only to blame, but also looked upon to fix itself.  Now in the second decade of this century it is asked to not only take the blame, fix it, but sacrifice for its good while American society itself is unwilling to do the same. 

While teaching The Diary of Anne Frank this year, I realized today’s students don’t understand the sacrifice it took at home to support our troops in World War II. They have no idea what a “ration book” is, nor the need for one.  We want our Ipods, Ipads, the access of the internet, social networking, and our 72 in. 3D digital TV’s with hundreds of channels for entertainment.  Our houses are measured by the number of bathrooms and how many car garage it possesses. Sacrifice?  We are supposedly in a “sluggish” economy, yet we still live as if in the boom days of the last century.  Americans always want “more”, never satisfied with what they have.  We want the new and improved Iphone, video game, software program, or electronic gizmo as soon as it come out.  Everything is instant; everything is throw away. How can we understand sacrifice?

We were told by Bush to invest in 401 plans in the Stock Market instead of pension funds before its crash during the last months of his presidency.  We are told private health care is better for all, when millions of our own Americans have none and can’t afford any because of low wages.  The rich are getting richer, and the Warren Buffets, Bill Gates, and Donald Trumps are idolized as the saviors of our society, living like fat cats as the middle class disappears. These men won’t preach sacrifice, and I am sure they will not practice it either. There is a shaking going on.

I almost feel like a Jeremiah, or other prophets that saw a whole lot of shaking going on in their time, and it did not look favorable, but they spoke out.  They usually met ridicule and were not popular with the political movements of their day, but they spoke out.  I feel that public education is just a microcosm of American society.  The American church also reflects the mores and attitudes of American society. If the pillars of American society are being shaken, then I am sure the pillars of the American church are also feeling it.

So I ask, “How should the American church react to all this shaking, all this stirring, all this cry for change?  How much is the Church willing to embrace.  Do they want revival to meet the challenges of a changing society?  It will take a “total surrender” and a “total breaking” of the believers of Jesus Christ if they are willing to surrender to the Holy Spirits lead and directions during this time of change and challenges.

If industry had to retool to survive the changes in this century, and now education faces a retooling, why does the Church feel it will be exempt?  The cry is a cry of a prophet, “prepare ye the way!”  Instead of being reactionary, the church must be a “leader” in this change, so let’s face the music and the time, and begin to accept the fact that America’s church needs retooling too!

Retooling: Trust or Mistrusting the Five Fold?

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part XXIII

It has been almost ½ a century since the grass root Charismatic movement or Jesus movement was birthed, touching tens of thousands of Christian believers.  Its influence still felt today.  It has made the Church look at how it worships, influencing it music, introducing spiritual gifts back to the church, challenging many of its traditions.  Allowing the Holy Spirit to flow freely in the midst of tradition and order has brought tension, for any renewal movement in church history has met opposition, usually from within. 

Today, many of these influences have been “tempered”, “absorbed” through the “osmosis” of control, and presented as a belief of the church but with little evidence of its use.  It has now been several decades since I have been in a joint, nondenominational meeting where there was evidence of speaking in tongues with interpretation, prophetic utterances, the entire congregation singing in the spirit, the laying on of hands for healing and the Spirit’s empowerment, and the manifestation of deliverance from demonic influences.  Because of the church’s demand to control these types of events, it seems as if all is quiet on the Western front today. Control has “tempered” this movement that challenged the religious establishments of its time.

In the 1990’s the “prophetic” movement and later the “apostolic” movement left its impact, but the church categorized them, as they did all five fold ministries, as “offices” as Senior Pastors and self proclaimed prophets now boasted of their banner of being an apostle.  Only clergy boasted of those titles, but the church would not recognize the prophetic or apostolic as a passion, desire, motivation, point of view or gifting that was touching the grass root believer of the Church.

Because of some of the misuses and misunderstanding during these movement, the 21^st Century Church has produced a spirit of skepticism over the five fold, seeking control to insolate itself from any more damage.  Yet in the midst of any renewal or revival movement comes newness, self insightfulness, re-examination, and change.  With any movement of renewal, revival, or reformation comes the question of “trust”.  Can we “trust” what this new movement is advocating?

I believe the foundations to the five fold has been laid through the 20^th century as the Church was forced to grope with the truths presented and released in the various movements of renewal and reform throughout that century.  Unfortunately, the church, as an organization, has tried to bring the influence of these movements into the protective covering of its influence, often damping them into submission. 

I believe the church needs to take a “new” look, a “renewed” look, a “reformational” look at the five fold.  If it allows it to be a “grass root” movement among all of its believers, and embraces it as passions and point of views of its individual believers for the unity of the common good, we may see a new resurgence of the five fold in the 21^st Century. Any time the power, influence, and control of the professional religious clergy is challenged by the newness and freedom of the common believer, tensions will increase; history records that clash.

Of course, this blog advocates the freedom of individual believers to be released to flow in their evangelical, pastoral, teaching, prophetic, or apostolic passion or point of view to be used in an interdisciplinary setting, relying on each other’s gifting, passion, and point of view that are is different from their own in an effort to bring unity and resurrected power back into the Body of Christ to make the Church effective in the 21^st Century. Continue to join me in my journey as the Holy Spirit continues to reveal the truth, power, and passion of the five fold when released into his care.  Can we trust the Holy Spirit is still the bottom line question the church and every believer in Jesus Christ must ask.

Retooling: We Have To Start Listening

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part XXII

If the 21^st Century Church is to be retooled, one crucial change is if it is willing to “listen” to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.  There is always the temptation to have organization and control instead of fluidity of the Spirit.  Allowing the Holy Spirit to flow freely is always a risk because we give up control.  As I addressed in an earlier blog, the bottom line is, “Can we trust the Holy Spirit?”

Personally, as I have learned to allow myself to “listen” to the Holy Spirit, my frustration with the organized church has risen.  When in a worship setting, while the congregation, or Body of Christ, is in the midst of singing, praising, and adoration, I love to just sit quietly and listen, something that is contrary to my very nature since I am an extravert.  I have learned that listening is of not much value if you do not act on what you hear in obedience.  This is where the frustration and tension builds.

When the Body of Christ, the believers of Jesus Christ, come together to worship, God’s Presence can always be found in the midst of His congregation.  The Spirit of Jesus Christ can always be found in the midst of his people, particularly when they gather in worship.  It is in these moments that the Spirit often speaks.  The Church needs to evaluate how is to respond when the Spirit speaks and moves among his people.

I have found myself actually getting a homily, a mini-sermon, while in this listening mode, but I have become frustrated because there is no outlet in the church service to release this revelation.  I feel the restriction because of the mindset that the “sermon” has already been planned and can only be delivered by the clergy who is in charge of the service.  The sermon has become the centerpiece of most Christian church services today. I have been at awe when the pastor’s prepared sermon was the exact message that I received while in the listening mode in worship.  Isn’t it neat how the Holy Spirit works.  When I have gotten a prophetic word about an individual during corporate worship, I have been obedient and gone to them with the message, which has always been “right on”, ministering to them right where they are at that time. My obedience has always produced positive fruit.

Church bulletins, liturgy booklets, etc. give order and direction to a church service, ensuring order and tradition. There is “safety” in following a planned agenda, for we are always in control knowing where to go and what is expected.  But when we “anticipate” the Holy Spirit’s arrival and give him freedom to move, then our planned agenda is in jeopardy, for we are delegating our control over to the Holy Spirit to move as he pleases.  Again can the 21^st Century Church “trust” the Holy Spirit to arrive, to move, to speak, and to “maintain” what we believe is order?

If the 21^st Century Church is to allow the Holy Spirit to be released in its midst, then the five fold is crucial to bring that “safety” that the church is seeking while allowing the Spirit to move freely.  The evangelist will encourage the “newness” of the “birthing” process that the Holy Spirit brings. The pastor/shepherd welcomes the Spirit’s movement as it touches the spirit and soul of those he is disciplining towards their maturity in Jesus.  The teacher will be amazed at how the Holy Spirit can make the Logos, written, Word into a Rhema, living, Word. The prophet will be in his element of comfort, while the apostle will marvel while “over seeing” how the Holy Spirit brings unity among these different motivational passions and points of view.  The “free” worship service, lead by the Holy Spirit , under the umbrella of the five fold, will bring fruit, be spontaneous, an operate in unity.  There is “safety” in “trusting” the Holy Spirit. That trust is one of the biggest “retooling” issues that the 21^st Century Church has to address.

The Power of Preparation

The Step Toward Apostleship

“Prepare ye the way,” is a favorite Biblical slogan.  Preparation is so important to the gospels.  It was God’s plan to send “Elijah” (alias John the Baptist) to “prepare the way of the Lord” (for Jesus, the Messiah’s, coming).  Jesus just didn’t come; a way had to be prepared first.

Later Jesus sends out 70 disciples in twos telling them to “prepare the way for his coming” to those towns. They were like we call today an “advance team” before the Crusade comes to town.  Their job was to “prepare the way”. They did so well, that Jesus even sees satan falling from the sky after hearing their good reports.

So, is there anything or anyone “preparing the way” today?  It is not as popular a topic today as it was when I was a child , but I remember hearing multiple sermons on “the second coming of Jesus” when he returns for the Church, the groom coming for His bride.  If that is true, in the Biblical sense of it all, then I might assume that something or someone will be used to “prepare the way” for the groom’s return for His Bride.  Who might that be?

I would like to throw out, in the realm of the five fold ministry that these blogs propagate, that the prophets and the apostles will “prepare the way” for that event.  The prophets will prophecy about His return as we get closer to the event while the apostles will try to set things in order, which they are good at doing.

I remember seeing the painting about the large banquet table leading into eternity where all the places were “set” or “prepared”, only the participants and the event were missing.  This place “setting” is what today’s apostles are beginning to do.

As the Church recognizes people in their midst whose point of view is to “see the big picture” of the Church and whose passion is to “set things in order” in preparation for Jesus’ return, they will understand in a different light what the role of a modern apostle really is.  He doesn’t control, doesn’t dictate, doesn’t rule or reign, but “sees over” what the Holy Spirit is doing in bringing the Body of Christ, the Church, back together in unity.

I once heard a prophetic word at a Mennonite Renewal meeting that said, “There will be a time when Mennonites will only be recorded in a history book.”  Wow! A word telling Mennonites that they won’t exist as a denomination sometime in the future, but the prophetic word was received.  I believe there will be a time when labels, denominations, Christian groups, will no longer be fragmented in the Body, but they will disappear, for a follow of Jesus Christ will be known as a “Christian”, not a label of their Christian sect, group, or denomination. This is part of the “preparation” that apostles will be doing.

I believe the apostle will also renew the “apostles doctrine” or teaching, the simplicity of teaching the truth of the gospel in unity, like in the first century Church, not theological divisions. We won’t major on our differences, but in our likeness, that of being in the likeness of Jesus Christ.  These teaching will also be “preparing the way” for the groom to come for his bride.

The Bible says that Jesus will return to a Church “without spot or wrinkle”.  I believe that the prophets will be the spot removers, identifying and calling out those things that blemish the Church as a whole and we as individual believers.  The apostles will be “ironing out” the wrinkles by setting things in place.  This setting in place will be done by evangelists, pastor/shepherds, teachers, and prophets under the over sight of the apostles.

When things have been “prepared”, then look out for the event. We are “preparing”, not just planning but setting things in order for my son's wedding in October.  Now is the time of “preparation”, but look out for when all is prepared, then comes the big event. The same is for the Church!

I have been preparing for a new school year all summer, but in one week the event happens. I would not think of entering a classroom as a public school teacher if I were not prepared.  The Church needs to have the same "prepared" mentality as it anticipates the Lord's return.

Vision Series: Part IV – The Prophet “Sees Need For Intimacy With A Personal, Living God”

The Vision of the Prophet

 “Without Vision The People Perish”

One of the major premises of my study of the five fold ministry in the Church is that the five fold is not necessarily offices, but passions, or points of view.  What passion drives a person in his love in and for the Church?  Through what glasses does the believer see things? What is his vision?

Personal relationships were important to the evangelist, pastor/shepherd, and teacher for it was person-to-person ministry.  An individual’s touch and influence on another human being proves to be life changing.  The prophet also strives for that personal touch, not necessarily the human touch, but the intimacy with a personal loving God who has become their real best friend and the earthly living out of that relationship.

It is God’s desire to commune with His people, to dwell in their personal lives and hearts since their bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and to be in the midst of the congregation. He developed a relationship with Moses where they became best friends.  The relationship with Jesus, God who became flesh, with his Father in heaven is monumental in the way Jesus saw things, heard things, and did ministry.  He looked to his Father, listened to His Voice, and was obedient to what he saw and heard.  God wants that kind of intimacy with mankind, for He proved it can be done through His Son, Jesus.

Sin broke that intimacy between God and man, but God made a way for reconciliation, a way to right a wrong.  He sent his Son Jesus to die for our sins, and make a wrong right. That is called “righteousness”!

The believer who is driven to develop that intimacy in the body of Christ is the prophet.  The prophet not only wants to “see” God, but “hear” God, and “experience” God in his fullness.  The “fullness” of Jesus Christ in a believer’s life is the ultimate relationship man can have with His God, and the prophet is driven toward that experience.  Moments in personal Bible study, personal prayer, and personal worship drives the prophet to a closer relationship with his/her God.  A prophet would love to just live in the heavenlies.  Unfortunately that can also bring his or her demise, for then one can become no earthly good to God’s extension to the earth, the Church.

Instead of business meetings, board meetings, elder’s meetings, and annual conferences that birth and develop church policy, the five fold prophet longs for a time when the members of the body seek that personal intimate experience to see and hear from God to determine His Will for their own private life and the corporate Body life of the Church.  The only requirement is “obedience” to what has been revealed.  The prophet “sees” the need for the heavenly to bond with the earthly in unity that requires revelation and obedience.

Only in the last half a century has the Church again struggled with the role of the prophet in the body of Christ, but one thing is for certain: The Church needs the “vision”, the point of view, the passion of a prophet for intimacy with its creator, its head, Jesus Christ.

The evangelist “sees the needs” of the lost; the pastor/shepherd “sees the needs” of the newborn; and the teacher “sees the need” to make the written Word, the Bible, a Living Rhema Word in every believer’s daily life; and a prophet “sees the need” to bring spirituality to reality to see, hear, and through obedience “do” the Will of the Father in their own private life and the life of the Church.

The Five Fold Point Of View

It Is Just The Way You See It!  

I truly believe that the five fold is basically passion and point of view.  When you are passionate, that passion drives you.  I was passionate to get a room in my house built from scratch to finished project. Because of that the dry walling and sanding, the tedious cutting in for painting, etc. were not so bad.  I was driven to get it done the best of my ability.

The beauty of the five fold is “vision” and “Point of View”. The way one perceives his world and his place in it is his passion and point of view. It is no different for the five fold. Let’s briefly look at these “points of view”:

The evangelist is driven by the desire to see birth and rebirth, taking the lost (those not knowing Jesus) to becoming found (finding Jesus as their Savior). General Booth of the Salvation Army is an excellent example. Winning the lost became all consuming to him, thus he founded an army to proclaim salvation to the lost. Unfortunately, when the lost is found, a new birth or rebirth proclaimed, nurturing their growth is not the evangelist’s top priority, for he/she is ready to move on and win yet more for Jesus.

The pastor/shepherd is driven to care for the sheep. Shepherds nurture, feed, and care for their sheep, which becomes a tedious task, for they teach a believer how to make their new found faith into a lifestyle. A pastor’s vision is to hear the words of Matthew 25:35-36: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you invited me in, needing clothes and you clothed me, sick and you looked after me, in prison and you came to visit me.”

A teacher’s passion is to validate the Word of God, the written Word, the Logos Word, into the lives of every believer.  They want to validate the believer’s walk with the Word.  The teacher wants to validate this new found faith and lifestyle through the Logos Word, making it a Rhema, or living Word. John 1 says the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The teacher wants that word, now in Spirit, that dwells in each believer to teach that believer the truth and fulfillment of the Logos Word through faith.  Study the scriptures is powerful, but dangerous, for if it is done without the Holy Spirit, believers can become Pharisees, those who knew the Word in Jesus’ time, but opposed the truth and spirit of his teachings.

     If a prophet had his/her way, they would spend all day in worship, in reading their Bible, in intercession and prayer, in intimacy with God the Father, His Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  Adam and Eve lost their intimacy with God when they sinned, but Jesus’ death and resurrection restored the intimacy lost through sin. Sin has been conquered, death defeated.  A prophet is trying to make up for lost time. Their drive, their passion, their point of view is to be intimate with Jesus. Nothing else matters to them.

An apostle has experienced the pain of seeing the lost and the passion to win them to Christ, has experienced the over whelming passion to feed the sheep physically and spiritually to have them walk the walk in their lifestyle, has experienced the power of teaching with authority the Word of God, has experienced that intimacy with his/her God through Jesus, but unfortunately can not to all of them himself unless he wants to get burned out, which happens to many a man of God who takes on more than he can handle. An apostle’s point of view, his vision, his sight is seeing the Big Picture, the Church as a whole.  Since he cannot do it all himself, he is commissioned to encourage others who have the other four passions and “prepares God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4)  His job is to “see over” the Big Picture, not “oversee” it, for that is the Holy Spirit’s job, and to prepare God’s people for the works of service.

     The five fold is five distinctly different points of view that can divide the Church if not led by the Holy Spirit, or be the very tool to unify it.

A Prophetic Word To Leadership

Listening To That Still Small Voice

On Sunday, the church that I attend, changed their format of services and had an early service composed of worship music and prayer.  The prayer focus was on the local leadership of the church.

I have discovered that when I am in the midst of worship and prayer, I want to listen to that small still voice rather than petition.  Sometimes I do not know what to petition for, so I listen.  I felt that I heard in my head a distinct prophetic word, went forward and asked if I could share it, which the leadership approved.

The word to this leadership group was the following, “The leadership of this church is in a season where they are to raise their hands.  They are not to drop them, for if they put their hands on anything there will be the urge to control it, so they need to keep their hands raised. The Lord does not want their handprint on the work, but wants the Holy Spirit’s imprint. I asked the Lord where in the Bible has this happened to leadership, and He said through Moses. His calling was ‘to let my people go’, but when he hit the Red Sea, he was told to raise his hands.  He was not to organize his people, tell them how or what to do, only raise his hands.  Eventually his arms got tired, but the people held them up in support.  When the last Israelite got through the column of water, they let his hands down, and the Egyptians swam while everyone rejoiced. The Lord also told me that there will be a day when you can bring your hands down to lay on people, but I warn you of the power that will be produced for healing and impartations.”

Two of the leaders approached me later to tell me the validity of the word, sending chills up their spines because of it being “right on”!  I thanked them for validating that word because it takes faith to give a word, and you want it to be accurate.

The prophetic voice can be a valuable and powerful tool to the Church for direction and encouragement.  It always parallels the written Word, the Logos Word, the Bible if it is valid.  The leadership had already met earlier to pray, seek the Lord’s will, and act on the direction they felt the Lord was leading them.  The prophetic word only confirmed to them the direction they had already taken through a vessel who knew nothing about the situation, but the Holy Spirit knew.

I would like to encourage the church, and you as a believer in Jesus Christ, to embrace the prophetic spirit and the prophetic voice.

Power of Personal Prophecy

Listening To The Still Small Voice

Years ago a lady in our church taught Communion With God by Mark Virkler which began to change the way we thought about the question, “Does God Speak Today”.  Through Bishop Bill Hamon and Christian International in Lakeland, Florida, we studied further the role of the prophet and personal prophecy, eventually training many in our congregation on how to listen to that still small voice of the Holy Spirit that resides in every believer and minister from that source of life.

I marvel at the power of Jesus with the woman at the well. How prophetically he revealed her background and his Messiahship.  Hearing the voice of God has no age limits.  Samuel heard God’s voice as a child, so did my son, who at the age of 10 participated in a prophetic presbytery with other believers.  He told one lady that the Lord told him that she was on a train that was about to run off the tracks if she did not change her ways. She was reduced to tears and repented of the lifestyle she was living, and her life was changed forever.

I began practicing the prophetic spirit when leading Lay Witness Missions, asking if I could give the benediction, or blessing, over the local church that had invited our visiting team to share that weekend. I would listen to that still small voice of God to give me insight on what blessings He wanted to pour on them, what final message he wanted them to hear about the weekend; then I would give the benediction. They were powerful.    

When we learn to listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit that God the Father has placed in us through Jesus Christ, we need not always “seek God’s will for our lives.”  We just need to learn how to be obedient to what revelation he has given us, and what he has instructed us to do.

The Spirit of the Prophet

     To "Know" Jesus Christ

A person who is being driven with the passion which possesses a prophet, is a person who strives, desires, yearns for intimacy with his Father, God, his Son, Jesus Christ, through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit.  Adam and Eve lost that intimacy when they sinned, but Jesus made a way out of a circumstance that seemed to have no way out, by being our Sacrificial Lamb. Because of His death, we can have a resurrected life in and through Him. Some day we will be like Him, like the Spirit of Jesus Christ, when we are with Him in heaven. A taste of that intimacy today, here on earth, is what drives the passion of a prophet. 

I know personally, when I was willing to make Jesus not only my Savior but also my Lord, the first thing that changed in my life was my desire to read the Logos Word, the Bible. I asked the Holy Spirit to bring life to passages that I had trouble understanding. I underlined any passage about salvation in red, any passage about the Holy Spirit in yellow, and soon discovered several threads than ran from Genesis through Revelation. The Logos Word, the Bible, became “alive” as the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, began to teach me these truths that I had never seen before.

I now yearned, was driven, discovered my desire to “live out” this written Logos Word by allowing the Holy Spirit to make it the Rhema or “Living Word”.  Every believer in Jesus Christ who has allowed Jesus to be their Lord and asked the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, to take total control, will attest to the fact that “living out” the Word becomes easier, if not eventually supernaturally natural.  A prophet is a person who takes this yearning, this desiring, this passion to even a higher level of intimacy, for they strive to “know Jesus” even more.  The scripture, the Logos Word, opens up in a new and living way as the Spirit of Jesus Christ is exposed through the Old Testament Patriarch, the Psalmist, and the prophets.  The same Spirit that taught those early believers on the Road to Emmaus, is the same Spirit who can teach today’s believers about Jesus’ fulfillment of all scripture, the Logos Word, the written Word, the Bible.

If teachers of the written Logos Word surrender their control to the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, their “academic” knowledge will become “living experience”.  The early followers did not just “know about” Jesus, or “know of” Jesus, but now intimately “knew” Jesus. Jesus the prophet, the teacher, the Messiah, now became a “living experience” in their lives, and the book of Acts became a reality as they “acted” out their lives through the leading of the Holy Spirit, that Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Every believer who relinquishes control to the Spirit of Jesus Christ “grows” in Jesus.  Those who want to take it to an even deeper, more intimate level allow the spirit of the prophet to manifest it self in their lives.  The Church today cannot afford NOT to allow the spirit of the prophet, the passion of the prophet, the point of view of the prophet to manifest it self! Spirit of prophecy, come.

Can We Trust The Holy Spirit?

Am I Willing To Surrender My Control?

I want religion, for religion is me working out my own walk under my own conditions where I feel that I am in control.  Relationship means I have to work with someone else and may have to share control or maybe even relinquish it.  That is scary.

I think that is why many Christians and the churches they attend are reluctant to partner with the Holy Spirit.  We say we want to partner with Jesus, have a personal relationship with Him, but we shy away from having a personal relationship with the “Spirit” of Jesus Christ!  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is Spirit, and believers claim that the Spirit of Jesus is inside them when they make a personal decision to accept Jesus Christ into their hearts, but are fearful to give up, or to lose, control they cherish.

What happens if I relinquish my control to the Holy Spirit?  Will He send me to Africa to chuck spears with the natives, or to the jungles of South America where there are cannibals?  Giving up my garbage, my faults, my sins in reward for forgiveness of sin and eternal life was inviting, but giving up control to make Jesus Lord of my life is frightening?  Why should we be afraid?  Is Jesus not our Shepherd, our Banner, our Protector, and our King?  Pentecost is allowing that “Passover” Spirit of Jesus Christ, that we accepted into our heart, to become “a living, active” Spirit when we make him Lord of our lives.  The price for Passover, our salvation, was giving up our sinful life, our garbage; the price for Pentecost is giving up CONTROL! What relinquishing that control brings is LIFE!

I have several questions to you, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ:  1) What has kept you from making Jesus Lord of you life, allowing him “total control” of your life?  2) Are you willing to give that up for an intimate relationship with Him?  3) Can you trust the Holy Spirit, the Spirit if Jesus Christ? If you can’t, “why not”?  If you can, “why not” let go, relinquish that which has held you back from this intimate relationship, and begin TRUSTING!  If you are willing to truthfully answer these three questions, write the results in the comment section below so others can see that “trusting the Holy Spirit” is a safe place to be! 

The Need for Laws

The Need For The Spirit

One day in class, my 8^th grade students and I discussed the need for Laws.  The first day of school, that is all they hear: the “rules of the school”, the “disciplinary rules” of each teacher, the “rules for science labs”, etc.  They have a Student Handbook that has grown in thickness over the years as new rules were added: Drugs, Drug Look-alikes, Cell Phones and their use, Cyber-Bullying, etc.  As the fashion world changes, so does the “dress code” laws. 

I explained that we only need Laws when we violate another person as a human being, when we have a negative influence or hurt him negatively.  If people did not get drunk, we would not need D.U.I., Driving Under the Influence, laws!  Cell phones are good, but misuse of them by taking pictures of partially nude friends, texting answers during a test, etc. caused the birth of new rules.  If we just followed the Golden Rule, most rules could and would be eliminated.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they violated God’s will for mankind, that of communing with the Father, thus rules had to be made and eventually hewed into stone. As each of the 10 Commandments became violated, subsections were added to the Law, and soon we had volumes of does and don’ts!  No matter how hard man has tried to keep these Laws, those Commandments, he has not been able to do it on his own, failing, proving his guilt.  Even today we try to “legislate” laws to protect the innocent, but those laws hardly ever change the nature of those who break them.

But God made a way through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus to pay the penalty for sin, the fine, the sentence.  No longer under the Law of Sin because of His act of Redemption on our behalf, we can live the life we could not under the written Law only through the following of the Holy Spirit for whom the believers were to anticipate and wait. When the Holy Spirit fell on them at Pentecost, they began to live out a life they could not do before this event.  The Logos, written Word, now became the Rhema, the living Word, and the believers in Jesus Christ began “living out” the Word. As the book of John begins, Jesus was the “word” and dwelt among us and “lived out that word”.  Now we, His believers, can live out that word because the “living word”, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, is in us!

As I have heard somewhere, “if we have the Word without the Spirit, we will dry up; if we have the Spirit without the Word we will burn up.”  Jesus said there would be a day when we can worship in ‘spirit’, the Rhema Word, and in ‘truth’, the Logos Word. We are living in that day, even now.  We cannot survive without the Logos written Word or the Rhema living Word. Jesus “fulfilled” the Law, lived it out for He was without sin, and now has sent his precious Holy Spirit so that his believers too can live out that life. We need recognized that Jesus, the Word, the Logos, the written Word, and the Rhema, the living word, are all the same Word, the same truth, producing the same “life”!

Pentecost: The Written Becomes Alive

Bringing Life To Legalism

I saw a local church’s TV clip that was supposed to be funny.  It was titled “What To Do To Fit Into Any Church Service!”  The clip suggested things like: do not smoke during service, do not breed your pet ferrets in church, do not play a tuba while sitting in the pew, etc.  It was cute but the “DO NOT’s” rang loud and clear in my head.  That is just what most non-church people think about church; it is a place filled with a lot of “do nots”!

Pentecost in the Old Testament is called the Feast of Weeks. It celebrates when Moses received the two stone tablets on Mt. Sinai.  From 10 simple commandments hewed in stone came the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, the written Word, and the Talmud, the Jewish book to explain the Laws in the Torah.  The books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are also books of Law, the “do’s” and “do nots” of the Jewish faith, which conservative Jews follow to the hilt.   Often in the Old Testament prophets would arise to warn Israel of what their sins would do only to be stoned for their unpopular revelations of righteousness. Unfortunately all but two would fell dead in the Wilderness of Sin, never entering the Promise Land. 

Pentecost in the New Testament is when the promise of the Holy Spirit came upon the Church to teach them all truth.  The written Word, the Logos, became the living Word, the Rhema.  The band of men criticized for breaking the Sabbath, not washing their hands ceremoniously at meals, eating grain from the fields, etc. when with Jesus, were now living out the Law, the Word, the Logos, that they could not do before the coming promise of the Holy Spirit.  Here too, prophets arose and functioned in the church to encourage and to keep the Church’s spiritual life healthy, so that it wouldn’t go back into legalism or apostasy, those very traps the Church found itself in when not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead it.

Today, in the five fold ministry, the prophet is a necessary component, wanting to hear the “heartbeat of the Father”, wanting to “listen to the still voice of the Holy Spirit” and be obedient to it, wanting to bring holiness and righteousness back into the Bride of Christ, the Church, guarding the Church’s “spiritual” life.  A person, driven by the passion and point of view of being a prophet, longs for intimate worship with the Father through His Son Jesus lead by His precious Holy Spirit.  This type of believer wants the written Word, the Logos Word, to be a “living Word” in his life and in the life of the Church. 

A hospital asks a patient if he/she has a “living will” incase they face a death situation.  The believer in Jesus Christ has passed from life through death to everlasting life because of the Jesus’ death on the Cross and his resurrection.  Prophets want to now know the “will of the Father” that “will” bring “life” to himself and the Church.  He wants to know the “living will” of the Father to bring “life”, the Rhema, to the Logos Word, the written Word of the Father.

As we shall see in the next series of blogs, if there ever was a time when the Church needs the passion and point of view of its believers to hear the “heartbeat of the Father” and to feel “alive” in the Word by actively living out the Word, it is today!  Join me in this prophetic adventure.