1 CORINTHIANS 12:28, “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, SECONDARILY PROPHETS….
Ephesians 4:11-15 (NKJV) 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—of the church.
Are there true prophets today?
The Word of God has clearly stated that He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers (Ephesians 4:11). Notice, the Word of God did NOT say that He gave the gifts for a season and then dissolved them. Some say the only ministries we have today active are evangelists, pastors, and teachers but that is NOT true
NO – all the ministerial gifts given are in still in operation. They are important to the Body of Christ today because they were given for the purpose of perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Let me ask you some questions…
- Have ALL the saints been perfected ?
- Is there any work of the ministry going on OR left to be done?
- Does the Body of Christ need edification today?
The Answer:
Emphatically, yes! That means that all these ministerial gifts should be in operation today as they were in the early church and should be necessary until Jesus comes for His Church.
What constitutes the office of a prophet
An outstanding Greek scholar said, “A prophet speaks from the impulse of a sudden inspiration, from the light of a sudden revelation at the moment.
A prophet speaks by direct divine inspiration, an immediate revelation – not something he thought of, but something given at the spur of the moment by sudden inspiration.
The Distinctions between one who stands in the office of a prophet and a layman prophesying by inspiration of the moment
To stand in the office of a prophet, one is first of all a minister of the gospel, separated and called to the full time ministry.
Qualifications of the one who stands in the office of the prophet
- A prophet is first of all a preacher or a teacher of the Word.
- A prophet is called to the full-time ministry.
- To stand in the office of a prophet, one must have a more consistent manifestation of at least two of the revelation gifts (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, or discerning of spirits) plus prophecy.
The three main revelation gifts that operates through the ones called in the office of a prophet
1. Word of wisdom: Supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God concerning the divine purpose in the mind and will of God. This always speaks of the future.
2. Word of knowledge: Supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God of facts in the mind of God concerning people, places, or things. This always speaks of the present or past tense.
3. Discerning of spirits: Supernatural insight into the realm of spirits. Seeing and hearing in the spirit realm.
Any Spirit-filled believer might have occasional manifestations of these gifts as the Spirit wills and as the need arises. However the one who stands in the office of a prophet also is a preacher or teacher of the Word and operates more consistently with the three gifts we mentioned.
Layman and prophesying
Any Holy Ghost filled believer or layman may prophesy, but are NOT prophet just because they prophesy.
We have to distinguish between types of prophesying – Simply because someone may prophesy – does not mean that he or she stands in the office of the prophet.
Paul encouraged the entire church at Corinthians to covet the gift of prophecy.
Apostle Paul also said; “But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3).
ACTS 21:8-11; “8 And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. 9 And the same man had four daughters, virgins, WHICH DID PROPHESY. 10 And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea A CERTAIN PROPHET, named Agabus. 11 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles”.
In these scripture, we see that the four daughters of Philip did prophesy. That means they were operating in the simple gift of prophecy, “speaking unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3).
However we need to examine how God used prophet Agabus. He truly stood in the office of a prophet – why? – He is telling what the Holy Spirit had previously revealed to him.
What does the Scripture mean when it says “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge“
Sometimes the prophet does operate in the place of a foreteller. This is the gift of the word of wisdom in operation through the prophet.
Example Agabus.
He foretold a drought (Acts 11:28). He foretold what would happen to Paul in Jerusalem (Acts 21: 10, 11).
Some do not believe that personal prophecy is scriptural. They do not believe that a prophet may have a specific message for an individual.
- Agabus did (Acts 21:10,11). He did not tell Paul not to go to Jerusalem. He merely told Paul what would happen to him there, and it came to pass.
- Many times God has shown brother Hagin things along this line that have blessed and helped individuals. We need this kind of manifestation today.
- God does show us things as He wills to prepare us and to get us ready for the future. You cannot turn the ministry of the prophet on and off as you please. You cannot flip it on and off like the way you flip an electric switch. It only operates as the Spirit wills.
- God does use people sometimes to personally minister a message to an individual but they cannot think they can give everyone a message simply because God used them to deliver a message to one individual person. Those people who are always going around handing out personal messages and prophecies to everybody are in error and fanaticism and in dire trouble. Pride can enter such allowing Satan to mislead them.
Similarities between Old Testament prophets and the New Testament prophets
The prophets of the Old Testament were called seers. They would see and know things supernaturally.
Example here by brother Hagin; Once I stopped to visit with a minister at the site where he was building a new church. After he showed me around, we got into our cars to leave. Just as we did, the word of the Lord came unto me saying that I should tell this minister that he wasn’t going to live much longer unless he judged himself in three areas: his diet, his money matters, and his lack of love for the brethren.
I stepped out of my car to go and tell him this, but someone else walked up to his car about that time and began to talk with him. I sat back down in my car and began to reason with myself. I knew that he probably would not receive this from me. He certainly didn’t walk in love toward the brethren, so he would probably slap my face. As I sat there talking myself out of it, the minister left without my telling him what the Lord had shown me. That was the last time I saw him, for three years later, although a young man, he died. See the word “revealed” is used in connection with the prophet’s ministry.
There are similarity between the prophet’s ministry of the Old Testament and the New Testament. People of the Old Covenant went to the prophet for guidance. Only the king, the priest, and the prophet were anointed by the Spirit of God to stand in their respective offices.
The rest of the people did NOT have tangible Presence of God in their lives. The Presence of God was shut up in the Holy of Holies. They didn’t have the Spirit of God either on them or in them. Unless God just saw fit to move and demonstrate Himself in the natural realm, as in the case of Gideon, people would go to the prophet for guidance.
Under the New Covenant however, it is unscriptural to seek guidance through the ministry of the prophet. WHY? Because we have a better covenant as stated in Hebrews 8:6
Is scriptural for others to judge prophecy? If Yes, who should judge prophesy coming from those operating in the prophetic office?
1 CORINTHIANS 14:29,30 GIVES US THE ANSWERS TO THE ABOVE QUESTION:
29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and LET THE OTHER JUDGE .
30 If any thing BE REVEALED to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.
1 Corinthians 14:29 – People who don’t want their revelations – or prophesies – judged are wrong. And they could be into spiritual pride. The Bible states in 1 Corinthians 14:29 (KJV) that other people have the Spirit of God too, especially those who are called in this office can judge prophesy based on the Word of God. Someone might say, “Well, the Lord doesn’t make mistakes.” But these spiritual gifts are being manifested through human beings who are imperfect. It’s similar to water flowing through a pipe. Water can take on the same taste as the pipe it flows through.
PLEASE NOTE:
PROPHETS ARE NOT CALLED TO GUIDE OUR LIVES BUT TO CONFIRM AND ASSURE THE DIRECTION GIVEN TO US BY GOD
We have the same Presence of God within us that was kept shut up in the Holy of Holies. He is living within us. Our bodies become the temple of God under the New Covenant (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16). Why? Holy Spirit is within us to lead us. The Bible says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). Every believer needs to learn to follow the Spirit of God for themselves. He shouldn’t have to go to anyone else for guidance. Prophets have to be careful not to control God’s people’s lives through personal prophecy. It is unscriptural. One needs to know in their own spirit that God is leading them. If whatever someone else says confirms what you have in your spirit, fine. If it doesn’t, forget it.
Discerning the difference between the Spirit of God and familiar spirits
- There is no use being scared off because of evil spirits. They are familiar with people and they communicate with the one through whom they operate. When people don’t spend time in the presence of God. They can open themselves up to familiar spirits.
- When God led Israel out of Egypt, you remember that Aaron threw down his rod and it turned into a serpent. The magicians did the same thing – they threw down their rods and they turned into serpents. However, Aaron’s rod swallowed up the magicians’ rods (Exodus 7:12).
- The devil knows some things. But he is not all-knowing like God. But the Bible talks about familiar spirits. They are here. And they are familiar with you – even though you are saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. If someone is in contact with them, they will tell him things about you. The little maiden Paul cast the devil out of had a spirit of divination – a spirit of divining (Acts 16:16-19). That means foretelling or fortune telling, but it is the wrong kind of spirit. The devil knows things that are going to happen to people if they keep walking just like they are. If they’re his children, he knows exactly what’s going to happen to them.
Brother Hagin gave of an example of a certain person through whom the word of knowledge supposedly operated. He’d know things about people. He would just rattle off the revelation he had received about people. When he came to one of my meetings once, the pastor asked him to greet the congregation. While he was speaking, I heard the Holy Spirit speak up and say, “Familiar spirits.” I knew the Lord was telling me that familiar spirits were operating through him.
In the process of time, in another part of the country, a good friend of mine asked me, “Do you know So-and-so?” calling this “minister’s” name? “Yes,” I said, “I know who he is, but I’m not acquainted with his ministry.” “Well,” he said, “I thought he was a real man of God because of that supernatural something which operates through him. And he took me in. I had a very valuable piece of jewelry I had inherited which I kept in a certain place in my home. That fellow stood in my office, described the diamond exactly, told me where I kept it, and said that the Lord wanted me to give it to him. “I thought it was God,” he said, “because it was supernatural. So I got it and gave it to him.
“But it wasn’t two days later that he stood right here in my same office, lost his temper, and cursed out a man. Then before he got out of town – this isn’t hearsay – I know it for a fact – he got tangled up with another fellow in homosexuality and misled some boys and got them into difficulty.”
Then I shared with him what God had already shown me. I said, “He has familiar spirits. It’s not the Spirit of God operating through him.”
How to differentiate between a true prophetic anointing and familiar spirit or spirit of divination
- A prophet may speaks forth God’s revelations through the gift of prophecy which is on a higher level than simple prophecy. Familiar spirits only tells or rehearses words from the information or knowledge they have acquired in the world.
- A prophet brings forth God’s revealed Word just by telling what the Holy Spirit is saying. If it is a true prophetic Word from the Spirit of God, it will bear witness to those who walk in the Spirit and are listening. Familiar spirits speaks from the impulse of known information from the world.
You also have to ask yourself – Does the prophesy or the prophetic Word being spoken bring glory to Jesus? Does it bring blessing to people? Does it bring them nearer to God? Or does it exalt man? Does it attract attention to the human flesh?
1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-3
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. 2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, EVEN AS YE WERE LED. 3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed : and that NO MAN CAN SAY THAT JESUS IS THE LORD, BUT BY THE HOLY GHOST .
We have to interpret scriptures in their context. Apostle Paul is writing about spiritual manifestations and things pertaining to the Holy Spirit. Of course, a person could say, “Jesus is Lord” out of his head. A rank sinner could say that. But what this scripture is saying is, when the Holy Spirit is in manifestation, He always makes Jesus Lord. When it is the Holy Spirit in manifestation, He says Jesus is Lord. The Holy Spirit doesn’t attract attention unto man and make man Lord.
There’s no use being scared off because of evil spirits. GOD CAN TOP ANY- THING THE DEVIL CAN DO. The manifestations of the Holy Spirit are real. Let’s have the real manifestations that will bless people. Be open to God and invite the Spirit of God to manifest Himself among us in the various varied ministries that He has set in the church.
Misconceptions people have relative to the prophet’s office
Many think that a prophet is supposed to do nothing but prophesy. But the foremost ministry of the prophet is to preach or teach the Word.
A prophet does more than prophesy. In fact, very often when he is giving forth the revelation of the moment he is not prophesying at all – he is just telling what was revealed to him. For example, Agabus “signified by the Spirit” that there would be a great drought (Acts 11:28).
The prophet Agabus took Paul’s girdle and bound his own hands and feet with it and said: ACTS 21:11-14
“11…Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. 12 And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. 14 And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done”.
Notice something. Agabus foretold what would happen. But he did not say one thing about what God’s will was in the matter. Agabus didn’t tell Paul to go or not to go to Jerusalem. He did not give Paul any personal direction about it. Agabus just told Paul what was out in front of him. Paul had to make his own decision whether or not God was leading him to go to Jerusalem.
Some people think Paul missed God – that the Spirit of God was telling him not to go to Jerusalem. That cannot be the case. For when Paul was arrested while on his mission, Jesus appeared to him in the night.
ACTS 23:11
11 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. If Paul had been out of the will of God, the Lord would have told him so.
Even though there are supernatural manifestations in your life, don’t build your ministry on supernatural manifestations. Invite them and have them. But build your ministry on the Word. Even if you’re a prophet, always purpose to build your ministry on the Word.
People get into error who think, I’m called to be a prophet (and they might be) so they’re always trying to have a revelation, or always trying to prophesy
Before anything else, a prophet would be a preacher or a teacher of the Word. Jesus said John the Baptist was a great prophet, yet we have no record that John ever foretold anything. Rather, he forth told or preached the message of the Kingdom of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
What about the laying on of hands
Laying on of hands goes along with the prophet’s office. When the prophet exercises the gifts of healings and the laying on of hands (or any ministry function), it is a prophet’s ministry in operation.
LUKE 4:27
27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syr- ian.
Elisha had a healing ministry. And people knew about it. The reason Naaman came to Elisha was that a little Jewish maiden was captured by Syria in a war against Israel. She was a slave in Naaman’s home. When she learned Naaman had leprosy, she said, “…Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:3).
Jesus stood in the office of prophet. His healing ministry exemplifies all the varied manifestations you would not see in just one per- son’s ministry.
A prophet’s healing ministry can operate through the laying on of hands and it can also operate in various other ways.
Elisha didn’t lay hands on Naaman . He didn’t even go out to see him.He had a word from the Lord. He sent a messenger saying, “…Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean” (2 Kings 5:10).
It should be as Holy Spirit wills
Jesus ministered healing through laying on of hands. But He also ministered healing by other methods. For example, without touching ten lepers, Jesus said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the high priests.” As they went, they were healed (Luke 17:12-14).
Jesus spit on the ground and made clay of the spittle and rubbed it on a blind man’s eyes and said, “Go wash it off in the pool of Siloam” (John 9:6,7). Why did He do that? Because the Spirit of God told Him to. He was standing in the office of the prophet. Gifts of healings were operating through Him.
Jesus was anointed with the healing power of God (Acts 10:38). And on other occasions, Jesus ministered healing by the transfer of power. In other words, people were also healed when the healing anointing flowed out of Jesus into them. The woman with the issue of blood is an example (Mark 5:25-34). (See also Matthew 14:34-36; Mark 6:56;Luke 6:19.
Concerning the healing of Naaman through the ministry of the prophet Elisha, Jesus said, “And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4 :2 7).
Why couldn’t Elisha get all the lepers in Israel healed?
Naaman was a heathen ; he wasn’t even an Israelite. He wasn’t in covenant with God. He worshiped the idol Dagon. Why couldn’t Elisha tell all the lepers of Israel, including those who were in covenant with God, “Go dip in the River Jordan seven times and your flesh will come again clean as a little child”? Simply because God didn’t tell him to!
What thus says the Lord or the Word of the Lord should be the final authority in any prophetic utterance
The word of the Lord, no doubt, came unto Elisha and told him what to do in the case of Naaman and not others
Brother Hagin; Personal experience: People are healed that way today. I’ve had many healed that way – by the Word of the Lord in a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Yet I couldn’t make it work for others. The Lord told me exactly what to do. Sometimes He told me what to tell people to do. Sometimes I would see it in vision form, then go out and act it out in the church meeting. And people have gotten up and walked off stretchers. Yet others in the same meeting were rolled in on stretchers, and rolled out on them.
Some people who are not knowledgeable about the Bible said, “That couldn’t be God. If He healed one, He would have healed the others too.”
In the first place, I wasn’t doing the healing. In the second place, I had no word from the Lord on the others. The others could have been healed if they would have believed God and made contact with Him on their own, but somehow or another they did not.
Many think that a prophet should always know everything about everyone and everything that is happening round about him . That could not be so and I am glad for that. For if it had been so, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, would have known he didn’t stand one chance in a million of getting by with what he did (2 Kings 5:20-27).
Naaman offered the prophet Elisha gifts after his healing was manifested. Elisha would not accept them. So Naaman went happily on his way back to Syria. But Gehazi ran after him and lied to him. He said, “My master has sent me. After you left two young prophets came. And although my master wouldn’t take anything for himself, he said it would be all right to take a talent of silver and two changes of garments for them” (2 Kings 5:22).
Naaman, thrilled about being healed from such a terrible condition, gave Gehazi more than he asked for. Gehazi took it and hid it. But when Gehazi got into the presence of his master, Elisha asked him where he had been. Gehazi answered, “…Thy servant went no wither” (2 Kings 5:25). And Elisha said unto him, “…Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot…?”
However, if Elisha had always known everything about everyone and all that was going on around him, Gehazi, who was with Elisha continually, would have known that. And Gehazi would never have tried what he did.
The Lord only tells a prophet what He wants him to know. He does not tell a prophet everything. Other Scriptures also indicate that the prophet does not know everything . For example, when the Shunammite woman came to Elisha the prophet and caught him by the feet after her son had died, Elisha said, “…her soul is vexed within her: and THE LORD HATH HID IT FROM ME, and hath not told me” (2 Kings 4:27).
Conjuring a prophet for a Word.
You cannot conjure up these things as you will. God may give you a word and He may not. The majority of times He will not.
The words of knowledge, the word of wisdom, discerning of spirits, as well as prophesy, operate in the office of the prophet as the Spirit of God wills. Because these are spiritual gifts, they will also operate in the life of any Spirit-filled believer as the need may arise or as the Lord wills. But the occasional operation of these gifts does not make one a prophet.
If you do have revelation knowledge about a certain issue, seek God for wisdom on how to handle it properly. Don’t just blurt it out. It is possible to shipwreck people’s lives and mess things up so that God won’t give you further revelation. You can end up grieving the Spirit of God so He won’t show you anything else because He can’t trust you.
If God did call you to a five-fold ministerial office, you couldn’t step into it immediately. You’d make a mess of it if you did. But God will add a little here and a little there. If He does have in mind to put you in that office, eventually, if you’ll be faithful, when He sees He can trust you with it, He will set you in it.
God will not violate the principles He has set forth in His own Word. The Spirit of God said through Paul not to put a novice in office, “…lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil” (1 Tim.3:6).
The same is true in other offices. If novices were put into these offices, Satan would tempt them and they would be lifted up and destroyed. I think some have been destroyed because they sensed in their spirits the calling, but instead of waiting for God to set them into that office, they tried to set themselves into it .
Brother Hagin comments: I can see the wisdom of God in my own ministry. As a younger person and immature mentally as well as spiritually, if I had been thrust into some offices and places I fill now, I would never have made it. I would have fallen by the wayside. When God used me, my head would have gotten so big I couldn’t have walked out of the door.
I’m glad God can use us. But I don’t get lifted up in any way when He does . It humbles me for God to use me. I don’t get the least bit of pride. I don’t even get excited or show emotion over a lot of things. I just say, “What of it? After all, I read in the Old Testament that God spoke Hebrew through a donkey. That didn’t make the donkey anything special. So if God sees fit to use this donkey, praise the Lord, God did it. Give Him all the glory.”
Don’t be taken up with names and titles.
And don’t go out and say, “I’m a prophet.” You may be one day, and then again you may not be. But if you are called to the prophetic office, let God set you into it . Don’t try to set yourself in a particular office. Don’t even necessarily say, “I’m a teacher.” God may want to make an evangelist out of you. Wait and find out what God wants you to do.
BELIEVE THE PROPHETS AND YOU SHALL PROSPER
Let us look at the following scriptures together;
2 Chron 20:20 AMP
Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established; believe and remain steadfast to His prophets and you shall prosper.
John 13:20 NKJV
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”
Ex 14:31 NKJV
Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.
Luke 16:31 NKJV
But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
John 5:46-47 NKJV
For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
Genesis 1:3 marks God’s first recorded words as “Let there be light.” God wasn’t simply foretelling light; His words were literally creating light. A prophet’s first devotion should be to release light and, by doing so, expose darkness. It is time to bring restoration, not devastation.
Proverbs 29:18 says that, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law” (NKJV). Revelation is the revealed will of God for your life—the prophetic vision, in other terms. So where there is no prophetic vision, the people are unrestrained, which means they will be untrained in the ways of God, living life without the discipline of God. We are called to be disciples of Christ. A disciple is a disciplined learner. The prophetic ministry equips you with the advantage of living under the discipline of God. When we don’t have this prophetic vision guiding our lives, we tend to live in a vacuum.
One translation of Proverbs 29:18 puts it this way: “Without prophetic vision people run wild” (GW). In other words, we live our lives with no control, direction, rhyme or reason. The prophetic word brings order and structure in life, while also reminding you of a higher vision. God wants your life to mean something, and the prophetic word causes you to live for something greater than yourself. It stirs you to look for eternal purpose and not instant gratification. It changes your value system. Once the revealed purpose of the Lord is known, it causes you to set your affections on things above, transcending this temporal world.
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