So, why are we taking all this time to
unpack the redemptive gifts? It is
because I firmly believe that if you want to live strategically, you will see
the highest level of transformation in that area when you lean heavily into
your area of gifting.
We all have learned skills and areas that
we have just become better at because we have done them over and over again.
If you know what your gift is, you are
going to grow much faster than if you don’t.
It truly allows you to really live in that ‘sweet spot’ God has created
you for.
Here is what one person has said in
relation to a better understanding of their gifting
For me, when I walk in my gift, my spirit
is at peace. This was hard lesson to learn since I used to value striving
& personal effort. Now I am becoming more comfortable with walking in
peace and valuing being just me. I still have personal effort, but now it is
focused on finding ways to be excellent in who I am and expressing it in what I
do well.
Prophecy is an impression that God may have
something to say specifically to specific people at a specific time. It can be
a word for an individual. It can be a word to a group of people, for a church,
maybe even for a whole country. But it’s a word from God that’s for the here
and now. Adrian Warnock
1.
The design of a prophet.
Let’s look at prophets in action in Acts 13:1-3
They work alongside other giftings. In this passage, we see prophets and teachers
working hand in hand in the commissioning of Paul and Barnabus.
Antioch is a very diverse city where the
Christian message has just arrived.
People across all racial and ethnic lines were coming to faith in Jesus.
We have Saul, a Jew, Barnabus, from Cyprus, Simeon from northern Africa, Lucius
from Cyrene, which is most likely today modern Libya and Manaen who was
straight out of Roman royalty, living with the family of Herod. Under no other circumstances would you find
these men together, but because of Jesus and the unity that He brings across
unthinkable lines that would normally divide.
These five leaders get together and
determine that two of these guys need to stop what they are presently doing and
be sent out on a new kingdom assignment.
·
The prophet is designed to bring confirmation.
A prophet really can confirm what we sense
God is already speaking into our lives.
It may come with a sense of making a judgment call, but remember they
not only knows what’s right and wrong but it is
just their default. They are the
ones who go through the grocery store and evaluate whether the groceries are in
the right place, whether the person at the checkout is doing a good job. There
is this compulsion to pass judgment on anything and everything, and hopefully a
more mature prophet keeps his mouth shut most of the time but through his mind
he is saying “right, wrong, not good, should be better, change this.” The sense
of evaluation is always there.
·
Prophets bring vision to the table.
If you were to break the giftings of the
church into three groups: visionaries, implementers and maintainers, the
prophet would be your visionary. There have a clear preferred future where they
believe God is leading.
The prophet tends to be fiercely competitive.
The prophet also demonstrates full
disclosure.
When he is selling a used car, unless he is
really carnal, it is impossible for him to cover up the defects. He rather
discloses them, telling every little defect, doing all he can to un-sell the
car after it is sold because of that compulsion for honesty and integrity. The prophet is very, very hard on himself.
·
Prophets call the church to their very purpose.
A good redemptive gift of prophet is
someone who can build, not just one who can criticize. Any carnal, immature
prophet can run around and say “this is broken, and that’s wrong, and this you
shouldn’t do” and so on. That is very damaging to the church and very low
level. A good prophet is somebody who
can embrace the problem and sense a calling to where we need to go.
You usually find the prophet working on the
two extremes. They are drawn to minister to the leadership and those who are
broken that want to be restored. There is a passion and desire to bring the
principles to apply, to restore, to rebuild, to release the people of God into
the fullness of their gifting.
It is the prophet who can look at that
broken individual, look at that individual who no longer has hope, no longer
has dignity, and to see in him the fingerprints of Almighty God. He can see the
call of God on his life and speak life and restoration into him.
The prophet often is called out to walk
deeply and profoundly in the area of personal disciplines.
I don’t think there is any higher example
of this in scripture than the prophet Ezekiel. He was a prophet in exile. He
was ministering in Babylon, having been carried there from Israel in captivity.
He was ministering to one of the worst congregations around.
The Israelites were in absolute denial.
Denial is something else that drives the prophet nuts. They were saying “this
is not God’s judgment; we don’t deserve God’s judgment. We will be back in our
land shortly; this is just a blip on the screen.” Day after day Ezekiel got in
front of those obstinate people saying, “It is God’s judgment, and it will
last, and Jerusalem will be destroyed and you are in denial.” They said, “no
we’re not,” and he said “yes you are.”
Not only was he in captivity and had a
wretched audience, there was also apparently poverty and hardship in his
ministry. God had him lie on one side for 300 days, then lay on the other side.
All of these symbolic things he had to act out—eat food that was cooked over a
polluted fire. Many things he lived out in his own flesh, his own pain. Then,
finally, God came to him and said, “you only have one thing that is really
important to you and that’s your wife, you love her dearly, she’s the apple of
your eye, she’s going to die tomorrow and you’re not going to miss a beat.
You’re going to preach your morning sermon and your evening sermon and you’re
not going to mourn or be part of her funeral.” As prices go, that’s an awfully
high price. He paid it.
There are times, seasons in the prophet’s
life when God is silent and it is not because of their sin, it’s because of
God’s plan for their life, trying to develop a deeper, richer root system.
The Word of the Prophet
The manifest gift of moving in the
prophetic is not just limited to one who has the design of prophet. A teacher, a servant and an encourager can
give a prophetic word, but it will come more strongly to the person who has
been designed by God in this way. As
Romans 12:6 tells us that if you are marinating in the gifting, then use it in
proportion to your faith.
Bill Hybels in his recent book, ‘The Power
of A Whisper’ talks about filters that
we need to exercise for knowing when it is truly God that is speaking to you
through your own impressions or from another person of faith.
1.
Is the prompting truly from God?
Is it consistent with His character?
Is
it aligned with His attributes?
2.
Is it Scriptural? He will never
contradict His written revelation
3.
Is it wise?
Wisdom will often tell us to not make
decisions in haste and lose the way. Proverbs 19:2
4.
Is in tune with your own character?
5.
What do the people you most trust
think about it?
The benefits of prophecy!
1 Corinthians 14:1-3
We are called to eagerly desire this gift
and there are two purposes given here:
·
To encourage – to come alongside, here is that word, ‘paraklete’ coming
out again, to comfort, appeal, to earnestly request or entreat someone, to
offer assistance.
·
To strengthen – the word of the prophet as seen here in the NT is designed
to give hope, give life and yes while correction is understood here, it is a
good course correction. It doesn’t bring
with it condemnation.
The prophetic understanding can come as a
word of knowledge, a word of wisdom, a verse specific to a situation. It can even come in the form of a dream or a
vision as we see in Scripture. It is
truly given from the Holy Spirit and it is not 'forthtelling' in a predictive
sort of manner. It can certainly come in
the form of warning but in many ways its design is to bring hope and a real
sense of God's leading in another person's life.
Again, it doesn't go against the written revelation of God and it should
ultimately bring glory to God not to the person. It should not be confusing, it should bring
freedom and minister to our inner being.
Adrian Warnock shares on the prophetic by making these very
clear points:
·
Prophecy is not infallible – we know in part, we prophecy in part. 1 Corinthians 13
·
Prophecy is not equivalent to Scripture – take for example Jonah – his
prophecy never came to pass. Philip’s
daughters prophesied in Acts 21 and yet their prophecies are not recorded for
us.
·
Prophecy is not authoritative – Also, in Acts 21, there was a group of
believers led by the Spirit who told Paul not to go Jerusalem. Yet Paul weighs what they say and determines
that he wasn’t locked in by it and no, it wasn’t go to define his life.
Dangers to avoid on the whole area of prophecy...Adrian
Warnock defines them this way -
Hatch prophecies – God is going to give you
a baby
Match prophecies – God told me you are the
one for me
Dispatch prophecies – ones that deal with
life and death situations, terminal illness etc…
1 Thessalonians 5:19-21
I would encourage you, if you do have a
prophetic word for someone, have a witness present to confirm or correct what
is being said, and to relieve any pressure that the person might feel. It’s
very wise to say things like, “Well, I need you to weight this.” “Please check
this with your pastor.” “Does this make any sense to you?” Sometimes people
deliver a prophetic word and they say, “Does that make any sense?” "Does this resonate with what God is
working on in your life?'
Prophet’s Battlefield
The greatest battle for the prophet is not
to forgive others; it is to forgive himself when he has sinned deeply. There is
a tendency for the prophet to drive himself, for the prophet to flog himself
and make everyone around him miserable as well, as the prophet is trying in
some way to “pay back” the Lord for the harm he has caused the kingdom of God.
At Grace, if you have a prophetic word to
share for the whole church, the kernel of that word needs to be shared with one
of our pastors. As pastors, we have been
given the authority as shepherds in this place to feed the flock, protect the
flock and are called to bring discernment.
We are called to test the spirits ( 1 John
4:1)
John Piper shares on prophecy in terms of its
edification.
Why is it that a gift that is
Spirit-prompted and Spirit-sustained and rooted in an infallible revelation
(the Bible) is nevertheless fallible, mixed with imperfection, and only has
secondary, derivative authority? The answer is this: A teacher’s perception of
biblical truth is fallible; his analysis of biblical truth is fallible; his
explanation of biblical truth is fallible. There is no guarantee that the link
between an infallible Bible and the church will be an infallible link. The gift
of teaching does not guarantee infallible teaching. And yet, even though the
gift of teaching is fallible and even though it lacks intrinsic, divine
authority, we know it is of immense value to the church. We are all edified and
built up by gifted teachers. God is in it. He does use it. It is a spiritual
gift.
Now compare this to the gift of prophecy.
It is prompted by the Spirit and sustained by the Spirit and based on a
revelation from God. God reveals something to the mind of the prophet (in some
way beyond ordinary sense perception), and since God never makes a mistake, we
know that his revelation is true. It has no error in it. But the gift of
prophecy does not guarantee the infallible transmission of that revelation. The
prophet may perceive the revelation imperfectly, he may understand it
imperfectly, and he may deliver it imperfectly. That’s why Paul says we see in
a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12). The gift of prophecy results in fallible
prophecy just like the gift of teaching results in fallible teaching. So I
would ask, “If teaching can be good for the edification of the church, could
not prophecy be good for edifying as well, just as Paul says it is (1
Corinthians 14:3, 12, 26)—even though both of them are fallible, mixed with
human imperfection, and in need of testing?
The New Testament prophecy is greater in
the sense that it is built upon the New Testament foundation, a living,
breathing relationship with God through the blood of His Son, Jesus, and the
INDWELLING power of the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit of God can also lead us to a real sense of confirmation in our lives of
what has been shared with us.
Eileen Fisher in ‘Embracing The Prophetic’
speaks in very strong terms of the discernment that is needed for those who
have this gifting. God may give you a
word for someone but it is only meant for you to pray about it and then other
times it is meant to be shared.
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/when-will-prophecy-cease
-
John Piper teaching on the validity of prophecy for today.
I have also been blessed by A.W. Tozer and
his thoughts on why the prophetic is needed in our churches.
http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/the-gift-of-prophetic-insight-by-aw-tozer/
The Design of the Servant
It doesn’t come with a great deal of honour
in a culture like our’s, but in the eyes of God, the gift of servant is an
incredibly significant one.
Servants in Scripture
Stephen was one of the seven servants
chosen to serve the church in Acts 6 .
In Acts 9, we see another servant, Ananias, was chosen by God in a
vision to minister to Saul in Damascus.
More than meeting the physical needs—the
food, the comfort—the deeper desire of the servant is to provide cleansing and
allowing the person’s life to operate the way God designed. So when we call on
the name of Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals, it is in the context of
obedience, in the context of being able to avoid something that is about to
happen. This ties into call to
obedience, which seems to come easier to the servant than anyone else.
If faith is the exercise for the prophet,
obedience is the calling for the servant.
He is the one to quickly identify and meets needs.
Servants have few, if any, enemies and part
of it is their willingness and desire to extend honor to others. In fact, they
go so far as to make excuses for others. The nature of a servant is to come
through for those that they are serving when they fall short. So, the thought behind making excuses is that
they want the person that they are serving to be seen in the best possible
light. The thought behind this comes
from the teaching in 1 Peter 4:8-10 where the gifting of serving comes with a
loving attitude that overlooks a person’s faults.
8 Above all, love each other deeply,
because love covers over a multitude of sins.9 Offer hospitality to one another
without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to
serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11
A
fierce anger
Servants can have fierce anger that only
manifests once in a great while and almost invariable it is a loyalty issue.
They’re not angry because someone has done something to them, they’re angry
because someone has done something to one of their friends, most especially a
family member. The loyalty to family is huge.
Tend to save stuff
Servants tend to save stuff, but not in a
particularly organized manner. They don’t always find what they’ve saved, but
they like to save.
A strong work ethic
The servant works very hard. Their downfall
is that unless they understand how to help, how to serve, they become enablers.
In many Christian organizations you have leadership that is immature or carnal
or unskilled administratively and they tend to find servants and, under the
guise of calling for loyalty and good character, they expect the servant to
continually clean up their messes. A wise servant learns how to empower, not
enable.
Purity of motives
There is a purity of motive that is
un-touched by any other gift. They are straight forward, they are honest, and
they can be trusted. That is why so many leaders end up with a servant around
them. There is an integrity, a simplicity, an honesty and a truthfulness about
the servant.
The Ministry of the Servant
God gives servants authority.
1. To care for, minister to, and pray for
leaders. They are drawn to leaders. They don’t want to be leaders but they
desire to be next to the leader to do the things that will release the leader
into his own full capabilities. The prayers of the servant for a leader seem to
carry more weight than anybody else’s prayers.
2.
Restore family.
They have a passion and an authority in
prayer to bring an entire family to a place of restoration. It seems that God
places more servants in dysfunctional families than in healthy families. They,
out of all the gifts, have the anointing and tenacity to be able to bring
restoration to the family.
3. A
tenacity to reach those that are difficult to reach. Acts 9
Ananias
4. To minister to the broken
Time and time again God positions servants
to believe in someone no one else believes in. A servant can come alongside
someone who is a dangerous, wounded, hurting person and to experience rejection
and rebuff time and time again from them for years at a time, and yet finally
have breakthrough. A servant can penetrate, be there in that window of opportunity,
to be able to speak the truth that liberates and cleanses in that person’s
life.
God knew Ananias would simply obey and that
he would have the grace to love the one most difficult to love. So He sent him to Saul, who no one else would
go to, in order to minister the liberating, cleansing truth to him.
Servant’s Battlefield
The battle for the servant is the feeling
of going unnoticed. So many servants
have bought into a victim mentality because people have put that on them. And
so for the servant to be able to shake off victimization, to shake off the
opinions of other people, to shake off the perception that they are supposed to
be used is hard work! They need to root
themselves in the realization that God sees them and He will honour them.
The Takeaway
To the degree that the servant and prophet
can hear this word and step up to their God given identity, to see themselves
as God sees them, transcend the indignity of the cross and walk in authority
based on the word of God, to that degree they are life givers on an immense
scale, they will experience that incredible fulfillment.
Talk about status, it was Jesus who emptied
Himself and took upon Himself the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient to death-even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:7-9
IN the past God spoke to our forefathers
through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days
he has spoken to us by His Son. Jesus is
our great prophet who still speaks today.
Listen for His voice. Hebrews 1
John 10:16
They too will listen to my voice!
Listen to Jesus’ voice calling you today! He is the good Shepherd who laid down His
life for His sheep.
My thanks to Arthur Birk for many of the
insights gained here.
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