PROPHECY

Part One: What is a prophet’s job?

Someone asked me recently what I thought prophecy was and what it meant. The prophetic is multifaceted and people have written books on the subject so in the confines of a few hundred words, this blog will not be all inclusive. I will go over a couple salient points and summarize my thoughts.

Many believe that foretelling the future is all that a prophet does and is what prophecy is all about; future events. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is only a small portion of the prophetic.

It is this believer’s opinion that a prophet of the Lord is first, a teacher. When a prophet holds that office, it is their assignment to explain the Scriptures and what God means when He says such and such. However, and more importantly, he is to tell the people what to do concerning God’s Word.

A prophet is highly gifted in discernment with a vast knowledge and understanding of Scripture. Otherwise, how could they speak for God, which is another aspect/gifting held by the prophet; he expounds on the oracles (precepts) of God and speaks for and through Him. The operative word here, is "through" Him -- or through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will guide us to ALL truth [John 16:13]

Therefore, a prophet’s number one assignment should definitely be that he or she is what God’s Word calls, an Issachar.

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; -- 1 Chronicles 12:32a

This is what we need the most of today. . .prophetic Issachars. As the Chronicle’s Scripture tells us, Issachars are people who can tell Israel what to do, who have an understanding of the times. Through adoption, all believers are of the kingdom of Israel, also through Halachic law.

Prophets are here to incite people to duty, to convict of sins, and to call those to repentance. They are to instruct kings, to preach of the judgments of God, and to teach relationship with God. If people do not repent and turn from their wicked ways, then the judgments come in the form of things that will happen in the future.

However, they base all those prophecies and judgments on God’s Word. Everything filters through His Word. This is the only way to tell a true prophet. However, there is one prerequisite to knowing the only way to tell a true prophet.

No more room. We’ll see you this coming Monday for the second and final segment on prophecy. God bless you all and see you Monday.

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WHO YOU GONNA CALL?

In about A.D. 85, in Jerusalem, there was a pool, which in the Hebrew language, they call Bethesda. On its five porches laid a great multitude of sick people, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. The story is that an angel would come down and stir the water and whoever stepped into the moving water first, it would make them well of whatever disease they had.

In this biblical story, there was a man at that pool who had an infirmity for 38 years [1]. Now the Bible does not define his sickness but because he was lying on a bed (mat) on one of the five porches and could not make it to the water without help, we have to assume that the man somehow had crippled legs.

On this particular day, Christ was there and saw the man lying on his mat and already knew that he’d had the condition for a long time. Then Jesus asked the man probably the greatest question of all time, “Do you want to get well? [2]” There is a plethora of messages that any pastor could preach on this one question alone.

 

The same Spirit that is in Jesus Christ is in us, and through the Holy Spirit, Christ is still asking us that same question today, “Do you want to get well?” Do we realize the power that is behind the answer to that one question?

At first, the question seemed harsh and sarcastic but nothing could be further from the truth. The reason that the sick people were by the pool waiting for the angel to stir the water, was that their trust was in the swirling water. The crippled man told Jesus that, “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” This man’s trust was in someone getting him to the water, which he thought would heal him.

Although God does not think that anybody is useless, this guy was pretty close. Now I can have empathy for his condition but to lie around waiting for someone else to help or save him is troubling. This guy must have felt very insignificant and useless. There was a little despair in the crippled man’s voice as well.

We as believers can figuratively ask the same question of people sometimes when we throw the Amplified Bible at them, “Do you want to be healed? Have faith, put it under the Blood, and move on.” With good intentions, we speak from our healing. We do not put ourselves in their position and place of growth. Many times it is us who need the question. Who do we believe and trust in to get us to the water, or better yet, who do we trust in to heal us.

Christ’s death made it possible for us to pick up our bed and walk [3] no matter what the infirmity. If we can walk in the Spirit, maybe one day we will walk with our physical legs. If we don’t, then we continue to walk in the Spirit. It is prudent to get our eyes off of our sickness and onto the healer.

Our infirmity is not who we are. The mentality of feeling used, useless, and insignificant is not who we are. At the risk of speaking from my healing, the most important thing we can do is answer Jesus’ question: “Do we want to get well?” Keep in mind though that it is a process.

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[1] John 5:1-15
[2] John 5:6b NIV
[3] John 5:8