I’ve been a prophet for more than 35 years. I have prophesied about major moves of God within the Church and amongst the nations. God has used prophecies I’ve given to encourage individuals who’ve later become well known in their gifts and callings. I’ve also prophesied over ministers who, though once well known, were seemingly forgotten by the Church. I’ve been sent to major leaders with prophetic words of correction or judgment. And I’ve also been sent to other prophets who were on the cusp of giving major prophetic words to world leaders, including presidents. I’ve prophesied over their lives accurate, powerful, life-changing words from God. That’s on the positive side of being a prophet. But there’s also a negative side few will witness or understand. The conflict, betrayal, midnight, even months-long times of concerted prayer. At times, the battle can be intense. That’s what I’d like to talk about in this post.
Oftentimes, people can look at the supernatural, experiential side of being a prophet: the dream, visions, visitations, angelic appearances, words impacting lives through sheer manifestations of God’s power. It can be intense. Having had those experiences, I know how much it can change a prophet. We can become “set on things above, not on things on the earth.” As such, prophets can seem too heavenly minded and no earthly good. If that happens in the life of a prophet, they’ve fallen into a trap that’s no easy to get out of; prophets under the delusion of that trap become hermit-like people, avoiding others for fear of contamination by them. Yet prophets must travel from the mountaintop experience into the valley to be able to affect and impact this world.
Prophets in scripture were different. Yes, they had heavenly, supernatural experiences. Yet, they were relatable, personable, hospitable, and community oriented. Often, prophets traveled in companies. They weren’t isolated. No, they were integrated within the community, fixtures of faith others were able to look to and rely upon for guidance. In fact, people paid a high price to travel to prophets for clarity in their lives. Or they were ignored by those around them who failed to recognize the value that they brought with them. That same thing happens today. We are still living in Bible days. Prophets still exist. God still sends prophets to His people. Jesus said He would do that: “the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles’”. Luke 11:49, Berean Standard Bible.
Yet, as in Jesus’s day, people resisted prophets. Yes, some hated prophets. In fact, the second portion of Luke 11:49, Berean Standard Bible, states that very thing: “some of them they will kill and others they will persecute.” Yes, prophets still experience persecution; it’s part of the life of a prophet. I have experienced that persecution: the cold shoulder, the left foot of fellowship, vilification, mocking, slander, false accusations, litigation up the wazoo (100+ cases), embezzlement, unbelievable amounts of theft, and much much more. One minister, a friend who was murdered and raised from the dead three times, said, “he would have wept if he had received the prophetic word he gave me before the litigation I experienced (17 years). Still, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”. Romans 1:16, ESV. And I have seen His power as a prophet of God.
Prophets are in a different category than other ministry offices. Prophets don’t just bring people to God, like Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers do; rather, they bring God to people. That’s the primary difference between a Church that has prophets and one without prophets — there’s an absence of God’s power. And people know it. They can sense it. Now, church leaders may try to suppress that knowledge through an abundance of activity. Yet, at the end of the day, when push comes to shove, people will know there’s something missing, an absence they can’t put their finger on, but they know it’s there. There’s “a famine on the land: Not a famine of bread and not a thirst for water, but rather of hearing the words of YHWH.” Amos 8:11, Berean Literal Bible. When prophets appear, that famine ends, but conflict will begin between the religious power structure that exists and the power demonstrated through the manifestation of God’s Word through the prophet.
That’s when what Jesus said about what would happen to prophets manifests. The religious power structure says, “Kill the power!” Next, “Kill the prophet!” Why? The dichotomy created by the absence of the real and the demonstration of the real. The real cannot be faked. The false can. Being a prophet isn’t about good marketing. Worldly people can create good marketing. No! I’m talking about the literal manifestation and demonstration of God’s kingdom through moves of power and of the Spirit, for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom: Freedom from sin, freedom from bondage, freedom from lack, freedom from sickness and disease, and freedom from Satan’s lies. Prophets have the ability to pierce demonic lies that hold men and women in bondage.
The real prophet doesn’t only prophesy; they invade false realities founded upon and by demonic lies and shake those ungodly foundations to their core. They break the power of pride and religious bondage. Real prophets shift atmospheres through manifestations of the Spirit and power. Prophets don’t offer smoke and mirrors, or fog machines and lights. No! They offer fire, real fire from heaven that consumes the hearts and minds of everyone it touches. Saints, there can be no middle ground with the world, flesh, and Devil. And right now, the Church has offered to the world middle ground. Today’s Church has surrendered its faith over the foolish belief that compromising our faith would draw the world closer to Christ. Foolish!
No compromise! No surrender! That’s the cry of the prophet. Repentance. That’s the cry of the prophet. Turn from sin to God. That’s the cry of the prophet. As the prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field”. Isaiah 40:6. The absence of that prophetic cry in the Church is deafening. With all our “prophets”, where’s the prophetic cry against sin. Let’s hear the true prophetic voice: “Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.” Hosea 8:1, ESV. That’s right! The vultures are circling the Church, looking for the dead. Like Abraham, prophets chase the vultures away from the sacrifice on the altar. Genesis 15:11.
That’s the job description of a prophet. The life of a prophet is consumed with the will of God. Prophets, like Christ, cry, “to do thy will, O God”. Hebrews 10:7. It’s not for the faint of heart. No, it requires endurance, years of endurance, silent years, for minutes, hours, days, and sometimes weeks or on occasion months of work. With prophets, days aren’t wasted. No, they’re utilized in preparation for their mission. Everything prophets go through they go through for the sake of their mission. Like Apostles, prophets are sent, as the prophet Isaiah shows us in his heavenly vision and visitation: “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne being high and lifted up, and his train was filling the temple…And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom will I send, and who will go for Us?’ And I said ‘Here am I—send me!’ And He said, ‘Go…” Isaiah 6:1, 8, 9, Berean Literal Bible.
That’s the disparity between the prophets in the scripture and prophets today — prematurity. Unwilling to wait, as John the Baptist did, “until the time of his public appearance”. Luke 1:30, Berean Standard Bible. No, John the Baptist didn’t force his appearance. Rather, he manifested it…at the right time. Not his time, God’s time. And God’s timing is always perfect. That why “they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31. Waiting, waiting, and more waiting. At the same time, maturing, maturing, and more maturing. Waiting and maturing go hand in hand and hand in glove with the prophets calling. Take “as an example…of patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” James 5:11, Berean Literal Bible.
Patience, testings, trials, afflictions, persecutions, and worse. The life of a prophet is filled with these things. Yes, there are highs of experiences beyond words, but…there are lows, lulls, laborings, silence, and hardships beyond belief. That’s the life of one called to be a prophet. As a prophet, if you are one called as a prophet, I welcome you to the ministry. For those claiming to be prophets who aren’t, I see your fall coming…and it won’t be pretty.
Let us pray!
— Scott Wallis
Posts
Comments
Post a Comment