The office of a prophet is a life calling. Most prophets are called at birth or when they are born again (salvation). It is primarily the Lords choosing, not something you seek to become, however if called, you have a responsibility to develop your gift. Some notable prophetic ministries have identified that it can take as long as 14-15 years for a person to develop into a prophet after being called.
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men… And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry.” (Eph 4:7, 11)
The five fold ministry is outlined in the above passage and the office of the prophet is one of the ministries that God has established for the governmental leadership of the church. To be a prophet is a calling. To minister in prophecy is a gift. When a person ministers in the gift of prophecy, the gift is the ability to prophesy. The words themselves are the gift. When a person is a prophet, they themselves are the gift. A prophet is a gift to the church.
Apart from a foundation of character, there are actually 3 components to any mature and fruitful ministry. These are:
- Calling – Calling gives identity. Paul was called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God (1 Cor 1:1).
- Gifting – Gifting gives ability. ‘As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God’ (1 Pet 4:10).
- Anointing – Anointing gives purpose. It was prophesied of Jesus, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to prisoners’ (Is 61:1).
The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable but the anointing of the Lord ebbs and flows according to the relationship we have with the Holy Spirit. The calling on your life describes who you are. The anointing of God provides you with your purpose in life and the gifts that God has given to you becomes the ability in which you accomplish his purposes.
The Oracle!
love it. i guess the church wouldn’t move forward without the forsight of the prophet, i know of churches that are stagnant and dont embrace change because they dont have the gift of a prophet
Great teaching of God’s scripture, God’s word is powerful and has so many tools to help us in life,
we really dont grasp even a few percent of the potential, Oh Lord help us to hunger you more, to desire more of you in our lives
I am in total agreement with your teaching on this subject.
Great description of a prophet, almost word for word out of Kris Vallaton’s book, good choice.