THE SUBMERGING PROPHETIC

THE :: SUBMERGING :: PROPHETIC

Resonate.ca received this question today:

[...] I don't really see the gift of prophecy as very evident in my particular community, and I was wondering what other people's experiences were with encouraging and training people in it? It seems like something that would certainly be beneficial considering the emphasis that Paul puts on it when speaking of spiritual
gifts."

Here are a few thoughts I wanted to share:

You are asking the right question, for by doing this, you are fixing kingdom paramaters to the exercise of spiritual gifts: how are the gifts relevant to a particular community of believers, and how can the community at large, secular and believing, can benefit from the breath of God to infuse it with divine life, through a body of believers. I hope I understood your question properly. I'll share a few thoughts just as a way of processing this with you. We all see dimly, as peering through a mist... I'm addressing a few things here, but they are not directed at you as a person, but rather hopefully relate to the topic, as well as other "by-product" (ah! here's where lack of English gets in the way... :O) of the current prophetic culture. I beg for mercy for any error in the way I express myself, or for just plain errors in my 'understanding' of the truth and the articulation of said understanding of truth...

Let's begin.

I've been part of churches prophetically active, and some very pro-active ones as well. By prophetic, I refer to timely and pertinent encouragement, revelatory healing prayer, directive statements for individuals and for the church. In one of them, a group of prophetic people were meeting weekly to worship, compare notes and share revelations, dreams and visions, many revealing a timeline of growth for that church's to walk into its "greater destiny," with years (and miles of pages) of confirmations, and they would pray that it would come to pass. Although the leadership always encouraged and welcomed these, I can't say I have seen the said leadership move over to make sure they were letting the Lord do what He seemed to have revealed He would do. It ended up in disaster.

Granted, out of that another leadership was finally brought in and things started to look a bit more like what had been prophesied. However, I do think that when we refer to "prophetic" in most circles, we usually use the term to mean "those who hear what God is saying today." I have much problem with that. Don't get me wrong: I've been visited in my bedroom by the same renewal manifestations months before I ever set foot in Toronto. It has opened a door to my spiritual life that was unlike anything I've ever experienced. Being a musician, I've been involved in worship and hanged out with rather cool "prophetically-enhanced" worshippers from various churches from around the world.

But at this point, I have become tired of the sales pitch of most prophetically endowed movements and churches. If it's all about the greater destiny of the Church, then it can't be about the great mystery of the Incarnation. There is something I can't put my finger on that bugs me. Every believer is prophetic, but I think we also need to move beyond the "I now can have a ministry" syndrom, and the conference culture that sprung out of that, with sessions of "activation" of your gift by "recognized" prophetic leaders.

I speak of what I have seen. And I've become disinterested by the "latest word" of the so-called prophets. I've had my season of desiring to be singled out in a crowd with a smashing word of glorious destiny for all to see. The lust for recognition it revealed in me was one of the greatest revelation I've received.

It's not for me to say who's a prophet, but I for one hope for the day where it's not going to be about the big names, but about the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. I'm also sure there are many local needs for prophetic revelation, that embraces all the arts, the structures of local government and the loving your neighbour bit. All an outflowing of God's vibrant grace resting and moving in a person that has known redemption beyond the contemporary flaws of Christiandom, where finally the race has slowed down and space is made for a relationship with our Creator and Savior. The prodigal son makes his way home only for personal gain, but the Father's response is pregnant of his son's coming home from the heart, and beyond the story I am called to grasp the deeper meaning of the kenosis (self-emptying) of God. And that changes the whole scene for me.

So, what I'm saying is: blessings on all who seek to hear God and realize that they actually can hear Him. Our lives would be a greater mess if we were left to ourselves in the dark, but Jesus did not leave us alone. What I question is the theology of most of the prophetic and the fruit that comes from that in my own life. The temptation is great to generalize, and I'm sure I will succomb to it at times, but empirically speaking, I have seen, heard and experienced the dark side of prophetic: all gift, all gift. I would say it is a school, an important part of the journey, and one has to do homeworks, not just received everything without exercising discernment. After all, that's what Paul instructed:

" 29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace."
(1 Cor 14:29-32)

This sounds like it takes time to weigh things carefully. Just think how long I've bee writing to try and say something while processing and considering many facets of the topic... Do we address the prophetic voices of our time? Do we feel qualified to test their word and respond as the Lord instructs us? There must be a reason why Paul included that in this chapter. Was he trying to warn us against something? Or qualifying the use of prophetic withing the parameters of community where all should be encouraged to speak the words inspired by God. He thus says there will be mistakes made. I also suspect he was trying to encourage us not to limit our expectation of His revelation to a "chosen few," but that by sharing within the community of faith, there lies the better rule of balance, and the better use of His words.

Otherwise, we get a culture of the prophetic that's unbiblical, exclusive, unaccountable, "mistaught." The spirit of the world also point its head in there: people tend to leave the responsability to the leaders to chew-up the theological meat and serve them the pablum. Then, most theology will serve the voted vision, justifying the current dynamics of leader worship, and not the cyclical process of maturity.

There are questions we need to wrestle with as created beings, as redeemed beings, and they might not directly answer the technocratic needs of church-growth. But unless we challenge our thinking with other substances than what is presented by the packaged 'prophetic' of conference circuits, we won't be able to properly discern the real from the temporary. And our impact on our generation will suffer from not seeing us bring the kingdom into the world, but try to bring the world into the kingdom.

Read: square peg - round hole.

Just a few thoughts, also in process...

Peace,