Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Leaders set an example to those they lead in hearing God and proclaiming what He says. This is the testimony of prophetic ministry. Prophetic ministry is both prophetic and ministry. It is something ‘received’ from God and then ‘given’ to people. One part is the passive function of receiving the prophetic message from God. The second part is the active function of transmitting the prophetic message to the people. The more we grow in knowing who God is, we grow in being His voice in our world. He does not put shame upon the world but comes in the power of life to free all people from every place of shame. For this reason, our voice as leaders must free people from shame and not place shame upon them. We must set an example in our ability to receive what God says and to transmit what He says in the way that He says it. All people should prophetically see what God is revealing and proclaim His message of life to their world. Leaders only set an example in doing so and inspire those they lead to do the same.
Leadership in the body of Christ should set an example in being expressions of God’s voice to their world. When God speaks, life happens! This is the true testimony of the Spirit of prophecy. It is a testimony of Jesus. To understand the function of prophetic ministry we must look at the receptive function as well as the proclaiming function of prophetic ministry:
1 Sam. 9:9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: “Come, let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer).
To speak what God says, we must first hear what He is saying. Hearing God is actually seeing by revelation what God is saying. This is why John turned to see the voice that spoke to Him in the first chapter of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.
God’s voice is not a voice of information, but a voice of transformation. Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus and when we receive something of Jesus by revelation, that revelation changes us from within.
God speaks to our spirits by allowing us to see into the realm of eternity for life-giving expressions into our natural realm. When God speaks to our spirit, our spirit then speaks to our soul. It comes from within us. When people hear, they hear in basically three different ways. God is not limited in His ways of communicating, but we are limited in our means of hearing. We hear God by seeing pictures, hearing thoughts, or sensing and feeling something from within. The reception of revelation from within inspires us to declare what we see, hear, or sense from within. Prophecy is a result of the Divine activity of God upon the human personality of man, resulting in a prophetic message which “bubbles up” and “gushes forth” as living water from the throne room of God.
John 7:37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Jesus demonstrated this life in His encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. He didn’t condemn her in her sin but offered her life by life-giving words of the Spirit.
John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
In Jesus’ conversation with her, he demonstrated God’s love for her through words that broke the shame of condemnation off her life. He didn’t shame her. He gave her life! Our words as leaders must be words of life! Our words as believers in Christ, must be words of life. We live to hear, see, and sense all that God empowers us to see in order to give life-giving words to those in our world. The result is life!
Ezekiel 47:9 And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.
Words from our hearts should bring life to our world! They should bring healing to those we speak to. Life should be the testimony of our encounters with others in this world.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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