Saturday, 20 July 2013

The Need for Prophecy



The Need for Prophecy

If ever there was a moment in history when the prophetic gifts were needed, it is NOW !! Yet in thousands of churches throughout Europe and America, and probably elsewhere too, not one prophetic utterance has been shared in the last decade or longer. The church has and is, effectively, burying its corporate head in the sand and carrying on as if not one thing were amiss. In those churches, apparently, there is every reason to believe that, despite biblical claims to the contrary, Jesus won’t be coming back any time soon so we will just get on with an undisturbed status quo. Anything even vaguely supernatural is discarded as ‘probably demonic’, while you’d be better off reading the horoscopes than trusting in any prophecy.

That is not what the Bible says.

For a start, the Word of God says, in Amos 3:7 “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” If the Bible is the Word of God, then why is so little credence given to prophecy? Why so little credence to watchmen, to prophets in general, or to any of the revelatory gifts. Presumably, there is no rapture, no second coming, and no hell either. All are prophesied many times in scripture, yet none have much credibility among churchmen, (I will not praise them by calling them ‘men of God’).

The Church needs the restoration, even a resurgence of the prophetic. The few intercessors need the watchmen on the wall, and the watchmen need the prayers of protection from any further schemes of the enemy to blind the rest of us as to what is going on. If there is no prophetic, then the intercessor cannot intercede on behalf of the faithful. Also, if the intercessor does not protect the prophet with a wall of protective prayer, then the watchman watches in vain as the enemy attacks and no-one hears his warnings.

If the church continues to eschew the prophetic and all that prophecy can bring to the body, then how is the average congregant going to even be aware of anything to do with end times? How will he prepare to face an ever endangered way of life and expression of his faith when persecution begins to overtake the church in those same end times? Prophecy is for the edification, the building up and confirming of our hope, for the Body of Christ.

Without it, where will we be?

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