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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