This is a follow up to the message,
ACTIVATING THE PROPHETIC.
- Only a prophetic church will be
able to activate the prophetic.
- Only a prophetic church can put to
work what has been activated.
A brief recap on activating the prophetic;
- The greatest need in this season is
“Thus saith the Lord”-Hosea 12:13. When men try to speak without the Holy
Ghost, they speculate, but with the Holy Ghost, they prophesy.
- You cannot say “Thus saith the
Lord” if you have not been with the Lord. One of the essences of this season is
to reawaken and rebuild our intimacy with God. If we miss this, we have
missed it.
The church has been like an army full
of civilians, but God wants an army full of trained soldiers.
- Our relevance to God and men is
tied to our personal intimate walk with the Lord.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROPHETIC
CHURCH
1) Intimacy with God. One of the
things that have been wrongly defined in our day is the prophetic. The
prophetic church is intimate with the Lord. They know His mind, His agenda, and
they understand the times in line with His agenda. The prophetic church is God-centred
and jealous for God.
2) They are consecrated to the Lord. Not
everything goes. The prophetic church is sold out to the will of
God; they are holy, totally set apart for God. It is a church that fears the
Lord. (You cannot walk holy if you do not fear God). They are people totally
yielded to God. They are not known for what they have ( magnificent buildings, money,
status in the society etc ). All they reveal is God. Everything about them
expresses God. It is God-centred, not man-centred. Any gospel that plays
down on sin and holiness is from the pit of hell. We were saved by grace, and
grace empowers and enables us to live above sin. In short, grace
makes us inexcusable. The prophetic church lives to obey Him. The prophet will
not go where he has not to be told to go, nor say what he has not been told.
The Old Testament, men "trembled" when they saw a prophet because
they knew he represented God and must have a word from the Lord.
3) The prophetic church is an orderly
church, it is not rigid and it is not lawless. Orderliness does not mean
being rigid. To be orderly means one is functioning according to the principles
of scriptures but in subjection to the dealings of the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor.
14:40, The word of God is the final and supreme authority in the prophetic
church. Our guiding principles are all pulled out of the word. It is not
cultural, ethnical, or professional. In rigid churches, their rules
and regulations are not flexible. Some in a bid to continue in
lawlessness describe bringing order as been legalistic. Both extremes are not
found in a prophetic church. In the prophetic church,
encounters/experiences are not put above the word of God. Peter, James and John had an
outstanding encounter on the mount of transfiguration. Yet, Peter declares
the word of God is a more sure word of prophecy. 2nd Peter 1: 14-21.
4) The prophetic church is a
Spirit-filled church. That is, it is Spirit ruled, Spirit governed, it is open
and flexible to the dictates of the Spirit. For the church to be effective, it
must come under the influence of the Holy Ghost. Acts 1:8. The church in
Acts was a Spirit-filled church. Every time they got refilled with the Holy
Ghost, they went on to do great exploits and made progress. This
season is meant for our refilling and refuelling We have tried different methods
and gimmicks, it hasn’t helped us. We must come under the influence of the Holy
Spirit in order not to be spectators in this season. To see beyond the physical
into the plans of God we need to walk with the Holy Ghost.
In this dispensation, our
partnering with the Holy Spirit is crucial, to bring to pass God's counsel upon
the earth.
5) The prophetic church is a church
with a sense of mission. It operates with eternity in view. Anything we are
doing that does not reckon with eternity is vanity. It is a church on a journey
and it is conscious of it by its lifestyle, attitude, decision etc. The
prophetic church has a sent mentality- they are Apostolic in nature. When a
prophet shows up, he fulfills his mission and moves on. He does not sit
down and get involved in frivolities. The prophetic church is not frivolous in
nature or involved in carnal pursuits. It is focused.
Examples
Israel- The church in the wilderness,
( Acts 7:38). The first church. It portrayed a shadow of what was to
come. It was meant to be a prophetic church, but they did not key in.
# They were a church on a journey
and on a mission. They were on a journey into the Promised Land but they were
not conscious of their destination. If we do not know where we are coming
from and where we are going, we will run into untold hardships and crisis. Of
all the adults that left Egypt, only two people .made it to the Promised Land.
# They were not intimate with
God.
They were not interested in knowing
God but just using Him. They knew his acts, not His ways. If
everyone truly knows God, we would have less crisis. It is those that know
their God that will be strong and do exploits. Dan 11: 32
# God fed them daily manna. Exodus
16.
It is a daily dependence on God. You
must live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We cannot
fulfill the mandate of God if we do not have a sent mentality. Settling
the future is not about putting up structures or saving money. It's living with
eternity in view. The daily manna they were fed with was so they would depend
on Him daily for everything, it was also because their confidence had to be in
God and on nothing else- Deut. 8:3.
To be continued…
Prayer
Lord, I have ears and I hear
