Prophetic Ministry In Church
God promised to pour out His spirit in an unprecedented way in the days to come. We already see an increase of prophetic activities in churches and other Christian congregations. It is very important for the leadership, the congregation as well as the prophetic vessels being used by the Holy Spirit to understand what the bible teaches us to give and receive prophetic ministries in an orderly manner. It is God's will to edify the church with the prophetic gifts.
The body of Christ is diversified but in unity. We have one and only one head who is our Lord Jesus. We have the same person inside of us who is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us different gifts and different positions and roles to play. We should be grateful for what we are given and be a faithful steward. We humbly function as we are called to and submit to the authorities God put above us.
Prophetic words have a very special nature because it makes us feel that we are hearing the 'very word of God'. This can intimidate a lot of people and create all kinds of strange dynamics. In fact, only the canonized scriptures are the revealed 'very word of God' while all other prophetic words are merely human words reporting a God inspired thought which should never be treated as authoritative as the scriptures.
The bible teaches us not to despise prophecies but to test everything with biblical wisdom. This is especially important for spiritual leaders. A pastor or a church leader must try to facilitate and at the same time restrain the prophetic ministry in the church. He must administrate the prophetic people and the ministry with biblical principles and wisdom from the above. A leader who rejects all the prophetic operation due to misunderstanding or insecurity and a leader who allows the prophetic people to move without restrain or guidelines will bring the same result to the church - the prophetic anointing stops.
In Kansas City, there is a church supervised by Pastor Mike Bickle. He experienced a lot about the prophetic and is now very mature in working with prophetic ministries. But there was a time that he did not understand everything the way he does now. At that time, a lot of prophetic words are allowed to be shared in the Sunday services. The prophetic people were not guided or administrated properly because Mike thought that these people must know exactly what and when to say the words since they can listen to the Lord. But it turned out this was not the case.
In many occasions, people are given gifts, power and authority before they are mature enough to use them well in the will of God. The Lord gave us different gifts so that we can help each other out. The leaders are gifted with leadership anointing and that they should take up their responsibility to facilitate and administer the prophetic vessels. There will be many difficult dynamic happening because we are all weak and broken people. ：
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