“The prophet doesn’t just fulfill the role of one who foretells the future, he or she fulfills the role of an elder at gate guiding a city and a nation. That function is so important to us simply because it's easy to get derailed in the mundane.”
The Role of a Prophet In Present Times
The Future, Just the Beginning
It's an amazing experience when a prophet comes into your life and tells you about all the amazing things God has called you to do in your life. It can illuminate the dark areas of uncertainty and impart faith into you for what is to come. However this is only one of the many dimensions of what a prophet does. Sharing what is going to happen, about the future is just one drop in a vast ocean.
If you are called to walk as a prophet, knowing this is essential for you to carry out your calling in its fullness. If you are one that receives from prophets and their ministries but you only see them as ones that tell you the future, a ton of important things get left on the table.
Prophets : An Elder Guiding a City and A Nation
In the times of Israel, prophets were voices that stood at the gates of the nations, leading entire groups of people into what God wanted to accomplish through them.
In I Samuel 4, the Bible speaks about Eli, who sat at the gate of the city and had ruled the nation of Israel for 40 years. His successor, Samuel did the same but also anointed other leaders such as Saul and David. The role of a prophet is to be a voice to a city and nation, a raiser of leaders and influencers, to tell them what the heart of God is in the season and how they should go in order to advance. Prophets are leaders.
It's easier to just be the prophet that tells people their future and destiny, but God is looking for those that are willing to step into the fullness of their calling and be a leader at the gate of their city and not just a voice.
Prophetic Passion and the Heart of a Prophet - the Breaker of Stagnation :
Humans are creatures of habit. Even the most creative, outside the box of us still have rituals and routines we do in our lives to help maintain a sense of balance, security and safety. Routine is a good thing, daily practices are one of the only ways that we progress as a society. However, good things can often become stumbling blocks on our way to the best things if we are not careful.
The mundane can kill innovation. What’s worse is that it can cause us to stand still when God is moving forward. We see it all around us in the lives of our friends, family and in churches all over the world. There are many of us that have the best of intentions but are trapped by the routine and monotony of just existing.
Prophets and the prophetic are called to break God’s people out of their ruts, their habits and routines turned to religion and move them to the cutting edge of what He is doing today. Prophets do this for individuals but there is an hour that is here where Prophets will stand on their mountains of influence and prophetically move entire groups of people forward into the next thing.
We must not only receive the words a prophet speaks, but the impartation that comes with it to break us our of the dryness and repetition of our current existence. Just like Elijah, prophets are called to prophesy an end to the drought in people’s and nation’s lives so they can step into the new.
The question we must ask ourselves during this exciting time is this: Will we choose to enter into the deeper realms of the prophetic to become a voice at the gate of our city and place of influence?