The prophet's handbook

be limited to just one prophet. The one chosen to superintend the ministry of the local church should be free to identify, nurture, and induct others into the ministry to help shoulder the workload. Also, having more than one prophet reduces the possibility of prophetic monopolies in the church and allows the congregation to hear from God from more than one dimension. Pastors should seek to establish the ministry of the church prophet as an ordained order that includes prophetic representation from all the relevant spheres of the church’s life. The Watchman Duties of the Church Prophet Going back to the word shamar that we have been discussing, it further means “to watch over as one who guards cattle or sheep,” a definition that sums these up in the prophet. Sheep, in this case, refers to the flock of a congregation. In the Lord’s church, it refers to church members. You may already know that another word for the prophet is watchman. It symbolizes the patrolling and guardianship activities of the officer in the supernatural realm. Thus, the watch center of the church prophet’s territory coincides with a church’s divinely appointed sphere. Watchman duties are accomplished through the prayer, intercession, and petitions of the prophet on behalf of the church. They entail activation of the prophet’s mantle to invoke and marshal the spiritual forces assigned by God to keep the balance of power and tilt the scales in the church’s favor at the prophet’s word. Furthermore, they comprise the many reasons a prophet should be installed as the superintendent of the church’s overall prophetics, and as head of its spiritual guard, particularly the prayer group. Such a guard would consist of the prayer team, special intercessors, dedicated psalmists, seers, and, of course, subordinate prophets. The watchman application spotlights links between what prophets do spiritually and what a similar officer would do in the natural realm. Thus, the word shamar gives prophets the status of spiritual guards, warriors, supernatural enforcers, and keepers of the churches of God. (See Jeremiah 17:16 and 50:6–7 as examples.) Additionally, our word shamar identifies a prophet who encircles (or surrounds) to retain and attend to, as one does a garden. The prophet’s spiritual authority acts as a fence or garrison around an assigned congregation to shield it from harm, attack, or demonic trespass. Protection from trespassers, as meant here, includes protection from the spoilage, destruction, invasion, and threats that result from spiritual and human trespassers in the church. There are times when heretical types or wayward renegades join a church just to sow seeds of