The prophet's handbook

church? Can you, for instance, see clear evidence of a spiritual attack or devilish infiltration on the wider population? Such assaults usually start at the head and target leadership first. The most diligent leader can get weary or overwhelmed to the point that their guard drops and the enemy takes advantage of their weakened state. Do not be reluctant to acknowledge such problems when they surface, and by all means do not allow Satan to make you feel guilty or ashamed for needing some outside help. Here are some examples of when to call in a prophet. We will start with marriages. Are the marriages in your church, especially the leaders’, dissolving all of a sudden? How about the youth? Is teen pregnancy rampant? Are drug addictions, criminal activity, and incarcerations increased among them? What about the physical health of the flock? Are sickness and disease, especially those of a debilitating or fatal sort, all too frequent? What about employment? Are your members constantly losing jobs? An affirmative answer to more than a few of these can signal a need for prophetic ministry in the church. However, there are other signs not as crucial but every bit as essential. To illustrate, are you, as a pastor, finding fewer and fewer financial or promotional breakthroughs experienced in the work overall? Is the fund-raising down while the bills pile up? Do you encounter apathy and indifference from your people all too often, particularly in the area of money? Is the body at large afraid to give or enter into costly ventures with you? What about your ministers, trustees, elders, and leaders? Can you say they have been constant with you to date, or are you noticing a trend of wavering indecision regarding the moves you want to make? Are they confidently and competently handling and completing their assigned projects, or are more and more of their duties going undone or simply being ignored? How about their spirituality? Is there a steady progress in their ministry callings? Are they constant and diligent with the mandate of God on the church? Are they applying and growing from what they learn? Do they demonstrate effective in-church ministry? Consider your church programs. Are they flourishing, or does it seem as if a bronze sky has replaced the earlier open heavens over you? Could you use a breakthrough in building negotiations, land purchases? If any of these issues affect you, then your church is due for a qualified itinerant prophet’s ministry. Just make sure the one you bring in specializes in the issue you need to address. If you are wrestling with civil authorities in the area of zoning laws in your area, you need a prophet with strong judicial influence. That is, one with a particular influence over