The prophet's handbook

Since most people do not like to confront or hear the truth, many of them avoid it any way they can. This character trait means that with or without the Holy Spirit, they will certainly not be inclined to prophesy truth to themselves. When they inquire of God regarding a dire matter or something they really feel they must have, the principle of Ezekiel 14:14 will most likely kick in to skew what they claim to hear to their advantage. In urgent times or in moments of great need or desire, the conflict of interests becomes so great that their customarily sound discernment can fail as the drive to have their way overrides all else. If such people are honest with themselves and the Lord, they will admit their vulnerable state and seek God’s answer from credible prophets. If their church has a properly functioning prophet institution, they can turn to such a group for quality guidance and accurate prophecy. That is why God needs prophets overall, and in His church particularly. Prophets are a rare species when they are yielded to God. Because they can take God’s truth for themselves, no matter how hard it is, they find it easy to administer that truth to others. Truly the law of “first partaker” is well ingrained in them prior to public service. The prophet is compelled by God to use this practice to ensure the prophecies’ prime objective is always to minister to and for Him in truth. Why Does God Continue His Prophetic Institution? Because we will spend eternity with the Most High God, we must learn all we can about how He does things in His world. While the need for prophecy may be altered in the future, its functional concepts go on, based on the rewards the Lord promised to those of the church who endure to the end. When you think about the Pergamos church (see Revelation 2:17), for instance, the eternal stone promised to those who overcome is symbolic of a revelation instrument. It equates to the Old Testament Urim and Thummim of the Levitical priesthood. In other words, that stone etched with the new name of the bearer designates who the bearer is in Christ’s new kingdom, how he is to serve, and how he receives his instruction and insights from the Lord. Remember, we said earlier that prophecy is the communications medium of the spirit world. It is how its citizens pass thoughts, activities, plans, and the will of God to one another, between themselves, and to us. God’s eternal protocol, being fixed in eternity, binds the earth to the same parameters for information exchanges between the two worlds. God will always retain the right to speak to His people. Actually, it is as much His duty as it is His right. He cannot change, and so throughout eternity He will,