How Prophets are called into Ministry

Hello everyone, we're continuing on our prophetic series today and we're on day 3 of the prophetic. And here we're to talk about today's topic is how a prophet becomes a prophet. And so I want to have a disclaimer before I start this video, is, is that there are going to be elements of this video that taken out of context will actually sound incorrect in the context of biblical teaching, as well as the things that we see in the Old Testament and the New Testament. So as you're going through this video, give me a little bit of grace as we go through it because there are aspects that may sound confusing to you. Or if you hear an excerpt of this video that may sound like, hey, that's not a biblical statement, but the reality is, is you kind of have to take the whole thing in context. So as always, if you do like this content, definitely subscribe to this YouTube channel. We'll be putting out about 4 more videos on the prophetic. Tomorrow we'll actually talk about the— with the sphere in which a prophet is graced to operate. So we're really not going to cover that today. We're really just going to cover the nuances of how prophet gets called, as well as share this video with others, because if we're going to be continuing to create more content, more long-form content on this channel, and hopefully we'll be able to continue to grow the ministry as we go forward. So one of the key things I want to start with is, is an interesting statement when you look at how prophets are actually operating within the Old Testament into a degree a little bit differently in the New Testament. So one of the key things to understand is, is that regardless of how anything works, a prophet is called by God into ministry. That's how all prophets start. You can have aspects where a laying of hands can activate some giftings and ultimately turn on some things, or you actually just give it at that moment where it actually happens. But we really don't see that in scriptures specifically in the context of the prophetic. Not to say that it doesn't happen, but what we normally see in the prophetic is generally the gifting is either presented into the person at birth or later on in their life where God will turn it on. And that may have been something that was either deposited later or actually was deposited at birth. Regardless of that, the key thing to understand is in the context of the prophetic, it's really important to note that It all starts with God. The way it works is, is that the prophetic is allowing a person to come into the office and operate as God's mouthpiece to a specific area of influence. And again, we'll cover the influence tomorrow. But the idea is, is to understand that it all starts with God. And so the key thing to note is, is that there are a lot of people that will, as they're growing in their prophetic anointing, really want to get confirmed by Uh, a local church or individuals in order to be considered a prophet. They don't accept the anointing because they need an external verification. And I actually had this situation happen to me recently where God corrected me on this. He goes, I call the prophets. I'm the one who defines them. I'm the one who gives them this aspect of their identity. It's not mankind. I will leverage mankind to confirm them and to bring announcement to the people in order for them, as they are being elevated in their anointing, in order to start to operate in different levels. But at the end of the day, it all starts and ends with God. And so how does this work in, in the context of scriptures and what we see here in the New Testament, which really is to a degree a little bit different than what we see in the Old Testament? So In the New Testament, there isn't a single prophet confirmed by man in the entire New Testament. It doesn't happen. It's just, yeah, we see Paul and Barnabas getting confirmed initially by the Holy Spirit and then by man where they lay their hands on and they go start their missionary work. But in the context of the prophets or the prophetesses, where the female— I'm sorry, I'm not pronouncing it really well— they're not ever confirmed by anyone at any point in time in in the New Testament. In fact, when you go back into the Old Testament, we don't really see a lot of it. It does happen. We see that with Elisha in the context of Elijah, but we really don't see that overall. We see like Moses, who is confirmed by God. We see Samuel, who is also primarily confirmed by God. We really never see Eli or his mom or anyone else actually confirm Samuel. We never see that with David. And so what does that all mean in the context of how you're trying to walk out your prophetic anointing? How do you know that you are a prophet? prophet versus having the spirit of prophecy? And how does that manage— how does that all work in the context of what God's calling you to do? And so the key thing to understand is, is within the context of the prophetic, you are the voice of God. And it's very important— and we'll also cover this later— on how to build that anointing in your life to understand when God is speaking to you versus when the devil is speaking to you. Because when God's speaking to you, you're going to get a lot of peace and potentially external confirmation, and where the devil will come and bring all forms of negative emotions and sufferings because it's— he wants to kind of steal, kill, and destroy. There's really a big difference when you actually understand it. Even in the context of correction, which a prophet operates at a higher— when they start to escalate and operate at a higher level, it still comes filtered through the heart of God. And so when we see this is What happens is, is when you start walking into prophetic anointing, you're going to start to hear things and see things and know things that other people don't know. This is going to be a critical aspect because there's going to be a part where God will put you through a training period. And that training period is really different for people. Some people will see visitations by Jesus calling you out specifically into the prophetic, and it kickstarts the whole ministry. Others may be getting all kinds of vivid dreams. That ultimately become true. Others are saying, hey, I can actually walk up to a person and I just know things about them that I otherwise wouldn't know. And so all of these things, what we call, considered like training wheels for a prophet. And if you're starting to experience that, that is the way the Holy Spirit is training you into moving into the prophetic. That's different than the spirit of prophecy, which we covered yesterday. And so the key thing to note is, is that you're going to start to know and see and experience things that really can't be Explained. Now, when you look at this from the context of a secular world, this is where a lot of things can get really muddied with a lot of the, the mental institution kind of components, a lot of areas where people may be thinking you're crazy, you're hearing voices, you're seeing dreams. This is where we want to be careful. I'm not trying to cross the line, and I'm not trying to say everything is one way or another, but When you start to operate in the prophetic, the key thing to get is, is that you're going to hear the voice of God clearly and through the means in which he is training you to understand. Now, you may not have that skill developed in one way. As an example, you may hear God speaking to you constantly in your mind, and then you verbalize it. You may go through a season later where he'll turn that off and actually just speak to you in dreams. He may then turn that off and then speak to you only in visions and/or images or pictures, either whether your eyes are open or eyes are closed. What he's doing is, is he's starting to train you and get you to understand all the different ways that he starts to work with people, because he is a diverse— he's an infinite God, so he doesn't talk the way we talk. There's multiple expressions in which he's going to go over and involve you and incorporate that with you. Now, the other aspect to understand is, is that a lot of the prophetic utterances that come from the Holy Spirit, those aren't always going to be complete stories. That's a key thing, and it's in Scripture where we technically— we in 1 Corinthians 14, we can technically prophesy in part. Now, there may be elements where we can get A full prophetic utterance that covers everything. A lot of times that will be for ourselves or for potentially for a family member. But the idea here is to note that as God is speaking to you, he may want to edify other prophets or other people to bring in the full picture. This is no different than operating in a church where he wants other people to be involved in ministries because he wants to bless them too. This is why you don't see someone that, as an example, would is Let's say you have a multi-billionaire that's in a church, and that person funds 100% of the activities in the church. That's an awesome thing, but then no one else gets edified through giving because one person takes up the entire share of the pie. This is how it operates in the prophetic. This is why prophets working with other prophets sharpen each other and grow and can test one another and can really pray into the words that they're hearing from the Holy Spirit, however the expression is, in order to grow. So as you're starting to understand this, this is kind of what I'm trying to kind of lay the foundation as you move into the prophetic— how these different things that you may not necessarily know are aspects of the gift of prophecy, which ties directly into the office of the prophet, versus the spirit of prophecy, which is really a lot of different things, yeah, which we covered yesterday. And so, as you're starting to develop the the gift of prophecy and moving into the office of the prophet, one of the key things to understand is is that your conversations with God can turn into epic conversations. Your visions, your knowledge, your things that you get can turn into epic information. You can go into a situation and discharge a charged situation. You could go into a situation. That may be super challenging and come up with a solution instantly. And this is where the Holy Spirit is moving in great power through you as a vessel to serve the Lord. It is— just depends on the situation that God is calling you into and the frequency. This is the key thing, is the frequency. As you're more obedient, which we'll also cover it in another day later, it will ramp up. If you're more obedient to God, He's going to continue to trust you, even if the sphere of your prophetic is just yourself. Because when you call— when you're called into the prophetic office, you're going to start ministering just to yourself. You may not even minister to your family, much less anyone else. And even in the context of the local church, you really have to be confirmed in order to operate in the local church. But God's going to work with you, and these things are really important because these are how you can start to navigate your day, day by day, moment by moment, under the true influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, because you will know things that you would otherwise not know because you were yielded to the Holy Spirit. This can really come into play with a lot of different things. It can come into play with praying into and how to manage a meeting. Maybe you're going into a meeting and it's— you're— maybe you're not fully prepared, or maybe you're overly prepared and just don't know how to navigate it. It could be even a sales meeting, like, how can I convince this client that the, the information or the wares that we're selling is really best for them? And the Holy Spirit can go through and guide you in those moments on these are really the needs and the pain points that they're really looking for. Focus here. That's really a key aspect of the prophetic because it is hearing the mind of God in those moments and and working your way through it. Remember, the prophetic isn't always about giving people thus says the Lord and giving them these future prophetic utterances. That's a huge aspect of the prophetic, but it's not the only thing. There's so many pieces to it. Now, I want to make sure that at this point we understand a couple things, is that you as a prophet, your words are going to carry a lot of weight in situations. There, it's called dunamis power, and you will speak and people will listen. It is really important, important to understand that this is a gift from God that is not meant to be abused. And we see that across the world in many different areas. You see that in psychics, palm readers, all forms of people that really have this prophetic anointing and then start to abuse it for their own financial gains. We know from Romans that the gifts that God gives you are irrevocable. So once you've got them, they're yours, and you're not— they're not going to go away. But you don't want to be in a situation where You're caught with abusing them. Really, the idea is, is that you're meant to be yielded to the Spirit and leveraging the gifts in the moments he's calling you to, in order for him to entrust you with greater secrets and more important aspects. Because then, as he starts to elevate you, the, the warfare and other things that are in your life, especially the trust factor, will become more intense. And so, as a prophet, The key thing that you'll see is, is that you'll hear people talk about— we might have mentioned this before— that women have this intuition. Mothers' intuitions, women's intuition. Gentlemen have a gut feeling. Really, what we're really seeing is, is for those who operate in the prophetic, this is actually a normal course. As you start to understand that those aren't your feelings, those aren't your intuitions, that's the Holy Spirit prodding you to say, hey, look, I need you to do something in this situation, or you need to say this in this situation, and kind of steer things in a positive way. Another aspect of the prophetic is really key words where you're trying to encourage people. One of the things that the prophets— early young prophets can do as a big mistake is that they'll beat the sheep. This is something that I have heard about and have seen, and it is very important. Everything that comes from God comes from the mind of God. It's going to never, never contradict the Word of God, but it must be filtered through the heart of God. You must have a spirit of adoption and not an orphan spirit as you're sharing prophetic utterances with people. And so this is key, is as you're starting to get information, you really need to be looking at exhortation, which is being able— and even, even in its definition, it means sharp correction. Uh, encouragement, which is building people up, or a form of comfort. The words of the prophetic are meant to potentially change someone's life in a positive way towards going towards God. This is key because that's the whole point of the prophetic, is guiding them back onto or keeping them on the path that God has set forth in their life. And there is very little in Scripture where you see God Truly, truly upset to the point where it's like he is actually going what we would consider off the rails, which we know in that case God never goes off the rails. But what we're seeing here is, is that a human's perspective of why God has chosen the path that he has. And we know when we really understand that those were extreme situations where extreme sin occurred and God has to maintain his holiness and And so therefore he has to ultimately get to the end of the rope and address it with, with the way he has to address it. The prophetic doesn't operate like that. The prophetic is meant to be a very important, encouraging, loving, building up service to others. Things that you hear are really designed to help people either grow in their anointing or lift them up. Now you may get prophetic utterances for yourself or for others that ultimately say, hey, maybe say, say John Doe is in this sin and that's consuming their life, and you have to go to a degree confront them and talk to them about it. But even then, you're going to do that in a loving, powerful way that allows them to bring conviction into their life and guide them towards Jesus. And the Holy Spirit, you can ask the Holy Spirit, how do I do that? How do I take this message, which can come across being very condemning and being very hard and will look to be, I'm beating the sheep, but yet turn it around and be this heart and loving and caring? And he'll show you how to do that. He'll prepare you in advance and yield your heart to him in order to do that. But that's the key thing, is when you're starting to operate in the prophetic, You're going to start to know things that you don't otherwise know. You're going to start to know things about other people that you wouldn't otherwise know, and God's going to have to start in there having you intercede in their life to kind of help them along. And in many cases, what you'll see is, is that most of it is really just helping them push them into a posture of faith and get them to stop the control that they're holding on to and give it to God so that God can release the blessings in their life, and really ultimately get them out of the way of themselves. And so really that's the key thing, is God's always taking care of his sheep, and really that's the key thing. Now the one aspect about the prophetic that I— if you'll notice the way I'm talking, is the prophetic is really an inward-facing ministry. Now there are aspects— prophet to the nations, prophet to the leaders— that are going to be external, but really the prophetic is specifically designed for the church. And so if you see prophets that are going out there and speaking generally to unsaved people or to the general masses, more than likely, unless they've been called from a local church into that spot, that they're really most likely either mishearing God or kind of overstepping the, the area in which they're supposed to operate. Really, the idea of the prophetic is to minister to the children of God and to help them grow through the aspects of their walk with Christ in order to go to the next level to level, you know, faith to faith, and all of those things. And so that's really the thing, is if you're starting to operate in the prophetic, these are kind of the entry-level areas that you'll start to see, is that you'll start to know things you don't otherwise know. You'll hear God talking to you to intervene Call a friend. You may see a picture of someone that you haven't talked to in 10 years and a nudging to call them and to kind of just give them a word of comfort. You'll be surprised what God will have you do. And as you grow, the more you're obedient, the more vivid, the more interesting the information becomes. But at the end of the day, more times than not, God's still going to want you To just do everything with a loving heart, with just being humble and obedient. You really have to understand too, is as you're growing in the prophetic, that you either have to be in a position of submission in order to give people the word, because you just don't want to give it to them. You actually have to ask permission. Or if you're in the context of submission, that's where you really see God doing— you're allowed to operate in a space because maybe a pastor has carved out and said, hey, today I have a visiting prophet and he's going to minister to the people. So you really have to be in a submission in the context of the pastor or an area in which you have been given advanced approval to operate, or you need to be in submission where you're saying, hey, I have a word of the Lord for you, how are you willing to receive it? And if they say yes, you can give it to them. Otherwise, you have to hold on to it and move on. I hope this video helps. Like I said, subscribe to the channel and please share it with others. And if you have any questions on this topic, feel free to put them in the comments, and I'll be happy to look over those questions and talk about it further. God bless.