Teaching

Small Days: The Call of a Christian Prophet – Immanuel Acree

Photos courtesy Depositphotos

Small Days: The Call of a Christian Prophet

July 28, 2022 6:47 PM
Immanuel Acree

Prophets must be highly content in small days or days of weakness and mundane attention to detail. An immature prophet will be receiving bread crumbs from the Spirit and will want to make a meal out of that. But the Lord may be just saying, Here I am, seek Me. Not everybody will break through into prophecy as a prodigy like Samuel.

“The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall finish it: and thou shalt know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to thee. For who has despised the small days? surely they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet of tin in the hand of Zorobabel: these are the seven eyes that look upon all the earth.”
Zechariah 4:9-11

“Seven Eyes” for Revelation

This sounds to me like a word picture for prophecy. If you’re going to prophesy you need to see clearly, so your eyes will need to be complete as in the number 7. Other ministries including the apostles by contrast can function well with only two or three vantage points (witnesses, or confirmations manifested). Pastors and evangelists for example will rarely need confirmations to share the gospel and counsel people; someone can preach the gospel well just by reading and studying Scripture. Of course these callings are not so simple and their work requires discernment and wisdom, but not necessarily perfect septocular perspective. Prophets on the other hand need to wait around or dredge up many instances of validation even for small revelations.

“Plummet”, or Plumbline, for Perfect Judgments

A plumbline [as pictured from Wikipedia] aligns a building for balance or takes depth measurements. A prophetic ministry does exactly that, bringing balance to the church as a “check and balance” for perfecting ministries. So if a church is off balance, God will send the prophet who sees clearly with precise vision and a Canon or Plumbline in his hand.

Prophets are paired with apostles in the New Testament at multiple verses because they share a similar duty on “squaring” or establishing the church. The main difference might be that prophets take the slow road, much slower in development than other ministers because they must be focused heavily on precision words. Peter is seen making some mistakes in the Bible but his ministry took only three years to launch from almost total ignorance, and Peter was catapulted into a primary leadership role. Even so he could be wrong here and there. Those kinds of common errors are rather easily corrected by any other type of elder.

But generally prophets can’t afford to mess up even in small things. Prophets are like spiritual scientists. No scientist was ever in a hurry. Prophets must expect that maybe their findings will only gain traction or impact on the church when they are already dead. Prophets do not necessarily need to lead anybody. You might see a prophet dying on his own testimony, refusing to buckle even an inch when nobody else seems to be getting edified. He’s either insane or truly called to deliver particular messages from God. In that case he will be getting his confirmations from heaven. He does not need to check for any fruit in the aftermath; God is saying, “Greet no one on the road, and do only what I told you” (1 Kings 13:17, 2 Kings 4:29).

Of course, a prophet is always near to his own death: Deuteronomy 18:22 states, “Whatsoever words that prophet shall speak in the name of the Lord, and they shall not come true, and not come to pass, this [is] the thing which the Lord has not spoken; that prophet has spoken wickedly: ye shall not spare him.” Prophets can easily be found worthy of a death penalty according to the Torah. Although 2 Peter 2:1 adds false teachers to their same judgment, pastors and teachers who make mistakes are usually forgiven easier by the people. A prophet must be willing to get stoned to death for his mistakes. In the modern church, this tends to manifest as unforgiveness, contempt, and permanent ostracism. Prophets must be accustomed to the constant assurance of their Bridegroom Jesus or they may not survive the torments of riotous church voices.

The rewards of a prophetic ministry are almost impossible to relate with unless we understand that the prophet enters into the joy of his Master every time he completes a spiritual task. Prophets do not ask for pay because the joy of the Lord keeps them fed and humble at the same time. If God is calling you to a prophetic ministry, expect to focus on Jesus almost without any other help and do not anticipate any rewards outside of knowing Him and the power of His resurrection in your daily challenges.

Immanuel Acree
7/28/2022

Photos courtesy Depositphotos 

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