In the first few verses of Mark’s Gospel we encounter both prophets and prophecy. The words of Isaiah, echoed and embodied in the ministry of John the Baptizer, call hearers to readiness for what God is about to do.
Throughout the Bible, and throughout the history of the Church, God has done his part in sending us prophetic voices; our part is to faithfully listen and obediently respond to them. How do we do this? We start by understanding a fundamental aspect of God’s character.
God is the Great Communicator
Scripture shows us a God who chooses to be known; self-revelation is inherent in the very nature of God. Despite the seemingly unbridgeable gulf between the infinite, uncreated God and the created world, God takes the initiative and breaks into this finite world to reveal himself to us in love. Our God is not a distant, unemotional, unconcerned deity, but the God of relationship, the God who speaks – the Great Communicator.
Ongoing communication is a vital part of any relationship, and when we look at the Bible, we find that God is the one who freely initiates communication with people. It is God who speaks first. Accordingly, we have been given the incredible capacity to hear God’s voice. A fundamental aspect of our spiritual inheritance as Christians is that we can learn to hear and identify the voice of God.
Sometimes God speaks directly. A recurring phrase in the Old Testament is the dabar-Yahweh – ‘the word of the LORD’. It was this word that Abraham first encountered in Genesis 15:1 and that many prophets experienced as a transformational event. Such encounters give a foretaste of the greatest dabar-Yahweh – the definitive divine communication – when the Word became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.
At other times God chooses to speak through human mouthpieces. The Great Communicator – the God of revelation and relationship – has faithfully provided us with prophetic voices, people who take on the responsibility of carrying and relaying God’s word.
Making sense of the Biblical prophets
We are familiar with most of the Old Testament prophets. If we include the literary prophets (Isaiah through to Malachi), as well as the additional characters identified as prophets (Moses through to Elisha and Huldah), their ministry spans virtually the whole of the Old Testament.
But when it comes to understanding the role of prophets in today’s Church, we have to be cautious of assuming a direct translation from Old to New. The Old Testament prophets operated in a very different context to that of the new covenant Church. In Old Testament times, the ability to hear the voice of God was quite rare. In fact, the prophetic gift was concentrated in a small number of individuals. The capacity to discern the validity of a prophetic utterance was very limited, so the onus was on the prophet to deliver the prophetic word faithfully. These prophets were commissioned by God to speak the word of God with divine authority and the people listening to those words were expected to receive them as such. There was no room for error, and the punishment for being a false prophet was stoning. Because of their unique connection with God, prophets were sometimes given elevated status and authority in society, although some of them ended up despised and rejected.
Under the new covenant, and with every believer receiving the Holy Spirit, we are no longer dependent on prophets to hear God’s voice for us. We each have direct access to God and a responsibility to pursue, discern and respond to his voice – so the way we relate to prophets has fundamentally shifted. New covenant prophets are just as necessary to God’s people today as the ancient Hebrew ones were, but we are no longer reliant on prophets as the sole means of hearing God. We have moved on from the days of Samuel and the practice of visiting the seer to enquire of God.
When we read the Old Testament prophets, they appear to be channels for God’s discipline and judgement. What are we to make of their stern, chastising words from our modern-day perspective? At the heart of the prophetic there has always been a call to godly transformation, whether personal or societal. But as we move from the Old to the New Testament, we have a new lens through which to view the role of the prophets: that of the gospel of redemption and reconciliation. Pre-Calvary and pre-Pentecost, the prophets’ role often included convicting God’s people of sin. But under the new covenant we have the Holy Spirit working in each of us to sanctify us and produce fruit in our lives.
Christ has given prophets to his Church
The fivefold ministry that Paul writes about in Ephesians 4 makes it clear that prophets are alive and well in the Church today. But if the Spirit has been poured out on the whole Church, then certain elements of the prophet’s job description have changed. Their particular role of communicating God’s heart and purposes now takes place within a Spirit-filled community, where everyone can learn to hear God’s voice. Rather than being the sole conduits of revelation, the prophets’ responsibility is more about shaping prophetic culture and curating a fertile environment for listening and responding to God.
In order to properly understand prophets, we have to be intentional in separating out prophet from prophecy. The first is a role given by Christ to some people in the Church (Ephesians 4:11). The second is a gift given by the Holy Spirit to all believers. This is why Paul can exhort the Corinthians to ‘eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy’ (1 Corinthians 14:1). We can all learn to use this wonderful gift and share words that ‘strengthen, encourage and comfort’ with each other (1 Corinthians 14:3).
The number one role of prophets today is to teach the whole body how to listen and respond to God’s voice, whether God is speaking words of personal or societal transformation. Let’s now unpack what this means.
Churches that listen well
In order to develop and build a thriving prophetic culture in any church, we have to find an approach to prophecy that is inclusive, where everyone can join in. We have to make listening and responding to God’s voice normal and accessible.
It’s vital to foster a culture of expectation – that we become expectant and confident that God will speak to us if we ask. This is not about a few faith-filled individuals, but about a community that expects to hear God’s voice. What does ‘eagerly desiring prophecy’ look like in the context of a church community? How do we go about corporately pursuing prophecy?
We need to become active practitioners. Here are two straightforward ways to develop corporate expectancy so that it becomes ingrained in our church culture:
Space
It’s often as simple as making space to listen to God. Praying together in silence opens up a space for community listening, after which there should be time for participants to actively engage with the Holy Spirit’s revelation together.
This is about getting in the habit of saying, whenever people are gathered, ‘Let’s just wait on the Lord for a few minutes…’ whether that is in our small groups, leadership meetings or staff prayers. And we recognise that we all hear God in different ways, so someone may hear a ‘word’, someone else may receive a prophetic image, or be reminded of a Bible verse.
Opportunity
One of the best ways of growing prophetic culture in our churches is to give lots of opportunities for people to step out in faith and have a go. This is actually pretty straightforward: we simply teach people the basics of how to hear God and then offer a safe, encouraging space in which to try it for themselves. In order for people to grow in prophetic gifts, they need to have a context where they feel comfortable to share what they feel God is saying to them without fear of rejection or condemnation. Remembering that words should be encouraging (1 Corinthians 14:12) and align with Biblical truth is a good way to ensure these spaces are kept safe for everyone.
In any church there are plenty of opportunities to practise prophecy. So whether it’s business leaders, families, couples about to be married, a particular missional community, or the leadership team, there will always be an opportunity somewhere for people to practise exercising the gift of prophecy.
The more people practise, the more they will grow in confidence, and the more testimonies there will be to encourage the church and raise the level of expectancy that all God’s children can learn to use this wonderful gift.
Churches that respond well
There is a tendency, especially in charismatic circles, to focus on the delivery of the prophetic word. We get excited about the prophetic event, with the pronouncement of the prophecy. But a mature prophetic culture requires something much deeper and much more time-consuming: a process in which we take seriously Jesus’ instruction to ‘pay attention to how you listen’ (Luke 8:18); a process in which we both hear and obey.
When God communicates with us, and the divine reality breaks into our world, we cannot carry on as if nothing much has happened. Rather we need to see this God-moment as an opportunity to learn and change; to walk more closely with Jesus and be more aligned with his kingdom.
Within the prophetic process there are three distinct elements of listening to God that are required of us.
- Tuning in: the initial ‘hearing’ – recognising and receiving God’s voice.
- Discerning: working out the essence of what God is saying to us – the full meaning behind the prophetic experience.
- Responding:determining the application – what it looks like to walk in obedience, and so translating hearing into action.
Taking the time to properly respond to God’s words to us is often the missing piece in much contemporary church culture. We can have the most incredible 3D technicolour visions, encounter angels and hear the audible voice of God. However, if we don’t respond – if we don’t allow God’s voice to change us and the world around us – we are like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. We need to be active responders to God’s revelation.
Partnering with God in order to see the intended fulfilment and fruit of God’s word will often require radical obedience and perseverance. It’s worth recognising that once the initial thrill of receiving a word from God fades, we can easily forget our commitment to keep aligned to it.
As I’ve coached many individuals, churches and organisations over the years, one thing I’ve noticed is that the ones who are prepared to make concrete, specific and accountable plans in response to God’s voice are usually those who step into the greatest levels of transformation and kingdom impact. When God speaks to us – whether speaking deeply into our identity, showing the Church how to tackle injustices in our communities, or anything in between – we need a plan. True discipleship is more than a theoretical acknowledgement of the truth of what God is saying, or vague notions of how we might chew over the message given to us. We need to learn to respond intentionally and wholeheartedly every time God speaks into our lives.
Asking good questions will lead to good plans and Spirit-led action:
- How are we going to nourish the word of life and hope that God has planted in our hearts?
- Can we clearly articulate the right application or accountable action?
- How do we step into our response in a very practical way over the next few days and weeks?
- What is going to help us overcome any roadblocks?
- Who are we going to be accountable to?
- How are we going to pray on a regular basis for the fulfilment of this word?
Jesus has promised that we will hear his voice (John 10:27). Whatever means he uses to communicate with us, let us ensure that we have ears to hear and a heart to respond.
Cath Livesey is the founder and leader of Accessible Prophecy, a ministry working with many different expressions of church across the world to help them develop a healthy and mature prophetic culture that both resources discipleship and empowers mission. She is the author of My Sheep Have Ears, Holy Disruption, and The Prophetic Lifestyle Course.