PHANEROO~DEVOTION
2nd February 2018
Apostle Grace Lubega
Ephesians 4:11-13 (KJV); And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
The essence of the prophetic ministry is to give direction both to individuals and to the body of Christ.
However, in the New Testament dispensation, it is the direction of confirmation and not affirmation, because the affirmations are of the Spirit. What this means is that in this age, a prophet only confirms what is already affirmed or established as truth in the spirit. It is a good thing to prophecy about the things that you see in the lives of individuals; be it marriage, promotions or any other issues concerning them.
However, a prophet ought to understand that divine mandate is deeper than any issue in a man’s life because our lives are subject to divine purpose. That is why even after you have seen by the Spirit that so and so will get married or a certain event will soon come to pass in their lives, the question is, “have you aligned them to divine purpose?
Have you defined the call of God upon their lives?” Look at the example of the prophets that commissioned Paul and Barnabas. The Bible calls them “prophet teachers.”(Acts 13:1 MSG). This grace qualified them to separate these two apostles for the work God had called them (Acts 13:2-3).
They are different from prophets like Agabus who when he meets Paul speaks of him being bound and imprisoned if he went to Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-12). The prophets at Antioch saw divine purpose while Agabus saw “chains and imprisonment” because he did not carry the burden of divine purpose: he did not understand what it means for a man to lose his life for the redemption of a generation.
He did not realise that the man to whom he spoke was ready to be cursed for the sake of his brethren the Jews(Romans 9:3); counted all things but loss for the sake of the gospel (Philippians 3:8); calls persecution light afflictions (2 Corinthians 4:17) and when in jail rejoices that the gospel is not in chains (2 Timothy 2:9).
Divine purpose is what gives you life after this life. You are alive to serve the call of God upon your life and prophecy primarily ought to align you to this. Hallelujah!
FURTHER STUDY: 2 Peter 2:15-16, Revelation 19:10
GOLDEN NUGGET: The essence of the prophetic ministry is to give direction both to individuals and to the body of Christ. However, in the New Testament dispensation, it is the direction of confirmation and not affirmation, because the affirmations are of the Spirit. In this age, the prophet only confirms what is already affirmed or established as truth in the spirit.
PRAYER: Father, I thank you for this knowledge. I relate with the prophetic ministry in the understanding of the affirmations of the Spirit and the convictions of divine purpose. In this, I seek only after the higher calling in Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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