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                                                        Characteristics of Prophets

Clearly there is a continuing need for quality prophets to become functional within the church in the 21st century, particularly prophets able to function within a strong building dimension in partnership with church leaders.   Being a prophetic builder is a much different operation than simply itinerating and speaking prophecies over individuals.  The prophetic builder must be a craftsman, a skilled architect capable of coming along-side pastoral leaders to assist in the constructing of individual lives and communities.

Because the calling and operations of prophets is so diverse, it is impossible to measure the quality of their ministries by outward manifestations, such as how well they preach or the specific details of their prophecies.  We have all seen people who were exceedingly good at these ministry functions, but who were unable to produce the requirements of God: a perfected people. 

Therefore we must look at the substance of their life and the intangible qualities which make up the prophet.  For ease of use, I have divided these qualities into three components:

1) Consequential

2) Competence

3) Connected. 

These are in fact the components that I use to assess the development of emerging prophets.  Each one goes beyond the execution of ministry and deals with issues of personal maturity and the mentalities which in fact constitute the prophet.  A brief look at each of the components follows.

Consequential

This first quality speaks to the power and mass of the resource brought by the prophet, who must be dense with divine insight, wisdom, impartation and understanding.  The quality of the prophetic impartation must be weighty and substantial, and the prophet must carry the spiritual authority necessary to shift things in the spirit realm. 

Jude described false prophets as clouds without rain blown along by the wind.   Their activity and movement is observable, but their life is not filled with divine resource. 

When a prophet functions correctly, their life and ministry is catalytic and highly impartational, filled with rich unseen resource that contains vast capacity for transformation.  The prophetic utterance may manifest in a few simple words or a key teaching, but it must be filled with density and weight.  It must not be superficial and insubstantial, repetitive or filled with fluff.  The prophet must possess the ability to describe God’s purposes with clarity and accuracy, and be one who is largely forward looking and filled with redemptive purposes.

A prophet who has consequence is imbued with a strong sense of faith and certainty in the purposes of God, one who delivers the word of the Lord from a place of internal humility that manifests as a clean, uncluttered and bold declaration.

Competence

The substance of divine resource must be skillfully managed and delivered in order to achieve divine purpose.   Competence results when a prophet has undergone the dealings of God and had their life honed and tempered so that the intersection of the human (the prophets life) and the divine (the word of the Lord) produces a sharp edge of effective representation. 

Competence speaks to management, experience and discernment that produce the skill to represent the divine mind in diverse situations.  Therefore the prophet should be operationally diverse and their ministry should be appropriate to the context, such as: a) a primary flow of prophetic utterance to an individual b) prophetic counsel to leaders in a relational setting c) modulated as the environment requires d) non-religious in its expression and therefore functional within any framework.

True prophetic utterance is also the product of a very skillful internal management process which understands supernatural revelation within the context of natural knowledge and an awareness of historical realities. 

Part of being competent as a prophet is the development of a rich internal life with a vivid stream of internal transactions that are not dependent upon external stimuli or circumstances.   Jeremiah spoke to the nation of Israel from a sewer, and Paul built churches from the confines of a Roman prison.  Both men reached into the unseen realm to access wisdom and revelation from God, and they governed events in far flung places despite the physical limitations placed on them by corrupt power structures.

Their visionary capacity and positions of personal revelation strength did not produce a disordered life, each led a life of internal governance manifested by self-restraint. Likewise we expect our prophets to live in this authentic realm without becoming eccentric or strange, and without succumbing to the seduction endemic to power which so often results in self-indulgence.  

Connected

There are no individuals, regardless of their rank or ministry, who are called by God to live in isolation.  Being correctly joined is a primary component of Kingdom life.   For the prophet, key relational joining to the apostolic leadership God has designed them to fit within is an essential aspect of their functionality.  It is relational proximity to apostolic grace which produces a prophet who is a builder.

Prophets must speak from a place of healthy relational joining within their own church and the wider Kingdom Community.  This is especially true in regards to relationships with authority, an area where many prophets have faltered via an adversarial relationship with authority on the one hand, or a fear of power on the other.  Prophets must be relationally healthy and have a deep sense of community and an ability to work with leaders to build.  We also see that an overly developed sense of protocol would have muzzled men like Jeremiah, Amos and others in the discharge of their responsibility as prophets.   Therefore we conclude that prophetic ministry must be discharged with a clear understanding of rank, and a complete absence of the fear of man.

In this area of being connected, we do want prophets who have a servant orientation and are “others focused”, and therefore discharge their ministry with respect and regard for the recipient.  We also want prophets who understand the divine placement of the individual within the corporate whole (church or network), and are aware of the necessity for strategic management of the individual corporate dynamic.   True community invalidates placing a premium on individual ministry success. 

The following are qualities that are not acceptable in the prophets who we are in relationship with:

• Frenetic
• Rationalistic
• Manipulative
• Timid
• Awkward
• Self-serving
• Empty
• Spooky
• Harsh
• Arrogant
• Unmanageable

God is raising up a new breed of prophets who have the capacity to build the house of the Lord!