Hundredfold Ministries, Int'l

In this chapter I want to focus on what I call observations of a mature prophet. We will also contrast the mature with the immature prophet.

The Mature Prophet

1. Target of Satanic Attack

First, a mature prophet is without question a target of serious satanic attack. A mature prophet will be targeted for demonic assault and will have to, at least from time to time, enter into serious and prolonged spiritual warfare. Though the attack is spiritual in its origin, it may be manifested by physical, emotional, relational, and/or financial setbacks.

This should not surprise us. Satan himself confronted Jesus and tried to tempt Jesus to give up his life's mission. If Satan confronted Jesus, certainly he, or his demonic agents, would attack the prophet as God's spokesperson. (Note, this spiritual attack is by no means exclusive to the prophet. All who are willing to mature in their call face spiritual warfare to some degree).

2. Strong in Prayer

Second, the prophet is given to much prayer. The true prophet has a real burden, not only for God's will, but for God's people, both those saved and those not yet saved. This inevitably leads to a strong intercessor's prayer burden for both people and issues. Remember, the prophet is intense and this intensity flows over into his or her prayer life.

3. Identifies With the People of God

Third, the mature prophet identifies with the people of God. This identification with the people to whom he is to minister is absolutely necessary for the prophet if he is to have a proper relationship with God's people. It is only by so identifying that he can feel their hurts, know their pain, and seek their repentance before God.

We have a classic example of the prophet's identification with his people in the prayer of the prophet Daniel in Daniel, chapter nine.

Daniel was not the sinner in this case, yet he totally identifies with the sins of the Israelites. He says over and over again, “we have sinned.”

Jeremiah does likewise as we see him lament to God, “Woe to us, for we have sinned.” (Lam 5:16 NIV, emphasis added).

If (or should I say when) you hear a prophet beseeching the Lord to “show them their sin,” you can be fairly sure that person has not yet fully identified with God's people. And, of course, that goes back to that pride and fleshly judgmentalism which so often snares the prophet in his or her less mature phase.

4. Hates Sin

We must not confuse the prophet's ability to identify with God's people with being soft on sin. The prophet hates evil. At times, a mature prophet will convey God's anger and hatred toward sin. He or she will find it hard to even be around someone who is willfully walking in sin. Note that I am not saying the prophet hates the sinner. He should not and a mature prophet does not. But to even be in the presence of sin is hard for the prophet.

However, even with this intense reaction toward sin, the mature prophet will have God's heart that yearns for the sinner to repent and become right with God. The prophets of the Bible so obviously longed for God's people to repent. So also will today's prophets. Even while speaking out against sin, they will yearn for repentance and restoration. Again, if the prophet isn't reflecting this longing for restoration of the sinner with God, he or she has some more maturing to do.

5. Understands His Total Commitment to God and His Work

Fifth, the mature prophet comes to realize that he is inherently fully committed to God and His work. It is as if he has no choice. Most unfortunately, a large segment of Christians living at any given moment are not 100% committed and many never will be. Yet the mature prophet knows that he must still move in the entire church body. He understands that he cannot hold every Christian to his standards. He knows when to move in with power and challenge something or someone, and when to simply let it go.

6. Moves in Great Authority and Power

The prophet, when moving in the prophetic office, moves in great authority and power. This authority and power are not to be confused with speaking in a loud voice or trying to impose his will over others. When God delivers His word through a mature prophet, it is God's power and authority that are manifested, not the prophet's. Those who have a discerning spirit will know when the Lord is delivering His word. The authority will be there. This is so whether the words are spoken forcefully or given in a whisper.

7. Willing to Submit to Spiritual Authority

A mature prophet will be willing to submit to existing spiritual authority. As we will discuss in chapter 19, a mature prophet and a mature pastor are mutually submissive. A mature prophet will also be willing to submit to others if they have a word of correction for him or have valid reason to exercise authority over his prophetic ministry.

The exception to this need to submit is found when there is unrepentant sin in the church leadership. In such cases the prophet will not and should not submit. Then he should fearlessly speak the word of God as God directs. For example, if a senior pastor is being unfaithful to his or her spouse, God may well send a prophet in to challenge that pastor. In such instances, the prophet is and should be unyielding in confronting that personal sin.

8. Knows His Every Thought Is Not from God

A mature prophet will not believe that every thought that comes into his or her head is “from the Lord.” He will also come to recognize the difference between the maturity of his own discernment and a true prophetic word to be delivered. A mature prophet will have great discernment and understanding concerning the things of God. But this understanding and these thoughts, while from the Holy Spirit, are not true prophetic words. Every Christian, upon maturing, will have keenly developed discernment. This discernment is not the same as a word from God to be delivered in the prophetic sense. A mature prophet understands this difference.

9. Recognizes A Prophetic Word for Himself Alone

A mature prophet realizes that there are times when the Lord speaks a word to him and him alone. That word is not to be spoken publicly. This can be true even though the word is regarding the body of Christ, the local church, an individual, or whatever group with which the prophet finds himself involved. The mature prophet will check with the Lord in his spirit to see if what he has received should be prayed about, spoken aloud, preached, or held.

I personally do not believe the Lord has a true prophetic word for a church every Sunday morning. A genuinely mature prophet will not feel he must prophesy every Sunday. To do so will dilute the receptivity to the prophetic word and reduce it to common place.

Further, the prophet may see evil or a demonic presence in a situation or a person and know that he is to do nothing and say nothing about it. At times the Holy Spirit lets the prophet see a reality in the spiritual realm but that knowledge is to be held privately, at least for a while . . . and possibly always. Again, this kind of knowledge is common to all mature believers, not just the prophet.

10. Exercises Spiritual Gifts

The mature, called prophet will exercise many of the spiritual gifts enumerated in I Corinthians, chapter 12. Though the prophet may operate all of these gifts at some time in his or her ministry, the gifts most often manifested are the prophetic word, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits. The prophet often is the first to spot a demonic presence in a person or circumstance. Further, signs and wonders such as healing, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and the breaking down of demonic strongholds are often seen in the prophetic ministry.

For the mature prophet, all operations of the above gifts will always point to Jesus. Remember, the prophet's work is to speak the word of God. The prophet's business is the business of the Kingdom of God and the fulfillment of God's purposes. A truly mature prophet's actions and words will not attract attention to himself but will always glorify Jesus.

The Immature Prophet

No description of a prophet would be complete unless the immature, or not yet trained, prophet is described. One of the reasons some people have difficulty with prophets is that they have only been exposed to immature ones. Such prophets may well have a genuine call to be a prophet but have little or no understanding how to move in the office and power of a mature prophet. Often it is these prophets who make mistakes, complain, and are generally disruptive in many churches. The following are some ways one may recognize an immature prophet.

1. He Often Complains That He Is Under Satanic Attack

There are times when such people are, in fact, under attack. But more often than not the attack is coming from other Christians whom they have alienated with harshness, criticalness, or condemnation. Whether or not such criticism is warranted is not the issue here. The mature prophet ensures that his timing is correct whereas the immature prophet believes that “knowledge of a wrong constitutes the command to correct it!” Then when he or she begins to reap the consequences of such judgmentalism, we often hear the cry, “The devil is attacking me!” No, it's not the devil, it's the brother or sister whom the less mature prophet has alienated and who is responding to his actions.

2. He Has Not Developed in Prayer

The mature prophet may at times spend hours, or even days, in prayer until God settles a matter in his or her spirit. Only then does he act. On the other hand, the immature prophet most likely spends very little time seeking the Lord on a matter. Long, travailing prayer is learned over years of a disciplined prayer life. Rarely will we find an immature prophet who has a fully developed prayer life.

3. Sets Himself Above the People of God

Often immature prophets have what I call the “you people” syndrome. In his teaching or speaking the immature prophet often says, “You need to repent. You have a problem. You need to get right with God . . .” and so forth. Though these things may well be true, they project an image by the manner in which they are presented. By saying “you”, the unspoken implication is “I don't have a problem . . . I have no need to repent . . . I'm right with God.”

These statements tend to separate, or alienate, the speaker from the listener. Generally immature prophets have yet to learn this. And, of course, this goes back to the ability of the mature prophet to identify with God's people.

4. He Moves in His Own Authority

While the mature prophet moves quietly in God's power, the immature prophet moves noisily under his own anointing and power. Power and authority with God gradually increase in the lives of all believers as they mature in their Christian walk. But it takes years to enter deeply into God's power and authority. Unfortunately, I believe that few are there who truly do enter into this godly authority. In this regard prophets are no different than anyone else.

Immature prophets often try to project such power by imitating the actions of other more mature believers. The mature prophet, as he moves in God's power and authority, sees God accomplish what needs to be done.

5. He Is Unwilling to Submit to Authority

In a pastorate I held some years ago, I had a mature prophet on pastoral staff. Often this brother would come to me stating quite forcefully that we should do thus and so. Sometimes, after praying about the matter, I would tell him, “No. We are not going to do that.” The mature prophet's response? “Very well.” he would say. That was the end of the matter.

Not so the immature prophet. He or she often believes that is his duty to cause the word, as he sees it, to come to pass. If the person in authority over him fails to heed the prophet's word, he often goes behind the authority figure's back stirring up contention because, “The pastor won't receive the word of the Lord.” That is being unsubmissive to authority.

6. He Believes His Every Thought Is “From the Lord”

While the mature prophet easily discerns his own thought processes from the voice of the Lord, the immature prophet often does not. This lack of distinction very often produces confusion and chaos around the budding prophet when he, with his forceful personality, attempts to convey the “word of the Lord.”

7. He Often Fails to Know When God's Word Is for Him Alone

One of the most common mistakes young prophets make is that of prophesying or preaching to others a word the Lord intended only for the prophet. He hears quite clearly the Lord's word. He sees the truth in the word . . . but fails to recognize that the Lord is speaking to him for his own benefit. Young prophets often make this mistake.

8. He Is Developing the Operation of Spiritual Gifts

While the mature prophet easily and correctly operates the spiritual gifts, the young prophet is not so well trained. Remember, spiritual gifts are like tools that one must learn to use skillfully. Again, it takes years, and lots of mistakes, for the prophet to mature in the operation of the gifts of the Spirit.

Is the Mature Prophet Ever Wrong?

Let us now explore the question, “Is the mature prophet ever wrong?” My answer may surprise some of you but I believe the mature prophet is never or only very rarely wrong when he is moving in his prophetic office!

Let us begin our analysis by making a clear distinction between the human spirit and the Holy Spirit. The human spirit is very fallible and can be and often is wrong. The Holy Spirit is never wrong.

To say it another way, the person of the prophet, when he is speaking from his human spirit, is subject to error just like everyone else. But when the mature prophet is moving in his prophetic office, that is, when God, by His Holy Spirit, is moving on the prophet to speak the words of the living God, will he be wrong? Never! The God-called, mature, Bible knowledgeable, broken and trained prophet, when moving in his office, is going to be nearly infallible in the operation of that office.

Let us look at two examples in Scripture to help us understand this point.

In I Samuel, we have the mighty prophet, Samuel, moving in his office and at the direction of God, anointing Saul as King. (I Sam Ch 8-10) Then Saul falls into great sin and the Lord rejects Saul. He directs Samuel to go to Jesse of Bethlehem and anoint one of Jesse's sons to be king in place of Saul. (I Sam Ch 16).

Samuel does as the Lord directs and consecrates Jesse and his sons and invites them to the sacrifice. Now remember, Samuel already has been told by God that he is to anoint one of Jesse's sons as king. When Samuel sees Eliab, Jesse's eldest son, he thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord.” (I Sam 16:6). But what happened? Let us read on,

When Samuel saw Eliab, it was his human spirit that said, “Surely this is the one.” But Samuel's human spirit was wrong, wasn't it? It was only when the Holy Spirit overrode Samuel's human response that he continued examining Jesse's other sons until the Lord told him David was the one.

We see a similar situation in II Samuel, chapter seven, when King David interacts with Nathan, the prophet. Scripture leaves no doubt that Nathan is a true prophet of God. Nathan has all the characteristics of a mature prophet. He is tough, issue oriented, moves with authority, and is certainly willing to confront even King David when David so grossly sinned with Bathsheba.

Let us look at the incident of David's desire to build a temple for the Ark of God and Nathan's response.

Go back to verse three when Nathan told David, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.” Was that correct advice to David? No, clearly it was not. It was Nathan's human response. At that moment he was not moving in his office, he was responding with his personal opinion concerning David's desire to build a temple.

Yet after God had directed Nathan as to His will in the matter, Nathan had no difficulty in conveying it.

So, to go back to our original question, “Is a mature prophet ever wrong?” I say yes, he may be wrong when he is responding from his human spirit. But no, the mature prophet will not be wrong when he moves in concert with the Holy Spirit to convey God's word.

Incomplete Prophecy

Let me make one last point. There is a difference between a prophetic word being wrong and being incomplete. God, in his sovereignty, may choose to cause a prophet to deliver what turns out later to be only part of an entire prophetic directive on any given matter. But that does not make it wrong.

We see this to some degree when Jeremiah encounters the false prophet Hananiah in Jeremiah, chapter 28.

Note, when Hananiah gave a false prophecy and broke the yoke off the neck of Jeremiah, Scripture says, “At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.” (Jer 28:11b NIV). Then Scripture goes on to say:

The prophetic word Jeremiah delivers continues to predict Hananiah's death which comes to pass just as God, through Jeremiah, stated it would.

In a sense, Jeremiah was receiving a progressive prophetic word and interacted with Hananiah over a period of time. In other words, as it turned out, Jeremiah's first prophetic response was incomplete. But it was all the Lord gave Jeremiah to say so when he had said it, he “went on his way.” It was only later when the Lord completed the prophecy that Jeremiah returned to speak forth the rest.