What Can Prophets Do?

“You’ve never seen what a prophet can do!”

Those words sprung from my mouth without forethought as I walked alone
through our apartment. Two things were going on at the same time:
First, the Lord was speaking to me by the Spirit, reminding me of how
weak and immature my own ministry was and of how much I had to grow.
Second, I was hearing a conversation in my heart that had prophetic
symbolism and significance to it.

Do you believe God shows things to prophets? Yes, He does! The Bible is
filled with it. My life experiences and the experiences of many other
prophets testify to it. I could tell you story after story of how God
reveals mysteries, today.

In my spirit, I was in dialogue with someone discussing an issue and I
was reproving them with the words “You’ve never seen what a prophet can
do!” In my mind I imagined an encounter with an anonymous pastor. He
was discounting the value of prophets, specifically, the value of
having a prophet around and “messing with his stuff.” (Do you know
what I mean? Prophets afflict the comfortable and comfort the
afflicted. They never leave things like they found them.) In this
conversation, he was dismissing the prophetic person with an attitude
of, “Who needs them?”

He was saying, “They’re not good administrators. They don’t take care
of the youth or carry a pastoral load. They don’t do anything the way I
want them to. They never show up on time. Their ministry doesn’t
generate income for the church. Why bother making room for misfits
anyway? They’re always tearing something down or starting something
new. What good are they?”

Unknowingly, by his words he had devalued the valuable, thus displaying
a carnal, unbelieving attitude in his heart. Unfortunately, whatever
attitude any leader carries is also the attitude he projects to his
people. Before long everyone around them has the same attitude. This
causes an inevitable devaluation of the things of the Spirit.

Yet the Lord has another viewpoint. The things men esteem, God despises
and the things God esteems, carnal people disdain, especially the
things of the Spirit. There is something so precious to the Lord about
men and women of the Spirit—prophets—that of all the gifts and offices
which He offers to the Church, this one is protected by a strict
commandment: “Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm.”

God highly values prophets. Why? Because He values the dispersion they
cause of the Spirit of God. They are carriers of grace. The Lord takes
years to refine, humble, purify, test, and perfect His prophetic
instruments. He says that He “rises early and sends them,” implying
effort, care, and deliberate intention. They are not ordinary. They are
not a cheap commodity. Failure to hear a prophet who is sent by the
Lord is tantamount to missing “the day of your visitation.”

I’ve said often before, “I am nobody but I represent someone who is
Somebody.” I am an agent of His kingdom. Jesus set the values and
vision of His kingdom. I can describe them and deliver them, but I
can’t alter them. To me, the message of the Lord is far more important
than the messenger, so I take no stock in accolades or titles. But God
takes notice of how we treat (or mistreat) His messengers. He watches
to see whether His servants are received. Reject the servant and you
have by default rejected the word that he carried.

Picture religious rebels: angry with changes, grumbling, knowing they
are losing control, plotting, saying, “Stone the prophet but get the
cassette tapes out of his coat pocket first!” This won’t work. Even
true prophetic words become powerless and void when they are embraced
by rebels. There is no substitute for a prophet, no artificial
container that can bottle up their anointing, no prepackaged method or
book or program that can make up for their absence.

We’re going to learn that there is a difference between someone who
gives a prophetic utterance and someone who is a prophet of the Lord.
Any believer may prophesy by the Holy Spirit’s anointing. That doesn’t
make them a prophet. Prophets carry a unique branding. It is the Spirit
of Jesus. They are marked by a peculiar anointing. God always knows
where they are and what is going on around them. People often judge the
prophets, but God is often judging the people who are reacting to the
prophets’ presence.

Prophets may not always be good preachers or even good teachers. They
don’t have to be. Of course, the ones who are good teachers become a
real treasure! It is not what a prophet does that makes them valuable,
but who a prophet is; that is, who they are in Christ. Christ has
deposited something of himself inside the man or woman of God who
carries that special prophetic grace and who manifests its aroma as a
blessing in the Church.

The presence of prophets, as uncomfortable as they may make us, is a
sign of God’s favor. Their absence is a signal that God has decided to
leave us alone. Does that thought frighten you? It does me! Their
presence is vital and crucial to the life of any New Testament Church.
Along with apostles, these ascension gifts of Christ are fundamental.
They must be present in every generation and in every location or else
something becomes sorely lacking in the church’s governmental
structure, expression of community life, and corporate ministry.

The Key Thought
The incredible fact is that with all the amazing restoration we’ve
already seen of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (healings, miracles,
faith, unknown tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy, words of
knowledge, words of wisdom, discerning of spirits) and the ministry
offices (apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists) in the
last fifty years in the Body of Christ, we have yet to see the full
measure of what a true prophet of the Lord can do.

To this day, we have seen them operate only in limited harness,
ministering with reduced power, moving with hampered authority,
exercising partial revelation. They have done this with unbelief
clouding the air and spells of religious bondage hindering their work
and their words. They have only had a little grace to make a little
difference, but not so much as to shake up the status quo.

Do you know what status quo is? Someone said, “It’s Greek for the mess
we’re in!” Actually, it is a Latin phrase for “the present state of
affairs.” Prophets don’t leave things alone: they shake things up… if
they are received, believed, and allowed the time and the opportunity
to deposit the grace they carry.

Prophets pay a price to be men and women of the Spirit. Saturation with
the Spirit takes time and devotion. Just having good notes is never
enough for a prophet- they want to demonstrate God’s power. They may
not be useful in earthly areas but they do know the things of God. They
are companions of the Holy Spirit. They know and cherish His voice.
They feel God’s touch. Their heart is pulled by God’s heart when others
feel nothing. They know when something’s not right. They know the
seasons, and they often move prematurely (to others’ way of thinking)
only for folks to discover later that they were right on-time in God.
Prophets are comfortable with angels, with dreams and visions, with
improbable circumstances and sovereign divine appointments. They live
their lives “out of control,” full of mystery and misunderstanding, but
always in touch with heaven’s reality. They march to the beat of a
drummer that no one else can hear.

Do you know a prophet? I could happily spend the rest of my life
encouraging sincere prophets and equipping young apostles. You can’t
attach a monetary value to your relationship (if you have one) with a
genuine prophet. In that sense, they’re like lawyers: not worth a
plugged nickel to keep around, but when you really need one, you’d pay
a mint to have access to one who is on your side!

The words I spoke by the Spirit, “You’ve never seen what a prophet can
do,” were actually words filled with great hope for with them came
another aspect of the word that was left unspoken by the Lord… “but you
will!”

By the way, if you think you have trouble with prophets, wait until the
real apostles come out of concealment and take off their market-place
disguises.

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What Can Prophets Do? © 2005 by Ron Wood, Touched by Grace Ministries,
P.O. Box 12740, Wilmington, NC 28405. Ron and Lana Wood have served as
pastors, missionaries, and prophetic teachers for over thirty years.
Write to us at ron@touchedbygrace.org. Subscribe or unsubscribe with an
email. Feel free to forward this email or publish this article along
with this byline. We are Touched by Grace to Touch the World!