Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and
foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of
God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. (Eph 2:19-20)
One of the core values of the Kingdom is evidenced in the expression of men working together in team ministry. One of the greatest examples of this value can be found in God’s desire and design for apostles and prophets to synergistically work together in team concert.
One of the current challenges to a local community or a network
community is understanding the benefits and functions of apostolic/prophetic
ministry. With the resurgence of prophetic emphasis in the 1980’s and early
1990’s, it led many on a search for prophetic significance. Many began to
desire knowledge about the ministry of prophet - how they functioned and what
their purpose was. In our quest for more “prophetic understanding”, we
sometimes became so prophetically oriented that it caused many to embrace the
idea that the prophet is a “stand alone” office which needs no other influence.
During this season we began to
discover that prophetic ministry was a function designed by God which was
positive in attitude and beneficial in purpose. We began to understand that
prophetic ministry was engineered by God to help bring purposeful mobilization (helping the Kingdom to advance),
further integration (the necessity of correct alignment),
divinely inspired information (the need for
divine revelation for God’s patterns), greater maturation (the
need to embrace not only His acts but His ways) solid stabilization (“no longer
tossed to and fro like children”), and progressive restoration (the expectation for more).
Yet with all the fanfare and excitement about the “restoration of the
prophet”, deep within this movement was a character flaw – the prophet was
never designed as a loner or a “know–it-all”. Neither was their ministry
intended to become a “blessing model.” Unfortunately, many called into prophetic
ministry in the 70’s and 80’s experienced the demand “to come prophesy to us.”
Due to this inaccurate thinking, the prophetic ministry was laboriously
harnessed with false expectations. The prophetic was many times limited to one
or two functions such as operating only in personal prophecy.
Today, the apostolic reformation is migrating and activating the
prophetic to help build the Kingdom through deep and close alignment with
apostolic anointing and grace. The prophetic understanding of the last 20 years
“must decrease” in the time of apostolic emergence. Like John the Baptist,
those called to prophetic ministry must align their ministries and their hearts
to find apostolic linkage. This is causing and will continue to cause many to
die to the “old prophetic frequency” and emerge into a more accurate pattern
for apostolic/prophetic ministry. The good news is that many prophetic
ministers sense the need for advancement. Many have been left frustrated at the
door of the “prophetic movement of the ’80’s and ‘90’s” and are now seeking
relationships which demand greater levels of prophetic understanding and
participation in God’s global reformation.
In this time of apostolic
reform, the fastening together of these ministries is paramount. Each ministry
is realizing that their working together provides what is necessary for
building a secure foundation and for under girding the other ministry gifts.
However, like a steam train, the order in which they are fastened is important.
The Bible clearly states, “And God has appointed these in the church, first apostles, second prophets . . . “ (1 Cor. 12:28)
The ranking of the apostolic in this scripture clearly reveals to us that
apostles have been given the wisdom and power to strategically realign the
church into a Kingdom pattern. Following and closely linked to the apostle is
the prophet!
Now, here is an issue – Because the prophet follows the apostolic, does
that mean it is less vital, less important, and less potent? No, of course not!
Returning to the illustration of a steam train, please allow me to expound
further using this analogy. While a steam train utilizes a steam engine as the
forerunner of the rest of the train cars, right behind the steam engine is a
vital co-laboring car – the tender box car. This car holds the fuel which the
engine needs to produce the power.
Throughout all the biblical examples of reformation (David, Nehemiah,
Josiah, Hezekiah, John the Baptist, Haggai, Zechariah), we see the validity of
the prophetic ministry “adding fuel to the fire.” Through their strategic
actions, decrees, and prophetic revelations, they gave impetus to the apostolic
strategy. They helped prepare the way!
In this hour, prophetic ministers who desire to embrace reformation must
recognize the restoration of apostolic ministry. As a part of this recognition,
they must realize their dependence upon apostolic grace and that that grace can
bring them to more accurate levels of thinking and functionality. Conversely,
the apostles who are emerging must recognize and intentionally walk towards
interdependence with prophets. They must perceive that without prophetic input
(both verbally and in anointing), their communities will lack a fundamental
ingredient of the Kingdom. But as they do embrace one another, many benefits
will be evidenced. I believe apostolic positions will experience more energy
and greater enthusiasm will be released. At the same time, prophets will feel
greater fulfillment and a greater sense of safety and confidence, new
strategies will come forth, and a greater depth of prophetic ministry will be
evidenced in people’s lives.
Because apostles and prophets are foundational in design, it is
imperative that these two gifts co-labor together at a level never manifested
before in this world. Reformation is given for the process of emergence to a
more accurate level of function in the Kingdom. Prophets must enter this season
with humility as their hall mark and fully embrace their team ministry destiny
underneath the grace of the Apostolic.
