1Sam 3:19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
The Lord did not allow any of Samuel’s words to fail or not to come to pass.
The Lord did not allow the words of Samuel to fail, not because He was under any obligation to please Samuel, but because Samuel had a great discernment and obedience to the words of the Lord. If Samuel had been discerning the voice of the Lord incorrectly or not at all, his words would have failed. God would have not honored them. The Lord per se was not concerned about Samuel but about the accuracy of His word working through Samuel.
Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
Knowledge: A complete and thorough knowledge that grasps the fullness of understanding about that which is being sought out.
Judgment: Discernment
It is not just enough to become born again and run to save the world. The Lord wants His love to increase in proportion to our fullness of understanding of His Word, will, and voice.
Likewise our discernment of not only His voice must increase, but our discernment about what either comes from Him, Satan, our flesh.
John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Truth is defined as what is genuine and accurate according to fact.
It is not what we incorrectly believe about the Word of God that will set us free, but what we believe about it, which is genuine and precise about it. We must dig deep, research, and study the Word of God to walk in the fullness of freedom. A superficial knowledge of the Word will never set us free.
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:}
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
The believer has been already blessed with every spiritual blessing that the Lord. We do need the Lord to bless us. Verse eight of Ephesians one tells us that the abundance of the Lord’s blessings comes to us in the realm of wisdom and prudence.
Wisdom is the will of God; prudence is understanding His will and then executing it through step by step in accordance to His voice. Therefore the blessings of God are revealed to the extent that we lay down our own will to do His.
The prophet Elisha had tremendous faith.
2 King 4:38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.
39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not.
40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof.
41 But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.
There was a famine in Israel and food was so scarce that there was not enough of to make a stew for the school of the prophets. One of Elisha’s disciples went out to the field and picked up some wild vegetable. Unknowingly to him, one of these items was highly poisonous. They found out that the soup was highly toxic Elisha got the rhema word of God, told them to throw some flour into the soup and then eat. Indeed the Lord healed the soup.
Would I have the faith to hold myself responsible for the lives of a number of a number of people based upon what I discerned? What if I heard wrong?
Yet Elisha had learned the invaluable lesson of having a sharp awareness of the voice of the Lord. The development of the voice of the Lord within us has no shortcuts. It takes uncompromising obedience that compels us to step out in faith time and time again until we learn to recognize and live solely by that voice.
It also takes the working of God’s holiness which is birthed out of a very intimate relationship with the Lord. Without purity of heart we will not see the Lord Jesus.
Purity is the result of much prayer and a deep knowledge of the Word of God.
We must learn to operate solely by His voice just like Elisha did.
The greatness of the prophet or the man or woman of God is proportional to how much they restrict their lives to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Raise Not Yourselves Up
1 Sam 3:20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established (passive tense)to be a prophet of the LORD.
God confirmed Samuel to be a prophet because He found him faithful and dependable to the point that it satisfied Him.
1 Timothy 1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me(empowered me ; from the word for dunamis), for that he counted me (esteemed me) faithful, putting me into the ministry;
Paul received the revelation of the power of God to fulfill His calling in proportion to how spiritually ready he was. It is a sad thing to see many a ministers attempting to serve the Lord out of their own power instead of living out of the power of the Spirit of God. This was because they raised themselves up instead of awaiting God’s timing for them.
It is important that we do not raise ourselves up into ministry. One of the reasons for this is the issue of timing. Every act of God’s will has God’s timing within it. Only the Lord knows when we are spiritually fit to be raised up.
The Prophet and The Ministry:
In the Hebrew, the word for prophet is nabi. This means to boil and bubble up. Hence the prophet speaks thorough the action of the bubbling up or boiling of the Spirit of the Lord.
The other Hebrew root word for prophet naba is defined as “announcing,” thus making the prophet into a spokesperson for the Lord.
Numbers 3:16 And Moses numbered them according (at) to the word (Heb: mouth) of the LORD, as he was commanded.
Numbers 3:39 All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment (Heb: mouth) of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand.
The prophet is not only a foreteller of future events, but is the Lord’s faithful spokesperson to declare that which comes from the mouth of the God.
The prophet must be very careful to declare without what the mouth of God speaks within.
Numbers 3:16 And Moses numbered them according (at) to the word (Heb: mouth) of the LORD, as he was commanded.
Numbers 3:39 All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment (Heb: mouth) of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand.
We see that Moses and Aaron executed God’s commandments in accordance to the “mouth of the Lord.” The greatness of God’s servant is restricted by their obedience to what comes out of the mouth of God.
Numbers 22:35 And the angel of the LORD said unto Balaam, Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak( Piel verb form )unto thee, that thou shalt speak( Piel verb form).So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
There are three components to every prophecy.
First every prophecy must be given without, with the accuracy of the rhema word that is discerned within.
One good rule is to prophesy what one sees or hears; no more and no less.
Many a time the Lord will reveal something in our spirits that we cannot understand. Our responsibility is to speak out as faithfully as we see it, many times without the understanding. The Lord will then give us clarity of the situation.
Romans 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion(measure)of faith;
True faith is not our faith, but the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ living within us.
God’s faith always resides within His rhema word. This is because God’s faith is needed to cause His rhema word to come to pass. When we prophesy according to the proportion of faith we are prophesying in accordance to the rhema word of God. In proportion to the measure of the clarity of the rhema word will be the proportion of the anointing behind the prophecy. This is why we must learn to hear the voice of the Lord as accurately as possible. Obedience, faith, and holiness are the keys.
The second component is that of discerning the intent of the Lord’s heart in His Word.
Thirdly, the prophet must give the word with the same intensity or emphasis, which the Lord gave it in his spirit. Sometimes, the prophet is to give the word with great compassion and gentleness, other times there is the tone of admonishment or warning behind the voice of the Lord. Practice makes perfect.
Numbers 22:35 And the angel of the LORD said unto Balaam, Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak( Piel verb form )unto thee, that thou shalt speak( Piel verb form).So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
In Numbers twenty-two and thirty-five we notice the Hebrew Piel verb tense being used twice in the same verse. The Piel verb form is used to what the Lord gives to the prophet, and likewise in what the prophet speaks out.
The Piel verb form depicts intensity and emphasis. It is busying ourselves with a certain action. The prophet consumes him or herself with the spoken word of the Lord and is responsible to speak out that word with the same intensity of emphasis which God gave it.
1Sam 3:21 And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
Hebrew: Yahweh uncovered or disclosed Himself to Samuel through His word. The word discloses the Lord to the world as it is faithfully spoken forth by the prophet.
The apostle and the prophet uncover or disclose the hidden Lord Jesus dwelling in the form of mystery to the church.
As He is disclosed, the church can then participate or fellowship in to what the Lord Jesus has purposed and called forth that body corporately and individually. The more revelation, the more participation into the Lord by that local body, and by individual believers.
The Lord will never disclose Himself fully to a local body until the ministry of the prophet is fully welcomed.
1 sam 9:6 And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man;
( Honourable; Glory or glorious: It means to be weighty and heavy with honor and glory. Samuel is heavy and weighty in the Spirit of God; he discloses the invisible God and makes Him to become visible through his prophecies. This is the definition of glory or glorifying the Lord.
6 all that he saith cometh surely to pass:(Hebrew: All that he says will come to pass, surely comes to pass)now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.
Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
8The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy
Hebrew: The Lord Yahweh emphatically spoke, who will not begin to and continue to prophesy at repetitive times?
The more glory, the more the anointing, and the more will be the spirit of prophecy. The more is the revelation of the Lord, the more will always be the release of prophecy.
Revelation 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.(The presence of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy)
1 Cor 1:6 Even as the testimony of Christ ( the presence of Christ)was confirmed in you:
7 So that ye come behind (You are not lacking or inferior)in no gift;( in no charismatic gift) waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
1Sam 10:6 And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy (Hebrew: reflexive verb; You will be able to prophesy by your own capabilities and actions once that the Spirit of God has come upon you)with them, and shalt be turned into another man.
Prophecy, which is received, can turn an individual or a local body into a different person or body if that individual or church welcomes it, believes it, and acts upon it.
Belief and obedience to a godly prophecy will bring God’s will and circumstances to bear.
Their course of life will be radically altered and blessed by the Lord in accordance to the prophecy, making the church into a different church or the person into a different person.
Acts 13:27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not,(ignorant) nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.
Many churches today are ignorant, or have no knowledge of the voice of the prophets.
One of the most disconcerting things that I have experienced as a believer of now twenty-two years is the incredibly small percentage of churches and individuals which welcome prophecies from the Lord.
Most comments have been “that’s a nice word.” I have seen little done to test out the prophecy and then to execute it comes from the Lord. The individual or church loses the privilege of being turned into another man, or body of believers.
Look at the obedience of the Antioch church.
Acts 11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
27 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
28 And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
29 Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:
2 Chronicle 20:20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
To believein the prophets of God means that we must assure ourselves of their ministry as spokespeople of the Lord. Afterwards we are responsible to obey the words that come through the. To prosper is to accomplish successfully what one set out to do. Our executing and accomplishing the will of God measure true success in life. Individual believers and churches shall prosper as they take heed to the charge of God through His prophets. Without the prophetic ministry a church will truly never become successful in executing God’s will for it.
Hos 12:10 And I have spoken( Hebrew: Piel verb) by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets.
The same Hebrew “piel” verb form describing intense and emphatic action is found here. As we said, this means to busy or consume ourselves with a certain activity.” Thus, this verse tells us that the spoken voice of God is best heard and understood through the prophetic ministry.
Hosea 12:13 And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.
Acts 7:38 This is he, that was in thechurch in the wildernesswith the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
The Lord by a prophet causes the church to be brought out of bondage.
The church is furthermore guarded and kept free by the prophetic ministry after being brought out of bondage. Until the prophetic ministry is fully welcomed in our churches it is impossible for the Bride of Christ to be made spotless.
I Cor 14:3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification(the building up of the body of Christ), and exhortation,(encouragement , admonition, and warning) and comfort.( to persuade, arouse and stimulate into Christian action)
Ezr 5:1 Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.
Ezr 5:2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them(supporting, sustaining, encouraging, and exhorting).
The building of a local body must be always done in part through the ministry of the prophets.
Ezra 6:14 And the elders of the Jews builded(they were building), and they prospered(and succeeding) through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
Building and successfully completing the house of God can only be done in part through the ministry of the prophets.
Acts 15:32 And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.
To strengthen, fix in place, and make steady and sure.
Jose and Mary Alvarez 