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PROPHETIQUETTE
Pointers For the Mature Handling of Internal Prophetic Fire
If anyone does not stumble in what
he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well....So also
the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts great things. Behold,
how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a
fire... Jms. 3:2, 5-6
And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and
they rested on each of them. Acts 2:3
The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets…If
anyone thinks himself to be [prophetic], and yet does not bridle his tongue but
deceives his own heart, this man's [prophecy] is worthless. I Cor. 14:32; Jms
2:26
When
James first wrote to us about the dire importance of taming the tongue, he had
in view the evil nature in us to which the tongue gives vent. Indeed, the
untamed natural tongue kindles fires of evil wherever it speaks.
But for
those gifted to bear the prophetic fire of God in their hearts, the words of
James hold a special and unique application. For while the natural tongue gives
vent to certain evil fire, the tongue of the prophet also gives vent to fire.
This is the fire of God. However, the prophetic tongue—if it too is
undisciplined and untamed—will create religious forest fires in the midst of
the body of Christ that in the end produce as much evil as if they came purely
of the carnal nature.
The last
period has—above all else—witnessed to me of the drastic need for a course in
"prophetic tongue taming" among those who steward the fire of God's zeal in
their souls. In fact, if I could distil what I'm really picking up from the Lord
out of all I have been hearing, it is that God is far more concerned about our
learning to rightly steward and maturely dispense our fire than He is
about the issues over which our fires are being provoked to holy
jealousy.
I have
witnessed this truth repeatedly over the last season through my correspondence
and personal visits with prophetic people, as well as through my awareness of
at-large prophetic postings and controversies. Over and over what I am hearing
is that, as prophetic people, we are spinning our wheels for naught and shooting
ourselves in the feet because we do not know how to control the prophetic fire
that burns within us.
Some
Examples
In the
last while I have entertained some interesting correspondence. Occasionally I
receive responses to teachings by those who have a bone to pick with one thing
or another. I don't mind that people sometimes have bones to pick. I welcome
earnest inquiry and dialog into the things of the Lord. But some, writing to
contest different issues, can hardly hold off a self-opinionated and
contentious spirit in trying to correct me over that for which they are so
zealously fired. They are looking for a stag fight.
Over
time, I have also received uninvited correspondence from some who read an
article, and seek an outlet for their own untempered fires of revelation.
Such folk do not write necessarily to correct. But in writing, they just have
no control over their revelation, spinning endless descriptions and teachings of
what they see. Their verbosity reaches such limits that I just have to hit the
delete key whenever I receive something from them.
Then
there are some with prophetic fire I have personally ministered to or with. They
are so "filled with the Spirit" that they can hardly contain themselves in
discussion. They are lost in their own spirits. In the case of one prophetically
fired-up couple, the prophetic husband can barely speak without his prophetic
wife interjecting at every turn to add her revelation (or to correct his.) [In
some cases, I have had to lose good prophetic friends simply because their
tongues brought more harm to the friendship than good.]
Of late,
there has been a fair amount of saber rattling among those recognized as
prophetic leaders at-large, particularly among those in the out-of-church
wilderness camp. Such rattling and even clashing of sabers with those of the
"bridal prophetic" is being promoted as evidence of the true
fire of God. The reasoning seems to be, "We have the fire of God, so let's
turn it loose on everything we can set our sites on that is contrary to it."
The fire
itself is held to be enough to justify its release and serves as a badge of
identification. It's to the point now that conferences are being formed
featuring a slash-and-burn mentality toward everything alleged to be in
opposition to true "New Testament Christianity." (Is this really what we are finally all
about?)
The
Common Deadly Assumption
Underneath
all the examples I have cited lies an assumption. It is that the tongue moved by
the prophetic fire of God needs no taming! If it is God's fire, than let it
"Burn, baby burn!"
But as
A. W. Tozer would have said, "Scarcely a worse delusion could be
entertained." The fact that we are filled with the fire of God does not mean
we are at liberty to turn it loose without control. God does not do that
Himself. Neither may His prophets. He expects us to bring our revelatory tongues
under His command, even as Christ Himself listened and then spoke only
exactly what He heard the Father saying in every situation.
This
means we must gain the wisdom of God in how to steward and release in
appropriate measure and venue the fire He gives us. When it comes to tongues of
fire, "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets." The possession of fire is not itself the
permission to release that fire.
Even
with prophetic utterance, we must be given to listening, listening,
listening. It is only by listening that our fire can be profitably applied
to minister life to the hearers, rather than the destructive force of unbridled
criticism. And if we do not heed this instruction of James, then our prophetic
fire will indeed be corrupted, reinfused with a religious spirit, to
become the source of every evil work, even to the inciting of the dreaded
"prophetic civil war."
The
Crying Need for Prophetic Statesmen
Speaking
of Samuel, the scripture says he let "none of his words fall to the
ground." Samuel was no
mealy-mouthed prophet. When it came time to release the fiery prophetic word, he
was quite capable of doing so. He stood up to Saul and he personally cut down
Agag with a sword.
But such
displays were not Samuel's badge of honor. They were the exception for Him, not
the rule. Samuel was matured to that place of prophet statesmanship where he was
positioned to bring forth righteous judgment to an entire nation.
Some
wonder why after so many years of prophetic ministry and knowledge the prophetic
remains a despised loose-canon ministry disenfranchised from the rest of the
body of Christ with little true effectiveness anywhere it appears. May I suggest
it is because—whether unto criticism or unto revelations in general—those who
most bear the prophetic fire have never learned how to steward it through
disciplined speech and a heart that shares God's complete vision for all His
people.
Some are
presently looking to John the Baptist as our role model, championing the fiery
message of repentance as our banner. But we have not been called to conformity
to the image of John the Baptist, but to Christ. Even John was centered on the
Lord, not on Himself and his own message. John's message was "He must
increase," not "Repentance must increase" or "Baptism by immersion
must increase." Moreover, though He ministered from the wilderness, John's
vision was for all of Israel, preparing the entire Bride for the
Bridegroom.
The idea
that the prophetic is to forever remain disenfranchised from the rest of the
body of Christ as its badge of honor is a totally misplaced deception of a proud
religious spirit. No matter how wrongly despised the prophetic may be, the true
prophetic never forgets it is part of a body far larger than itself or loses the
hope it will find its proper accepted role relative to that body. Christ
Himself expected at some point to be received—not forever rejected!
Samuel
was a prophetic statesman whose fire proceeded from him in mature measurement
and whose heart was for the entire people of God. Today, the body of Christ is
still crying out for prophetic statesmen—prophets whose words do not drop to the
ground because they have learned to listen to the Father and receive His Whole
counsel—prophets who know how to proclaim the comfort of the Lord as well as
apply the sword of the Lord in their proper and measured seasons and unique
situations.
Conclusion
Perhaps
you are one who is filled with the fire of God. Perhaps you have a well of fire
that is brimming to overflowing and yearning to see the righteousness of the
Lord invade His House again. Perhaps you are among those who have been consumed
by zeal for the Lord's house.
Welcome
to the club! If then you too are zealously moved for prophetic purity and the
Lord's standard to be established in the House, let me encourage you like never
before to yield your burning zeal to the Lord's tempering. Let Him teach
you how to turn the flow off! Let Him teach you how to govern your
own prophetic spirit until it ministers more light than heat. Instead of a blast
furnace, let Him make you a laser whose words will accomplish all He
wants to do in these last days with pinpoint accuracy.
I invite
you to the holy call to become a prophetic statesman / stateswoman, rising with
healing in your wings to bring both truth and wholeness to the body of Christ in
these final hours of our maturing. I call you to the holy call to listen to
the Father before you ever speak again.
Selah,
good friends.
Chris Anderson
Riverside, RI, USA
First Love Ministry
- a ministry of Anglemar Fellowship
http://www.firstloveministry.com
4/05
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