In my early years of Christianity I was indoctrinated to the fact that if there was to be any ministry for women it would be in the prayer room. Every church I went to, every ministry I knew of in those early days had a woman who was in charge of the prayer group. Seldom did the men participate in these groups. I thought it was normal. I figured that women who were called into intercessory ministry had the ministry to be a warrior. Because of this it was easy for me to accept some of the “weird” ways of intercession that I saw. While I am not against crying and even sometimes shouting as a form of intercession, what I experienced in my younger years was extreme. I began to think that true intercession had not taken place unless we were all worn out from crying and shouting. That is, until I began to study the bible for myself.
I wanted to do a study on Anna because I heard the “praying ladies” speak of her often. Well, the first thing I discovered about Anna was that the scriptures did not refer to her as an intercessor as I had been led to believe. She was called a prophetess (Luke 2:36). Up to that point I never heard a teaching or a minister refer to Anna as a prophetess. I found myself moving from studying Anna in light of prayer and began to study prophets in light of prayer.
Guess what I found out? While everyone who intercedes is not a prophet, the scripture bears out that everyone who stands in the office of a prophet will be an intercessor. And, the highest percentage of prayer warriors in the bible was men! I found this most intriguing.
If you do a study on Moses you will find that, as a prophet, he spent a lot of time talking to God about the people he was leading. Rarely did he talk to the people about the journey they were on before he had talked to God first. His direction for the people as a prophet came out of his prayer time and his intercession time with God. Even during the times that he whined and cried to God about the people, he inevitably cried out on behalf of the people. His aggravation with the people was far outweighed by his concern for the people. In some ways, this was his downfall, for what kept him out of the Promise Land were the very people for whom he interceded (Psalm 106:32).
There is David who inquired upon the Lord continually. One has only to read the book of Psalms to experience David’s prayers, cries and intercession concerning his family and the people.
We cannot leave out Phineas, the grandson of Aaron, whose intercession kept God from consuming the children of Israel (Numbers 25:11).
There is Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Elijah and Elisha. There is no denying, either, that Mordecai was a great intercessor (Esther 4:1). His intercession changed Esther’s life and the lives of the Jews.
Solomon’s dedication of the temple in 2 Chronicles is also a prophetic declaration. His dedication is still having impact on our church today which places it, in my understanding, in the category of prophetic intercession.
When you study all of the prayers that the Apostle Paul prayed you will discover intercession at a level our contemporary church is still aspiring to reach. In the book of Ephesians, alone, are great prayers for God’s people prayed by Paul. Prayers that, when prayed in faith, will change the course of the world and the church. We must also include 2 Timothy 2:1-2 which is one of the most powerful intercessory instructions we have been given:
First of all, then, I urge that entreaties [and] prayers, petitions [and] thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. (1Timothy 2:1-2)
Since Paul had a habit of telling us to “imitate him as he imitated Christ” we can safely assume that he is instructing us to pray what he prayed. And we know that he prayed what Christ prayed, for we see Christ saying similar things in the gospel of John chapter 17.
Jesus was (and still is) the greatest intercessor. Jesus also walked in the office of a prophet.
When we hear the word “warrior” we often think of a man in armor with some type of weapon ready to do physical battle. These men in the scripture were dressed for battle, as their garments were righteousness and their weapon was simply saying what God told them to say. Yet the power of their obedience and the power of speaking God’s word brought about changes in the social, economic and government of the world known then and the world we know now.
Does this mean that God does not intend for women to pray? Of course He does! Though Anna was a prophetess, she spent all of her widowhood in the temple praying. Prayer is not just women’s work and praying men do make great prayer warriors.
You will discover as we continue this study that the prophetic involves more of a “face-to-face” with God than a “face-to-face” with people. When we find that we prophesy more than we intercede; and when we intercede more than we study the word of God, we give forth immature prophesies causing confusion among the people.
I believe that the body of Christ, as a whole, desires to come into the maturity of knowing who said what and why? There seems to be less confusion in the scriptures about this; yet I continue to hear from God’s people the need for clarity on who that was that spoke to them: was it God, them or the devil? And, then the confusion on understanding what was said. Let me suffice it to say that God spoke to the righteous and the unrighteous. A good example of this is Pharaoh concerning Abraham’s wife. Pharaoh knew he heard from God. Abraham knew he heard from God. The Apostle Paul heard clearly a voice and when he inquired as to the identity of the voice, Jesus did not hesitate to identify Himself. I cannot find any place in scripture where God was attempting to be elusive or to play a “cat and mouse” game with anyone. The question we must answer is why we do not hear as clearly or have the confidence that seemed to be present in the scripture?
If you want to get ahead of me on this study, I suggest you begin to explore various instances in the scriptures when God spoke, people heard and the result of their actions in response to hearing God’s voice. One thing is sure. Those who stood in the office of the prophet, hearing from the Spirit of the Lord on a regular basis seemed to have intimate fellowship with Him on a regular basis.
Each time God spoke to someone did not render them a prophet. Every Christian should be able to hear the voice of God, recognizing His voice by becoming familiar with His voice through the scriptures. This is the confusion that has permeated the body of Christ.
My earthly father had a relationship with each of his children. We recognized his voice and he talked to us regularly. We had limited authority whereby we could tell people if our father was available to talk when someone called for him. However, my oldest sister was the only one authorized to speak on his behalf concerning my father’s business. That is an analogy that I hope helps us to understand the difference between being able to hear God and prophesy (repeat what He has said) and one who stands in the office of a prophet.
I hope these teachings on the prophetic are helping to bring clarity to the office of a prophet and the purpose of that office. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to express them. I do not know everything there is to know about the office of the prophet, but I do know enough seasoned people who have walked in this office in a way that does not bring confusion or chaos to the body of Christ.
© J M Bush November 27, 2009
Together we can search the scriptures for the answers.
