These Hebrew words used for Prophets show us how different people receive from the Lord. We see the different ways God may use Prophetic ministry.
1. NABI:
This means to bubble up. God's word just seem to bubble up out of the inner part of this this gift. The word NABI describes one who is stirred up in spirit.
Like it just simply comes up within you out of your heart, into your mind.
2. ROEH:
This means to see or perceive. The seer sees things more than he hears prophetic words. Could be pictures, visions, illustrations etc.
For seers, usually we have to break down or interpret what is seen. Another Hebrew word used close to ROEH is Hozeh. It also means seer but dynamics are a bit different. We can check 1 Chronicles 29:29 for the usage of these words.
3. HAZON:
This means watchman.
I believe this gift is that of a Prophetic intercessor. One who stands before the Lord, sees and hears for the purpose of praying powerful Prophetic prayers to be a watchman of the Flock.
4. PROPHETS:
This is a Greek word that simply means One who speaks for God. (Pronounced Profaytace)
Basic description of the prophetes :
Foretell: tells things in the future. Gives directives on upcoming events or workings of God with men.
ForthTell: gives the wisdom, counsel and understanding of God into a life or situation or group.
5. NATAPH
This simply means to Preach, to drop from heaven
FOUR LEVELS OF PROPHETIC MINISTRY
As we all start Horning our Prophetic gifts, it is important we learn how prophecy exists on different levels and how we grow into consistent Prophetic ministry.
Everyone tends to begin with a general hearing of God's voice, as the year goes by, the prophetic gifts deepen.
So here is a generalisation of our growth process in the Prophetic. It is broken down into 4
1. The Spirit of Prophecy:
This depicts a revelational life in God; that is revelation in the word and prayer.
Basically, a general sense of hearing from God and seeing what He is doing. Could be for yourself, friends or family members.
Every believer/child of God is actually expected to operate on this level. We should be living in fellowship with Christ and hearing His voice.
Amplified Bible. Revelation 19:10
[10]Then I fell prostrate at his feet to worship (to pay divine honors) to him, but he [restrained me] and said, Refrain! [You must not do that!] I am [only] another servant with you and your brethren who have [accepted and hold] the testimony borne by Jesus. Worship God! For the substance (essence) of the truth revealed by Jesus is the spirit of all prophecy [the vital breath, the inspiration of all inspired preaching and interpretation of the divine will and purpose, including both mine and yours].
The essence of the truth revealed is the spirit of Prophecy. My version says the testimony of Christ is the spirit of Prophecy. Here, we see Christ; His divine will and purpose, unveiled to us
2. The Gift Of Prophecy
This involves getting a specific message for someone and relaying it to them.
If you find yourself occasionally seeing things about people (in any way mentioned earlier), it is most likely you have the gift of Prophecy and it needs to be developed.
Of course, you start praying and desire to walk in the fullness of this. It is not a bad thing to desire to prophesy, Paul made this clear in 1 Cor 14. Most important thing is to make sure our desire of it is not about us. One thing about gifts is this, they are not about us, they are majorly about others, the body of Christ.
So whatever gift we desire, it is simply us desiring to serve. To serve others in the body of Christ
If you find yourself in this second level, it is best to stick to Edification, exhortation and comfort (as explained in the last teaching). Stay away from corrective/directive prophecy.
If you get any of those, meet those you submit to their leadership and tell them first before telling the person. This is because at this stage your gifts are not well developed and it allows for error.
Corrective and directive prophecies do not give error allowances. It's either you are right or you are right.
3. The ministry of Prophecy:
This is for those that find themselves being used often by God to give Prophetic utterances or messages to people.
Here are signs to look out for to know if you have a ministry in the Prophetic :
* You find yourself developing a clear giftedness and consistency in this path.
* You find that this is one of the dominant ways God uses you.
* People can testify that they've been blessed through you and built
* This gift you have is bearing fruit in others, visible fruits.
If every of this sign is present and full, it is most likely you've been called to the prophetic ministry (Same way some are called as teachers, evangelists etc)
4. The Office of A Prophet:
The person who holds this office has years of consistent and accurate Prophetic ministry where not just this person but many others (especially leaders around) can testify and recognize that this is your office in the work of God. There is a long, proven track record here. An accurate one.
Submission to the place of prayer and discipline is one thing we will see about such person.
So this is basically all the four levels of the prophetic that I know of.
Let me use a simple illustration to sum it up.
Everyone should be able to explain when they read (How are you going to help your kids with assignments 😂?)
But not everyone will be very good with explanation.
Some will be good with explanation but will need to read more to become better.
Some can actually teach well but they are not teachers yet (Because teaching is not all that is to teachers)
Then the last level is for the teachers themselves. They've been accredited to teach, this is from years of Learning or taking exams to certify them as qualified enough to teach.
So we see that knowing how to teach does not equal being a teacher
Seeing things about people does not automatically make us prophets. There is a whole lot of in betweens to get there. And all of it requires discipline/commitment to the secret place.
All of these processes I laid down also makes it easier to ensure accuracy of prophecies.
This way, people get less weary of prophets. We have less people saying I don't believe in prophets xyz bla bla.
I have questions for us
1. From the Old testament words describing Prophecy, which ones do you find yourself operating in?
2. From the Four levels of Prophecy, what level do you think you are on? Or you are yet to start any level?
Sumi - 1 an gradually growing In 2
Tebs - For the levels of the Prophetic I think I operate in 1&2
We all should pay attention to ourselves also and patterns. It is important. This will help us grow
Remi - 1. I experience all 5. I'm trying to see which one is more dominant but I can't categorically say which yet. I'm still taking notes sha.
Will also check my book again (I write down when I get anything from God), will use this to track which way I hear more
2. Growing in Level 3.
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