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Why I Love and Value the Prophetic
Revelation for the Local Church
When we look at the Book of Revelation chapters 2 an 3 we find an amazing revelation of the Heart of God to His 7 churches. In these two chapters Jesus Christ speaks to each church through the aggelos (ang’-el-os: a messenger, envoy, one who is sent, an angel) of each church, giving revelation for their particular situation; He rebukes where needed, encourages when needed, He gives praise, and also points out what must be done for them to be successful before God if their lampstand is in jeopardy of being removed. The Lord still has specifics for churches today, some as severe as we see in The Book of Revelation and others not as severe – just guidance and correction to varying degrees. The Prophetic when spoken into these situations can give precision in helping the church become more effective and pleasing to the Lord.
Here is such a story.
Some years back the Lord had us at a church in a university town. During the months the university students were in town we as a church spent much time and resources focusing on them; their needs, their strengthening and their spiritual maturity. However, as is the case in most university town churches attendance during the summer was much lower than at other times of the year leaving us mostly families with children while the students were away.
One day The Holy Spirit showed me a moving picture of the life of a tree. In this movie the tree went through all the seasons of the year highlighting different stages the tree went through during each season. In spring the tree was fertilized and blossomed; summer it bore fruit (the fruit having seeds); autumn came, the leaves blew away; winter with pruning and the tree went through the cycle again.
I shared this revelation with the leaders of our church; after some discussion and prayer we concluded God was giving us direction for our church. The Tree itself represented the local church. The tree (as it would look in winter with bare branches, the trunk and root system) was representative of the people who were there year round – the strength of the tree. The fertilizer represented what we were supposed to do while the students were away so we would blossom. The fruit – the students who were with us for awhile but then were picked off the tree and became nourishment for others and having the seed within they were able to reproduce themselves (2 Tim 2:2); finally, the leaves which blew off in the wind represented the students leaving at the end of the school year.
Though this simple movie The Lord revealed His will for our church; we were to invest heavily in strengthening the community of believers who were there year round while the students were away for the summer. During the summer months the leaders changed the focus and format of the meetings in order to obey the revelation from the Holy Spirit.
This is just one account of the way the prophetic can impact a local church and of how the prophetic should yield to and work with the leadership of a church.
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