The beauty of N.T. prophetic ministry - March 9th worship service at Lamb
I Cor. 14:3 But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them.
This past Sunday (the 9th) was a powerful example of the truth of this passage. I want to review what took place in the service and talk about how the gifts operate to build up the church. I may miss some of the things that are relevant, but this is my perspective after reflecting on the service.
A brother came to the front and shared a tongue and an interpretation of that tongue. The interpretation of that tongue focused on concern for some one (or ones) who were struggling with a great deal of fear. Shortly after that a young brother came to the front and read Psalm 23 (with a fair amount of emotion). Sometime after that a sister came to the front and sang a beautiful song in which the Lord calls for us to come to him, and allow ourselves to be comforted by Him. The imagery of the song was very fatherly, and the repeated refrain was to come and allow the Lord to tenderly embrace us and to give us comfort.
Simultaneously a group of people gathered to pray for a young boy (who was at the altar with his father). This prayer time went on for probably 10 or more minutes. I think I have described the basic elements of what I observed this past Sunday. Now I would like to break them down and talk about how different ‘manifestations’ of the Spirit were in operation.
First of all, a little back story. The young boy who was prayed for in the front, simultaneous to these other things that were going on was dealing with a very upsetting experience from school. He was troubled and anxious about some setbacks he had experienced in his schooling, some academic struggles. This had become a bit agonizing for him and he was fearful and upset about school. To my knowledge this information was not known to others in the church. Let me just say as an aside - there may have been others to whom this prophetic activity was also relevant. However, my impression is that God was demonstrating something to the entire church about His love and concern for the fear of a child. I believe that God wanted us to know how precious to Him is the comfort of a child.
The young man who read Psalm 23 was also part of this. He did not originally plan on reading Psalm 23, but thought about something from the Prophet Jeremiah, and then changed it to Psalm 23. He was not particularly emotional when he decided to go to the mic and read. It was only as he began reading that the tears started. I believe that both the Psalm itself and the tears were part of a prophetic message intended to indicate to the young boy, and to all of us how tenderly God views our weaknesses. Psalm 23 is the archtype of re-assuring, comforting Psalms. It is perhaps one of the greatest statements anywhere in the Scriptures of God’s sovereign care for His people through any circumstance. The fact that it was delivered with tears only heightens the drama of the Spirit’s earnestness to communicate the tenderness of God’s heart towards us.
And to further puncuate how throughly the Spirit was speaking this word to us - a beautiful song of God beckoning us to come to Him for comfort was sung. All of these elements together are a magnificent expression of God’s heart for his people, and especially for the littlest among us. They are also illustrative of how helpful prophecy can be in the midst of a worship gathering. It is a powerful example of how the gifts of the Spirit are actually manifestations of God’s presence among us. Read carefully this verse from 1 Cor. 14 - (6) What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:15 am
This is wonderful–we miss you guys so much but can’t wait to see everyone on Sunday. God’s heart is indeed more tender toward us than we can possibly know–”Father”, “Bridegroom”, “Comforter”…
March 15th, 2008 at 4:19 am
I love church on Sunday. It definitely builds me up to prepare for the next week in this world.
Vicki
March 15th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Thanks for sharing this. Edification, exhortation and comfort is really the foundation of the New Testament prophetic ministry. So many people today are running in other directions. It’s awe-inspiring to see true prophetic ministry in action.
Jennifer LeClaire
Author, The Heart of the Prophetic
http://www.nextlevelprophetic.com