I greet you in the name of the Lord of the holy prophets both in Heaven and on the earth.
CLASSES OF PROPHETS
Prophets in the Old Testament were classified basically into MINOR and MAJOR PROPHETS. The yardsticks are the duration of time, the geographical area upon which the prophet prophesied over, etc.
In the New Testament, below is the rank:
A. Jesus the Christ is the greatest prophets that ever walked this Earth. He functioned in all Ministry, Spiritual Gifts and most of the other empowerments from the God Head setting an example for us. The Bible said He is anointed without measure. John 3:34. No one can attain this class in the prophetic.
B. Foundational Prophets: they are those that brought forth the revelation of the New Testament. These are the writers of the Epistles. Example is John, Paul, Peter, etc. These folks are also in a class of their own.
C. We also have prophets in the early days of the Church like Agabus. He brought forth a revelation about a drought that was coming. Acts 11:28. He also gave a personal prophecy to Paul concerning the tragedy that will befall him if he were to go to Jerusalem. Acts 21:11. This prophecy was a confirmation of what Paul already know. Read the previous Chapter. Prophets in the New Testament are supposed to be confirmers of WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY TOLD US.
D. Next is prophets in these days and time. These prophets are also in different ranks/classes according to their assignments, God's prerogative and their individual commitments to the Call.
MEASURE OF ANOINTING
Ezekiel 47 is a prophetic chapter that show the different levels of water (typifying the Holy Spirit/Anointing) flowing through individual believers. Notice there are FOUR LEVELS; the Ankle, Knee, Waist and beyond the Waist Level. You see, THERE ARE LEVELS IN ALL FORMS OF SPIRITUAL ENDOWMENTS, GIFTS, ETC. There are different levels to the Five Fold Ministry and Measure is also different. For example, the Evangelistic Anointing upon Reinhard Bonnke can't be compared to that upon the Evangelist in your Church.
Also, there are not only Measures to the things of God, EVEN IN A PARTICULAR MEASURE, A PERSON CAN BE MORE OR LESS ANOINTED. I believe this is simple to understand . Anointing can increase or decrease on a person's life irrespective of the Measure the person is operating in. A heavy anointing makes a person to minister to optimum capacity in the measure he/she operates in.
HOW TO INCREASE THE ANOINTING AND MEASURE
A. Faithfulness to God who has called you. 1 Cor. 4:1-2
B. Prompt obedience to Divine leadings.
C. Spending extra time in studying the Word of God, prayers, fasting and WAITING ON GOD. These are essentials for the Prophetic Ministry. You can't function/minister under the Prophetic Anointing if you aren't paying serious attention to these things.
FORTH TELLING AND FORETELLING IN THE PROPHETIC OFFICE
The Prophetic Ministry consists largely in Forth Telling and Foretelling. There is a difference between the two.
Foretelling in the context of our topic means speaking under Divine Inspiration about future events. The gift of a word of Wisdom is largely responsible for this aspect of the prophetic ministry.
Forth telling means teaching or preaching under Divine inspiration.
FORTH TELLING AND FORETELLING UNDER THE OLD AND NEW COVENANT
There were more foretelling in the Old Testament than what we have in the New Testament. In fact, this is largely responsible for the gross misconception that anyone called into the Prophetic realm must give personal prophecies and be able to make predictions. Many times, prophets under the Old Testament would preach to people then they begin to foretell about future events. If you are very familiar with the book of Psalms, you will see many incoherence in the line of thought. The Psalmist may be addressing his enemy, all of a sudden, he is talking about the Messiah. I hope you know that A PSALMIST IS A PROPHET? A Psalmist is not just a Christian Song Leader. More insight will come later on.
Under the Old Testament, FORTH TELLING WERE INTERRUPTED WITH FORETELLING. Then, the prophet would continue with his forth telling after the foretelling is done. Foretelling is not so common in the New Testament. Many things accounts for this.
It is noteworthy that many prophets in the early start of the Church have no record of Foretelling anything. John the Baptist prophetic ministry consisted of preaching repentance and baptizing folks. There was no record of prediction from John the Baptist except Mark 1:7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
Judas and Silas (not Iscariot) were prophets just like Agabus but there was no record of them giving personal prophecies to people. They majorly exhorted and confirmed the brethren. Acts 15:32.
Let me stop here for today. Tomorrow, I am going to be teaching about the Spiritual Gifts under the Prophetic Office. Don't miss it.
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