Prophetic Voice

I have just been reading a hard-hitting book about the lack of prophets in our day. Who stands in this day and declares, “Thus says the Lord!” with boldness and anointing? Prophets were hard men who lived hard lives and had hard ministries. What truth has grabbed my heart this afternoon is that prophets heard from the Lord.

They had a fresh message. Prophets spent time in isolation so they could have conversation with God. Prophets spoke for the Lord. They did not come up with their own messages. They spoke what God told them to speak. They were echoes of what the Lord had revealed to them in the secret place and the secret chambers of their hearts. Preachers today are echoes of other men.

I once attended a preacher meeting where one pastor suggested we spend our time swapping sermon outlines. Nausea welled up in me. Preachers get their sermons from books, the internet, cds, and magazines. Where are the men who sit before the Lord seeking Him for the message? Where are the preachers who long for a word from the Lord more than another felt need hot topic pep talk?

This is not the most efficient way to prepare to preach. I have been asking the Lord for the better part of the day what I am to preach this Sunday. As of now I have no direction for the Sunday morning or Sunday services. I spent the vast majority of the morning in pursuit of God and His word for me and this church. What do I do? Do I panic and steal some other man’s stale left over sermon or do I keep pleading with God to put something in my heart.

Normally I feel called and enjoy the challenge of preaching through books of the Bible. While on my prayer/writing retreat last week I sensed the Lord tell me, “Trust Me to show you what to preach.” Until the Lord says otherwise I am departing from preaching through the book of Philippians. One more message and we will finish the third chapter. This study has been rewarding for me as I have sat with the Lord and labored through verse after verse. God wants me to seek Him and to hear from Him in a different fashion. God wants me to speak with a prophetic voice to echo what He says to me. I do not know what the message is.

This morning in my Bible reading several verses hit me like a jack- hammer about the power of the voice of God. [Ps 29:4-9] I long to hear that voice on a consistent basis. I want to emerge from my study and enter the pulpit with the assurance that God has spoken to me and set my heart aflame with His message. I need the Lord to open my spiritual ears so I can hear more clearly.

Many times the voice and the message of the prophet were not well received. Prophets come across as arrogant, aloof, negative, and angry. I look at prophets a little differently. I think prophets were not arrogant and aloof. I believe they preferred to keep company with God over men. I figure prophets wanted the voice of God than to hear the hundreds of voices of men. So they declined social invitations and spent more time in the prayer closet than at the country club. Prophets might have been angry but I think the solemn message God kept imparting to their hearts caused them to be sober men. The frivolous things of the world held little appeal for them. Their hearts and minds were consumed with a mandate from God often of impending doom if God’s people did not repent.

Prophets lived with the weight of God’s heart for their nations, communities, and the work of God. Many times they were wanted men. Despite opposition true prophets were fearless in their mission to speak on behalf of God. I want that anointing and prophetic mantle to fall on me. I want God more than church growth, men’s applause, or ministry success. I do not want to live out my days as an echo of other men. I want to be a prophetic voice whom speaks for the Lord.