ARTICLE 6.

THE PROPHETIC SPIRIT AND ITS TEMPRAMENT

By Isaiah-Phillips Akintola

Isaiah 11:1-3

The spiritual character of a prophet

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord 3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

Since we know that the ecclesia carries different unique faces, it is therefore, important that the prophetic ministry is allowed to bring in advanced definition, clarity and Impetus to what the lord will have us built. The prophetic carries a strong anointing of what the bible terms as the craftsmanship spirit. The prophetic ministry is designed to be a giver of (creative) life and light (direction) to the (seed) vision assigned to the body of Christ.

While there are various components and emphasis of the prophetic ministry, its general, foundational objective however, is to edify (build up through intense fellowship with one another) the body of Christ. Since the primary assigned function of a prophet is designed to live in a perpetual state of worship, they are then seen as a ministry that is very close to the heartbeat of God.

While everyone else is called to worship God in the Spirit of truth, the prophetic ministry however, defines and captures what it is to live and breathe in the ascended reality of throne room worship. The prophetic truly understand the weightiness and essence of pure worship. The very mold and temperament of a kingdom-center prophet is defined to be the very essence of worship and warfare. Worship to a prophet is far beyond singing; it is the entire posture of his existence and outlook before the father, the body of Christ, and creation.

Worship, or devotion to a prophet is the very condition of lifestyle of total submission and obedience to the voice, leading and passion of the Holy Spirit. It is the desire to constantly be found where God is in his prophetic agenda for the church and humanity in general. Everything about the call of a prophet is reflected in his or her a priestly function of worshipping, interceding, meditation and fasting as the Spirit of the Lord will direct.

To a prophet, the act of worship is taken to a higher definition of the state of his thought, feelings, desire, passion, warfare, and temperaments, and even creative and imaginable ideas are deep reflection of worship to him. The whole makeup of a prophet, including what some may term as a mood, are all designed for a divine reason at specific times or season. No human will be able to precisely define the mood of a Prophet except those who can identify them by the Spirit.

 

The prophet’s emotional intelligence

The feelings and emotion of a prophet are not determined by good or bad time; they are rather determined by the spiritual state or condition of the heart of God over a given region or condition. The prophet’s emotional intelligence is defined by his or her spiritual wholeness; spiritual wholeness to a prophet is a combination of the operation of the ministry of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The prophet composure is a direct link to the feelings of the father’s heart and burden in a given situation or environment.  For anyone who do not understand the spiritual, character temperament of a prophet, one could almost conclude that they are schizophrenic.  What usually excite other believers, to a prophet could be highly grievous due to how the lord feels about the very thing. While prophets could be seen by most people to be highly emotional, that should however not be assumed as weakness, because their state of emotion could most time be a direct reflection of an imminent danger or even a coming judgment.

This temperament unfortunately, are still areas, major part of the body of Christ are still struggling to perfectly understand, particularly amongst the leadership of the church, and this lack of understanding, usually leads to misunderstanding in their interactions even amongst those who may think they know them.

While prophets are connected to earthly realities, they can however be completely detached from things that gets people very happy and excited unfortunately, and this is not of their making. Their heart is forever searching for realms and realities beyond this realm of life.

Prophets seeks to walk in a continual state of purity of heart and intentions; they seem to be too detailed about things that others may feel are not that important. This is where, in most cases they get into trouble, especially with their immediate family, friends, and very close ministry staff workers who in most cases assumes they don’t care or concern about family and other domestic issues.

 

The heart of a prophet

The priority of the state of a prophet’s heart is completely different in value from what may concern most folks at a given time, and this is not because they don’t care. In fact, their love and care can only be truly measured when we truly understand the level of the burden of their heart.  

It is crucially important to understand the world of prophets before getting close to them because their life is a two edge-sword. They could easily pick up habitual sinful nature, if such sin nature remains unchecked; they could highly be grieved to the point of reacting in a manner that may look unacceptable.

A prophet understands that everything regarding his existence is regulated by intent and providence. Therefore, he sees himself and every other thing from the vantage view of the Fathers eternal will. He is very aware that he owns nothing, and whatever is at his or her disposal are dedicated for the furtherance of the will and purpose of the father. The truth is, a matured prophet understand that he is a Nazarene, called to function both as a Levites and priest amongst the rest of the community.

Furthermore, the office of a prophet can be said to house a specialized grace which deals with detailed assignment of executing and regulating the judicial initiatives of kingdom advancement.  This is more of a high level governmental position that interacts with activity that shapes and shifts condition of existence both from natural and spiritual realm.

Due to their solid footing on the priestly ministry of prayer and intercession, they carry executive authority and power to address entities the scripture refers to has principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places regardless of their geographical location.

The prophets’ office or mantle if you will, releases divine truths, doctrines, principles and kingdom value standards that were once sealed, forgotten or lost in time past. In other words, the core ministry of the prophet’s office deals with:

1- The ministry of the word or revelation

2- The ministry of redemption

3- The ministry of presentation,

4- The ministry of representation,

5- The ministry of revival,

6- The ministry of reformation,

7- The ministry of transformation

8- The ministry of the restoration of all things and few other we shall look at in our next session on this discussion.

 Thank you for taking the time to read and follow me in this past few weeks on this teaching. We shall look into some practical side of the prophetic ministry in our next session.

to be continued…