'I am not the messiah. I am only here to prepare a way for him.
He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less'.

I have heard many teachings about the Old Testament prophets, but very few, if any, about Jesus the prophet. This is a real shame, and it must sadden the Old Testament prophets, because they pointed us to Jesus, and here we are pointing back to them to see what a prophet is like. It is to Jesus that we must look, for He sets the standard for the New Testament prophetic ministry.

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN.

You will notice that most of this teaching is from the Gospel of John. John was the most prophetic of the 12 disciples, and he was also the one who was the closest to Jesus. John was an apostle, but also a prophet in his own right. He wrote the book of Revelation, which is a vast unfolding vision, and it's the most prophetic of all of the New Testament books. Being prophetic himself, John seems to have picked up and focused on a lot of the prophetic ministry of Jesus in his gospel. There is a real unveiling of Jesus the prophet in this gospel, and as a prophetic person I encourage you to read this gospel regularly, and ask the Lord to reveal aspects of the prophetic ministry to you from it.

THREE THINGS ABOUT THE PROPHETIC MINISTRY OF JESUS THAT HAVE SPOKEN TO ME AND MOULDED ME.

There is so much meat in the gospel of John; you could spend a whole lifetime in this gospel! However, I'm going to focus on three things that have really helped me, and moulded me, as I have sought to grow in the prophetic ministry. These three things have really impacted me, and I feel they have given me something of a foundation in the prophetic ministry. So let's take a look at the ministry of Jesus the prophet and learn together.

1. HIS WORDS WERE NOT HIS OWN.

What is a prophet? It is someone who speaks on the behalf of another. A true, Old Testament, and a true New Covenant prophet, speak on behalf of God. We know that Jesus was a prophet because He chose only to speak the words of the Father.

John 14:10
'The words that I speak are not my own,
but my Father who lives in me does his work through me'.

This is a remarkable statement! Jesus chose not to speak his own words, but only the words of the Father. He was 100% the Fathers prophet 100% of the time. It's incredible to think that Jesus would not speak unless the Father asked him to. He was the very mouthpiece of the Father.

John 14:24
'And remember my words are not my own'.

John 1:14
'The word became human and made his home amongst us'.

John 16:13-15
'When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own, but will tell you what he has heard.
He will tell you about the future.
He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.
All that belongs to the Father is mine: that is why I said,
'The spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me''.

Notice the similarities between the prophetic ministry of Jesus, and the prophetic ministry of the Spirit:

They both do not 'own' their words.

They are both prophets as they only speak the words of another (Jesus speaks the words of the Father, and the Spirit speaks the words of Jesus).

They both seek the glory of another. Jesus desire is for the Father to be glorified, and the Spirit's desire is that the Son is glorified.

This gives us an insight into the 'mechanics' of prophecy in the Trinity. The Father speaks to Jesus, and Jesus speaks to the Spirit. The Spirit then speaks to the body, the church, and the church speaks forth to glorify Jesus! This is the behind the scenes action that takes place whenever we prophesy.

OUR PROPHETIC CALLING.

These scriptures give us an understanding of the standard that we're called to in the prophetic ministry. We should aspire to only speak the words that the Spirit gives us, so that Jesus and the Father are glorified. Can we meet this high standard? No, we cannot. But we can seek to have a heart that glorifies the Lord, and a hunger for the pure word to flow through us. When we do miss it, thanks to the ministry of Jesus, there is grace for us. However, we should desire to speak only the true word that comes from the Spirit.

Revelation 19:10
'The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy'.

True prophecy testifies of Jesus, so that He will be glorified. As a New Covenant prophetic people we are called to testify of what Jesus has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. The highest form of prophecy that anyone can give is to prophecy of the character of God. Imagine if you spoke words that gave people an understanding of the love of God. That knowledge of God's love would set them free, and would change them in a radical way, much more than any word about the purposes of God for their lives could. In the prophetic we're looking for people to touch God's heart as well as hear His purposes for their lives.

2. JESUS GAVE LIFE.

Jesus was not a prophet of doom. He spoke life into the people, and He gave life wherever He went.

John 16:63
'The spirit alone gives eternal life.
Human effort accomplishes nothing.
And the very words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life'.

Jesus gave very few harsh words. He did give the Pharisees a hard time, but let's face it, they needed a little shaking up. To the everyday folk He was loving and compassionate in His words and His actions. He spoke life into the people.

THE WOMAN AT THE WELL.

The story of the woman at the well in John 4 is a classic example of Jesus speaking words of life. Jesus could have easily given the woman a hard time over her home life, but instead He focused on giving her a word about worship. He did use a word of knowledge about her situation at home, but it must have been spoken in a very loving way because the conversation continues on, and the woman is obviously not offended at what Jesus had said about her 5 husbands and her current unmarried lover. Infact, the word of knowledge actually fed the womans faith as she said that she thought that Jesus was a prophet. Jesus seems to pass over the dirt in this womans life, and speak only to the treasure that He could see prophetically within her; she was a worshipper. In the prophetic, if you speak to the dirt in peoples lives, the dirt will rise up to the top. But if you speak to the treasure, the gold will arise.

Jesus ministered life to the Samaritan woman by speaking to her heart and desire for worship. The effect was huge. Not only did he impact the woman at the well, but the whole village came to hear the words of life that Jesus spoke and many believed in Him.

THE LIFE-GIVING POWER OF THE NEW COVENANT PROPHETIC.

Many people often ask if the New Testament prophetic is as powerful and strong as that in the Old Testament? Let me say this; the New Covenant prophetic is superior to the Old in every way. But in one way inparticular is it far greater than the old, and that is in it's power to bring life. One of the Hebrew words for prophet in the Old Testament is 'nabi', which comes from the root Hebrew word for 'spring'. It means one who the word comes out of 'like a spring', or one from whom the word 'bubbles up'. So the Old Testament prophets had a 'spring' of prophetic words to give life. In the New Testament it is different:

John 7:38
'Whoever believes in me may come and drink.
For the scriptures declare,
Rivers of living water will flow from his heart'.

So in the Old Testament there is a 'spring', but in the New Testament there is a 'river'. A river is more powerful than a spring in its volume, in it's power and in it's ability to give life. Many great engineers have tried to tame rivers, but it is almost impossible to stop one. You may hold it back in one place only for it to appear with even greater power at another place. A river will bring life wherever it flows; even in the driest desert if there is a river there will be life. If you minister in the prophetic, and allow the river to flow, there will be life manifested wherever you may be. This is the life-giving power of the New Covenant prophetic, which is so much more than that which the Old Testament prophets gave.

WORDS OF LIFE.

As a New Covenant prophetic person, I want to be one who follows in the footsteps of Jesus and brings and speaks life wherever I go. How do I do this? I do it by seeking a deeper heart of love for the people who are around me, and I seek to speak words that 'edify, comfort and encourage', 1 Corinthians 14:3.

When it comes to bringing life to others, the heart is the key:

John 7:38
'Rivers of living water will flow from his heart'.

Matthew 12:24
'Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks'.

Proverbs 4:23
'Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of all life'.

When preparing to give a prophetic word, always ask yourself 'Is this prophecy going to bring life?'. Many people find it much too easy to give harsh words to others. If this is you, then ask the Lord for a greater heart of love for the people. If you have a heart full of God's love for the people, you're going to speak God's words of love to His people.

Proverbs 18:21
'The tongue can bring life or death'.

So let's chose to be ones whose words bring life.

3. JESUS CHOSE NOT TO SPEAK JUDGEMENT.

Very rare are the words of judgement that Jesus spoke, especially when compared to the Old Testament prophets. Over the past few years a debate has been raging amongst a number of international level prophets and apostles as to whether it is even Biblical for a New Covenant prophetic people to speak words of judgement at all. As I listen to what others have to say on this, I have asked myself, 'In scripture, does Jesus appear to be a prophet of judgement?'. I have to say, no, I don't believe that Jesus could be called a prophet of judgement.

John 8:15
'You judge me by human standards,
but I do not judge anyone'.

Jesus didn't come to judge the world, but to save it....

John 3:16-17
'For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son,
so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
God sent his son into the world not to judge the world,
but to save the world through him'.

I'm sharing these things because it seems to me that every week someone is prophesying judgement and doom and gloom on a certain part of the world. I often hear of earthquakes coming to California because of homosexuality there. Every once in a while these things look legitimate because an earthquake happens. Listen, California is on a huge fault line - of course there will be earthquakes there from time to time. It doesn't mean that they are because of God's judgement. I also hear about hurricanes in Florida as a form of judgement. If God wanted to judge the USA, why not send a hurricane or a tornado on Washington DC?

If Jesus chose not to judge the world, why should we be ones who judge? Wasn't one of Jesus issues with the Pharisees that they were judging people instead of helping them? They were putting burdens on others that they could not bear?

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WARNING, DISCIPLINE AND JUDGEMENT.

A word of judgement implies that there is no longer going to be any mercy shown by the Lord in a given situation. Discipline implies that the Lord is teaching you something so that you will no longer behave in an ungodly manner, but will rise up to a higher moral standard. Isn't this why we discipline our kids, so that they become better people? A warning implies that you have not come to the end of the road, but that there is mercy for you now, but you need to repent and change your ways. Both a word of warning, and a corrective word that are truly from the Lord display His care and mercy as He wants a postive change to take place. A word of judgement means it's the end of the road for you in this situation. Words of judgement can very easily become curses in peoples lives, as they can bring a sense of hopelessness when there should be mercy and love.

There is an excellent magazine article with the prophet Graham Cooke which beautifully speaks into some of these issues, and I recommend that you take a look at it by clicking HERE.