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The Melancholy Prophets: A Study in Extremes
Of all the redemptive gifts, the prophets are the hardest to live with. They can be hard on both themselves and others. In my experience, most people have three giftings that look like two primary and one less prominent. For me, I operate mostly in the mercy and exhorter giftings. But I have enough prophet in me to get me into trouble regularly. And of my children, I have at least two who fall into this category as a primary gifting. And believe me, they can be a challenge to raise. The difficulty in locating your redemptive gifts is that wounding can really mask who you truly are. I thought…
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So You Want to be a Prophet: Here’s How
The most basic definition of a prophet is someone who acts as an emissary for their god. Note the small g. Every religion has their prophets, spokesmen for their deities. Christians are no exception, of course, but there is one significant difference between the false and the true prophet. I will get to it in a moment. The first time I was made aware of the nature of a true prophet in a way that hit me viscerally was in Israel. Of course, it was in Israel. And it was an orthodox Jewish professor at Hebrew University who really defined the term. The Christian rules for prophetic ministry that I…