The Need for Prophecy in Church

In today’s church talk, Pastor Priji converses with Pastor Cleophas on the significance and relevance of prophecy in the Church today.

This podcast was recorded in December 2020.

Transcript:

Pastor Priji: What is that the Lord is speaking to you about what He is doing in the church globally in this season?

Pastor Cleophas: Lord is really preparing the church for His great coming. Globally, there is a stirring that is happening in the body of Christ. People are stirred in their hearts to pursue God like never before. We cannot control what is happening outside, but we can see what the world cannot see because the Spirit of God lives in us. I believe the Lord is bringing the church to a place of unity, strength and humility. I have seen some unexpected things happening in people’s lives and it has really moulded and shaped them. If you are a person who really pursues the presence of God, I believe that this is one of the best seasons ever. The business of life outside has come down a little bit and most people are working from home and there is a window of opportunity for us to seek the Lord.

Pastor Priji: How important it is for every church to intentionally prophesy and declare the word of God?

Pastor Cleophas: In I Corinthians 14:1, we see Apostle Paul laying a strong emphasis on prophecy. It is important for us as a church to study the nature of prophecies and understand God’s desire for the church to prophesy. Prophesy is the voice of God and where prophecy is absent, the voice of God is absent. Prophesy edifies, exalts, comforts and strengthens us. God uses prophetic gifts to direct an individual or the church into their destiny.
Sometimes people do get confused with the word of knowledge and a prophetic word. Word of knowledge can be for your current situation or your circumstance but more often or not a prophetic word is directed or released from the heart of God towards a certain individual concerning his destiny, church or nation. God’s word never fails and His word always comes to pass, but there is also a role that the Church has to play for those words being fulfilled, and so, we have to partner with the prophetic word and there has to be a level of application from our side to see that the word comes to pass. When we apply faith, we see the acceleration of prophetic words. Let us not just sit back and wait for them to happen, but we should apply a lot of faith to see the prophetic word come to pass. Sometimes prophesies intensify your struggles because the enemy knows that you are a threatener, so we have to use the weapons of prayer, worship, and intercession to really combat the works of the enemy and work towards releasing the prophetic word coming to pass.

Pastor Priji: We know that we have an ordinance in God’s word to believe, receive, declare and prophesy that, so how do you see that being activated and used in the church?

Pastor Cleophas:
First of all, it is related to your assignment in the kingdom. When you know your assignment and you seek His guidance, He speaks to you through vision or scripture in the bible and basically, that becomes like the spoken word of God.
A few years ago, the Lord began to impress on my spirit that Bangalore is the city of revival, and the days are coming where we are going to see a huge number of people coming into churches and so when God began to show me that, I began to declare that into the spirit so as I kept declaring that I believe that there was a manifestation of the same and we are yet to see the great explosion that is about to come over the city, but I think we have already kind of started to witness a tip of it so the more we pursue together, the more we can see what the Lord has in store in for this city.
As the leaders, I believe that it is important to see what is the future so we as a church must be able to partner with that future plan. God is always on the move, and he wants us to also be relevant in terms of how we reach out to the people. The prophetic word becomes like a Rhema word so you know for sure what is the future and begin to declare accordingly.

Pastor Priji:
For example, there was a word released by many prophets with regards to the presidential elections in the US and it did not come to pass and you know what happens when the prophecy does not happen as it was mentioned? How do you explain it from the word?

Pastor Cleophas:
There are two things that we need to see here. One is the prophetic word coming from heaven and then the prophet, and when the prophets receive the message, it is their duty to declare what they see and it is their duty to proclaim what they are hearing, and they are not responsible for the fulfilment of the same.
With regard to the presidential elections, President Trump to be re-elected is an absolute will of God but I believe that there has to be an agreement, cooperation and partnership in prayer for that to come to pass. In my opinion, there was a lot of division in America itself against Donald Trump and even in the church. When the enemy sees that the church is not united, then he unites his forces against the prophetic word that has been released and begins to execute his agenda. Remember the enemy has a certain level of authority on this earth still the coming of the Lord, but we the church have the greater authority in the name of Lord and so if we can get our act together and pray and intercede and stand in the gap and agree with one mind and one heart that this is the will of God, we can overpower the enemy. I believe this is definitely a learning curve and people are just looking at the one aspect that the prophecy is not from the Lord and we should not prophesy concerning elections and prophet should restrict to prophesying in the church about the church. The fact is God is still on the throne and His word will never fail and His plans and purposes for the nation of America will come to pass no matter who is in power.

Pastor Priji:
What is your perspective about using prophesy in our times of intercession and prayer?

Pastor Cleophas:
A huge part of our intercession does revolve around prophesy because when we prophesy, there is a release of the word of God through our spirit as we pray and intercede in the spirit. I believe that an intercession is a place where we pray and declare in authority over the city, over the nation, over our churches because the Lord has given us the victory through the cross and the blood of Jesus is the greatest force and weapon in the spiritual realm.
I intercede from a place of victory and therefore prophesy becomes such an exciting thing because I know for the fact that when I decree and declare there has been such an amazing move of the Holy Spirit and there is joy in intercession. I would say that prophets are intercessors and if a prophet is not an intercessor then how is he receiving his messages, and the advantage as a new testament prophet is that there is a measure of the spirit that is already flowing in us so the moment, we begin to open our mouth and speak, there is a release of the prophetic word and grace of God that can change everything.

Pastor Priji:
What is the best way that some of us can reach out to you and connect with you?

Pastor Cleophas:
I have a YouTube channel called Kingdom Life International and I am also available on Facebook and Instagram.

When prophecy is absent, the voice of God is also absent – Pastor @cleophasdavid Click To Tweet

The reference link of the podcast of Pr. Cleophas David on leadership mentioned, you can listen to it here.