We are studying the increasing need to know the Lord’s voice, and for authentic, trustworthy prophetic ministry in our times. This is reflected in
Acts 2:17-18, which is a quote from Joel 2:
 

     This makes it clear that “in the last days” the Lord will be widely pouring out His Spirit and the result of this will be prophecy, dreams, and visions. This will obviously be one of the major signs of the last days, but it is more than a sign. This happens in the last days because we are going to need much greater guidance from the Lord during this time, which is the main purpose of prophetic revelation.

     For this reason, we have spent decades seeking to know the voice of the Lord better and to understand dreams and visions. We have now been able to help thousands grow in and understand their prophetic gifts better, and many of them have been able to help others do the same. These gifts have been invaluable to our ministry. Even though we have become known for this and have people continually coming from all over the world to either receive prophetic guidance or to understand their own gifts better, we feel that we have a long way to go in maturing in these gifts. We are constantly learning, and we will never come to the place where we don’t have more to learn. This is why they had schools of the prophets in the Old Testament times.

     We are told in I Corinthians 13 that we know in part, see in part, and prophesy in part. This means no one has the whole picture, and if we are going to have the whole picture, we are going to have to put our part together with what others are seeing. We need each other. The Lord has composed His body so that we all need each other. The more we are able to connect with other parts of His body, the stronger we will be.

     I know several relatively large movements that are likewise devoted to growing in prophetic ministries and gifts. Each one is very different from ours, but I think this is a good thing. They have been used by God to speak and give us invaluable prophetic revelation for our ministry. Their style may be different, and even the way they hear from the Lord is different, but it is still the Lord. We tend to attract those who are more prone to visions—those who see. Others may be more prone to hear words from the Lord, being more like ears. We hear as well, but we tend to be more visionary. Likewise, they see at times like we do, but still they tend to be more of those who hear.

     When those who hear come around us I think our people start to hear better, and maybe they start to see a little more. We need to stir up the gifts in each other this way. We also need to be secure enough in who we are in Christ to be different from one another and still appreciate one another.

     The Lord compared us to sheep for a reason—in many ways we are like sheep. One characteristic of sheep is that if flocks do not crossbreed with other flocks, they will get weaker with each successive generation. This happens to great movements and denominations that do not interchange with other parts of the body of Christ.

     Having some influence to help restore prophetic ministry to the church, I want to work with others who are likewise called to do this. However, I also realize that if the prophetic ministries all gather together and do not interchange with the rest of the body this will not be healthy. When I was commissioned with the purpose of helping to restore prophetic ministry to the church for its last-day ministry, I was told that it would not be until the prophets and teachers learned to worship the Lord together as they did at Antioch that He would release true apostolic ministry in the church again. For this reason, I have always tried to relate to, and bring into, our ministry the strongest teaching ministries.

     I have also tried to strongly connect to the apologetics movement, where I think some of the greatest teachers are. I realize that some of the biggest attacks on what we are devoted to has come from this camp and that they are almost universally skeptical of what we are doing; likewise, I have trouble with various things that some of them teach, and I even think there may be some false teachers in their camp. Tares are located in every field that the Lord has planted, but overall I think this is the camp that could help true prophetic ministry possibly more than any other. If prophetic people are going to be trusted with the kind of revelation that we will need for the times to come, we must be strong in sound doctrine, loving the written Word of God more and more. There is trust building between these camps, and it is from the Lord, but even if they continue not to understand us, we need much of what they have. We need to be humble enough to get it and strong enough in who we are not to compromise that either.