Prophet Blessing #7: Hard Work in Hardship

Beloved, I call your spirit to attention, and I invite the Prophet portion to come explore how God has designed you to enrich the world in your unique way.

You have received much from Father and that is fitting because you give much. He is a just God who provisions you well before asking anything from you.

Join me as we look at the things the King celebrates about your design for giving.

First and foremost, the King turns to the Prophet tribe when there is a hard job to be done in hard circumstances. While the Prophet can take obedience to an extreme, this is far more than mere obedience – it is your design that causes you to excel where others would not even begin.

You thrive in challenging situations. You find dignity in being chosen to overcome the unthinkable obstacles. Not only so, but you often exceed the requirements of the job since overcoming is core to who you are. So God turns to your tribe when it is time to show the world that “it can be done.”

God sought out Enoch the Prophet to confront a depraved generation. And confront he did! There is not even a flicker of ambiguity in his sermon: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

Enoch the Prophet so destroyed every vestige of fear of man in his own life through the process of confronting a hostile generation that he ended up setting the standard of all time for synchronizing with God more than any other man has before or since.

That is what you do Prophet! Enoch was not merely obedient, he was passionate. Out of his extreme intensity in executing his impossible, immense, life threatening assignment came THIS gift to mankind. No one knew it was possible to synchronize with God that closely until a Prophet showed us – in the context of hard work in a hard place.

When God needed to weave a Moabitess into the Messiah’s family tree, He turned to a Prophet. He needed someone who could take a foreigner and teach her all the finest things about the nature of the God of Israel in a short time. Did he draft a priest or a Teacher or an educated person? No, God Almighty who had the world to choose from selected the Prophet Naomi in her place of brokenness. When Naomi was utterly defeated, felt God had turned against her, and had no hope for herself, God calmly added to the burdens of her life the incredibly important task of preparing the great-grandmother of King David.

It was a hard task at best, but this was actually the worst of environments. While Naomi had to struggle with poverty at a survival level and process her shattered self image and face humiliation on an unprecedented level, she still accomplished this task.

As only a Prophet could, she recognized the circumstances God crafted for her and brilliantly guided Ruth through a masterpiece of God’s own creation that taught her in real life about the Redeemer of Israel.

Because it was such a tough assignment, to be executed in wretched circumstances, God tapped a Prophet and showed the world again that the Prophet tribe gives the gift of unflinching hard work in the face of unthinkable adversity.

When God needed someone to shatter 400 years of barrenness in Israel by announcing the arrival of the Messiah, He chose a Prophet. John the Baptist was not credentialed by the established orthodoxy. Unlike Moses, God did not validate him with signs and wonders. God gave Him no financial support, no platform in the center of the marketplace, no champion to break a trail for him.

He did not need the things that would have been normal for any other person to request for such a task. It was enough that he was a Prophet and with that alone and no other resources John the Baptist broke through the strongholds of darkness and created enough light that the Messiah could launch redemption’s drama.

After the ascension, God once again tapped a Prophet, Peter, to birth the single most transformational movement in human history – with no resources except a supernatural sound. Peter was assaulted by the wiles of the religious community combined with the corrupt power of the political establishment. He was flogged, imprisoned and hunted down with a price on his head.

Nonetheless, with an impossible job to do, under the most daunting circumstances, the Prophet did it.

Because that is what Prophets do, after all!

This is the gift you Prophets give to the world at large – the impossible, done with class, even at the expense of your own life.

So we welcome you in our midst, Prophet. You are God’s default tribe for overcoming the impossible, and our world is replete with immovable objects awaiting your irresistible force. You are most welcome among us. We bless you in the name of our King, Jesus Christ.

At the Centrum B & B
Leiden, Netherlands
October 13, 2008

Usage Policy for Free Articles:
Our articles may be downloaded for free. You may copy and distribute them for free in any way that is beneficial to the Body of Christ. You may not charge a fee.

Downloading any article indicates that you are in agreement with this policy.

Click here to download "Hard Work in Hardship" as a PDF file.