The Book of Genesis
Day 178
Ge 20:7 "Now therefore, restore the man's wife; for he
is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not
restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours."
Abimelech and his camp are in big trouble with God. He
unwittingly had taken Sarah into his harem and if he would’ve been allowed to
have sexual relations with her, adultery would’ve been committed, and great
doubt would have been thrown on who Isaac’s father was. This could not be, for God had said that
Abraham would be the father. (Again, you gotta be wondering, “What was Abraham
thinking?”) He wasn’t naïve, he knew why Abimelech had taken Sarah in. This whole episode proves once again
that fear causes us to do crazy,
illogical things!Thankfully, God intervenes in the situation and He spells
out a plan for Abimelech. Return Sarah to Abraham , and I will inspire Abraham
to pray for you, for he is a prophet of mine.
By the way, this is the first time we see the word “prophet”
in Scripture. A prophet is simply an
“inspired” man, by that we mean that he is imbued by the Spirit of God to do something under divine influence.
As a prophet, the words of Abraham would be inspired (divinely
influenced) by God, and of course, that would add perfect clout to one’s
prayers! Every perfect prayer, is “inspired” by the Holy Spirit. Even at
those times when we are at a loss for words, the Holy Spirit comes through for
us: Ro 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not
know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
When God control’s the lips, you have a true prophet, no
matter the spoken language! An example would be that first Pentecost in
Jerusalem, when God poured out the Holy Spirit on His church! Ac 2:4 And they
were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance. And what did they speak of? “The wonderful
works of God!” (Acts 2:11)
A prophet is one who speaks Holy Spirit utterances! And
there is nothing more Holy Spirit uttered than the Word of God! Speaking of the
Bible in 2 Pet 1:21 we read, “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but
holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
God has gifted His church with prophets, who have been
blessed with the same kind of anointing that Jeremiah had! Jer 1:9 Then the
LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me:
"Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. These prophets, boldly and
confidently proclaim “Thus saith the Lord,”
When you hear a true prophet speak, you can be confident you have heard
from the Lord. (Of course it is necessary to always check the prophet’s words
with what God has said in His word!
There was a tremendous respect for prophets in the Old
Testament, people often sought them out for intercessory prayer. Let me give
you two quick examples:
Samuel was a prophet and in 1Sa 12:19 we read, “And all the
people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that
we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for
ourselves."
And then there was Elisha. His reputation as a man who had a
special connection to God travelled all the way to Syria and an unbelieving
King named Namaan.
2Ki 5:1 Now Naaman,
commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in
the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He
was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.
2 And the Syrians had
gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of
Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife.
3 Then she said to
her mistress, "If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria!
For he would heal him of his leprosy."
Treasure the gift of prophets in the church of Jesus Christ,
for they are the mouthpieces of God who send forth His Word and it will not
return to God without fulfilling it’s purpose!
Isa 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall
not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall
prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Pray: Father, thank You for the gift of anointed preaching
and praying. In these Last Days we pray that You will raise up prophets who
boldly and rightly proclaim, “Thus saith the Lord!”
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