The
function of the prophet is throughout the Scripture portrait as that of
revelation that brings restoration. They all spoke on that subject (Acts
3:21-24), and restoring the people to their rightful place in God was their
main function during their lifetime. The prophetic ministry is always related
to the need for the recovery of God’s full thought as to his people and the
entire creation that has been brought into disharmony because of the effect of
sin.

When we look at the situation in the church or
even in the world, we realize that it is not in line with the eternal plan and
purpose of God. When we search the Scripture we come to understand by the
enlightening of the Spirit that God has intended something better for the world
and even for the church than what we see at the moment.

We need to remove
from our minds the restricted idea that prophetic ministry is mainly about
predictive prophecy. Prophetic ministry is far more than the predictive element
and it is much larger than just prophesying. The prophetic function is going
far beyond mere events and happenings to bring spiritual interpretation to the
people of God. By the Spirit of God the prophets interpret everything from a
spiritual standpoint, or we could say that they bring light from God’s viewpoint
into individual lives, churches, nations or situations. They bring the
spiritual implications of things, past, present and future, before the people
of God, and help them to understand the significance of things in their
spiritual value and meaning.

The essence
of prophetic ministry is revelation bringing interpretation and explanation to
the people of God to bring them forward in the restoring purpose of God. The
prophetic ministry interprets the mind of God to people that they may realign
themselves to the will of God.