We can in a
general way accept all the knowledge of biblical teaching or doctrine. We may
understand in a general way our dependence of the Holy Spirit. We may in a
general way accept that without him we can do nothing. We may in a general way
believe that it is necessary for the Holy Spirit to do everything – initiating,
leading, governing, and being the power and inspiration of everything. But the
reality is that this general acceptance of these biblical truths of the work of
the Holy Spirit is not sufficient for living in the reality of it. Actually,
this is a matter of life-long learning high lightening our need for revelation.
Everything must be given by revelation.

Now we see
why the prophets originally were called “seers” – men who see. By revelation
they saw what no other men saw. They could see beyond the external world. They
could see beyond the visible realities. They could see God at work in the
darkest hour. They could see what was impossible for other people to see. They
were seers who through the anointing saw by revelation.

Prophetic
ministry is a ministry by revelation. Off cause I am not speaking of revelation
extra to Scriptures. But within the revelation already given in the Scriptures,
the Holy Spirit continues to reveal what “no eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined.” The wonderful life in the anointing of the prophetic
Spirit of God is a life of constant new discoveries. The life in the Spirit is
full of surprises and wonders. A life in the anointing of the Spirit can never
be static, and it can never reach finality here. When we live in the Spirit we
will realise that there is infinitely more beyond, than all we have yet seen or
grasped or come to know. When we live in the Spirit we realise that we have
only just begun to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who
believe. We have only begun to realise what a rich and glorious inheritance he
has given to his people. The anointing makes the prophetic ministry a ministry
of growing and progressive revelation.

Example:
Abraham

A prophet
was a man who went back to God again and again. He is a person who does not
speak until God has shown him the next thing. The very essence and nature of
prophetic ministry is that it is coming by revelation afresh every time.
Everything revealed is new. Even if it is an old teaching or an old truth, it
has about it something fresh as a revelation to the heart. Revelation makes
everything new and fresh and has the most wonderful effect of the person who
receives it. Thousands may have seen it before, but when revelation floods the
heart it is as though no one had ever yet seen that before. It is the very
nature of knowledge imparted by revelation to keep things alive and fresh and
filled with divine energy.

Prophetic
succession is not by progression of teaching or methods but only by the
anointing. We may have the knowledge of the book. We may hold on to orthodox
doctrine. We may be able to state the truth of the early days of the New
Testament exactly, but still we may be far from having the very life of those
days. We may imitate New Testament patterns and methods, and still fail to
achieve the New Testament organic church life. We cannot recover New Testament
conditions by restating New Testament teaching or imitate methods used by the
early prophetic community. We need the same prophetic anointing that the
servants of God moved under. The anointing makes everything alive, fresh,
vibrant and full of life.

By
anointing there is revelation. Revelatory knowledge by anointing is essential
to seeing what God is after. A prophetic ministry is that which has seen the
purpose of God, original and ultimate, and continues in progressive revelation
of the mystery of Christ.