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God said to Abimelech about Abraham that "he is a prophet and he will pray for you and you will live" (Genesis 20:7a). Have you ever considered Abraham as a 'Prophet'? God had no difficulty calling his patriarch by this name. His life was very prophetic! But notice, his life was marked constantly as one who communed with, listened to, and encountered the living God. Prophecy and listening to his voice are inseparable!
He moved his whole family out of Mesopotamia on the strength of God's voice. "The Lord said to Abram, leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you" (Gen.12:1). This one communication launched Abraham on a journey of listening to God. His final destination depended on it!
The Lord appeared to Abram in Shechem a few years later and said, "to your offspring I will give this land" (Genesis 12:7). The patriarch graduated from seeing to hearing. The Lord appeared to him once Abram arrived in the promised land. Hearing God does have a vast array of manifestations. We will consider some of these manifestations during the next three weeks of teaching. It is essential to watch for God's word to come to you. We could go on right through to Genesis 25 and list the various encounters he had with God's voice. Let this truth stand: that Abraham was a prophet of God because he listened.
The question we need to ask is what gave Abraham such an open heaven? Did he have some special 'in' with God? It can be answered in two ways I believe.
Those who pray get to hear His voice! There simply is no other way to state it. There is no quick method to revelation except through waiting on God. Abraham is a prime example. A training time is always required for such a lofty calling as a 'prophet'. John Sandford suggests in his ground breaking book on the prophetic gift, "The Elijah Task", that "it shall probably take no less that a dozen years" to be released into the office of a prophet. With that bit of news please don't throw this article out the window! There are three increasing levels of prophetic practice according to Graham Cooke in his book "Developing Your Prophetic Gifting". They are the gift of prophecy, prophetic ministry and the prophetic office. We need to commit to the process. The Lord is presenting to us the opportunity of growing in the gifting and it has a lot to do with developing a life of prayer.
We often want an easy way in. "Let some recognized prophet impart the prophetic unction to me so I can skip over these years of prayer" has been a secret wish of mine. I have come to realize that the way Abraham became a prophet really is the best way. Three times in scripture Abraham was called "the friend of God" (2 Chr 20:7; Isa 41:8; James 2:32). This dear man got so close to the Lord in prayer that He kept telling the world about their friendship.
Genesis 15 describes one of Abraham's long and intense discussions with God. These friends actually talked together. All too often we pray like a machine gun, blasting heaven with our requests. God just wants us to ask Him a question and then wait for His response. Abraham's prayer time, or shall we say interaction time was so intense that he spent all day walking about the animals that God had requested as a sacrifice. He even fought off the birds of prey that came to disturb his offering to God (Genesis 15:11). Maybe birds of prey have been stealing your time of communion with God?
The telephone bird is dangerous. As soon as we get into our closet to seek Him, the phone rings. Fight off the disturbance! Turn the thing off when you begin to pray.
The task bird is ever present to steal us away from Him. Just recommit yourself to early morning prayer, and urgent tasks seem to suddenly appear from out of nowhere! John Wesley said that when he had a very busy day of ministry before him, he would have to spend more time in private prayer. We all too often let the 'task birds' steal us away from our greatest friend. Our hidden life must always be greater than our public life.
This brings us to the second reason God's voice was so real to Abraham. Simply, he had come to understand the lesson of "mutual accessibility".
In that classic passage on intercession in Genesis 18:16-33 where Abraham pleads for Sodom, we encounter a very interesting truth. As the three heavenly visitors left Abraham on their way to destroy the wicked city of Sodom, we read in vs. 22 this pregnant statement, "but Abraham remained standing before the Lord". The NIV Study Bible text note suggests an ancient scribal translation and renders the verse, "but the Lord remained standing before Abraham". Both of these translations seem equally acceptable. It also provides a wonderful illustration of the mutual accessibility that existed between God and His prophet, or shall we say between God and His people. One of those three visitors at Abraham's tent was called "the Lord" - an appearance of Jesus in His pre-existent state. The friend of friends, the One who sticks closer than a brother had come to talk with Abraham. He was in no hurry to leave this precious intercessor/prophet until the task of mercy was completed. He was as interested in saving Sodom as Abraham was. He just needed someone to stand in the gap and cry out for them. Even if we hear a word of judgement that could well descend on the earth, it is our task to stand before the Lord and cry out for mercy.
Also, please note that some of the course discussion may be moved from the prophetic-school list to the extended discussion list (email-activation@godspeak.org).]