The prophetic ministry has a special place during the end of this age. This is not because it is more important than the others, but because it plays a special role in preparing the bride for her coming King. The Lord is yearning for His bride to mature, and to come forth without "spot or wrinkle."
Having no spot speaks of her purity; having no wrinkle speaks of her perpetual youthfulness. The emerging prophetic ministry will help prepare the church in both purity of life and intimacy with the Lord, which is the source of her youthful love for Him.
In many ways, the process of travail and birth subjects babies to the greatest pressures they will ever experience in life. The emerging prophetic ministry likewise is going through a bloody and painful birth. This is not unique; the restoration of every ministry to the church went through a similar process.
It is also the nature of Satan to try to destroy everything that God is bringing to birth as soon as it emerges from the womb, since at that time it is the most vulnerable (see Revelation 12:1-4). Immediately after the most difficult struggles of the birth process, every seed of God is usually subject to its greatest attack from Satan. This too is happening to the last day prophetic ministry, but the baby is surviving and is now growing in wisdom and stature. It is the destiny of this ministry to rise in stature until the prophetic nature thrives in the church, and is properly joined with the pillars of evangelism and teaching.
Whether we like it, or want it, the prophetic ministry will soon reach its greatest height of influence and stature in the church. The whole church will be transformed by this ministry and it will not take long because we are coming to the end of the age. We are now closer to the birth of the age in which Christ will reign, and the contractions of travail have become both more intense and more frequent, just as they do with a woman in childbirth.
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