To some people prayer warfare is attractive and exiting. They seek after the rush and the sense of power which ensues from the speaking against a Pharao or the addressing the powers of a city. But, few are those who have received a solid mandate from the Eternal to do so. The prophetic mandate is a rare item, but a necessary one as the world – and the Church at large – is toppling over.
God’s mandate, God’s sending is firmly founded in his own choice. If man can add anything at all to the process of sending, it would be his willingness to wait, his willingness to be reduced as to categories, to personal preferences and ambition. Waiting is reducing, a reducing as to self-gratification and self-aggrandizement. The waiting accepted by God, is directly related to the altar, to the work of the Cross. A mandate requires the 40 years of isolation in the desert. Only God is able to light a thorn-bush, and keep it burning.
The encounter with God, and the thorn-bush which is not consumed by fire, produces meekness. The “I am undone” before the altar of eternal fire is the beginning of apostolic meekness – without which there will be no sending. The experiences of Moses and of Isaiah are absolutes as to the formation of an apostolic man. The sending is a non-occurrence without the reduction at the altar. To have begun to see, as these men saw, is the beginning of sending. And such an experience cannot be appropriated by faith – it must take place in reality, in real time. It is a “shoes of” reality, it reduces the three-piece-suit man to a bare minimum of existence – silk-tie and patent-leather shoes will have no meaning in this setting or after such an experience. A seeing – and a cleansing – of this peculiar kind equals sending.
Apostles and prophets are foundational men, men overwhelmed by the Holiness of God. “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word.” Isa 66:2. Apostolic meekness has its counterpart in the apostolic trembling. The apostolic man is qualified to speak because of his fear of the Word, even because of the jealousy for the righteousness set forth in the word. “God is greatly to be feared in the congregation of the saints.” Ps 89.7. “Justice and judgment are the foundation of Your throne.” Ps 89:14. The apostolic man bears a mark of the “otherness” which he has encountered in the presence of God – Joh 7:31-34.
The prophetic man is a tempered man, a man who has learned obedience. He is tempered by the Tent – “At the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet you, to speak there to you. And there I will meet with the sons of Israel, and Israel shall be sanctified by My glory.” Ex 29:42-43. This speaking brings substance and depth to the prophetic man. The tempering of the Tent brings mandate. And, again, this experience is not to be appropriated by faith – it is a substantial day-to-day experience in fellowship with Him who dwelled in a thorn bush.
“Who shall go up into the hill of Jehovah? Or who shall stand in His holy place?” Ps 24:3. The pretentious man does not care for such an experience. The light-hearted man finds substitutes for it – and dares to call it glory. The conceited man follows his own imaginations – and becomes a vanity prophet. The mandate begins at the altar, the mandate begins with a holy fire. What burns within will be seen without. A fire of personal desires will not manifest holiness and glory. A fire of personal ambitions will not satisfy hearts who long for righteousness. Only the heart which is touched by His word unto godly living will carry a prophetic testimony to chosen segments of our cities and churches.
Lars Widerberg
From the notes to a Church in Bronx, New York
