Restoring Prophets (2) Prophetic People

Restoration of a failed prophetic ministry will require radical transformation, but I believe that God can do that if hearts are willing. I presume that some of the prophets that failed will not be able to be restored to a true spirit led ministry, and some will not want to be restored because the want to continue pursuing nationalistic political power. However, some will have regretted the path that they have taken, and they will need help to be restored. I assume that some of these will have begun with a genuine gifting and love for Jesus, but got distracted by political power. The elders in their church might be struggling to restore them right path and be uncertain about what the process should be. I hope that these notes will help them.

The form of the restoration will depend on the level at which the prophetic person is operating. Whatever level the prophet is operating in, the restoration process should be sufficient to satisfy God, so that the Holy Spirit will be willing to speak through them again.

1. Prophetic People
Most prophetic people will be operating in a church giving personal prophecies to the people they encounter. If they make a mistake, they should try to learn from it. If they make persistent errors, either in the content, or the delivery, of their message, the elders of the church should challenge them and establish a process for their restoration and development. They might need to stop prophesying for a time to get their approach to their gifting sorted. They might need to stop posting on social media for a time.

Stepping down will be humiliating for a person who gets their identity and sense of worth from their ministry. A growing prophet should always be walking the grace of Jesus, so the people overseeing their development must be careful to be restorative, not punitive.

The failing prophet might need to spend time with a pastor identifying the sins, hurts or false beliefs that have caused their prophetic efforts to go wrong. They might need to pause from prophesying until their pastors or prophetic mentors agree that they have resolved the issue and healed their hurts.

God has given elders of the church responsibility for watching over the body of Jesus and gently restoring those who lose their way (Act 20:28; Gal 6:1-2). We cannot leave problems in the church to God and assume that he will sort them out. The Church cannot just ignore prophets that fail and hope they will sort themselves out. That is a task that elders should be doing in partnership with the Holy Spirit.

When they begin to prophesy again, the restored prophet might need to have another prophet or pastor accompanying them at first to check that they are not slipping back into the same mistakes. The prophet might need to keep away from the particular type of message that has tripped them up until they have grown in their giftings.

After they have completed a probation period, the prophet should be freed to prophesy freely again, as the Holy Spirit leads. The Holy Spirit delivering clear and effective words through them again is the best sign that the prophet is restored.

Restoration does not require perfection. We are all human and growing towards maturity. We often will not reach that goal until towards the end of our lives, because there are always new things to learn and sins to cast aside. So, when a prophet makes a serious mistake, it would be wrong to expect them to achieve perfection before they can operate as a prophet again. Rather, the goal should be to deal with the immediate cause of their prophetic failure, whatever it was. It is not necessary to deal with every imperfection the prophet’s life, because that would take a lifetime.

The goal is to deal with any obstacle to the prophet moving forward in their calling.