We were four seated around the table, trying to integrate into a prophetic presbytery. We had been tasked with walking in Ezra 5, serving like Haggai and Zechariah to prophesy to apostolic builders in the face of opposition. We were a diverse group.

One prophet was almost sixty years old, the others much younger. One prophet was white, the others were black. One prophet came from a foreign country, the others were average Americans. One prophet was financially well-off, the others were struggling. One prophet was very educated, the others were not.

Somehow, we had to find the best way to use the prophetic gifts God had given us to offer edification, exhortation, and comfort to the congregation of the church we attended amid spiritual warfare. We had to get on the same wavelength.

As we gathered around a dining table in a room at the back of the church, we decided to explore how our prophetic gifts manifested and how we could best complement each other to fulfill the mission of discerning spiritual attacks against the church, waging war against them, and encouraging the saints in the work of building the church. After all:

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. Different kinds of ministries, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of workings, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work” (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).

Paul used these words as an introduction to the nine gifts of the Spirit. But Paul’s words are also true in the realm of prophetic ministry. You could say:

“There are different kinds of prophetic gifts, but the same Spirit. Different kinds of prophetic ministries, but the same Lord. Different kinds of prophetic workings, but it is the same God who works all in all prophets.”

Wisdom does not compare (nor does it copy). Mentors and models in prophetic ministry are necessary, but it is important to allow God to develop your unique identity in Christ during the process of creation. I always like to say, “You can’t put a prophet in a box.”

In other words, there are common traits among prophetic gifts, but prophets cannot be stamped, packaged, and labeled, as no two are exactly alike. We all have different prophetic fingerprints. Prophets usually manifest in multiple forms of prophetic anointing, but typically in one area of greater strength.

Some have a stronger call to intercession, while others may have a greater inclination to preach, sing, prophesy personally, write, or engage in any other manifestation of the prophetic gift.

In this prophetic team, I exercised my main gift as a watchman. Since I “see” deception and trouble coming, I was the one on the team who saw the enemy’s mission in the Spirit long before it manifested in the natural. I was the one who sounded the trumpet and gave the warning. I am also a teacher, so I could convey the message in a way that people could understand. Being a watchman is not a popular position.

Often, it means delivering news that people don’t want to hear. But that was my role. Alice exercised her main gift as a prophetic intercessor. She took the information from the watchman, built a wall of prayer, and stood in the gap to bind the enemy’s mission—meaning to break, thwart, or prevent those diabolical plans from manifesting (see Ezekiel 22:30).

Of course, we all interceded on this issue. All prophets are intercessors. But she had a particularly strong gift of prophetic intercession that revealed to us the details we needed to know to fight the enemy. Evelyn was a very effective minister of deliverance. She was the one who stepped in when we needed to uproot or tear something down. And Billy was a very effective prophetic preacher. His sermons destroyed and dismantled the enemy’s plans.

God would use all of us in different ways from time to time. But we knew our strengths and the best way to function as a group of prophets in a local church. We didn’t compare our prophetic gifts to one another to boast or belittle others.

Paul says that those who measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves among themselves are not wise (see 2 Corinthians 10:12). Nor did we adopt an independent spirit and claim that we didn’t really need each other to accomplish the mission. We understood Paul’s warning that there are indeed many members but one Body (see 1 Corinthians 12:20).

The watchman could not say they didn’t need the intercessor, and the intercessor couldn’t say they didn’t need the deliverance minister. We had to function as a prophetic body, submitting to one another for the greater good. Paul put it this way:

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us, let us use them” Romans 12:4–6.

Prophets have prophetic gifts that differ according to the grace given to them. It is up to God to shape your prophetic ministry. In other words, it is not up to you to decide how you should express yourself, how to operate in your gift. It is up to you to submit to the Spirit and let Him express Himself through you as He wills.

Trying to be like another prophet you admire is not God’s plan and could lead you away from His will, leading at best to a performance-driven ministry or, at worst, into deception. Think about it for a moment. What if David had tried to be another Moses? What if Elijah had tried to be another Deborah? What if John the Baptist had tried to be another Elisha? They would not have fulfilled their prophetic destiny.

Each of these prophets had a unique call from God on their life, even though, at times, their ministries exhibited similar traits. Fundamentally, prophetic ministry produces reformers, deliverers, intercessors, watchmen, forerunners, singers, musicians, writers, preachers, artists, and others who proclaim the Lord’s will.

One person’s prophetic ministry can be completely different from another’s. Thank God, for example, that John the Baptist remained focused on his forerunner mission to prepare the way for the Lord instead of trying to perform miracles like Elisha. The Bible doesn’t record any miracles performed by John the Baptist, yet Jesus said that among those born of women, none had arisen greater than him (see Matthew 11:11).

At the end of this age, your rewards will not be based on the brilliance of your prophetic ministry. What will matter is the extent to which you have been a good and faithful servant with the gifts God has given you…

This text is an excerpt from the book The Making of a Prophet written by Jennifer LeClaire.

We invite you to read the following article: THE FEAR OF BEING BROKEN.