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REFLECTION
The theme for our reflection is the faithful Prophets. To be faithful means to be trustworthy and loyal. A prophet is a person inspired by the Spirit of God or chosen by God to speak His will to His people. Faithful prophets are prophets who are loyal and trustworthy in speaking the will of God and revealing His intentions or plans to His people regardless of the challenges or hindrances they will encounter. We shall deliberate on the core mandate of faithful prophets.

Beloved in the Lord, the core mandate of faithful prophets is to reveal things which are yet to happen in the lives of God’s people and also to reveal God’s direction and will concerning His people in the present and future. Faithfulful prophets are relevant to the community of believers or the church so long as events or things happening in the present and future are concerned. Paul was about to travel from Caesarea to Jerusalem in Judea for the first time after his conversion from Judaism to Christianity but the Holy Spirit sent Prophet Agabus to deliver a message to him concerning his journey to Jerusalem. Luke tells us that “While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹ And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” ¹² When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.” (Acts 21:10-12). In other words, the prophet came to reveal to Paul what will take place in Jerusalem if he embarked on the journey.

The faithfulness of the Prophet Agabus is seen in the fact, he came all the way from Judea to Caesarea to reveal what will happen to Paul and forewarn him. My research tells me that the distance between Judea and Caesarea is 138 kilometres which will take 2 hours and 10 minutes to cover with a car. Consequently, it will take more hours for a donkey and a human being to cover a distance of 138 km. The distance between Judea and Caesarea helps us to appreciate Prophet Agabus’ level of faithfulness and dedication to his calling as a prophet of God. The message was important and timely for Paul to consider before taking the decision to travel. It is important to note that, the prophet did not come to stop Paul from going to Jerusalem, that was not the direction he received from the Holy Spirit, his sole responsibility is to let Paul know the danger that is ahead of him in Jerusalem. The decision to go or not after hearing what lies ahead rested on Paul. A faithful prophet strictly follows the instruction of God given to him, he does not add or subtract from the message God has given him for his people. When God called Prophet Jeremiah, he said to him “… dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. (Jeremiah 1:17)

The key question for our reflection is, do we still have faithful prophets like Agabus in the 21st Century? There are many people in our time purporting to be prophet and prophetess yet their revelations and messages are not edifying to the Church of Christ. We now have prophets who are more preoccupied with election, lottery and sports predictions than speaking the will of God for the spiritual upliftment and direction of the people of God. The Prophets of our time are silent on corruption and moral decadence in our nation. Prophets have become spiritual consultants to politicians yet when they are corrupt and irresponsible in governing the nation, God does not seem to speak through them to these corrupt politicians. They are engaged in selective prophetism. In other words, they choose and speak what they want people to hear and not what God needs the nation to hear. Prophetism in our generation is more focused on predictions of prosperity and how people will become rich within the shortest possible time even with little or no effort. Prophetic declarations are mainly about visa acquisition and travelling abroad, flourishing businesses and identification of witches in one’s family, but have little or nothing to do with the disobedience of people, their repentance, regeneration and relationship with God. John greatly admonishes us when he wrote that “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1) May the Lord raise for our nation faithful prophets like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah and Agabus who spoke the message of God towards the transformation and revival of the nation and God’s people. We need to hear God’s message in our time, warning us against our corrupt practices and unfaithfulness to Him and its ramification or consequences in the future. We must hear the voice of God and not the voice of men and women.

In summary, we have deliberated on the theme “Faithful prophets” We have underscored the fact that the core mandate of faithful prophets is to speak and deliver only the message given to them regardless of the hindrances or obstacles that they will encounter. Their faithfulness is seen in their commitment to go through challenges to execute their prophetic mandate. Shalom.

PRAYER
1. Let us pray for God to raise faithful prophets in our time.
2. Let us pray for God’s word to come to us concerning our future plans.
3 Let us pray for spiritual direction and the will of God to be done in our lives.

Holy Spirit, we pray for the resurgence of faithful prophets in our time. We pray that our pulpits shall possess the prophetic mandate to forewarn and move the hearts of sinful humanity to God. Amen.