Was Abraham a Prophet?

Hello readers! It has been a very long time since I posted anything up on this blog. Today we will deal with an important part of The Bible where most of us hardly paid any attention, including me. Being a Christian, I clearly know who a prophet is and what it takes to be a prophet. I have always perceived that the prophetic ministry began with Moses since he mediated between man and God. Before deeply entering the topic today, I invite you all to study who a prophet is generally. Well, most part of The Bible gives us a clear picture of who a prophet is. A prophet is one who mediates between God and man. He reveals the message given by God to the people, in other words, he is a mouthpiece of God. We also see that a prophet represented a group of people to whom those messages are revealed. Prophets never speak of their own but always deliver the message of God. They also speak with the power given by God where as they prophesy, God imputes necessary feelings along with the message, let it be fear, hope, faith and so on. A prophet is also one who intercedes for the people whom he represents. He is found to be always praying on behalf of the people and pleading for their transgressions. A prophet also encourages the people to be faithful to God in all conditions knowing that that's the only way to escape wrath. Hence, though there are many more other characteristics, we are generally going to look at these characteristics:

a) One who delivers the message of God to the people whom he represents.

b) One who intercedes for the people to God.

c) One who encourages the people to be faithful to God always.

A month ago, in some random discussions with my house mates, we discussed about how can Abraham be a prophet. Now Abraham was called prophet by God in Genesis 20:7, where Abimelek had a dream in which God mentioned so. Looking at the verse at a glance, I pondered how Abraham was called a prophet, which made him the first prophet of all time mentioned in The Bible. Abraham was the father of Israel and so he could not have represented any other nations to deliver the message of God. I prayed about it and God revealed to me the answer I was seeking for. Prophetic ministry differs from prophetic role. What Abraham did was prophetic role, which means he was not a full time prophet who was called to prophesy to people and nations but he carried the prophetic role in his life. How is that possible? Simple. Abraham was the father of nations and to him a promise was given that through him a nation will be born. This was the message of God to Abraham. Now Abraham represented a group of people, his family. Analyse the characteristics mentioned above and according to that Abraham was a prophet to his family where he delivered the message of God to his family. He told Sarah what God had promised and encouraged her to be faithful to that promise above all inabilities and disbelief that may root from adversarial conditions.

Abraham also interceded for the family. If we look at Genesis 19, we can see Abraham interceding for his brother's family in the Sodom and Gomorrah destruction. We can also see that when Sarah lacked motivation to keep believing the promise because of her ageing nature, Abraham encouraged her to continue in faith. His relationship with God was so close that God Himself called him friend. Abraham fulfilled the criteria of being a prophet but to his family and that is why we see God calls him prophet. Similarly, every parents now or parents to be, we carry a very big responsible as prophets over the family. We might not serve in the prophetic ministry but we carry the prophetic roles in the family. What we say and proclaim over the family carry so much values.

Sadly I would say that parents nowadays lack this knowledge and in some communities they even speak negative words against their children. James tells us in his book that tongue being a small member of the body is capable of setting the whole body in fire. How we use the tongue matters a lot. I have seen and heard parents scolding their children with offensive and destructive words. Scientifically the first few years of any child is very important. What we sow in their lives at the period carries so much significance. The soil is fresh and children tend to believe what they see and hear. If they spend their childhood listening and seeing destructive elements, chances are very high that their entire life might be at risk of being led negatively. As parents, we must speak positive words over the family. That does not mean we do not correct them but we correct them constructively and not destructively. As prophets over the family, we must proclaim the promises of God over the family everytime. Praying together as a family and bible discussions are essential in shaping up a solid childhood. As a parent and prophet, we must always intercede and pray for the family, like Job for instance. Spiritually, our prayer and our words over the family carries heavy significance in their lives. Researches have also admitted the fact that most of the youngsters who involve in criminal activities today are affected by dark childhood days.

We must not be reluctant that being a prophet is a different thing and nothing to do with us. We might not serve as a prophet but we are prophets over the family. We represent them before God. We are accountable for them. If we do not step out and take responsibility, no one is going to. Speak good words over the family and build them in faith. In tough situations, practice to pray as a family and discuss the issues out as a family. Individuality will weaken the family constitution. We may have parents who failed us but let's not repeat the mistakes they did because we need to break the chain and begin writing a legacy. The smallest details that we pay attention to now in our families will result in massive fruits in future.


- All of us are called to be prophets. Some over the people but everyone over the family.

The Plank In My Eye- Ouch!!

Hello dear readers!!! I must have been the most inconsistent blogger ever in the history. I apologise for my inconsistencies. It has been my pleasure and honor to share my thoughts with everyone but I certainly welcome opinions and comments to further enhance the quality and intensity of the posts.

So yeah I have chosen this topic to write about and to be honest, this is a very deep topic to be discussed. But then I will try my best to take it systematically. “Plank in my eye-Ouch!!” is a topic or an article I wanted to write since last year. I was urged to write about it and thanks to my friend who made me read an article pertaining cynical criticism in church recently which eventually rekindled my interests to write about it. This is what a Pastor mentioned in the sermon:

“Do not judge others. God is the judge and we are to love and encourage one another with encouraging words. Stop judging others.”

Well, it was an appropriate message to all or at least some but I was moved to think in a different dimension. I am not saying he said something wrong but word of God is able to speak in many different dimensions. He spoke from one and I am writing from the other. So coming back to the topic about not judging others, are we totally forbidden from saying anything against something that we don’t feel right? Are we to compromise with everything and encourage everything? When Jesus ate with the sinners and did not judge them, why we have to say something against someone? Jesus did not condemn Mary Magdalene and so why are we? Is it wrong to comment?

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 and 1 Corinthians 4:5 that do not judge others, for God alone is the Judge. So does the Bible teach us to keep silent in the midst of unrighteousness?

“Plank in my eye” is withdrawn from Matthew 7:1-5 where Jesus says take out the plank in your eye before you can take it out from your brother’s. To be honest, in these lines, there are 2 dimensions of seeing the verse. Jesus says do not judge others for you will be judged in the same manner. Stating all the questions and doubts, let me take it from here to explain further the biblical principles.

What does the Bible mean do not judge in Matthew context? What is the judging being meant here?

OK simple. Judging comes from flesh, from our senses, from what we see, hear and so on. Jeremiah says that trusting in the flesh in cursed. Judging does not edify others but it justifies the judge himself. Pertaining commenting on something that is not proper, the word “Correction” is used rather than “Judging”. In other words:

-           Judging roots from self righteousness and results in condemnation; Correction roots from concern and care and results in edification.

-           Judging is done with relation to your state; Correction is done in relation to God’s state.

-          Judging is done to justify yourself; Correction is done to edify others.

      Correction is the character of Holy Spirit given to us where He corrects us first and then prepares us to correct and edify others. Judging is only done by GOD as He is the only One who is supremely righteous. People judge just to make them feel good though they know they have not been good. People judge to put people lower than them but correction is given to raise someone up. Jesus said do not judge, meaning do not do God’s work of Judging for JUDGEMENT RESULTS IN PUNISHMENTS BUT CORRECTION RESULTS IN REPENTANCE. But Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 says that are we not supposed to judge the angels? Can’t we judge small matters around? Now this is different. Let me explain further

God has given us The Holy Spirit who makes us sensitive to biblical principles. So anything that contradicts with those principles, we cannot and should not compromise with it. For example, Jesus who ate with the sinners, drove away the people who polluted the temple? Why? Sinners were not saved to know the biblical principles and so Jesus was more concerned about their salvation rather than their sin. But for those who are saved, they should not be doing the same thing but they should be following the principles of the Bible. When they failed, Jesus did correct them. And again He did not judge them, yet. In the case of Mary Magdalene, Jesus did not judge her but corrected her, HE DID NOT KEEP QUIET. If He had stoned, though He is doing the right thing, He might have been thought to have judged. But He said “Go and SIN NO MORE”. Sin no more, is a word of correction. And if she doesn’t heed it, judgement from God will follow.

So we should not judge right? Paul says why we can’t judge small matters? It’s simple again. Jesus and Paul said do not judge men. But both of them taught us how to judge sins. Hate the sin and not the sinner. Judge the sin and not the sinner. So being saints of this age, we must be able to discern the inappropriateness in the church done by people including us. And thus, we must judge that and not the people who are doing it. Judge the wrong doings and correct the people.

Another important thing is that, in the context of Matthew 7, Jesus highlights one more essential point in verse 5. He asks the people why we always to judge others when we ourselves have plank in our eye. He doesn’t stop there. He says “Remove the plank from your eye….” It means Jesus says that we can correct others only when we are corrected, or when the planks in our eye are removed. He does not say don’t correct, but correct after being corrected. Practical isn’t it? If you are blind, how can you direct others?

Correction is very important in the church for proper edification and unified growth to fulfil the goal. Failure to correct will lead to compromising and judging will result in divisions and negative growth. A balanced healthy correction is always essential and being sensitive to God’s word will correct us and allows us to correct others. Why do we need to correct?

For example, about 10 people gathered to build a house. A few of them have experience and a few doesn’t. So as they built, each of them took care of one area like painting, tiling, drilling and so on. During the process, one experienced man saw another doing a small mistake. And so he decided to keep quiet being thoughtful of what his response might be. So it continued and so when they finished though others did a great job, this one man’s failure caused the whole house to collapse and a few of them died.

We are building the Kingdom Of God together. All of us have different areas to minister. Failure to correct them, though it’s not our area, might cause negative progress wholly and also might affect someone whom we might not know. If the man had corrected the other, the house would have stood and they would have cherished. He didn’t and so it collapsed and their friends died. If he had judged and condemned the worker for his carelessness instead of correction, he might have left the job and the project will take time to finish. Judgement will delay the execution of The Great Commission but failure to correct will cause more, So it is very important to correct and to be corrected at the same time to not judge.

It is not easy as we have emotional waves within us that sometimes cause us to oscillate between correction and judgement. But with the help of Spirit of God, we will be able to grow stronger spiritually. After all the root of everything we do must be Love. Loving others will easily design our actions towards them.

So do not Judge, for you will be Judged in the same manner.

But correct others and be willing to be corrected.

Let’s build His Kingdom together!