Copyright 2017 Theresa Harvard Johnson
I felt like an oddball. (And yes, I am speaking of what was going on emotionally in my heart. It was real. I had not crossed into the spiritual reality, security or maturity of it at the time.)
When the prophets in training were called before the congregation to serve in the presbytery, I always wanted to carry my notebook and a pen with me. I remember the minister telling me (more than once) that I could not do that. He said it was a distraction for this type of ministry. He said I needed to learn how to be present for the people and prophesy from my spirit.
Let us just say that as a young prophet, I did not like that but I obeyed.
While I learned to follow the group protocol without offense, I would stand there… with my hands “literally burning” beside me, longing to write what I was hearing. My palms would be flushed. The only thing I knew to do was open and close my fists or hold my hands firmly across my waist until the evening ended. Sometimes, I would be so overwhelmed by this need to write that once we were released from our assignment, I would race to my seat, grab my pen and paper… and frantically write down what I was hearing.
No one else was doing this…. and I mean NO ONE. Being so young in the Lord, I really felt inadequate, out of place and awkward. You see, I felt called to write, demonstrate and record while others were releasing audibly… all the time. Me, well, I wanted to WRITE my prophecy down and READ it from paper – which often came poetically, through song or required some weird demonstration. I didn’t want this because I could tell others thought I was showing off… and that WAS NOT IT. In a corporate setting, that can be seen as “showboating” when in fact, it is simply how “scribal prophets” hear, respond and/or are commanded to release. The demonstrative prophets of the Bible (those who had constant manifestations of this) were NOT showing off! This is simply how they respond to their office.
I appreciate the training I received greatly – especially the correction. Were it not for those lessons, I may have never come up from the pen and notebook. I would have regulated my life to that of a scribal recluse — like so many scribal prophets do today because they do not understand “how the gift operates” on a broader level. If not for this training, I would have insisted on my own way instead of learning to walk with a corporate group as well as within one’s own scribal metron. I learned invaluable lessons about prophetic versatility and being open to moving out of your comfort zones or inward unctions. I had to lose that phrase, “This is how God uses me,” and embrace the changing conditions. I had to operate IN ORDER as required in certain groups; or within the order of the service within others.
WE might not want to change, but Christ in us is well able to adapt to accomplish his purposes. I had to discern between this crazy “leading” as people like to say… and really respond to God and his people out of TRUE LEADING and HONOR. God used my “uniqueness” to train me how to operate prophetically with and without my pen and journal… and stretched me beyond the familiar comfort zone.
None of this, however, changed the fact that I was different from the prophets in that training group. My responses to the prophetic were scribal in nature – and your responses will be also. When we gain AFFIRMATION concerning WHO we are and WHAT THAT LOOKS like – we will not feel inadequate or feel awkward anymore.
If you were raised in a church, you may have been used to the congregational operation of prophets so-to-speak. You may see prophets prophesying to long lines of people, prophets being really spiritual in their delivery, prophets being vocal about just about everything, prophets speaking in scripture, prophets speaking in tongues before they prophesy, prophets releasing words loudly, prophets prophesying in Old Covenant contexts, etc. The list goes on and on and on concerning what you SEE in the natural. This can be misleading to the scribal prophet. Please know that this is not a throw off of any kind… but the “RESPONSES OF A SCRIBAL PROPHET” will be different.
I have always been different. And my story, more than likely, resembles yours.
I have prophesied through inspired monologues, poetry, prophetic songs, a series of skits, plays, spontaneous creative responses, direct words, through books, parables, kinetic typography, etc.… and even releasing like you see in congregational settings. If you allow the Lord to have his way, you will learn to adapt to all kinds of environments. However, true scribal prophets will be consistent in the scribal activity in their lives – it won’t be an occasional writer’s anointing, that’s different.
Remember, a scribal prophet is a fully functioning prophet of Christ as we have come to understand the prophetic mantle within the context of the New Covenant. The only difference is that their calling is extremely specialized and tailored to “the scribal realm,” a place in the spirit where we are constantly living out the gifts placed inside us. For example, musicians live in the “musical realm,” always hearing music and sound no matter where they are and what they are doing. They see the world through a healthy, spiritual propensity toward music. People who love dance and movement exist in that realm… and see movement and dance in everything.
Because this dimension of “scribal ministry” is not understood in mainstream ministry and prophetic circles, scribal prophets can feel awkward, out of place or even question whether or not they are prophets because their response to their office is quite different!
The understanding of a scribe, the ministry of the scribe, the prophetic scribe, the scribal prophet, the prophetic writer, etc. must be defined within its own merit. Right now, the apostolic-prophetic congregations (meaning leaders and pastors) are just awakening to what many of us have been doing for a very long time. I am so EXCITED ABOUT THIS! It means that we will soon see leaders recognizing the need for “specialized training” in scribal ministry.
Learn who you are! Get the books, The Scribal Anointing: Scribes Instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven, Signs of a Prophetic Scribe and Signs of a Scribal Prophet. Learn who you are! In doing so, you will get the affirmation you need to never feel as if you are awkward or on the outside again. Consider yourself a trailblazer… paving the way for a powerful move of God in this season.
