The Elijah Task: A call to today's prophets and intercessors

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THE ELIJAH TASK by John Loren and Paula Sandford

Published by Charisma House

Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Group

600 Rinehart Road

Lake Mary, Florida 32746

www.charismahouse.com

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

Cover design by Rafael Sabino

Copyright © 2006 by John Loren and Paula Sandford

All rights reserved

Some names and details of the stories have been changed, and any similarity between the names and stories of individuals described in this book to individuals known to readers is purely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Sandford, John Loren.

The Elijah task / John and Paula Sanford.

p. cm.

ISBN 1-59979-020-3 (pbk.)

1. Prophets. 2. Prophecy—Christianity. 3. Bible—Prophecies. 4. Elijah (Biblical prophet) I. Sanford, Paula. II. Title.

BS647.3.S37 2006

234'.13—dc22

2006014458

ISBN-13: 978-1-59979-020-6

E-book ISBN: 978-1-59979-714-4

This book was previously published as The Elijah Task by Victory House Publishers, copyright © 1977, ISBN 0-932081-11-8.

This publication has been translated in Spanish under the title La misión de Elías, copyright © 2007 by John Loren and Paula Sandford, published by Casa Creación, a Charisma Media company. All right reserved.

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Section I: Restoring the Prophetic Office

1 The Summons

A call to the Lord’s End-Time prophets to arise, understand, and assume their office

2 In the Spirit and Power of Elijah

A summons to the Elijah task, distinguishing the spirit and power of Elijah in the time of John the Baptist and now

3 To Restore All Things

The commission of End-Time prophets sketched

4 The Call of a Prophet

A description of ways, means, and times in which God may call a person to the office of prophecy

5 The Discipline and Training of a Prophet

A call to the church to understand how God forms His prophets in its midst, that it may help to mature rather than destroy them

6 Lessons in Prophecy From the Story of the Woman at the Well

Lessons and examples in the way of a prophet, revealing the important laws of dependency and reward, humiliation and nurture

7 The Proper Discharge of the Prophet’s Duty

Corrections and warnings concerning the way a prophet performs his tasks for God, and the lesson of rest and contentedness

Section II: The Power and Ways of Intercession

8 The Good, the Acceptable, and the Perfect Will of God

An important clarification of the distinction between the operation of universal principles and the personal intervention of God, and how understanding is vital to intercession

9 The Stopping Place

An exposition of the centrality of the cross, not only to mankind, but also to the entire universe, and how this relates to intercession and thus to our relation to God the Father

10 The Creative Power of the Word in Prayer

A most urgent revelation of the relation of matter and Spirit, showing therefore how the spoken word of prayer has power to effect change in human beings and earth

Section III: Prophetic Listening to God (Preface, 142)

11 Prelude to Listening

Background information in the art of listening, containing admonitions and limitations as well as delights

12 Dreams, the Sleep Language of God

Advice and instruction in the practice of understanding the meaning of dreams, and their call to intercession

13 Visions, the Picture Language of God

Advice and instruction in the practice of understanding the meaning of visions, and their call to intercession

14 Dark Speech, God’s Strange and Joyous Way of Speaking to Mankind

Advice and instruction in the practice of understanding the meaning of dark speech, and its call to intercession

15 Mouth to Mouth, Clearly, and Audible Speech

An exposition of God’s speaking directly to individuals, past and present

16 Balaam’s Ass, and Other Surprising Things

How God may use anything to speak to individuals

17 The Summum Bonum

God’s greatest gift, His own dear person, in a union beyond all listening; the end result and purpose of all

Notes

Foreword

This book is magnificent! It illumines the Bible like a searchlight, pointing out the mysteries of God. It explains the deep working of the Creator within the spirit of man and the ordering of man’s life by the Spirit of God.

Beginners may find this book difficult. Those who have never experienced God’s healing and illuminating power would benefit from first reading simpler books on prayer and healing. But after basking in the pleasant pastures of faith, this book is as exciting as a high wind over the mountaintops or a storm at sea!

There are people who have waited all their lives for a book like this, illuminating as it does the high mind of God and the deep mind of man.

—Agnes Sanford

Preface

This is not a book for beginners. Whoever presents new truth has the dual fear that if what he says is true, it may be hard to live with and thus be rejected, or worse, that it may be rejected because it ought to be. In publishing, we are acting on faith that God will overcome His servants’ errors and make whatever use He intends.

It is not popular now to speak of special offices, talents, and gifts. This is an age of brotherhood. But just as we must never let democracy and equality snuff out leadership, so that same leveling tendency must not be permitted in spiritual matters. True unity will never cancel authentic distinctions. The jealous sons of Jacob sold Joseph into slavery, but the Lord raised him to authority and thus restored the unity of the brotherhood.

We cannot advance into the seemingly uncharted without error. Only after the new age had come could the early disciples look back to see that the way had been clearly charted within the Scriptures all along. Though the Word is utterly true, there shall be no guarantee that we shall walk into its depths without making a lot of mistakes. In fact, the guarantee of apostolic example is that we shall stumble into the kingdom, every one of us. The Holy Spirit guarantees only the finished product, not our dignity along the way. We write, therefore, to the flexible, not the uptight. The prophet often knows the end of the scene, only to find that he knows nothing in between, and life may not go as he has seen it at all. Whoever then is willing to be humbled and humiliated should read on with delight—he may find his history already here.

Since Paula and I have conceived this book as a dual effort, I often use the words us and we. I write, Paula edits and challenges, and types the final copy. We hope the pronouns do not confuse the reader, for we do regard the writing as a team ministry.

CHAPTER ONE

The Summons

The office of the Christian prophet is not to be confused with the gift of prophecy. The gift of prophecy is an immediate word from the Lord to the church in meetings for direction, exhortation, rebuke, or consolation. The Holy Spirit may speak thus through any person. However, such speaking does not commission the prophet of the moment to the standing office.

A Christian prophet is a watchman. His task upon the walls of the city of God claims him entirely. God acts in and through all that we are. In everything a prophet is, the Spirit of God lives and moves and acts. We shall see this also means that the Christian prophet’s very life and breath is intercession within the church.

The office of the prophet, alone among the offices of the New Testament, is fully developed in the Old. For example, the office of apostle seems entirely new. Teachers existed before, though we hear little of them. Healers were known, though often the healer was also the prophet. Pastors or shepherds are spoken of, as in Jeremiah 23, but again who were they then—priests? Prophets? Or both? Prophecy and the office of prophecy, however, were not only fully developed but also central to the Lord’s plan. In and through His prophets He warned, scolded, blessed, healed, taught, foretold, called Israel to repentance, subdued froward kings, laid down revelation for doctrine, chastised, and rescued. Every book from Isaiah to Malachi is written by or about a prophet.

God did not do away with prophets and prophecy when Jesus came and the church was born. Instead He expanded their function and power by virtue of the cross and resurrection. So the prophet ceased to be a lonely watchman who was often put to death by his own people, and he became an integral part of the church that, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, learns to protect and cherish its prophets. And even though the flesh may deafen the church’s ear to its prophets, they no longer seem to be in imminent peril of their lives as were their Old Testament counterparts.

The Christian prophet, like all Christians, has absolutely no power in himself. All that he accomplishes must be done by the Holy Spirit’s power. To the extent that he neglects this fact, he will fail.

God the Father is a God of order, not of confusion (1 Cor. 14:33—since it is being contrasted with the word disorder, the word peace can be interpreted as order.). His first acts of creating and dividing brought order out of chaos. Therefore we must discard the notion of wild-eyed, scatterbrained prophets. In 1 Samuel 9:6, 9, Samuel is distinguished from the ecstatic, among whom Saul is categorized in 1 Samuel 10. The prophets of the Old Testament sometimes indeed did weird things, like going naked and barefoot (Isa. 20), marrying prostitutes (Book of Hosea), or wearing ox yokes (Jer. 27–28), but these were by command of the Lord in order to startle the conscience of the people. Old Testament prophets were men of discipline, wisdom, counsel, and insight, not of wild ecstasy.

In the Old Testament God did not act unless He first informed His prophets (Amos 3:7). Under the new covenant the body of Christ needs prophets more than ever, for the Father will not act without the seeing cry of the watchmen summoning the body to give Him no rest in ceaseless prayer until He establishes Jerusalem (the church) and makes it a praise in the earth (Isa. 62:6–7).

It will not suffice to say, We have the Scriptures; prophets are no longer needed. That would be the same as saying to a general in battle, We need not respond to your couriers; we have the original battle plans, drawn up before the war began! Present interpretation and fresh revelation are always needed for life with a living God.

A tremor of anticipation has raced through the church these days as the Holy Spirit has prompted teacher after teacher to speak on unity, authority, and discipleship. The least perceptive can see that the Lord is making His church ready for the final chapter of history. We all need to be under authority. Thus we need apostles. We need prophets. God has provided groundwork for such leaders throughout the New Testament (Acts 15:1–6, 22–23; 1 Cor. 12:28; 15:7–9; Eph. 2:20; 3:5; 4:11; 1 Thess. 2:7; Rev. 18:20). The church is presently, now, not merely in the first century, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone (Eph. 2:20).

It is not that the Lord will return from heaven to take up His authority, but that the authority that He already has been expressing through His church on earth will be culminated and climaxed by His return. That authority is now being worked out, recognized, and developed within His body. The church will be fully prepared to receive its king, joyously casting their crowns before Him when He comes.

The prophets of the End Time must know that the Word of God is utterly true and cannot be broken, for it teaches that after the tribulation the Lord Jesus will return with a new heaven and new earth and shall bring forth the next age of glory. As Jesus seeing "the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2, RSV, emphasis added), so His church, seeing the victory of our Lord set before it, must endure the suffering to be resurrected into the fullness of the next age.

Definition of a Prophet

What is a prophet? A prophet is one whose mouth has been touched to speak for God (Isa 6:7; Jer. 1:9). Since the Lord sometimes speaks of the future, and such revelation carries a certain mystic drama, we have sometimes tended to limit, falsely, our view of prophecy to this solitary aspect. Writers often, speaking of biblical prophecy, limit their quotes and comments to those prophecies that either have found their fulfillment in the life of nations and of our Lord, or will yet. This, however important, is only one small detail of the prophet’s task. He admonishes, warns, directs, intercedes, teaches, and counsels. Far more importantly, he stands at the walls to see what the Lord is doing that he may call the body to respond appropriately (Ezek. 33:7).

Dreams, visions, and the word of power in prayer are not mere figments of an impractical bent of mind. Consider the house in which you are sitting. How did the mortar, glass, wood, and other materials come together into the shape that now warms and comforts your physical body? Did practical workmen merely get together and start slapping pieces one onto another like patchwork? Or did they follow a plan? Where did that blueprint come from? Someone had a dream. Someone had a vision. Someone saw the picture of what the house was to become and set it into lines of measure and structure. Right there stands the prophet between God and His creation.

By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.

—Hebrews 11:3, RSV

What does not appear is the idea, the vision in the mind of God. The prophet sees that vision and is moved to speak or to pray. Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise’ (John 5:19, RSV). So stands the Christian prophet.

Consider the call of Jeremiah.

Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

—Jeremiah 1:9–10

The prophet stands at the water tap of the Lord’s favor. At the Father’s command the prophet turns on or off the spigot of life. The supply of the rivers of grace is at his hand. If he turns off the power at the Lord’s command, the land dries up and withers. If he opens in response to the hand of God, the land flourishes. This stands for nations as well as individuals. What a position! You think this is Old Testament only? The apostle James wrote:

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

—James 5:16–18

James here indicates what power the Christian also ought to have. We are to turn the very desert into streams of living water (Isa. 35; Rom. 8).

Such was the power and the glory of the prophet during the fading dispensation of death. How much greater since the dispensation of the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:7–11). The whole body awaits the prophet’s summons:

• Here, children of God, turn the hose of prayer upon this troubled spot; wash it clean.

• Your president is in trouble; repent and pray.

• God would heal your land; repent.

• The Father would prevent natural disasters and keep His land secure; hear, O Israel, and seek His face in prayer.

• The Father has a job for John, who is out of work; let the local body now pray, and He will provide.

• The Lord warns that Mary is about to have a miscarriage; let the church pray, and He will save the child.

• The Spirit alerts us that an accident looms; pray protection.

His will shall be done. Jesus Christ is Lord, Lord of heaven and earth. Every distraction, every sin, every work of Satan He came not only to destroy but also to transform into glory (Heb. 2:14–15; Rom. 8:28).

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

—2 Corinthians 4:16–18

Ours is but to listen and to obey. If we fail to obey, He will raise up others who will.

What discipline, training, and chastisement are required! The prophet, more than all others, save the apostle, must die to self daily. His word must not be his own. What dire warnings Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 13 heap upon the soulish prophet who speaks not out of God’s Spirit but from the contrary winds of his own soul. No beginner can be that pure. God teaches in the rude world of trial and error. Therefore the budding prophet will be thrashed, beaten, humiliated, scorned, laughed at, and rejected; he will fall into error and arise—only to fall again, until, in every part of him, like Nebuchadnezzar, he knows—with grass in his mouth—that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will (Dan. 4:3, RSV).

Only if the prophet stands as the point of a sword glistening in the hand of Him who wields it shall the church cleave the earth to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12, RSV).

CHAPTER TWO

In the Spirit and Power of Elijah

God’s children, in whom He has done mighty things, have come from checkered careers. Moses was a murderer. Look what Jacob did with Esau and Laban. Abraham tricked King Abimelech. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had Uriah killed. Peter denied Jesus three times. John and James fought to be the highest. Paul went to Damascus breathing murder and threats. Our checkered careers, our utter sinfulness and degradation, our falling into all manner of vain seeking, become by the grace of God on the cross and in the resurrection the inevitable writing of wisdom on our hearts. Our hurts and sins have become our schooling and preparation. Would that we could learn purity the easy way. Praise God that His mercy is such that He turns the depth of our sin into the strength of ministry. We are not proud of our wrongdoing, but the sweet grace of God is such that in the end we thank Him for it. Our sins have become our training for high calling rather than our disqualification.

Accordingly we say to all those who have thought, I am Elijah, or heard some such crazy words purporting to be from the Holy Spirit, perhaps you are! (That is, in a symbolic way. We will share more about this later.) Perhaps you did hear rightly. You shook your head as though to clear the fog that day. You wondered if you had become drunk in the Spirit. Maybe you embarrassed yourself by telling your minister or some other friends, who told you to forget it. But it nagged at you until you thought you were insane, or perhaps you felt called without any of this emotional pressure. And sometimes it happens that the church will even suggest to one of its members that they may have a call.

If this is or is not happening to you now, neither is final. The Holy Spirit will confirm His calling by sure signs. If He doesn’t, you weren’t really called, but give Him plenty of time. If you feel nothing now and never have, He may not yet have given you the calling. We do not proceed on the basis of feelings, but according to His sure Word and the surety of His confirmation within the body of Christ. Although the following verse is about witnessing sins in the church, the common-sense principle behind it might be applied to confirming one’s call: This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established (2 Cor. 13:1). Neither sins nor hunches and senses of calling equip (or disequip) you for the summons to stand in the spirit and power of Elijah. It is God who calls. Who can stand before Him (Mal. 3:2)? Rest easy. He will call whom He wills, and He is big enough to get through to those He truly wants.

What Is the Elijah Task?

It is wisest always to begin with what our Lord Himself says.

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? Why then did you go out? To see a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, those who wear soft raiment are in kings’ houses. Why then did you go out? To see a prophet. Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.’ Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

—Matthew 11:7–15, RSV

John the Baptist preached by the shores of Jordan. In that region were beautiful reeds. In the morning those reeds stood tall in the mist and rays of sunlight; during the heat of the day they sank down. In the cool of the evening they rose again, shaking gently in the touch of the breeze. Tourists came for miles solely to sit and watch the beauty of the rising and shaking of the reeds. Jesus therefore could have been saying many things to His hearers: Did you really hear what John the Baptist was saying, or did you get distracted by watching the reeds?*

This would be the same as He may say to some at judgment day: I said to you this or that needful thing in church on a certain day through My preacher, Rev. Brown (or Jones or Kowalski); were you looking out the window that day? The people very well could have become distracted, just as we do in our pews today. Or, He may also have meant, Did you go out there expecting John the Baptist to be like others, shaken and tossed about (by every wind of doctrine and the cunning of men, as stated in Ephesians 4:14)? Did you expect him, like so many others, to be beaten down by opposition, only to arise, shaking, when the comforting breezes of a safe evening have come? Is that why you did not hear him? Whatever meaning we prefer, He was clearly contrasting the weakness of the reeds to the strength found in John.

John wore a camel’s-hair shirt, with the soft side turned out and the bristles turned in. Ouch! Anyone who has rubbed his young face against his father’s unshaved morning bristle has a hint. Anyone who has scraped a bare foot on the bristle of a welcome mat