EVERYONE PROPHESIES.
Moses is leading the people of Israel through the wilderness, and the people are mostly complaining and suing one another. Not exactly a picnic. In exhaustion and frustration, Moses says to the Lord, "What did I do to deserve the burden of a people like this? . . . I can't carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy!"

God's answer is to set His Spirit upon 70 of the leaders of Israel. And these men all prophesied.

Was Moses threatened by these men and their inspired messages? Did he feel the power seeping through his fingers as he lost control of his leadership position? Was he afraid that he would not be needed anymore? No, Moses was the most humble man of his generation. He said, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all."

One of our weaknesses as a church is that we don't have a single prophet to lead, teach and motivate us. But that perceived weakness is by design, to become our greatest strength. Our long-term goal is for "all the Lord's people" to become prophets. (Or, as Paul says it, "two or three prophets should speak, and the rest of you should weigh carefully what is being said.")

Oh, that puts a different kind of pressure on folks who attend on Sundays, doesn't it? All of us share the responsbility to have heard from the Lord during the week. And when we do, then our assemblies are filled with supernatural power of the presence of God. When we don't hear from the Lord during the week, our assemblies are dull, lacking in direction, and ineffective.

I don't want to give up the dream. I want to be totally dependent on God to "show up" on Sundays.

How do we do this? As I pray, some ideas begin to form in my spirit.