This is a voluntary guide for “The Prophetic” or “Following God’s Leading” …depending on one’s preferred choice of words.
“…the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Sweet words come from an aching heart. Revelation 10:10-11, 19:10
The “spirit of Elijah” is described in the final verse of the Old Testament as an introduction to John the Baptist, who would prepare the way of the Lord. This spirit is not Elijah or John’s conscious soul, but the “spirit” or, perhaps it could be called “attitude”, of that ministry: To turn the hearts of the fathers to the sons and the hearts of the sons to the fathers, lest the Lord strike the land with a decree of utter desolation.
1. Optional – The Elijah Code cannot be effectively used to threaten any prophet, nor to establish or remove him or her regarding an office, as a stand-alone document. It can only be imposed by an inquiring person, for one’s own, private curiosity and understanding, as an individual test to validate the legitimacy of another person who is an alleged prophet. The Elijah Code could also be use to its entirety by a ministry to augment a larger policy regarding its own ministry—which still requires active consent of the prophet in question. It is only an authoritative code for those who choose to make it as such.
2. Dark Night of the Soul – A prophet cannot be publicly or ecclesiologically legitimate until he or she has endured the Dark Night of the Soul* and appreciates its vast reality and immense value, pressing into it further as the Divine Romance deepens. It is in the Dark Night of the Soul where the false prophet is locked out and the Elijah heart finds ever-deepening treasure in the Lord.
3. God Verifies Himself – “God told me” is not the same as claiming “therefore you should agree.” Stating the second of these two phrases only devalues a prophetic message. If “God told me” to do something and I fall down because I obey, then “God told me to fall” and I must humbly comply, not complaining about having fallen down. It is not possible for a child of God with the spirit of Elijah to long ponder the temptation of claiming Divine seal—neither for approval or defense. If the Lord has truly spoken, He needs no further validation of His word. If the Lord’s guidance is ignored, a human claim that He has spoken stands no chance to persuade. The messenger delivers the message, nothing more.
4. Two Pillars of the Heart – The heart of an Elijah prophet has two components: a. that the prophet stands in loving, truthful fellowship with God and b. that the prophet can turn the hearts of people toward God. These are inseparable, though they can be distinguished.
5. Validation In-Kind – The only community-discerned validation of an alleged prophetic word comes from another prophet’s prophecy not aware of the alleged word by any means other than word of knowledge from the Lord Himself. This is different from Scriptural validation, which is also necessary. But, when discerning prophecy, the Church must remember that prophecy is not contrived by Christian fellowship, thus it cannot be discerned from mere human understanding. Prophecy must be weighed against Scripture by Christians who have grown past the early learning stages regarding prophecy and have walked in prophecy themselves, not merely having studied it academically without the related fruits in their lives. In this way, those with experience seek further clarity from the Lord Himself, both prophetically and always according to His written Word, the Scriptures. Only the Creator of humanity can validate the Creator to humanity.
5. Lifestyle of Belief in God’s Sovereignty – The Sovereign God is Sovereign in all circumstances; He alone chooses the fate of each battle and has already won the final War. The heart of the spirit of Elijah finds confidence of this in times of alleged defeat. Though the Elijah prophet’s heart may be heavy with grief or burdens of love, he or she finds no need to fall back on human arms as the pivotal tool against the enemy. The one whose hope rests in God alone has hope because he or she rests in God only. In this the Elijah prophet joyfully accepts whatever he or she cannot control on the basis that God has ordained it for the good of all who love Him.
6. Imperfection – Sin exists in the life of each human, no matter how close to the Lord; sin does not invalidate the message of a prophet, though it may remove him or her from an office of ministry. The Lord alone chooses through whom He will speak and when. The only corrupt events to discredit a prophet’s reliability are using his or her prophetic platform to condone sin or oppose what is good.
7. Full Humility – Humility cannot possibly take offense to pride, nor must the Elijah prophet take offense to pride or seek to affront it.
8. Audience-Specific Messages – Dated words from the Lord are not necessarily implied as all time rules for prophetic or Christian conduct nor are they a substitution for future prophecies where they are needed. Time-and-circumstance-sensitive directions are not necessarily all-time-universal standards. Different words from God may be only for specific people. A Word of Knowledge may be followed by a Word of Wisdom on how to respond, and how not to respond, to that Word of Knowledge in particular.
9. Community/Bible – The Elijah prophet must submit to Scripture in all things and receive/seek Elijah prophets’ and other peer counsel to ensure the purity of spiritual blind spots. No message from God contradicts His infallible written Word and no Christian is a spiritual island unto one’s self.
* See early Christian literature for term “Dark Night of the Soul”.