By Andrew Williams
Series: The Year of the Prophet- Month 1: The Anatomy of a Prophet
Week 4: The Nature and Responsibility of the Office
Anchor Scripture: “See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms… to build and to plant.” — Jeremiah 1:10 (NKJV)
The Teaching
Yesterday, we looked at the “demolition” side of the prophetic office—the rooting out and pulling down. But God never tears down just for the sake of destruction. He clears the ground so that He can build and plant. A Prophet who only knows how to tear things down is an incomplete messenger. The true maturity of the office is found in the ability to speak life into the empty spaces left behind after the strongholds have fallen.
To “build” in the prophetic sense means to provide the spiritual architecture for what is coming next. When a Prophet speaks a word of building, they are laying the tracks for the train of God’s glory to run on. They are providing the “how-to” and the “what-now” for a people who have been delivered from their old ways but don’t yet know how to walk in the new.
To “plant” means to release the seeds of future harvests. The Prophet carries the “seeds of the era.” Through their words, they plant hope in the soil of despair, purpose in the soil of confusion, and divine identity in the soil of rejection. While others only see the barren field, the Prophet sees the potential of the forest. You are called to be a spiritual architect and a heavenly gardener, ensuring that the landscape of the Church looks like the Heart of God.
Prophetic Insight
The “building and planting” side of your calling is where your words become creative. Just as God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, a prophetic word of building creates the very thing it describes. When you tell a discouraged person, “You are a mighty man of valor,” you are planting a seed that will grow into their destiny. The office of the prophet is not just about identifying “what is”; it is about authorized speaking of “what shall be.” Never leave a situation in ruins. Always ask the Lord: “Now that the old is gone, what is the new thing You want me to build here?”
The Activation
Identify a “ruined” or “empty” place in your life or your community—perhaps a broken relationship, a stalled dream, or a struggling ministry. Instead of pointing out what’s wrong, spend time today “prophesying to the dry ground.” Speak words of building and planting. Say, “I plant seeds of peace here. I build a wall of protection here.” Watch how the atmosphere shifts when you move from being a “critic” to being a “builder.”
Daily Prayer: Lord God, I thank You that You are a Restorer of paths to dwell in. I ask for the grace to be a builder and a planter in Your Kingdom. Give me the blueprints of Heaven so that I may build according to Your pattern. Forgive me for the times I have stopped at the tearing down. Fill my mouth today with seeds of life and structures of hope. Use me to establish Your beauty where there was once only ashes. Amen.
