How Religious Spirits Throw a Wet Blanket on Prophetic Ministry

There are many pastors who have prophetic wives. Some pastors want their wives to be first ladies who simply look good and smile. Some pastors do not receive the gift that God has placed in their wives and do not allow them or release them to minister. This is shameful and needs to stop.

Don’t allow religion and tradition to keep women locked up in a box. God did not give women the Holy Spirit to sit down, be quiet, and be stopped and ignored. Pastors like this will end up in trouble because they reject the gift that God has placed in their lives to help.

Prophetic Women Will Hit the Nail on the Head

This is a prophetic word God gave me for women, using the example of Jael driving a nail through the head of Sisera. Then Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand and went quietly to him, for he was fast asleep and tired. She drove the tent peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground, so he died. (Judges 4:21)

Hit the nail on the head means to get to the precise point; do or say something exactly right; to be accurate; to hit the mark; to detect and expose (a lie, scandal, etc.). Prophetic women, get ready to “hit the nail on the head.” Your prophetic utterances will “hit the mark.”

The Daughters of Zelophehad

The daughters have an inheritance, and they have an inheritance in the prophetic ministry. Apostolic fathers release the daughters to prophesy, and they bless them. Then came near the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah. They stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders and all the assembly by the door of the tent of meeting, saying,

“Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered against the Lord, in the company of Korah, but died in his own sin and had no sons. Why should the name of our father diminish from among his family, because he has no son? Give to us a possession among the brothers of our father.”

Moses brought their case before the Lord. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. You will certainly give them an inheritance among their father’s brothers, and you will cause the inheritance of their father to pass on to them. (Numbers 27:1–7)

Philip ‘s Daughters

Philip had four daughters who prophesied, as we see in Acts 21:9. The Prophet Joel said the daughters would prophesy (Joel 2:28). There were a number of women in the Upper Room (Acts 1:14). The release of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost opened the door for women to be involved in the prophetic ministry in an unprecedented way. Women are now released to prophesy in numbers that are greater than ever before.

“In the last days it shall be,” says God, “that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17)

Miriam

Miriam, the sister of Moses, was a prophetess. In Exodus 15:20 she led the women in dancing to celebrate God’s victory over Pharaoh. She is also recognized as being sent along with Moses and Aaron to bring Israel out of Egypt. She therefore played a prominent role in Israel’s deliverance from bondage.

For I have brought you up from the land of Egypt, and from the house of slaves I have redeemed you; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. (Micah 6:4)

Huldah

Huldah was a prophetess who was recognized by King Josiah. When the king discovered the Book of the Law, he rent his clothes and sent men to Huldah to inquire of the Lord. Huldah was the keeper of the king’s wardrobe and spoke the word of the Lord to the king about the coming judgment upon Israel.

Then the king ordered … “Go and seek the Lord on my behalf and on the behalf of the remnant in Israel and Judah concerning what is written in the book that was found, for the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us is great because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do everything that is written in this book.”

So Hilkiah and those with the king went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, who kept the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, and they spoke to her about this.

And she said to them, “So says the Lord God of Israel: Speak to the man who sent you all to Me” (2 Chron. 34:20–23).

Deborah

Deborah was a national prophetess and judge, and she was a mother in Israel. She was recognized throughout Israel. People came to her to settle disputes. Prophets can help settle disputes. Deborah’s role as a mother represented her love and compassion for Israel. Mothers can be prophets too.

Now Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophetess. She judged Israel at that time. —Judges 4:4

Village life ceased. It ceased until I, Deborah, arose; I arose like a mother in Israel (Judges 5:7).

Isaiah’s Wife

The Prophet Isaiah considered his wife to be a prophetess. This shows that both husband and wife can be prophets. This will make a strong prophetic team. So I went in to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (Isaiah 8:3).

Anna

Anna was a praying and fasting prophetess. She spoke to all those who were looking for redemption and the coming Messiah. By her prayer and fasting she helped prepare the way for the Lord to come. She prayed and fasted in the temple and did not depart from the house of God. Anna is a picture of the intercessory prophet.

And there was Anna a prophetess, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow of about eighty-four years of age who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayer night and day.

Coming at that moment she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of Him to all those who looked for the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:36–38). {eoa}

Excerpted from Prophetic Activation by John Eckhardt (Charisma House, 2016). To purchase the book, click here.

Apostle John Eckhardt is overseer of Crusaders Ministries, located in Chicago, Illinois. Gifted with a strong apostolic call, he has ministered throughout the United States and overseas in more than eighty nations. He is a sought-after international conference speaker and has authored more than twenty books, including Prophet, Arise!, Prayers That Rout Demons, Prayers That Break Curses, and God Still Speaks. Eckhardt resides in the Chicago area with his wife, Wanda, and their five children.