Primary Lens to view things of God differently

1 Discovering Your Divine Call It all began on a winter day in the Trinity Alps in 1985. The snow covered the forest like a beautiful white sheet, while the sun glistened off every snowflake. I left our Union 76 Station about 6:30 p.m. and forged my way up our relatively steep driveway in our old, green International Scout. The Scout creaked and rattled its way up our dirt road, pushing snow as it rumbled to a stop at the front door of our humble chalet. Our three young children were waiting for me on the front deck, snowballs in hand, while I tromped my way through the deep snow in my rubber boots, defending myself from their onslaughts. The kids giggled and laughed as I quickly overtook them, dropping snowballs on each of their heads. Then I grabbed the doorknob and retreated into the house, shouting, “Okay, that’s enough. . . . No more snowballs. . . . Come on, now, you’ll get your mom upset if you throw one of those into the house!” I heard snowballs hit the door as I slammed it behind me. The smell of food cooking in the kitchen filled my senses, while the heat from the woodstove warmed my frozen body. “Hi, baby. How was your day?” I inquired as I made my way into the kitchen. “Good, honey,” she said, leaning over to give me a kiss, her hands full of plates. “I’m going to jump into the bathtub while you finish dinner,” I told her. “I already filled the tub for you,” she said with a smile. “Thank you, baby,” I remarked. Frankly, I would have been surprised if she had not filled the bathtub, as this was our tradition. She cooked dinner while I soaked in the bathtub for an hour every night after work. I would read my Bible and unwind from a grueling day at the shop by relaxing in our old, claw-foot bathtub. The bathroom was the only room in the house that locked, so it became sort of a place of refuge when one of us needed a break from the kids. When dinner was ready, I would get out of the tub and we would eat together as a family. Then I would play with the kids, and Kathy would get a break from her long day with them. I grabbed my Bible, its pages tattered from years of steam from the tub, and carefully submerged myself in the hot water. It felt like a thousand needles were poking my frozen feet and legs as my body temperature slowly crept back to normal. As the pain subsided, I read a couple familiar chapters from the Bible, then I closed my eyes, praying silently for the things that concerned my heart. There was nothing particularly special about this night; it was just like any other time in the tub. I read, I prayed, I contemplated, I meditated. . . . It was never a particularly exciting or extraordinarily spiritual time. Personally, I was not prone to mystical experiences or angelic visitations; it was always just a peaceful experience of sensing God’s goodness and enjoying a few quiet minutes to myself. But suddenly, something astonishing happened. I heard a strange noise, and I opened my eyes just in time to see Jesus walk through the wall and stand in front of me! I sat up in the tub with a sense of awe surging through my being like electricity. I looked up into His face, and I could see the world in His eyes. Then, to my surprise, He began to speak to me. “I have called you to be a prophet to the nations. You will speak before kings and queens. You will influence prime ministers and presidents. I will open doors for you to talk to mayors, governors, ambassadors and government officials all around the world. You will be a father to many nations, and you will guide many nations into prosperity, freedom and peace. I will put My words in your mouth, and the nations will know that there is a God in heaven who loves them, leads them and guides the affairs of men!” The vision lasted for about half an hour as Jesus told me many other things that would happen in my life. I sat there in the tub, speechless, my mind swirling with thoughts, while my heart trembled with some sort of awesome fear, excitement and wonder all mixed up into one tumultuous emotion. Finally, the Lord turned His back toward me to leave the room. Then He suddenly stopped, turned back around and pointed right at me. He said in a serious tone, “History will tell us if you believe Me!” A moment later, He was gone. I lay there for what seemed like an eternity, trying to process what had just happened to me. My mind was at war with itself, proposing a hundred unanswerable questions: I’m a mechanic and a businessman; how can I be a prophet? I have no education, and I don’t know a thing about governments; why would the leader of a country invite me to speak? If I were invited, what would I say? Then all the “Who am I?” questions began to flood my mind: Why would God send a service station owner from Weaverville to speak to kings and queens? It has only been two years since I had a serious nervous breakdown—not to mention the fact that I am terrified of flying—so how the heck would I even get to another country? I could not control my thoughts. Walls of questions and bars of insecurity imprisoned my soul. Finally, the silence was broken by Kathy calling out, “Honey, dinner is ready.” I struggled to find the strength to pull myself out of the bathtub. As I dried off, I decided not to share my extraordinary encounter with anyone for a while. I was concerned that people would laugh at me behind my back or somehow think that I considered myself some kind of a big shot or something. Certainly none of my friends had ever thought of me as a prophet even to our church, much less to the nations. I held off telling Kathy for a different reason. She is a very realistic, “get it done” kind of person. I feared that she would overwhelm me with practical questions. She would ask, “How would we make a living ministering to world leaders? What would we do with our business? How could we travel with small children? Could we do all this while living in Weaverville?” I knew she would never want to move out of the mountains. I also did not have answers for any of my questions, much less the ones I knew she would start asking, so I decided to remain silent and try to work it out myself. Looking back now, I can see that I was so entrenched in the vision that it was hard for me to be present anywhere. My emotions were all over the map; one minute I was excited that God would call somebody like me to guide the nations, and the next minute I was terrified by the thought of standing in front of some ruler and having nothing to say. In the Meantime Days turned into months as I remained silent about my encounter with Jesus. I was eager for God to confirm His call on my life through someone else (hopefully someone our church leadership team respected), but no confirmation would come for more than two years. Time passed, and my excitement turned into concern as I began to question whether my visitation was real or just my wild imagination playing some cruel trick on me. I spent hours reasoning with myself. I knew that I had never fantasized about being a prophet, nor did I ever have any secret dream of influencing kings. The truth is, I had been raised with a poverty mindset, so I pretty much believed that wealthy and/or powerful people were all crooks who could not be trusted. Hence, I reassured myself that I would never dream of being some big-shot prophet, traversing the planet to influence world leaders. After all, my greatest ambition was to own the best automotive repair shop in the world. Yet I could not shake the Lord’s intense exhortation: “History will tell us if you believe Me!” I decided to do what I could to steward the word I was given as best I knew how, yet I really was not sure where to start. After all, I did not know anyone who even knew a world leader, much less anyone who had prophesied over them. I decided that I would begin with reading every book I could find that had been written about prophets and prophecy. I poured over each page as if my life depended on it, highlighting every major point and filling several notebooks with the insights I was gaining. At the same time, I read and reread every passage of Scripture having anything to do with prophets and prophecy. My heart was like a sponge, absorbing every bit of revelation I could squeeze out of the Scriptures. Slowly but surely, something was changing in my spirit. It was as if the vision had somehow sown seeds in the garden of my heart that were growing into some kind of fruitful orchard. I could feel the heavenly vision wrapping its roots around my heart. I envisioned myself like Daniel, serving in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar, guiding the destiny of nations with heavenly visions and prophetic proclamations. There I was, a simple, uneducated man, standing before world leaders, sharing fresh revelation with them straight from the throne room of God. Excitement filled my soul as I imagined presidents stunned by my prophetic words, weeping as they tried to grasp the wisdom from another age. Little did I know that the process to the palace would be much more humbling than I could ever imagine. Yikes! But at least I was gaining a passion for something I had never cared about. That in itself was a miracle. A Prophet in the House Two long years had passed since I had lain in the bathtub and had the vision of Jesus talking to me about being a prophet to the nations. Then suddenly, I became a magnet that seemed to attract prophetic words everywhere I went. It was as if God had flipped a switch on in heaven that shone a spotlight on me. People began, both publicly and privately, to prophesy amazing words over me about touching nations and ministering to political leaders. During those days, prophets and prophetic people prophesied Proverbs 18:16 over me a number of times: “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” Thankfully, my church leaders were often present when those words were spoken over me. In fact, several times the declarations came from them. Jesus said, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household” (Matthew 13:57), yet something special was happening in the life of our fellowship. It was as though these prophetic words were building a highway in the hearts of the people I grew up with in the Lord. My leader, Bill Johnson, and several of our elders began to view me through the prophetic words instead of through my occupation. They began encouraging me, empowering me and reminding me of my prophetic call. I really needed their approval because I was so unsure of myself, and I went through tough seasons of doubt and faithlessness. But their faith pulled me through the low days and kept me progressing in my divine destiny. I do not know where I would be today if it were not for Kathy and the leaders God put in my life, who trusted me before I deserved it. Twenty more years passed, and in 1998 we left the business world and moved down from the mountains of Weaverville to join the staff at Bethel Church in Redding, California. Bill Johnson had become the senior leader there two years earlier. I could not have fathomed what was coming next. We left a small church of a couple hundred people who knew everything about me (my failures, mistakes and sins), and moved to a church of more than a thousand people who knew nothing about our personal lives. Immediately, Bill introduced me to Bethel Church as “a prophet” to the Body of Christ. We were not big on titles at Bethel, which is still true, but for some reason Bill decided to present me in a very different light to Bethel than the way I had been known in our little country church. And as if that were not enough, Bill had been sharing the testimonies of my prophetic exploits with the Bethel family before I arrived. (Thankfully, only the success stories.) Suddenly, I was thrust into a world of incredible favor that I found difficult to navigate. My greatest challenge was learning how to work with the pastoral staff at Bethel Church. I had been in the business world all my life, and I had no formal theological training, nor had I ever been to college. In contrast, most of the twenty or so pastors at Bethel had graduated from seminary and had years of ministry experience. Not only that, but I am not sure any of them believed that I was a prophet or thought that I was even qualified to be a pastor on staff. So while the congregation embraced me with open arms, the staff was cautious about my call. Then one Sunday morning, something finally shifted. The pastoral staff gathered in a small circle to pray before the service began. Suddenly the Lord gave me a prophetic word for Bill. He happened to be standing next to me, so I leaned over and whispered in his ear that I had a word for him that I wanted to share with him privately. But to my surprise, he asked me to share it in the presence of the entire pastoral staff. I was overwhelmed with anxiety, but I tried hard to hide it. I gathered my thoughts and proclaimed, “The Lord will raise all the money this morning for the prayer chapel that we are building because of the divine favor He has placed on Bill. God says this offering will be a public sign of the favor Bill has gained in heaven because he chose to fear God rather than fear the people when hundreds of them rejected the outpouring of My Spirit on this house and left the church.” The service began a few minutes later. I was overcome with anxiety again as the reality of the prophetic word settled over my soul. My mind was so flooded with negative scenarios that I could hardly think. I lay facedown on the floor, with my head under my chair, during the entire service. After worship, Bill got up to speak. Instead of teaching, he decided to share his vision for the prayer chapel and take an offering for the building project. I was horrified! All I could think of was the embarrassment of getting the prophetic word wrong in front of the entire staff. After all, the cost of the prayer chapel was $237,000, and the largest offering in the history of our church had been about $30,000. To make matters worse, Bethel was in the midst of a serious financial crisis, but Bill felt as though we were supposed to build the prayer chapel “by faith.” When Bill finished sharing his vision for the chapel, he asked our people to pray and ask God if they should give, and if so, how much. Several minutes passed in intense silence as the people sought God in sincerity. Finally, Bill asked our congregation to come forward and put their offering on the steps of the stage. I could hear the footsteps of the people passing by me as I continued lying facedown on the floor. By now my shirt was soaked in sweat as fear gripped my soul. When the traffic finally stopped, Bill asked our CPA, Steve, to get a calculator so that we could count the offering, while the people waited with expectation. Then he called up six of our staff members by name to help count the money. To my complete dismay, I was the sixth. I could not believe it. I crawled out on my hands and knees from underneath the chair and made my way to the stage, trembling like an alcoholic trying to detox. Money covered the front steps of the stage. I knelt down and scraped up a large pile of money and organized it by denomination, while separating the checks into another pile. I counted the hundreds and handed them to Steve, and then the fifties, and so on. The other five staff members were doing the same thing. Steve was subtotaling the money as we handed it to him. Finally, all of the money was turned in, and Bill asked for a total. The calculator spit out a couple feet of paper as it compiled the subtotals, then it came to a heartless stop. Time seemed to stand still while Steve reviewed the tape. I was sitting on the steps, hanging my head, with my eyes closed. I could hear Bill and Steve conversing enthusiastically, then Bill excitedly announced the total over the PA system: “The total is $237,000.37!” Of course, the people stood and cheered. I could hardly believe my ears. God had done it! He had raised all the money in one service. Honestly, as excited as I felt about building the prayer chapel, I was even more elated by the vindication of the prophetic declaration I had made. For the next couple of years, this scene repeated itself over and over again. Many times, I would make a prophetic declaration to the staff and we would see it fulfilled. What I did not understand at the time was that God was promoting me among my peers. He was validating my call as a prophet to our leadership and to our church. When I look back at those days, I am humbled by God’s mercy. I realize He chose to establish my calling by His grace. The Process I cannot count the number of times people have talked to me about their leaders not acknowledging their office as a prophet or prophetess. Typically, they have had some sort of prophetic word or personal experience in which “God commissioned them” as a prophet. They take this as a license to operate in the office of a prophet in their local church or ministry. What they fail to realize is that to have authority in any community, they must have the favor of God and the favor of man on their lives. That can be a process. Even Jesus Himself “kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). King David is a great example of this principle. God instructed Samuel the prophet to anoint a man king from the house of Jesse. The prophet went to Jesse’s house and commanded all Jesse’s sons to pass before him. When the last of seven sons stood before the prophet Samuel, he was bewildered, so he had a little talk with Jesse: But Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the children?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” 1 Samuel 16:10–11 Jesse sent for his youngest son, David. When David arrived at the house, Samuel could finally carry out the Lord’s instructions: And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Verses 12–13 Not only was David anointed king, but the next verse tells us, “Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him” (verse 14). If you did not know the biblical account, you probably would assume that David became king that day. But David did not become king for fourteen long years. In the meantime, Israel lived with an unrighteous and insane king, Saul, until he finally died in battle. David had several opportunities to kill King Saul in those intervening years, but he refused to touch God’s anointed. Although the Spirit of God had departed from Saul, he still remained anointed as king, a fact that David respected. This in itself is a lesson to us all. It is not uncommon for God to anoint people to lead who are void of His Spirit. We will talk about this later in the book, but in the meantime, check out Romans 13:1–7, which starts out by saying, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (verse 1). Finally, King Saul died in battle, and “the men of Judah came and there anointed David king over the house of Judah” (2 Samuel 2:4). Seven years later, “all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the LORD at Hebron; then they anointed David king over Israel” (2 Samuel 5:3). Note here that David was anointed as king three different times—once by God (through Samuel) and twice by men. The important point to grasp from this is that God may have called you as a prophet, but until the leaders in your metron or sphere of authority recognize, invite and empower you to wield influence and authority, you are only a prophet to yourself. I talk more about the important concept of metrons and how we influence or are influenced by the spiritual atmosphere around us in my book Spirit Wars: Winning the Invisible Battle against Sin and the Enemy (Chosen, 2012). A prophet is definitely a leader, but you have probably heard what the renowned leadership expert John Maxwell says: “He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.” Favor with God, Not Man What if you have favor with God, but you do not yet have favor with men? If you decide in that situation to take your “rightful place of authority,” you will probably find yourself like the Old Testament character Joseph, who was thrown into a pit long before he was promoted to the palace. That could be you in the pit if you try to step into a place of authority before others are ready to acknowledge your call. Joseph was the eleventh of twelve brothers, yet his father favored him above his siblings because he was the son of his old age. You may already know his story. (If not, you can read it in more detail in Genesis chapters 37 and 39–41.) Joseph’s older brothers were extremely jealous of him because his father loved him more than the rest of them. One night Joseph had a dream from God in which he saw himself as a great leader ruling over his brothers. Instead of keeping the dream to himself and waiting for God to fulfill his call, he told his brothers about the dream. As you can imagine, this did not go over well with his older siblings. Then Joseph had another dream in which he was ruling over them and over his parents. Again, he told his family what he had dreamed. This further strained his relationship with his brothers, until they finally hated him so much that they threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery in Egypt. As if that were not bad enough, Joseph rose to a trusted position in his Egyptian master’s household and was then falsely accused of r**e by his master’s wife. At that point he was thrown into prison, with little hope of ever coming out again. But by divine providence and a series of miraculous circumstances, Joseph was called on to interpret a dream for Pharaoh and became ruler under Pharaoh of all Egypt. It is an amazing story of divine promotion that we will talk about more in chapter 8, but personally, I think there were many paths Joseph could have taken to the palace. I do not believe he had to go through being sold into slavery and being put into prison to become the second-highest ruler of Egypt. I think God had determined Joseph’s destination long before any of that. But Joseph’s lack of wisdom and his arrogant attitude determined his rough pathway to promotion. In essence, he tried to take authority over his brothers before they were ready to acknowledge his right to lead. We would do well to remember James 4:6: “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” You legitimately may be called to the office of a prophet or prophetess, but there is wisdom in waiting for God to grant you favor with men before demanding great authority and influence.