This month on the race has been a month that I have personally grown tremendously. I have been encouraged by my teammates and squad-mates more than ever. People have spoken into my life recently and I have taken hold of it and started to apply it to my life.
This month I have been in Gua Musang, Malaysia, which is a small town surrounded by the jungle. The jungle of course comes with monkeys, caves, and a personal favorite, fresh mango. Our host this month is an awesome man of God named Kumar. Kumar is actively walking in the spirit and he stewards his gifts of the spirit well.
One night we had house fellowship with Kumar’s family, other pastors in the area also accompanied us as well. He talked about Ezekiel (ch. 34) and how the Spirit of the Lord walked him through the valley of dry bones. The Lord told Ezekiel to speak to the dry bones and declare or prophesy to them that that the Lord told him to tell the dry bones “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life”. Ezekiel was obedient to speak the words that were given to him, even though Ezekiel saw no sign of life in these bones. Ezekiel had faith that God could do immeasurably more than anything that he could imagine. Ezekiel saw death come to life because of his obedience; he witnessed change at the sound of his voice. God Used Ezekiel then, and God will use us today.
Kumar prophesied over our team that night. He told me that God spoke to him and gave him some things to tell me. He said you have a heavy anointing on your life, you love people, you are a leader, and your words are highly valued by others. He continued to say, you have a heart for the church. You will change the view that people have of today’s church. You will break the mold because you are not confined by the system of the church but you will be the church by living and loving. He said that this message was for you, you will be used by God, much like Ezekiel.
I felt honored to have these encouraging words spoken over me but I also felt a bit of a burden, like I had a lot to live up to with these words. I prayed that God would use me in these ways; that I would speak boldly, live out of love for God and people, be a leader that does not lead people astray but leads people towards Christ, and God quietly answered, I am already using you in these ways. I was at peace with this, knowing that my Father in heaven sees me as a righteous son.
We have a wall in our hostel called the love wall. This wall is used for encouragement, the team will write encouraging letters to one another and post them on this wall with their name on it so that the person can take the letter, read it, and be encouraged by it. In the next few days I received many letters, all of them were very encouraging, and all of them aligned with the prophecy that Kumar had given me. The letters said stuff like, you are a spiritual leader, your words carry weight with others, I can see that you are bold in speaking truth and life, you love people well. All of this was extremely encouraging and it was the confirmation that I needed.
My teammate Carson told me that I reminded her of the disciple Peter, and she wanted me to read a chapter in a book she was reading on the disciples, and this one was of course about peter. I read the chapter and I was blown away. Peter was a huge screw up, but he was the leader of the twelve. He was Jesus’ right hand man. Peter speaks and is spoken of more than anyone in the Gospels, with the exception of Jesus.
Peter was a man who wasn’t afraid to speak or do. Peter got out of the boat when everyone else was afraid of the storm, Peter cut off a guard’s ear in his attempt to defend Jesus before His crucifixion, Peter was a man that Jesus trusted with spreading the Gospel after He had ascended into heaven. Peter was also a guy who made mistakes. Peter denied Christ 3 times; Peter was addressed by Jesus as Satan after he had the audacity to try to rebuke Jesus. Peter had problems, sometimes he lacked faith, but he was still a leader, still bold, and still used tremendously by God. 50 days after Peter denied Christ 3 times, he was used by God to preach at Pentecost and welcome the Holy Spirit of God. Listen when I say that God loves you through your mistakes!
God does not change and I believe that God can use you and me in the same way that God used peter and Ezekiel. Don’t let your past mistakes be a stumbling block for your present life. Worrying about the past or the future is something that is worthless. The Lord says that we are not condemned but we are loved. God wants to use you in His ministry, if you will allow Him. When you hear God speak, do what He says, don’t ask questions, don’t worry, just do. I hope that this has encouraged you to take a step of faith when you hear the Father’s voice.
In other news, I have recently started a podcast called the WWJD Podcast. You can find it on iTunes or at the website www.wwjdpocast.com This podcast is hosted by myself and I have guests on the show to talk about topics in the bible that not a lot of people or churches talk about. It is filled with wisdom, humor, and of course theology. I think that you will really enjoy it.
Keep up the prayers, Brooks
