It's such a peaceful place here in Yei, despite a war that ravaged this countryside less than two years ago.
It's here in this place that I have felt God speaking to me in such a clear voice that I am caught off guard. I had a blog written already, but I just deleted it to write this blog. I feel that God is calling me to share about some of my spiritual giftings. Specifically my gift of prophecy, visions and speaking in tongues. There are a few crazy experiences that come to mind. One was at training camp when I gave a vision to Ryan Miller about a cake, the second is the experience I had when I received the gift of tongues and lastly the prophecy the Lord gave me in Kenya for my next month on the Race.
Visions are hard to explain if you have never received one. At first they can seem like a day-dream and are often overlooked because of the simple way God communicates through you. I wasn't fully aware of visions at the time of training camp, but as Noe spoke about prophecy and visions, God spoke to me. Often times, in my youth, I had received visions for people and felt a little nudge to tell the person what I saw. But, for whatever reason I kept them to myself.
At training camp I received a vision for Ryan, that I almost let bounce out of my mind. I felt God telling me to speak it out, but I was afraid to look stupid. The vision I received seemed stupid. "Faith is the willingness to look foolish", I can't remember where that quote came from probably Bill Johnson, but in this case God was asking me to let this out and the devil was telling me that it was foolish.
My vision was of a bowl and in this bowl was flour, water, and eggs. I could only see the body of the person cooking, but what clearly stuck out in my mind was their hands. I watched the hands with precision and traced each one of their movements. I saw the hands pouring in more ingredients and stirring each of the ingredients until it was finally ready to be poured into a pan. The pan was then put into the oven and then out came a golden brown cake.
As I spoke this vision out to the whole squad, it didn't seem as silly as I thought it had been. When I was done, I didn't think much more of it until Ryan came up to me later. He told me that he had given God an ultimatum, saying if God didn't provide him with three different things, he was not going to launch on the Race with us in January. My vision was one of the three things that he asked God to reveal to him. I have received many more visions since that day, some of them I speak, a few of them I have drawn and some of them I have kept to myself.
I want to challenge each of you reading this to trust that God will use you. God will give you visions and it requires your faith to speak them out. Speak them out. Visions are sometimes complex and other times they could be a simple word. If God is asking you to speak it out, no matter what your flesh is yelling, listen to His whisper. Step into a new place with the Father, He wants to use you to change people's lives.
The gift of tongues is an amazing gift. It's one that I have always wanted and one that I wasn't sure about for most of my life. It wasn't something that was never spoken about in any church that I ever went to growing up. It is a gift that some speak of as a dead gift, but let me tell you that no gift from God ever dies. He is alive and well. The gift of tongues is hard to explain, but I want to walk you through my experience.
Our first night arriving in Kitale, Kenya my team began a prayer session to end our night with just a few simple prayers. What happened that night can only be because the Holy Spirit came into that place with a whirlwind of power. Naomi had the gift of tongues, but had never spoken aloud for others to hear until this night. She spoke out in trembling power and illuminated the room with her words. My soul jumped.
Soon after, she laid her hands on me to receive the gift of tongues. At first, the teammates who had the gift said to just open you mouth and speak, that God would give you the words. After I began to speak, the language was downloaded into my mind. I cannot even explain the way that I received my very own prayer language, and it still blows my mind to this day. It could be related to the way Neo received different skills in the Matrix. It is literally a crazy experience and it is available to all believers.
The gift of tongues is a prayer language from the Holy Spirit living inside of you speaking directly to the Father. If you are unsure about the gift of tongues, check out Acts chapter 2. Talk with someone who has the gift and ask them to pray for you to receive it. God has already given you the gift, you just have to step out in faith and grab hold of the blessing.
When I first felt that God was calling me to prophecy was my freshman year of college, October 2006. It was a gift that I was still unsure about, but I heard Him tell me that He was going to use me. A time in my life where I was still weak and still learning who I was in Christ, but that was the first time He called me. I sat on that revelation for my whole college career and never walked in my gifting of prophecy until Training Camp, October 2011.
Prophecy literally means a prediction. Walking with the Creator of the universe, the one who created the timeline that we stagger along, words from Him are more than a mere prediction.
Prophecy again, for me, is hard to explain. I am no theologian and no Bible scholar. I am just an infant Christian learning from my Father, but for some reason He is telling me to write about my experiences.
You cannot prophesy without the Father.
He is the giver and He is always willing to give. The most recent prophetic word that I received was actually for myself. I have receive plenty of them on the Race, but the most recent one was about this current time in South Sudan. He took me to Daniel 4 where King Nebuchadnezzar's dream says:
‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches! Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit! Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches! But leave its taproot in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it surrounded by the grass of the field.'
Daniel interpretted part of the dream and this was the part that God highlighted for me.
'They said to leave the taproot of the tree, for your kingdom will be restored to you when you come to understand that heaven rules.'
God spoke to me and said that I was going to be taken out of leadership in the next month. He spoke specifically that Nathan was going to lead in the coming month. In this He also said to me that the taproot of my leadership would stay sealed with the band of iron and bronze. He is speaking to me, now, saying that I need to learn more about how heaven rules. To learn more about the ways that I strive instead of just resting in the Father's strength.
I have received prophecy for different people on the squad and for friends at home that I have shared with them. Some of the prophecy I have received has been hard to give to the people, words from the Lord are powerful. Some words He has told me to keep to myself and to pray them into existence for that person.
There are people reading this right now that have been keeping their prophetic voices silent for too long, God is telling you to speak. So speak. Stop sitting by idle while the people around you suffer. God is giving you prophetic words to strengthen the church body that is surrouding you in community.
I hope that by reading this, you chose today to start pursuing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I pray that you begin to take God at His Word, and jump into a new chapter of Christianity. There is so much more beyond simple salvation, a Kingdom lifestyle is more than just a small prayer that allows you to enter heaven. There is no reason to arrive at death safely, you must have urgency in your Christianity. If you aren't preaching the Gospel, then ask yourself if you truly believe the Gospel.
God has given each of us this great gift of the Holy Spirit. There is a water baptism of salvation and a supernatural baptism of the Holy Spirit. When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit you can then expect your intimate relationship with the Godhead to be nothing short of incredibly powerful.
