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We were having
a “restoration service” that night for
a young couple that had become pregnant
out of wedlock. It was a very
moving service as person after person
prayed aloud for God to heal these families
and guide them through life. I too was
moved and felt a strong feeling to pray
for them as well. But, as soon
as I felt those feelings to pray, the
Holy Spirit spoke to me as clear as
the words on this page telling me that
as soon as I prayed, someone would stop
me. I have never before or since
“heard” God as clear as that night.
But there was to be no doubt what He
spoke.
I immediately got
out of my seat and went to the back
to stand as several more people prayed
aloud for the families. By this
time I was almost sweating as I was
standing in the back almost swaying
back and forth in nervousness of what
I had just heard in my spirit.
But somehow the urge to pray was stronger
than the prophetic voice inside of me
and I started to pray from where I stood.
I prayed nothing really different than
what everyone else had already prayed.
But toward the end of my prayer, I felt
a hand on my right shoulder that would
change my life forever. Nothing
was said from the gentleman that placed
his hand on my shoulder. He just
gestured me to stop praying.
This, as you can
imagine, sent a shock wave through my
system and I was immediately filled
with a flood of emotions that were overwhelming
me by the minute. I then told
my wife to get Hannah (our 5 year old
at the time) and Sierra (our newborn)
ready and head for the car. I
proceeded to find the elder that had
placed his hand on my shoulder to ask
him why he had stopped me from praying.
When I found him, he was praying over
one of the families and told me to call
him tomorrow.
The next day, after
a restless night, I called him and he
went on to tell me that in all the years
of being a Christian, he has never heard
the voice of God audibly but three times
and this was one of them. He told
me, “Jim, I had no reason to stop you
from praying and I don’t even have a
clue of what you prayed. All I
know is that at the very moment you
started praying, God told me to stop
you but to not say a word when I did.”
He went on to tell me that he fought
the urge the entire time I was praying
as he didn’t want to hurt my feelings,
but couldn’t resist the Spirit any further.
After he finished I told him what God
had spoke to me and we had both realized
that we had just witnessed a supernatural
prophesy that had come true right before
our eyes. He went on to encourage
me to pray and fast to find out what
the meaning was…and so I did.
Three days into
my fast, I was lying in bed face down
with my head buried in my pillow when
God told me the interpretation.
It was as clear as the words on this
page. He said that the hand on
my shoulder was representative of His
hand and that the elder was not supposed
to say anything because it was not the
elder stopping me but God Himself.
He told me that there was no further
reception for me at this church and
that He was going to take me into another
direction that they would not accept.
Was God asking me to leave the only
real church family I had ever known?
I had no reason to leave. We were
just in the process of raising a family
in this church. I knew this news
would crush my wife. In that same
moment, He also gave me the names of
two other people that would confirm
this interpretation just in case I thought
I would doubt what I had felt in my
spirit. And so my next move was
to contact these two people immediately.
The first person
went to our church but I did not know
her very well. The only thing
I really knew about her was that she
was instrumental in my mom's early walk
with the Lord some twenty years earlier.
I hesitatingly picked up the phone and
dialed her number, sheepishly telling
her what had happened and politely asked
her if by any chance she might know
what all of it meant. To my shock,
what came out of her mouth next stunned
me. Without hesitation, she told
me that God was calling me in a different
direction. She continued and said
that the hand on my shoulder represented
the hand of God and that there would
be no more reception for me in that
church as He would be taking me in a
direction that they would not accept.
I almost dropped the phone at what I
heard as she had used almost the exact
words as what the Spirit had already
spoken to me. If that wasn’t enough,
I met face to face with the other person
that didn’t even go to our church and
yes, I received the same message.
It was clear, yet depressing all at
the same time. We were being called
to leave the church , and as far as
we knew, for no apparent reason.
Who leaves a church for no reason?
Try explaining that to 125 people that
are your closest friends. We were
the first family that pioneered that
church to ever leave. Most of
our friends could not believe it and
certainly did not believe that we had
no negative reason to leave. But
through many a tear, we swallowed hard
and packed our bags.
The night we told
our pastor the whole story, he blessed
us, prayed over us and sent us on our
way. But I can assure you we felt
anything but blessed. We felt
lost, alone and confused as to why God
was doing all of this. Most of
all, my wife was trusting me heavily
that all of this really was from Him.
Then, the phone rang. And that
phone call would change everything.
“Hello” I said,
like a million times before.
But this conversation would not be just
another phone call. “You don’t
know me”, the man said. “But I
know your mom a little bit and she said
that you might be interested in our
bible study. So I thought I would
call and invite you.” I decided
that we should check it out as I told
Cheryl that it might be an open door.
An open door it was. I arrived
at this bible study not knowing what
to expect. What I found was a
half a dozen couples studying the Word
complete with laptops, books, while
others even spoke the Semetic languages
of the bible and knew the culture like
they were there! I was a little
intimidated but that would not stop
my pride of defending the things that
I believed. And each time, someone
would politely share with me an angle,
a thought, a scripture, or a way of
looking at it that I had never heard
or seen before. We left there
at 2:30 in the morning dumb-founded
at what we experienced. My pride
hurt, my mind racing and my future really
becoming unclear.
Six years later
I would realize that what I thought
was unclear was actually, from God’s
perspective, His way of making things
clearer in my life. Over the next
year at that bible study I would learn
new tools of understanding the scriptures
that would change my life for good and
would send me on a quest to help others
do the same. I would learn that
some of the things and ideas that I
grew up believing needed a second look
at. It was almost like a whole
new world of ideas was opened to me
that year as I was challenged over and
over again to interpret the scriptures
from their original Hebraic background
from which they were written in and
not from our western, 21st
century Christian bias.
From that time
until now I have dove head first into
the waters of the bible studying everything
that I could about first century Judaism
and what the apostles and my Messiah
believed when they penned the words
that we now call scripture. It
would be this journey that would take
me to new lands of the bible that I
didn’t know previously existed.
All of the previously confusing verses
that I just “read over” now seemed to
slowly make sense.
Understanding ancient
Eastern Covenants and the sacrificial
priestly system and how it related to
the New Covenant in Christ through the
writings of Paul and other authors of
the New Testament would shape how I
would look at the scriptures once and
for all. And over the years God
has no doubt led me in a direction that
my old church would not accept.
As a matter of fact, not very many people
from any church accept the direction
that He is taking me and my family.
But an exciting direction it has been
with the sails of our ship being the
Holy Spirit and our rudder being only
His Word. Our destination?
The Island of Truth. We have sailed
through many a storm of man-made doctrines
and traditions of men and we will no
doubt sail through many more.
We are all just
fallible men looking for an infallible
God to guide us through the waters of
life in search of the Truth. I
have no seminary degree nor group or
person that I follow. I, by all
means natural, do not have any qualifications
to lead, to teach or even challenge
the common religious systems of my day.
My only hope is in Christ and Him crucified
and that He will be true to His Word
when he tells me to study to show myself
approved, a workman rightly dividing
the Word of Truth. I take Him
at His Word that He will lead me and
teach me all things by His Spirit.
My motive? To grow closer to Him
in the process as I understand more
and more of His Word and to play my
small part in His mission to help free
His people from the traditions and the
doctrines of men. For when we
are free…we are FREE indeed.
Contact Jim for more info
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