Hi all,
In September of 1977 Barb and I were in college, praying one night during which the Lord spoke to us about our future.
Hindrance:Not understanding the gap between the vision and the completion
We were in college according to our parent's requirements, but our hearts were for ministry. We didn't want to waste 4 years and our parent's money to drift along getting a degree we'd not use, but we didn't know how the Lord was leading.
As we prayed, Barb saw a vision of her standing in front of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with the Lord before her. He put His hands on her shoulders and turned her around, now with the mountains at her back, to see east as far as the eye could see. It was covered with ripe wheat, and each head of wheat was a human face. He spoke to her about our call in ministry. As that was happening with her, He was telling me that we could get married the following September, that we would we were to move to Boulder, Colorado at the foot of the mountains, and:"After that I'll give you a ranch."
That was September of 1977, and we were married a year later. Everything happened exactly as shown, and after graduating from Bible school, we moved to Boulder. We kept looking for that ranch, not understanding at that time prophecies are often given one right after the other making it sound like one immediately follows the other.
An example of this is Luke 4:18-20 where the Lord reads Isaiah 61:1-2. "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God..." Jesus stopped mid-sentence:"To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Then He sat down not finishing the sentence, saying that first part had been fulfilled.
Isaiah wrote it as if the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance were at the same time. Jesus stopped mid-sentence, showing a gap. There have been 2,000 years between 'the acceptable year of the Lord' and 'the day of vengeance of our God.' (His return) Jesus couldn't tell them of a 2,000 year time of the Gentiles between the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance (His return).
Not understanding this at the time, Barb and I were looking for that ranch after moving to Boulder, because He had said, "After that I'll give you a ranch." We didn't know how long 'after that' would be. We often drove the area, looking for a property that bore witness in our spirit. There were many properties we could see in our mind's eye what it could be, what the Lord could use it for. But nothing had the witness of the Holy Spirit with it, so we didn't buy anything. When we moved from Colorado in December of 1992, we put that prophecy aside, 'on a shelf' as we say, to be taken down off the shelf should that word ever happen.
The prophecy when we were in college was in September of 1977. We moved to Boulder in May of 1980. He gave us a ranch largely through an inheritance that came in 1997, a full 20 years after the prophecy and 10 years after leaving Boulder! He told us of moving to Boulder, showed us the fullness of our ministry, and told us of a ranch all at the same time. How were we to know the fulfillment of the promised ranch would take 20 years?
How many people have received a vision from the Lord about their life, then spent time and money looking for that vision, wondering what happened, where it is, when will it happen?
Why it seems like 'do it now':God is timeless:I AM
Because He is independent of time, when He tells you something, it feels like NOW. It feels like you must do this now, because to Him, everything is in the present, so that is how it feels in our spirit. NOW. But it's not. We are expected to use common sense and do our part in the natural, staying within balance and good business sense.
The book of Acts is written in chronological order covering a span of about 30 years, with only 1007 verses and 28 chapters to cover those 30 years. There are many details missing. One detail Paul fills in for us later is that after he met Jesus in Acts 9, he talked to no one, but went into the deserts of Arabia for 3 years. He writes in Galatians 1:12-19, Acts 26:16 what he learned was by Jesus apparing to him and teaching him.
But in Acts 26:17 when Paul is telling his testimony to King Agrippa, he quotes the Lord when He appeared to him on the Damascus road:"...delivering you from the people, and the Gentiles, unto whom NOW I send you." Jesus had told him NOW I send you to the Gentiles, but it was over 3 years before that happened. When God speaks, it seems like NOW because He is the I AM, the ever present one.
Hindrance:Distractions
Not keeping your eye on the promise. We are told in Acts 7:22 that Moses was educated in the ways of the Egyptians, and history says he was a great military commander. But when he was 40 years old he killed an Egyptian who was abusing an Israelite, thinking that would start a civil war. We know this because v25 says:"For he thought (Gk:nomizo, to think, suppose, assume) his brethren would have understood by his hand God would deliver them, but they didn't understand."
The Hollywood movie 'The Ten Commandments" portrays Moses at age 80 learning he was the deliverer when the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush. But Acts 7:22-25 tells us he knew he was the deliverer at age 40. That mistake cost him 1/3 of his life, fleeing Egypt not understanding what went wrong.
But we are told in Hebrews 11:27 says:"By faith he abandoned Egypt, not having feared the wrath of the king, he endured as one seeing the invisible." The Greek word translated 'endured' is kartereo, which in Latin is charta, which came to mean a map or writing down (a route or path to take).
What Hebrews 11:27 tells us is that Moses still held the vision in his heart, he knew he was the deliverer, he just didn't know how it would happen. He had thought he would use his military abilities to rally Israel against the Egyptians. Though he didn't understand how he missed it, he still held onto the vision refusing to be distracted by having to set up life doing something else for the time being.
Hindrance:Taking obstacles as you are out of His will
In Genesis 12:1-10 we are told Abram was commanded by the Lord to leave his father's house and walk to a Promised Land. When he arrived in what is now Israel, v7 says the Lord appeared to him again, and told him essentially, 'This is it.' In verses 8 and 9 Abram walks the land and sets up home. Then in v10 it says:"And there was famine in the land, and Abram moved to Egypt because the famine was very severe where he was."
In verse 7 the Lord told him he had arrived in the Promised Land, and after he had fully set up his home and life in this new land, there was such a severe famine he had to move to Egypt to be able to live. That means a famine in your promised land isn't necessarily an indicator that you missed God. The Lord did nothing to stop the famine, He had not warned Abram a famine was coming. Abram had to make the decision to move to Egypt until the famine was over.
Go back to the last thing you know that you know the Lord told you. Make sure you have done all you know to do in the natural. Then, if a 'famine' has hit you, do what would be right and prudent to do in the natural, as Abram did. What I see repeatedly is that people stay in the 'land of famine' refusing to do common sense and what is right and prudent in the natural, and end up starving - using all their resources rather than adapting to changing circumstances.
The reasons for giving us the full vision as we conclude this series next week. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected] or [email protected]
In September of 1977 Barb and I were in college, praying one night during which the Lord spoke to us about our future.
Hindrance:Not understanding the gap between the vision and the completion
We were in college according to our parent's requirements, but our hearts were for ministry. We didn't want to waste 4 years and our parent's money to drift along getting a degree we'd not use, but we didn't know how the Lord was leading.
As we prayed, Barb saw a vision of her standing in front of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with the Lord before her. He put His hands on her shoulders and turned her around, now with the mountains at her back, to see east as far as the eye could see. It was covered with ripe wheat, and each head of wheat was a human face. He spoke to her about our call in ministry. As that was happening with her, He was telling me that we could get married the following September, that we would we were to move to Boulder, Colorado at the foot of the mountains, and:"After that I'll give you a ranch."
That was September of 1977, and we were married a year later. Everything happened exactly as shown, and after graduating from Bible school, we moved to Boulder. We kept looking for that ranch, not understanding at that time prophecies are often given one right after the other making it sound like one immediately follows the other.
An example of this is Luke 4:18-20 where the Lord reads Isaiah 61:1-2. "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God..." Jesus stopped mid-sentence:"To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Then He sat down not finishing the sentence, saying that first part had been fulfilled.
Isaiah wrote it as if the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance were at the same time. Jesus stopped mid-sentence, showing a gap. There have been 2,000 years between 'the acceptable year of the Lord' and 'the day of vengeance of our God.' (His return) Jesus couldn't tell them of a 2,000 year time of the Gentiles between the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance (His return).
Not understanding this at the time, Barb and I were looking for that ranch after moving to Boulder, because He had said, "After that I'll give you a ranch." We didn't know how long 'after that' would be. We often drove the area, looking for a property that bore witness in our spirit. There were many properties we could see in our mind's eye what it could be, what the Lord could use it for. But nothing had the witness of the Holy Spirit with it, so we didn't buy anything. When we moved from Colorado in December of 1992, we put that prophecy aside, 'on a shelf' as we say, to be taken down off the shelf should that word ever happen.
The prophecy when we were in college was in September of 1977. We moved to Boulder in May of 1980. He gave us a ranch largely through an inheritance that came in 1997, a full 20 years after the prophecy and 10 years after leaving Boulder! He told us of moving to Boulder, showed us the fullness of our ministry, and told us of a ranch all at the same time. How were we to know the fulfillment of the promised ranch would take 20 years?
How many people have received a vision from the Lord about their life, then spent time and money looking for that vision, wondering what happened, where it is, when will it happen?
Why it seems like 'do it now':God is timeless:I AM
Because He is independent of time, when He tells you something, it feels like NOW. It feels like you must do this now, because to Him, everything is in the present, so that is how it feels in our spirit. NOW. But it's not. We are expected to use common sense and do our part in the natural, staying within balance and good business sense.
The book of Acts is written in chronological order covering a span of about 30 years, with only 1007 verses and 28 chapters to cover those 30 years. There are many details missing. One detail Paul fills in for us later is that after he met Jesus in Acts 9, he talked to no one, but went into the deserts of Arabia for 3 years. He writes in Galatians 1:12-19, Acts 26:16 what he learned was by Jesus apparing to him and teaching him.
But in Acts 26:17 when Paul is telling his testimony to King Agrippa, he quotes the Lord when He appeared to him on the Damascus road:"...delivering you from the people, and the Gentiles, unto whom NOW I send you." Jesus had told him NOW I send you to the Gentiles, but it was over 3 years before that happened. When God speaks, it seems like NOW because He is the I AM, the ever present one.
Hindrance:Distractions
Not keeping your eye on the promise. We are told in Acts 7:22 that Moses was educated in the ways of the Egyptians, and history says he was a great military commander. But when he was 40 years old he killed an Egyptian who was abusing an Israelite, thinking that would start a civil war. We know this because v25 says:"For he thought (Gk:nomizo, to think, suppose, assume) his brethren would have understood by his hand God would deliver them, but they didn't understand."
The Hollywood movie 'The Ten Commandments" portrays Moses at age 80 learning he was the deliverer when the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush. But Acts 7:22-25 tells us he knew he was the deliverer at age 40. That mistake cost him 1/3 of his life, fleeing Egypt not understanding what went wrong.
But we are told in Hebrews 11:27 says:"By faith he abandoned Egypt, not having feared the wrath of the king, he endured as one seeing the invisible." The Greek word translated 'endured' is kartereo, which in Latin is charta, which came to mean a map or writing down (a route or path to take).
What Hebrews 11:27 tells us is that Moses still held the vision in his heart, he knew he was the deliverer, he just didn't know how it would happen. He had thought he would use his military abilities to rally Israel against the Egyptians. Though he didn't understand how he missed it, he still held onto the vision refusing to be distracted by having to set up life doing something else for the time being.
Hindrance:Taking obstacles as you are out of His will
In Genesis 12:1-10 we are told Abram was commanded by the Lord to leave his father's house and walk to a Promised Land. When he arrived in what is now Israel, v7 says the Lord appeared to him again, and told him essentially, 'This is it.' In verses 8 and 9 Abram walks the land and sets up home. Then in v10 it says:"And there was famine in the land, and Abram moved to Egypt because the famine was very severe where he was."
In verse 7 the Lord told him he had arrived in the Promised Land, and after he had fully set up his home and life in this new land, there was such a severe famine he had to move to Egypt to be able to live. That means a famine in your promised land isn't necessarily an indicator that you missed God. The Lord did nothing to stop the famine, He had not warned Abram a famine was coming. Abram had to make the decision to move to Egypt until the famine was over.
Go back to the last thing you know that you know the Lord told you. Make sure you have done all you know to do in the natural. Then, if a 'famine' has hit you, do what would be right and prudent to do in the natural, as Abram did. What I see repeatedly is that people stay in the 'land of famine' refusing to do common sense and what is right and prudent in the natural, and end up starving - using all their resources rather than adapting to changing circumstances.
The reasons for giving us the full vision as we conclude this series next week. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected] or [email protected]
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