A lot has changed for me over the last week. The Holy Spirit has revealed so much to me in such a short amount of time and I’ve been at a loss for words. On Friday night I had a supernatural encounter with God that I can’t explain. But when God reveals things to you, you can’t unsee them. Over the last year in particular, I’ve been praying for God to teach me more; show me more; take me deeper. That has been my constant prayer and plea to God.
One year later, God has answered my prayers. But not in ways that I could have ever expected or imagined. I had no idea that this was the answer I was fervently praying about, which is why I’ve been so shook. One thing I’ve learned over the last few years, but even more so over the last few days, is that God is even bigger than I thought. The supernatural encounter I had with the Holy Spirit on Friday night rocked me for about 18 hours straight. I couldn’t stop crying. I don’t even know why I was crying. Like I said, I can’t explain it.
I’m sharing this because my ministry is going to change. My relationships are going to change. Since I have been public about my faith, I’ve always been intentional about living my faith out loud and sharing what God shows me and puts on my heart. I don’t plan on changing that. I understand now that the reason God had to burn things out of my heart and out of my life was so that I could have a purified heart more sensitive to His voice. More sensitive to the spiritual realm. More sensitive to the Kingdom work that needs to be done. God has revealed Himself to me on a much deeper level; one that I didn’t know existed. One that I’ve never learned about in the church. He continues to blow my mind.
I also learned over the last week exactly why I’ve felt this pull to leave the institutional church. Many people aren’t going to agree with me or understand why I’m no longer going back to church. I’m being called elsewhere, and it means absolutely nothing to me what anyone has to say about it. My eyes are still on the Lord, and my feet are following. The thing is, I’m not the only one. God is removing many people from the institutional church, and it is for a very specific purpose. I will be sharing more about this in my next podcast episode.
Another thing—I recently had a door closed in my face; one that I’ve been praying for over the last year. I’m still not sure if it’s a hard “no” from God, but it’s definitely a hard, “not yet.” But when one door closes another one opens. On Friday night, God both closed a door and opened one, all in the same day. That was not a coincidence.
I’ve received a lot of clarity on the direction God is leading me. I can’t unsee it. I can’t look back. I’m sharing this with you now because as I move forward, many of you aren’t going to understand. Many of you aren’t going to like me. I expect that and I’m ready for the direction God is taking me. As I learn more about the direction I’m going, I promise that I will be inviting you to come along for the ride.
Everyone is invited, but the path is narrow and only few find it. God will only take you as deep as you want to go. Your growth with God is dependent on YOU and how willing YOU are to surrender to Him, obey Him and be disciplined by Him. God has Kingdom business that He is calling each and every one of us to be a part of. Yet, too many Christians are still wearing their swimmies, afraid to swim to the deep end. God isn’t going to force you to grow if you don’t want to. If you want to stay in your comfort zone, that’s on you. If you want to make excuses for not having enough time for Him and His Word, that’s on you. But I’m telling you, once God takes you to the deep end, there’s no coming back to shore. There’s no coming back to anything that this world has to offer.
Contact me: stephanie@promise-perspective.com