This series considers the “Now what?” after someone who often sees things in the spirit realm actually accepts that he or she is a seer. In Part 1, I suggest making a choice to serve Christ. In Part 2, I suggest looking at the crowds and have compassion for them.
But what next? Many seers have a hard time considering the pain other people are going through because their eyes and minds and hearts are continually under assault by what they see in the spirit realm around them.
So in the “Now What” series, I again encourage you to make a choice:
Choose to Trust God with your gift.
One of my pastors, Julie Yoder, spoke on this idea last week at my church. Before she spoke, I was considering what Part 3 would be, and it occurred to me her message applied to this series, “I am a Seer: now what?”
Sidebar: Women Pastors
Already some readers are taken aback by the idea of a woman pastor. Hopefully on a site that breaks new ground considering the seer gift, you can accept that many churches have missed the boat when it comes to this topic, as they have when it comes to the topic of seers.
In many Western churches, entire theologies forbidding women from pastoring or teaching in a church have been developed from a single verse or two in the New Testament, which after all these churches actually ignore to one level or another. No church actually forbids women to speak in a church, right? And no church truly believes women should never instruct a man. Western churches have distorted these teachings as a means of forcing a state of control, contrary to the freedom Jesus purchased for us on the Cross.
Moreover, people who forbid women from pastoring or teaching actually ignore everything else the New Testament in general and the Apostle Paul in particular taught and actually lived about women and their role in the church within culturally acceptable norms. If you want a more detailed treatment on this, let me know.
I won’t rabbit trail too much into this topic today, but here’s the bottom line: God has gifted us with many things, including apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. In short:
- An apostle succeeds in making an area more ready for the rule and reign of God.
- A prophet succeeds in bringing God’s correction and course correction to church leadership.
- An evangelist succeeds in preaching the good news of the Kingdom and Jesus Christ.
- A shepherd (Greek: pastor) succeeds in protecting and nurturing a flock of believers.
- A teacher succeeds in teaching the flock about Jesus and the Kingdom.
And men and women function in all of these gifts. We should honor God’s gift to us, while not worrying too much if the gift comes in the form of a woman or a man. If you’d like more instruction on these gifts, let me know.
Back to the Point: Tough Trust
My pastor spoke regarding Mary, the mother of Jesus (it was a Mother’s Day message, after all) regarding Tough Trust. God was going to offer a significant challenge to Mary, just like he offers a significant challenge to seers. And Mary chose to trust God, even when doing so flew in the face of the culture, of logic, of tradition, and of common sense.
Mary trusted God when the going got tough. It wasn’t easy.
And guess what… He’s calling you to Tough Trust too.
Choose to Trust When it Doesn’t Make Sense
Mary made the choice to embrace the Kingdom way of trusting God when the world didn’t make sense and when it seemed that God wasn’t making sense either.
The Kingdom means the rule and reign of God, so that means, she chose to embrace God’s rule and reign in her life even when the world looked scary and God didn’t seem right and when she was utterly confused and even horrified at the things she saw (she watched her son being tortured to death).
Seers see a terrible spiritual reality. Just this week, a seer wrote me, “I really need some help mostly with my seeing. I don’t know what to do and I’m lost.”
This is the time to choose to trust God, especially because it doesn’t make sense and especially because you don’t know why and especially because God seems a bit off.
When God seems a bit off, go back to the Cross and contemplate it, and then it’s time to follow Mary’s example and to Surrender. We’ll look at that next time.
In the meantime, I encourage you to watch Julie’s message, and think about it from the context of seeing into the spirit realm.
https://youtu.be/6TlddvRwJic