"Get Smart" #1

It was December 1999…I had just turned 32 years old, and everyone was frantic with Y2K mania. I, however, was hiking through the woods at A.J. Henry park in Tallahassee, FL. on my annual year end “Daniel Fast” (Dan.1:17, 5:12, 14, 9:3, 10:11-14). It was my custom to end each year with 21-days of prayer and fasting for the “Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of God” (Eph.1:17-18). I would walk the woods daily for hours with my water bottle and a Bible…praying, worshipping, crying and listening.

My purpose in these seeking times was always intimacy and a deeper, more personal relationship with God. However, I was regularly led by the Spirit into 3-4 hour intercession on specific subjects. And, as the Bible promises (Is.58:6-11), I would leave these fasts with fresh Manna from Heaven –specific, now words and priorities. Father God is always faithful to answer those who call, and to give clear understanding of His heart and perspectives to those representing HIM (2Chr.7:16). As a young pastor, I desired and needed to wait on God for spiritual discernment of His will for the next season of life and ministry.

Most years, I would leave this time refreshed and refocused by God’s presence and promises. The Word of God would come alive in my spirit as these fasts ended…and truth would leap like flames off the pages of the Bible, and kindle a fire in my heart. Then, I would turn my attention to “What the Spirit was saying to the churches?” I would study and pray over the rhema-word (phrase and scriptures) that God had quickened to me. After a month of study, these words usually became a 4-10 week sermon series beginning in late January. This year would prove to be very different.

During this fast, I found myself crying out for Revival in my city and the southeastern U.S. This prayer burden was unbelievably strong and gripped me with an intensity I had not experienced. After a few hours, the burden lifted…I was left wearied and silent on the ground as the peace of God surrounded me for what seemed like an eternity. I had been used to moments and seasons of prophetic, warfare and crises intercession during my previous 10 years of ministry. But, this was entirely different. Normally, intense prayer times were followed by quiet and listening…but the silence would be interrupted by a surge of insatiable hunger for God’s word. I would stay up late many of those nights reading and devouring whole books of the Bible. I would also write 5-10 pages of notes, scripture references and insights about what I was hearing and learning from God.

This day, this year was different. On this December day, I became keenly aware of a special grace. There was an overwhelming sense of the presence of the God who is Love. It felt as if God embraced me, and was whispering encouragement and affirmation deep into my spirit. A distinct impression came to me that God was about to call me into another level of life and ministry. It was as if HE stepped back from me and was gazing intensely and intently into my soul and future…like HE knew me better than I knew myself, and understood explicitly both what I had forgotten and what was about to happen.

It was then that God spoke to me so clearly and profoundly that it still echoes in my head, stirs my heart and holds me to the course HE has marked out for my life. There would be no sermon series revelation for the start of 2000. There was not even a spiritual emphasis or scriptural study to follow into the New Year. There was no promise or prophecy this time…..God asked me a question! HE said, “You have loved Me with all your heart…will you love Me with all your mind?!?” ...After 3 days, I answered, “Yes!” This word became a 10 year priority (it’s been 8 ½), and part of my life-calling. Wow, think about that…I seek God for His will and way for revival and generational blessing, and HE says to me, “GET SMART!!!”