The King Who Calls Out Destiny

Ramzan Ali • September 24, 2017
Jesus had a habit of creating leaders out of unlikely people, from unlikely places. Are there areas of destiny you haven’t seen fulfilled because you don’t feel qualified? In this sermon, Katia invites us to step into all that God has called us to with confidence.

TRANSCRIPT
Katia: I get the privilege of speaking on the King Who Calls Out Destiny this morning and I’m going to speaking from a few verses in Mark 1, Mark 2 and Mark 3. So, feel free to flick there but we’re gonna just rapidly go through the verses. So, you’re welcome just to hear me read through the verses and then we’ll get straight into it. So Mark 1:16-20, “As he was going along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, I will make you become fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Going on a little further he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went away to follow him.” Mark 2:13, “And he went out again by the seashore and all the people were coming to him and he was teaching them. As he passed by he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him. Mark 3:13, “And he went up on the mountain and summoned those whom he himself wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed 12 so that they would be with him and that he could send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out the demons and he appointed the 12. Simon to whom he gave the name Peter and James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to them he gave the name Boanerges which means “Sons of Thunder.” And Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus and Simon the zealot and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

I love these verses because they are laden with meaning if we understand the culture of the day, and we’re gonna get to it in a moment. The more I’ve read and the more I’ve studied this week, the more overwhelmed I’ve been with the gracious kindness of Jesus for calling out destiny in the least likely. And we’re gonna get to that in a minute but I just want to say to start off, I love how destiny shaping moments, moments where these guys came in to the purpose for which they’d been created, moments that called out the greatness in them. I love how these moments happened in everyday life in everyday moments. Jesus is walking along the seashore and he sees guys at work. They’re not in a church meeting in a revival context. They’re not at the synagogue where it would be the natural place perhaps for God to speak. No, they’re at work in their everyday context and in that moment God steps in and bam, everything changes for them. I think sometimes when we’re talking about destiny, when we’re talking about what is God’s will for my life or God’s purpose, often we start searching out places where we feel like God might speak and more often than not, that’s a meeting context. We’re looking for the next prophet. We’re looking for someone from the stage to call us out because what does God want me to do with my life becomes a big question, but I love this that Jesus interrupts the world of men and calls out greatness from them in their everyday setting.

You don’t have to find God in a meeting place. I thank God that he is in meetings too. He’s in this place tangibly but if you’re looking for God to speak to you, do you know he loves to interrupt your everyday world to call out destiny in you. It’s not about the setting because this was a very everyday setting, but it is about being open to interruption. I love that these guys are working away, Jesus interrupts them and they could have said, “No, we’re at work, come back later. Meet us at the synagogue, speak to us again when we’re off duty.” But, in that moment, something happens in these guys that enables them to be open to the interruption of God. And I wonder for how many of us our everyday life becomes so…well, we become so focused in on it that holy spirit is tugging at us and speaking to us and introducing interruption to us and we don’t recognize it for what it is which is God saying to us this is a moment of greatness because we’re so zoomed in on our diary and on our plan.

I come from the UK. Well, originally I come from the Middle East but I grew up in the UK and everything there is very on schedule. And everything is put into the calendar and you know exactly what’s going on from nine to five in your work day. It’s a very scheduled environment but I’m finding increasingly that if I stick to my diary for everything that’s meant to happen in the day, I will miss God moments consistently. And I want to encourage you, let’s be a people who are not looking at the setting for God to speak but we’re saying to God increasingly, “I’m open to your interruption.” And when interruptions come our way, let’s be a people who are immediately thinking, “God, are you trying to tug me into a destiny moment?” When we get that flat tire, when we bump into someone who maybe isn’t so comfortable for us and we’re rushing to get somewhere. When we see someone broken and there’s just something that catches our eye about them, let’s not be quick to rush on in our schedule but let’s be a people who are opening ourselves up to interruption. Because I honestly wonder how many times a day God is speaking to me through interruptions and how many times I miss that because I’m looking for the next point in my schedule.

I think of David who gets up one morning and he’s sent on an errand. His dad says to him, “Look, I want you to go take some food to your brothers. Your brothers forgot their lunch, why don’t you take it to them.” A very simple everyday moment and Jesus interrupts him. He sees Goliath, he starts hearing words that he thinks, “No, this is not okay for someone to say this about God” and something starts stirring in him. And if he hadn’t been open to the interruption of that moment, if he’d been so focused in on his everyday errand, maybe he would’ve thought, “Well, this isn’t anything to do with me. I’m off home again.” But no, in that moment, as something as the spirit of God I believe starts stirring in him, David gets courage in him and he thinks, “Well, this isn’t what I came for but this is what I’m going to stick around for right now.”

And I wonder if there’s something to be said for us, something for us to learn in those moments. Listen, you’re never gonna know when your destiny moment is about to hit you, you’re not gonna know. That morning is gonna be a normal morning for you. It’s not like you’re suddenly gonna get goosebumps as you walk out of bed, “Ooh, today is the day that God is gonna impact me.” It doesn’t work like that because he’s the God of the everyday moments and so you’re not gonna have goosebumps. You’re not gonna start floating about your bedroom and think, “Oh, I know now. I better be watching for it today,” that’s not what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna wake up, you might have a fight with your spouse, you’ll be running late for work. You’ll grab a banana because you didn’t have time for breakfast. You’ll be sitting in your car wishing the traffic away and then God begins to speak and I wonder if we could be more and more a community that just postures our hearts for those moments of interruption because he loves to speak greatness in those moments. He loves to find us in the crazy everyday moments because he’s a God of the everyday.

Sometimes we can super spiritualize words like destiny as if they are revival words. Well, they are but not in a meeting context. Destiny is about your everyday life, the everyday people that you come across. The everyday moments where we get to choose whether we’re listening to the interrupting voice of holy spirit. And listen, he’s not so convenient at times. It wasn’t convenient for Zebedee that his sons jumped out a boat that they were working in. It wasn’t convenient for these guys because this is how they made their living. But, holy spirit knows what he’s doing and he loves to bring us into a great adventure in our everyday moments if we’ll only be available to listen to the interruption.

The second thing that I love about this is that destiny has got nothing to do with your credentials. Listen, in the context of the day, the guys that Jesus picked were incredibly significant and would’ve caused a huge amount of scandal, and let me just talk through some of the context. So, we’re looking at a devout Jewish context. For these guys in Galilee, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, would’ve been the most important thing. It was the centerpiece of their lives. It was the thing that governed how they made decisions. It was the thing that governed how they dressed. It was the thing that governed how they farmed. It was the thing that governed absolutely everything, all of their choices, how they got married, where they lived. All of those things were governed by the Torah. It was the centerpiece of everyone’s lives. And it meant that the rabbi’s who taught the Torah were the most influential, the most significant people of the day. They were the guys that every man wanted to be. They were the guys that every mother wanted their sons to grow up to be. That was the dream, being a rabbi or having a son who was a rabbi because it was just the most influential role in that community, and so to become a rabbi, you would need to be educated. And listen, education wasn’t a luxury for them. Education was a way of life. I love this quote by Josephus who was a first century Jewish historian. He says, “Above all else, we pride ourselves on the education of our children.” And another first century rabbi said, “From six upwards, accept the child and stuff him with the Torah.” I love that, that’s how they saw education. Get a kid from the age of six and just cram him full of the Torah and there you have it, a child who is well educated.

And so education for the Jews looked like this, most boys went to school from the age of six. Even the poor ones, they started off at school and between the age of 6 to 10, the first part of school was called Bet Sefer which was the House of the Book. And the whole curriculum for those four years for those kids would be to memorize the Torah, that’s what they did. They sat and they memorized the first five books of the Bible. And by the age of 10, these guys would be great. They would know the Torah off by heart which is why if you look through the scriptures, if you look at the New Testament, Jesus teaches so confidently and his crowd understand the Jewish scriptures, it’s because they were stuffed full of the Torah from the age of six. So when Jesus quoted scripture, it wasn’t like guys were saying, “Oh, what is he talking about?” They knew it, they knew their scriptures because they’d been taught it from childhood.

And so when you got to the age of 10, the best of the best started to show themselves. You know, by that point you knew the kids who were really intelligent. The kids who really had an aptitude for learning. The kids who were great at memorizing. And those kids, only the cream of the crop would be taken to the next level of education. The other kids, the kids who didn’t cut it, the kids who didn’t make the grade, they’d be sent home to start learning the family trade. They’d become farmers, they’d become fishermen, they’d become whatever it was, they’d learn the trade of the family. But the best of the best would stay in school. And from the age of 10 to 14, they’d enter the next level of education. And the next level of education entitled them to start memorizing the rest of the Hebrew scriptures. And they would literally in those four years memorize the entirety of the Old Testament, and this is still true today. Listen, this gives me a huge amount of respect for rabbinic schools because even today, Jews all over the world who are part of schools memorize the Old Testament. It’s pretty provoking actually. I struggle to memorize one verse here and there. They were well learned in the entirety of the Old Testament by the time they reached 14.

And in that time they were also trained in oral tradition, in how to ask questions. So, you notice that even the way Jesus answered questions with a question, that was because he understood the culture of the day. He wasn’t being difficult. He understood that the most learned amongst them were taught to answer a question with a question because it showed that not only have you understood the question initially asked, but you’ve understood it so much that you can take it to the next level in a question yourself. And so that’s what they did up until the age of 14. And by this point, anyone who was still in study by 14 was pretty amazing. And the next level of education for them was to apply to a rabbi to become just like them. And what they would do is they would seek out rabbis that they respected and they would go to the rabbis and they would be interviewed and the rabbi would ask them all sorts of questions from the scriptures. He would make sure that they knew it word for word. He would make sure that this student who was applying to him to be a disciple to him would be so good because the rabbi would be represented by this student. It would reflect on the rabbi how good this student was. Everything about this student had to be weighed. They could not be found wanting because if they were, it would reflect badly on the rabbi. And so they went through quite a rigorous application process, rigorous interview so that the rabbi would ascertain whether they were worthy of discipleship. Because being a disciple wasn’t just learning from the rabbi, it was literally taking the rabbi’s mantle onto themselves. It meant when the rabbi said, “Yes, come follow me,” it meant that the rabbi was saying, “I believe that you can be just like me. What you see in me, what you see me say, what you see me do, I believe that you are worthy to become just like me. You are worthy of my mantle. I have interviewed you and I see that you are not found wanting, that you are valid and worthy and I approve of you.” It was profound.

And so one of the ancient rabbi’s would say that discipleship meant that you were covered in the dust of the rabbi’s feet. And that was both figurative and literal because the rabbi would be walking in a dusty place and the disciples would be following his every move. They literally went every single place the rabbi would go and the dust from the feet of the rabbi would cover the disciples. Gives new meaning to gold dust, doesn’t it? Gives new meaning to when Mary is sat at Jesus’ feet because that was the posture of a disciple, and in that day would be scandalous that a woman would be allowed to touch the dust on the rabbi’s feet and yet Jesus says she’s worthy to do that.

And so it’s a beautiful moment when Jesus is walking along the seashore and sees some fishermen because you see, these guys were not worthy to be disciples. In the culture of the day if you were a fisherman or if you were a farmer, you were substandard because you were the little boy who got rejected from school. You were the little boy who didn’t make the grade. You were the little boy who hadn’t made the cut because you had been rejected from further study and had been sent home to learn the family trade. And so no farmer, no fishermen, no tax collector in his right mind would ever go to a rabbi and say, “Let me be your disciple.” It would be a humiliating exercise because they simply were not good enough. And so Jesus, he’s walking along and he sees the boys who didn’t make the cut and he thinks, “I’m gonna change the world with those guys.” It’s a beautiful moment. Everyone in that place would’ve heard of it. It would be scandalous. Listen, I’m sure that this is why some of the Pharisees were so irritated because they’d be like, “I went to school with Peter. He got kicked out when he was eight. He was rubbish, and here he is being a disciple as if he’s worth that.” It would’ve got so…into so many people’s hearts and minds as an offense because these guys didn’t earn what they’re doing. It would’ve been a cause for ridicule of Jesus because these disciples would now reflect on him. And so they’d say, “What kind of rabbi is this? Look at the guys who are following him. He’s chosen guys who are just rubbish.” Can’t reflect too well on him can it?

And so Jesus says, “Come follow me” to the substandard, to the guys who are insignificant and unworthy. And sometimes you look at it and you think, “Wow, it’s so crazy because it was so radical for them.” They left everything and they followed him and it was. But if you put your feet in Peter’s place, here’s a rabbi who walks past him and says to him, “Come follow me.” It is not an invitation to radical living, it is a word of affirmation because that rabbi is saying to him, “Peter, you’re worthy. I look at you and I know you can be just like me.” It’s a word of affection. It’s a word of validation. So when we read that Jesus picked disciples, it wasn’t random. It wasn’t ordinary in the day. No, it was so counterculture to everything that would be expected. Everything that would be seen as acceptable because he takes these guys who simply don’t have the credentials. And listen, he says, “I will make you fishers of men.” He understood what he was doing. He wasn’t crazy. He wasn’t a really bad rabbi. He understood what he was doing because he knows that who he chooses has got nothing to do with that person’s credentials. It has everything to do with how good a leader he is. He is the one who authors them into fishers of men. He says, “Come to me and I will make you this.” And listen, when Jesus says that, it’s not wishful thinking. He knows that who he is, his words over us are empowering. They create in us what he proclaims.

And so when he said that word to these guys, something happened, everything changed for them. They’ve respond to his word of validation and it’s true for us. Listen, you might feel like you’re the top of your field, “Why wouldn’t Jesus pick me? I’m awesome.” You might feel that way which is great. But listen, he doesn’t love you and choose you because of your credentials. He simply doesn’t. They’re wonderful, they’re great, he blesses them. He loves to have favor on you but you’re a grace choice not a good choice. No matter how good you are, no matter how strong you feel, there’s nothing in the kingdom that you can maintain from your credentials, that’s not why you’re chosen. And listen, you might feel like you’re right at the bottom of the barrel. You might feel like you’ve got nothing to give. You might be sitting here and approaching your life in the kingdom like, “No no, I am the least. I am least. Jesus is never gonna use me to do anything. I couldn’t possibly do anything. Everyone in my life has always told me I’m rubbish and I’m a loser and I’ve got nothing to give.” And you might be looking at your credentials as if they are necessary to do something awesome in God. And I want to tell you listen to what Jesus does here because he’s not interested in their credentials. He’s interested in what he can make people be which is anything and everything.

I love the fact…gosh it’s such a relief that I’m standing here not because of credentials but because God chose me out of his grace. It’s exhausting believing that you must maintain something in your credentials. If you feel like you open something because of your credentials, then you’ve got to maintain it by your credentials. But if you understand that life in the kingdom is open to you because of his wonderful, overwhelming, breathtaking grace, then you can live by his grace to maintain it. Listen, I’m not talking about poor stewardship, please hear me. I’m not saying that we then go, “Okay, well I’m just gonna sit back and relax because I don’t need to do anything. Jesus is going to lead me.” He is gonna lead you by his grace but isn’t it a wonderful adventure that we then get to partner with him? But we can never see our partnership as what’s earning us the right. I was a child when I felt like God called me to this sort of ministry, to speaking and preaching and helping build and plant churches. And since then, I’ve given myself to study and to all sorts of different theological schools because I’ve wanted to partner with him in what he called me. But listen, none of the things that I’ve learnt have earned me the right to be here, none of them. It’s my privilege to partner with him but none of my partnership is earning me a right because I know fixed in my heart that I’m not the good choice. I’m the grace choice.

When I first started working for a church in my early twenties, I didn’t have this understanding in my brain. And so I tried really hard to be all that I thought I was meant to be now that I was working for the church, now that I was employed for a church. I really felt the pressure to be appropriate in how I lived and in how I worked and I tried so hard and I ran myself ragged. And within about six months, I was burnt to a crisp because I was exhausted because somehow in my heart this had gone wrong in my understanding because I felt like my credentials were important. I felt like I needed to maintain something. And when Jesus started unraveling that in my heart, thank God for wise leaders around me. He started saying, “You were never chosen because of your credentials.” He’s so gracious. He’s so kind. He finds these guys who were seen as insignificant, who were seen as sub standard and he says to them, “Come follow me because I’m gonna make you something. I’m gonna author you into something that will shake nations and change history.” And his word is the same to us. He’s saying to you today whether you feel at the top of your game or at the bottom of the chain, “Come follow me because I see greatness in you.” And his word over you is not wishful thinking, his word over you is power to accomplish what he invites you into.

Quickly, I’ll go onto the last thing here. I love the image in Mark 3 where it describes that Jesus calls these guys. He gives them new names. He appoints them as apostles and it says he calls them so that they would be with him and so that they could be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. I think sometimes we can start asking, “What is God’s purpose for me? What does destiny in the kingdom look like?” I’ve been asked this question so many times. “How do I find the will of God for me?” And I feel like these verses explain to us what it looks like to have kingdom destiny. Now, it’s gonna give you the components which is the same for every single person when God speaks destiny over you. The context might change but the components never will. And it’s this, what does destiny look like? It looks like identity, intimacy, authority, that’s what it looks like.

Listen, when Jesus called the disciples, it would’ve been crazy because people would start saying, “You know that guy Peter who used to be a fishermen?” “Oh, I thought he was still a fishermen.” “No, no, no he’s not a fishermen anymore. He’s now a disciple.” And people would be like, “What do you mean he’s a disciple? He’s not trained to be a disciple.” But suddenly conversation would happen around the disciples because Levi who once was a tax collector was now a disciple of Jesus. Everything in his identity would’ve got upside down because of who he now belonged to. Listen, when Jesus speaks of destiny, word over you, no matter what the context of that word is, whether it’s for you to be a mom raising champions at home or whether it’s for you to be a CEO of a company, the destiny components are still the same for each and every one of us. The first part of destiny is identity. He’s calling us as sons and daughters. It’s as simple as that. Whatever you once were in your identity is now changed. You are set free from that because Jesus has made you his son or his daughter. That’s who you now are and everything we do in destiny has got to flow from that place. It’s a scary thing when you meet people who are like orphans but who are climbing for kingdom destiny because somethings go very wrong then because love doesn’t become the aim or the outflow, position does.

If you want to know the will of God for your life, I’m giving you the components very simply, firstly is identity. He wants you to know that you are his son and daughter. You are an heir of the kingdom of heaven, that’s who you are. No matter what you used to be, that’s your identity now. You’re no longer a sinner. If you are in Christ, you are a saint, full stop. Peter who once was a fishermen was now an apostle. Everything was different about his identity, everything is different about ours.

The second thing about destiny is that it’s about intimacy. He called the disciples to him first and foremost so that they would be with him. You want to know the will of God for your life? It’s closeness. It’s walking with him. It’s spending time with him. That doesn’t mean that you’re gonna close yourself off in a prayer or closet 24/7, that means that we learn what it is to walk with holy spirit in our everyday moments just like the disciples did. They ate with Jesus. They partied with Jesus. They walked in different villages and places with Jesus. They went to get food with Jesus. Everyday life happened in closeness and that’s the will of God for you and me, that everyday life would happen in closeness. It’s intimacy and then it’s authority. For my identity and intimacy flowed their authority to speak and to cast out demons and to heal the sick and to raise the dead.

The will of God for you if you’re a teacher is to preach and to cast out demons and heal the sick and raise the dead. The will of God for you if you’re a financial adviser is to preach and heal the sick and cast out demons and raise the dead. The will of God for you if you’re a student at school is to be preach and heal the sick and cast out demons and raise the dead. Identify, intimacy, authority. Preaching doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re gonna stand on a soap box but it does mean that you’re gonna be a breath of life from the kingdom where you are. It means that you’re gonna speak hope where there’s the broken and hopeless around you. It means that you’re gonna release the peace of heaven over the people around you who are anxious. It means as a student you’re going to exams and your friends are freaking out and you just start speaking heavenly peace over people. You don’t even need to use jargon. You don’t need to say, “The blood of Jesus gives you peace.” But you are an agent of peace in the world, that’s who you are. And listen, I do think there is a place for owning the name of Jesus, so please hear me correctly. But I think he gives us wisdom in how we preach and he certainly doesn’t give us licence to judge in when we preach. But it’s a licence to love people well. It’s a licence to stand next to your friend who’s saying they’ve got backache and they’re not sleeping well and saying, “Hey listen, I belong to a kingdom where healing happens. Can I pray for you? My dad is really good at healing the sick. Please can I pray for you?” It’s about when your friend says to you that their parent, their sister, their cousin has got cancer and is sick in hospital. It’s about us saying, “I believe in a God of the miraculous. I’m gonna start praying.” It’s about seeing those who are oppressed in the demonic and start in speaking freedom from bondage over them.

The will of God for your life, identity, intimacy, authority. I love it, he interrupts the everyday moments. This week he’s gonna interrupt you. I wonder if you’ll be courageous enough to even in this moment to say, “Jesus, interrupt me. Come and speak to me in moments where I’m doing my thing. Interrupt me, I’m open.” I love it, he calls the substandard. He calls those who didn’t make the grade and he changes the world with them. I love it because he calls us to a life of destiny which is one of knowing who we are, knowing who he is and knowing what he’s made us to do. Why don’t you stand with me for a moment. Father, we just want to say we love you. We’re so overwhelmed by your kindness that you choose us because of your breathtaking grace. That you see us whether we’re strong or weak or whether we think we’re amazing or not but you see us and you choose us and you call us and you say, “I will make you into world changers not because of your credentials, but because of my grace over you.” And so Father I pray for each and every person in this room. I ask you holy spirit that you would speak destiny words over us. Words of intimacy, words of identity, words of authority, that you would create in us the understanding of who we are, of who you are and what you made us to do for your glory and your kingdom advance to shake this city and to shape nations. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Audience: Amen.

Your Story Matters: Here's Why

By Julian Adams • January 3, 2025
We are living in a world of dramatic change. The relentless pace of development often leaves us breathless and exhausted. The demand for innovative ways of communicating, inventing, and staying ahead of cultural trends can feel daunting and demoralizing. It can push us into a space where we find ourselves trying to copy rather than be authentic, to imitate rather than create. This pressure can lead us to believe that we need to be more creative, and that our individual stories do not matter. But nothing could be further from the truth. Your story, no matter how small, matters and is powerful. One of the remarkable aspects of ancient manuscripts, like the Bible, is that they tell the stories of individuals whose lives may seem small and insignificant. Yet, God chose to make their lives a memorial of what He could do with a life that the world deems insignificant. The incredible power of the gospel is that it changes lives one at a time. God is as interested in the individual story as He is in redeeming the cosmos. The aim of the gospel is not just dealing with personal sin; it is about restoring individuals to a relationship with a kind Father. In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis beautifully said, "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God." Justification addresses our standing before God, but our adoption invites us into a relationship with the Father. It allows us to partake of who He is and to live in a place of deep joy from who He is. Romans 3:23 reminds us that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Many of us forget that the work of salvation has turned this verse around. Through Jesus, we have been restored to the glory of God. One description of the word "glory" refers to the divine quality, the unspoken manifestation of God, and splendor. It is the revelation of God's intrinsic worth and beauty. Do you see that? We have been restored to His divine quality, splendor, and beauty. In a world where it can be easy to feel like just another face in the crowd, remember that your story is significant. Your experiences, your journey, and your voice matter. Embrace the unique narrative God has given you and let it shine. You are not just a spectator; you are a vital participant in God's grand story. Your authenticity, creativity, and individuality are valuable. As you navigate the rapid changes of our world, hold on to the truth that your story has power and purpose. God sees you, knows you, and has a plan for your life that is uniquely yours. Let us celebrate the beauty and significance of each individual story, knowing that together, we contribute to a tapestry of divine splendor and glory.

Pursuing Wholeness: My Journey from Rejection to Healing

By Julian Adams • July 17, 2024
Rejection is a powerful force that can shape the trajectory of our lives, often in ways we don't fully realize until much later. For me, this journey began in childhood. I was born with a cleft palate, which affected my ability to speak, and coupled with my passionate devotion to Jesus, I faced daily ridicule and rejection throughout my school years. My speech and my fervent faith made me a target, and I found myself isolated and misunderstood. Despite the rejection, something beautiful began to grow within me: a deep and abiding friendship with Jesus. Through profound encounters with the Lord, I began to walk in the prophetic. This newfound gift led me to public ministry, where I started releasing prophetic words. However, beneath the surface, I was carrying an immense amount of pain that I hadn't dealt with. This pain manifested as a lifestyle of performance, driven by the need for acceptance and validation. Though I was a new creation in Christ, I was living as if I were still bound by my old wounds. In Matthew 23:27-28 (MSG), Jesus describes the Pharisees as "manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin, you're total frauds." These words struck a chord with me because I realized I was living like a professional Pharisee. Outwardly, I appeared to have it all together, but inside, I was disconnected from the healing process that God wanted to take me through. This disconnect had a significant impact on my prophetic ministry. My words, especially those concerning sin, were often harsh and unkind, reflecting my damaged perspective of myself and the world. It wasn't until I began to address my heart issues that my approach to the prophetic truly changed. God started speaking to me about the connection between my gift, my performance, and my worth. Through this process, He took me back to moments of pain and difficulty from my childhood and even into my adult life. In one profound moment, God said to me, "Son, I want you to grow up and be a child." This statement might seem paradoxical, but it revealed a crucial truth: the posture of the kingdom is one of childlike fascination and trust. My journey into sonship transformed how I viewed the prophetic and how I ministered to others. No longer driven by judgment and legalism, I began to approach people with love, kindness, and the heart of the Father. Understanding my identity as a beloved child of God allowed me to see others through His eyes. This shift not only brought healing to my heart but also enabled me to minister more effectively and compassionately. Rejection and pain had shaped my early years, but God's love and healing power brought me to a place of wholeness. This journey has taught me that dealing with our heart issues is essential for authentic and impactful ministry. As we pursue wholeness, we open ourselves to deeper intimacy with God and greater effectiveness in serving His people. If you find yourself struggling with similar issues of rejection, pain, or performance, I encourage you to invite God into those wounded places. Allow Him to heal and transform you, just as He did for me. Embrace the posture of childlike wonder and trust, knowing that you are deeply loved and valued by your Heavenly Father. In this place of wholeness, you will find the freedom to live and minister authentically, reflecting the heart of God to a world in need.

Four Practices for Hearing God's Voice

By Julian Adams • July 21, 2023
In my years of teaching people the prophetic and how to hear God's voice, I've learned several practices that help people hear Him. Here are a few of my most helpful!
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