In that place, you'll receive great training, resources and I believe be anointed to do the work at hand in your future! Yes, God trains up His vessels!
Now that's a deep revelation…and through it all, God is building you up so that you can sustain your position and promotion ahead. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
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Today, I believe the Holy Spirit is highlighting a truth from Scripture that is a key to releasing many of you in your prophetic calling.
The Biblical pattern is this: at the doorway to your destiny, there will be a giant to defeat and there will also be a general to honor. Neither of these are easy! Both test our submission to God. The giant tests our courage but honor tests our character.
Caleb Honored Joshua, Before He Took Hebron
When it came time for Caleb to receive his inheritance in Canaan, he approached Joshua and said: "Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day... the Lord helping me, I will drive them [the Anakites] out just as He said" (Joshua 14:12 NIV).
Caleb knew his inheritance was the hill country occupied with Anakites. It didn't matter to him that the people were descended from giants and that years back other leaders in Israel had said, "...We were like grasshoppers in their sight" (Numbers 13:33). He had an unswerving belief in his God-given capacity to take the land.
Caleb loved God. He had the prophetic promise and he was unquestionably in his time of divine appointment. He was a great leader in his own right. And yet, he paused. Caleb took time to address Joshua, the man of God appointed as leader of Israel, and asked him for his God-given inheritance.
Before he overcame the giants, Caleb honored the general. He obtained Joshua's blessing. "Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance" (Joshua 14:13 NIV).
David Received King Saul's Blessing, Before He Overcame Goliath
When David visited his brothers on the frontlines of battle and saw Goliath, he was filled with faith. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that giant was no match for the anointing of God on his life (1 Sam 17). Yet, he didn't stride out onto that battlefield and take that giant down without doing something of great significance first.
David was brought before King Saul and he said, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him" (1 Samuel 17:32).
Offering his service to King Saul was possibly one of David's greatest acts of faith. He did not look like a warrior. He had neither age, nor battle experience and no armor. David had faith, a calling and an anointing.
At that moment, David expressed honor towards God's appointed leadership, even though Saul arguably did not deserve such honor. Saul had long ago lost the Holy Spirit's anointing on his life and was now shaking in his boots with fear, as was every other soldier on the sidelines.
Honor is a powerful expression of faith—and in that moment of destiny, King Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you" (1 Samuel 17:37b). So it was, that a shepherd boy took down a giant.
Esther's Example
We also see this powerful principle at work in the story of Esther. Before she could expose and defeat the enemy of the Jews, she had to honor the king; a leader who wasn't Jewish and who didn't believe in God. He extended his favor toward her. Through this example we can see that no leader is beyond reach of the Holy Spirit's influence.
The New Testament Principle of Commissioning
As we move into the New Testament, we see many who had a prophetic calling, who were chosen by God and anointed. There was something else they had in common: they waited for their commissioning. Like Timothy, Stephen, Philip and others, our greatest act of faith may be waiting for God's timing of promotion and choosing the way of honor.
One of my favorite examples is that of the Apostle Paul. He had a powerful encounter with Jesus and a prophecy that he would go before kings as well as an apostolic calling to reach nations with the Gospel (Acts 9). Yet, years after that encounter, Paul (formerly Saul) was still serving as a teacher and prophet in the church in Antioch, waiting for the timing of God. It was not until the church leaders heard from God and commissioned Paul that he moved into the fullness of his calling (Acts 13).
It Takes Faith to Wait
Let's be honest. Many times, it takes more faith to wait and to honor God's appointed generals in our lives than it does to go out against the giants. This is something my husband and I have learned. It's something I've discovered the hard way—through failure and repentance. But it's been the best lesson of my life.
I know there are many of you who may be saying, "This is an area I struggle with." Perhaps you don't currently have a leader you can relate to—or one you respect. Perhaps you are currently serving under leadership who do not see the call of God on your life the way you do.
Today, I pray that you will be inspired by God's Word and the example of those heroes of the faith that have gone before. The God who has opened the hearts and minds of kings and revealed His plans to leaders is the God of your calling.
No gatekeeper and no general are beyond God's influence. No giant is too strong for you to defeat in the power of His Spirit. And no gate is too heavy for Him to open. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
Helen Calder
Enliven Ministries
Email: helen@enlivenpublishing.com
Website: www.enlivenministries.net
Helen Calder is a prophetic minister and writer, and founder of Enliven Ministries, a part of the David McCracken Ministries family. Helen has a unique gift of equipping in the areas of hearing God's voice, prophetic ministry and prayer. She is known for Enliven Blog, an online prophetic training and mentoring resource that reaches thousands of people globally. Helen and Malcolm have been married for 34 years.
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