drunk on the Spirit.
I have not claimed to write anything under the influence before. A product of a tradition I dearly cherish, I am nonetheless deeply suspicious of self-aggrandizing claims of “prophecy.” I have found that often when people say that they are somehow drunk in the Spirit, it provides a delightful cover for saying whatever you want to say but yet distancing yourself entirely from any sort of criticism or backlash, “it’s not my fault…this is God talking through me.” Perhaps this is a way of saying I am a cynic.
At any rate—I feel like I am, in fact, drunk on the Spirit. I feel that I am writing under the influence of the Other, the one Jesus called the Comforter. It is scary to post anything online while I am in such a state. I know as C.S. Lewis said, sometimes you can write something down too soon as a way of getting it out of your system so you don’t have to really process or live out what God is saying to you. But today is not that day.
One of the most definitive things the Lord ever said to me (in a deep, inward way) was that the reason I have been reluctant to acknowledge the greatness and scope of His calling on my life was not because I am an especially humble person…but rather that I’m aware that acknowledging the power of His call on my life would force me to held accountable to the greatness of it. I have heard this before, and I hear it again today, Lord Jesus.
So without overstatement, understatement, or a great deal of explanation, I am sharing what God gave me by the hot hand of the Holy Spirit in my office today. I have no desire to be cryptic or to “appear prophetic.” I simply feel that I must post this somewhere, somehow, as an altar of stones to this moment and to this Word. May the measure of whether or not I have heard from God or not be defined by my words and actions in the days ahead, and nothing else.
In front of family, friends, and most importantly the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, this is my public proclamation that I do in fact hear you, Lord. I acknowledge your voice, I understand what you are saying, I know what this is supposed to mean for me.
I get it. And by God’s grace…I will not go back. I have burned the ships, inwardly and outwardly.
There is no going back now. My reputation be damned. May the name of Jesus Christ alone be exalted in my life.
The word of God from Jeremiah 1.4-10, as applied by the third member of the Trinity to my life and ministry on the afternoon of May 2, 2011.
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
5 ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’
6Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ 7But the Lord said to me,
‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.’
9Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
‘Now I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.’
