While we were writing this testimonial, we realized that we had already unconsciously written about it in all our previous blog posts...
Do you remember us saying that the calling for our lives will be revealed here in the USA? And that we are to trust God and believe his prophets? And that we believe that the will of God will be revealed in our lives in three stages? And that we have already seen a small part of our future? Yes? Then we'll take you with us on our journey, because something very interesting happened at school on October 19, 2023. If you don't understand what we mean, you can read our previous blog posts to get an idea of what we're talking about. 😉
October 19, 2023 totally changed the direction of our lives. As mentioned earlier, we had already seen a small part of God's will for our lives. This involved just a glimpse of a picture in our hearts with little detail but enough information that we knew what it was about. We didn't share the picture with anyone, just had a few conversations with each other about it and couldn't really put it all together.
On October 19, the instructor spoke in class about various things, including the need for more pastors and what it means to serve as a pastor. After he finished this point, the instructor shared a prophecy given by the Spirit to us students. He said that this prophecy is for a person in this room and that it is about the call that person has on their life.
He started by saying that the person knows what God's vision for their life is, and expressed it. Part of it was exactly what we had talked about weeks and months before. The prophecy included a vision built on three stages. He clearly described what each stage was about, followed by a few specific details. When he spoke of the last stage, it almost exactly matched the picture we had seen, and the prophecy even extended the picture! And BOOM, Johann's heart was almost beating out of his chest. He knew immediately that this prophecy was for our lives because it was so specifically given. At the end of the prophecy, the instructor said that this person needs to repent (change their thinking) because they don't want to take the first step. And that was true. Because the first step is to be the pastor of a church. Not forever, but for a certain period of time. And that's something we both never wanted to do. We had agreed on this topic for years. Nevertheless, in the weeks before, some of our conversations had gone in the direction of us possibly serving as pastors one day. God had already awakened something in our hearts in this regard. At that moment, Johann had so much going through his mind that he couldn't follow the lessons for the rest of the day. "What just happened here? Surely it can't be? How did he know what we had seen as a picture of our future?" It is clear that we are connected to each other through the Spirit and in Christ and that the Holy Spirit opened this up to the instructor.
Once home, Johann told Betty everything that had happened at school. We then replayed the lesson recording and Betty immediately confirmed that this was exactly what we had been talking about for the past weeks and months. We both had our struggles, especially with the first step of being pastors. It made us think for several days. But we decided to be obedient and answered the call.
We now see that we have already had encounters with all the prophesied steps in the past. God prepared us years in advance without us understanding it. During our conversations about the vision and prophecy, several events from the last few years came to mind that were already an indication of our calling. At the time, however, we didn't think much of it.
For example, Johann recalls these four encounters in the last few months alone where we were associated with the pastor's ministry.
When we arrived in the USA, we had to tell customs what our goal was with our studies. "We don't yet know what we're going to do after our studies," said Johann. The official then said: "I have to enter something into the system. You have to give me an answer." We both looked at each other, wondering what we should say. As this took a while and he realized that we were a bit overwhelmed by the question, he said: "Shall I enter Pastor? Is that ok with you?" We simply confirmed, but didn't think anything else of it.
The second encounter was in the first week of school. During the long break, when Johann went for a walk around the lake, two female students (about 55 years old) approached Johann and one of them asked: "Are you a pastor?". "No," said Johann. He realized that she didn't like this answer or at least expected a different answer. "I was a youth leader before I came to school here," Johann then said. The woman nodded, but the disheartened look remained. As the woman looked sad, Johann asked if he could pray for a specific request. She then told him that her best friend had just died and that she would be glad of a prayer.
The third time was when Johann had given his second short sermon at the school. The leader said in the feedback session: "You could be a pastor or at least serve in a ministry role."
One of the last encounters was a few days before the prophecy. Johann took one of our roommates to the airport in Denver because she was flying home for a few days. During the 1.5 hour drive, she surprisingly asked if Johann could imagine being a pastor.
We do not yet know how, where and when we will start. God knows when the time will come. It is not a problem for us should it take several years before we enter into our vision or calling. Because there are always two steps before you enter into God's will for your life: Calling and Separation [see definition at the bottom] (being set apart from or set apart to something, set apart for a purpose). And both of these things were put into us by grace before we were born. The time between the calling and the separation can be short or long. The calling can be recognized and accepted, but the separation or fulfillment of the calling has not yet occurred. Both come from God. The Bible gives us several examples where this principle can be seen. For example, after Paul was called, he was allowed or rather had to wait more than 14 years before he entered into his calling. Joseph waited and persevered for over 13 years until the vision given by God was fulfilled. Elisha ran along with Elijah for 10 years after his call before he then took over Elijah's ministry and so on. But what about the time between God's call and the separation? Between calling and separation there is another huge key to the kingdom of God: faithfulness. No one in the business world or in church starts at the top. Faithfulness is proven at the bottom when we work or serve for someone else. How can we expect to be set above much if we are not faithful in the little things? Faithfulness is not something that can be taught or instilled by someone else. It is something you choose to do or not to do. And the Bible gives us several areas in which faithfulness is shown in life: Acceptance and submission to appointed authorities, stewardship of money, stewardship of things that don't belong to us, etc. One of God's greatest attributes is his faithfulness: our Father is often described as faithful in the Bible, and Jesus Christ is described as faithful before he is called true!
What about qualification?
We are not suggesting that qualifications or the pursuit of a degree is bad. But qualifications and character must be built on a foundation of faithfulness. Degrees of any kind will open some doors. We too are getting a degree, which will certainly open doors for us. But we have decided that until we are separated, we will not try to open or break down any doors. The doors that God opens cannot be opened for us by any person or degree, nor can they be closed again. We stir the vision we have received in our hearts and pray that the image will continue to unravel. But as we wrote in the last blog post, the vision is not our focus or our heartbeat. Our overall vision - to know God - is and remains our heartbeat and focus, even if we have stepped into our received calling.
Definition Albert Barnes: Separated - The word translated “separated unto,” ἀφορίζω aphorizō, means to designate, to mark out by fixed limits, to bound as a field, etc. It denotes those who are “separated,” or called out from the common mass; Act_19:9; 2Co_6:17. The meaning here does not materially differ from the expression, “called to be an apostle,” except that perhaps this includes the notion of the purpose or designation of God to this work. Thus, Paul uses the same word respecting himself; Gal_1:15, “God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,” that is, God designated me; marked me out; or designed that I should be an apostle from my infancy. In the same way Jeremiah was designated to be a prophet; Jer_1:5.