“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
(Jn.12:25-26)
When I started this spiritual journey 23 years ago I had no idea how radically my life would change. It was beyond my comprehension what it meant to follow the one who called people to leave their homes, abandon their jobs, risk their lives, and even give up their families for him. (Matt. 16:24-26)
Hate my own life and family. Give up my career. Leave my home. Yikes, hate seems like a pretty strong word. I love my family and I love my children. I loved my job and my home, but I wanted to live a life for which Jesus will say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
I wanted to find that balance between living this Christian life while living in this world. Grasping the notion that God has called you to something more, something greater than yourself requires faith in an unseen God. Seeing the invisible as though the things promised were already real (Heb. 11:23-27).
Then my pastor tells me “you have a call on your life”. What in the world was he talking about. My first thought was do I need to go to seminary? Yet each time I considered the thought I had a sensing that was not the path I should take.
When I began this journey “Radical” by David Platt published in 2010 had not been written. [1] The gist of the book claims that we’ve mistakenly turn the ‘radical Jesus of the Bible … into the comfortable Jesus of 21st-century American culture.’ For me I knew no other way to live. I had given up on the American dream long ago when I decided to give it all up for the “sake of the gospel“ (1Cor. 9:23).
He also warns that the culture of ‘self-advancement, self-esteem, and self-sufficiency’ and our ‘individualism, materialism, and universalism’ have neutered American Christians’ witness and blinded us to widespread global poverty, an orphan crisis, and the massive number of those who still have never heard of Jesus.”
As I learned to hear God’s voice I began hearing things that I had never heard before. The Lord was calling me to a lifestyle of daily intimacy with him. How did I get started on my prophetic journey? As I began to grow and mature spiritually, I embraced the prophetic call which added a whole new dimension to my life. I begin to seek direction from the Holy Spirit. One of the first books I read about the prophetic was “The Coming Prophetic Revolution” by James Goll published in in 2001. [2] It was indeed an eye opener for me spiritually speaking. I look back and see the progression
What happens when men and women start following Jesus. The cost of picking up your life and following Jesus is steep, but the reward is greater. Jesus said: “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields–along with persecutions–and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30).
God is calling us to step out in radical faith and obedience like never before!
May the grace, joy, and peace of God be yours through Jesus Christ our loving Lord. To Him be glory, now and forever.
Blessings,
Dr. Francine
Endnotes
1. Platt, David, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream, WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, 2010
2. Goll, James. The Coming Prophetic Revolution: A Call For The Passionate Consecrated Warrior, Chosen, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2001
Note: All Scriptures are taken from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.
BEYOND CHURCH WALLS 