Copyright 2013 Theresa Harvard Johnson
Sometimes I know you desire to stand from the rooftops and give your testimony concerning how our Father placed this love for scribal ministry on the inside of you. Instead of standing quietly in the shadows, you want to expose the obstacles that have come your way to defer you faith by saying, “You can’t do this. This world doesn’t need another play, book, poem or song. After all; you’re just not that special.” I know you want to share with the world how you overcame them.
For a long time, I was my own obstacle – my greatest opponent and sabotaging agent. Then, when I finally thought I’d overcome that place the obstacles of discouragement intensified, seeking to fortify the lies rolling around in my head. I wrote about this in my book, The Scribal Anointing: Scribes Instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven, but Father is pressing me to share it again.
I was sitting in a Sunday morning service with my family in a church I had attended since coming to know the Lord. I was somewhat of a babe, just getting ready to emerge from the cocoon of my spiritual youth. Scribal ministry to me had always been like breathing. I was the resident poet at a church – so-to-speak. By this, I mean I was the most vocal about my gift – always ready to talk about scribal ministry, hold open mics or scribal healing nights. My youthful excitement often left literary ministry at the top of my conversations. In my excitability, I never considered that others didn’t want to hear about it or that I was getting on anyone nerves. It was simply my joy and pleasure to share.
As the pastor began to preach, he looked down from the pulpit over the congregation at one of the pivotal points in his fire charged sermon and shouted something like, “We need to listen to the real word of God! This isn’t poetry! This is real preaching!” I was shocked, and deeply wounded as folks clapped, shouted (at this none-godly) part of his sermon, and caught glimpses of people looking at me sideways. This encounter was a thorn in my heart for quite some time playing this one phrase over and over again in my mind:
“Theresa, you are just not that important to God. What you are doing is what YOU LIKE and not what He has called you to do. How can SCRIBES have a real ministry anyway?”
My savings grace was that I took this issue to my journal — where I poured out my heart. I even asked God WHY he would give me an assignment like this. All the lies people had said to me began flooding my ear gates. Folks would say or had said things to me like:
1. When is God going to give you a real ministry?
2. What is He really calling you to do? You are a minister right?
3. (Laughing) I ain't never heard of a scribal apostle! Where that at in the word?
As strong as I was in the Lord, some how these words managed to penetrate. Death was ALL AROUND ME! No life! And there was no one who understood this PASSION for scribal ministry that I HAD INSIDE ME! In running to my journal (a picture of running into prayer for a scribe), I found peace and affirmation in Father. A fire rose up in me that rejected the lies EVEN THOUGH no one else in that congregation or in my environment had. In reflection, scribes of the King, this was another attempt by the enemy to KILL ME, to put out my fire, to end the progression of God’s vision on the inside of me… and to steal, kill and destroy my hope. (There are tons of articles on the VOC website to strengthen you, click here to view our site map. Login to see even more topics and discussions.)
I remember Jesus crying out in John 7:19, “….Why are you trying to kill me?!” He explained to his enemies that they were “killing him” for something He had no control over. In other words, He was compelled to go forth in the administration of the Gospel exactly the way His Father had instructed him.
Was Christ important? Yes, He was EPICALLY important to God and to mankind – even if man failed to realize it. Are you important? Yes, epically important to God and even to the corporate vision of restoration for mankind even if men fail to realize it. It is WHAT GOD has to say…. not men.
Holy Spirit began sending me to places historically in which I WOULD READ testimonies about famous missionaries and patriarchs who TRANSFORMED THE WORLD through literary ministry. I found testimonies about people who ENCOUNTERED HOLY SPIRIT in books, pamplets and flyers — that most people wouldn't have paid two cents for if they had it. I WAS DONE — baked and sauced in the Spirit! Then I realized, God was speaking to me profoundly through these examples. IF ONLY ONE PERSON WAS BLESSED THROUGH THE BOOK HE COMMANDED ME TO WRITE… then IT WAS WORTH IT. See yourself here today… as we are equally important to God's plan for salvation — no matter the call, the assignment or the mission.
Father is saying to you today: “I made a deliberate decision that you WOULD LIVE! I put the fire for scribal ministry on the inside of you! I have called you forth to do my will and my will alone, and I declare that you WILL LIVE! You will fulfill my promises! You will do all that I have commanded! YOU are important to me.”
Why am I writing this…
Well, just yesterday, a Christian wrote this on the Voices of Christ Facebook page in response to a post about the value of scribal ministry: “This is NOT important to me!” This person said some other things, but this is what stood out. He posted it in the midst of a few other "likes" in which an igniting was taking place inside God's people. It was strategic in attempting to PUT OUT THE FIRE and bring discouragement.
What he was saying to those who are driven by scribal ministry is that THEY ARE NOT IMPORTANT! HE WAS SAYING, YOU ARE NOT IMPORTANT! He literally took 1 Corinthians 12 and ripped the pages up before a Holy God! He also stomped all over 1 Corinthians 13. Truly, this is not how we TREAT the members of OUR BODY (discounting their contribution); nor is it how we extend HIS love. Now, I'm used to this type of response, and know that it is rooted in ignorance. But for those who are being awakened, it could very well be a set back — a place of death.
In my spirit I heard this argument or defense from John 8:37: “I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.”
In other words, even the people who profess to know Father are unable to hear, see or experience God in this area of ministry upon his chosen people. It doesn't fit into their "life script or religious beliefs." Well, that's okay for them. BUT YOU, don’t get discouraged by this – as it happens, and should be expected. Ignorance is at the very foundation of blindness among the body. What matters is that you come to know and believe this simple truth: When YOU DO what God has called YOU TO DO, your assignment will meet the souls of those people destined to encounter it. What’s He alone has given you IS NOT a waste, fruitless or unprofitable. Rather, it is necessary for the progression of the Kingdom.
This is not my usual teaching-style as I write this blog. But Father said this to me one-day, “Prophet, you are my scribal cheerleader to many in this hour. You will stand at the starting line to help those over who think they cannot cross into this. You will stand and cheer with them as they run this race… reminding them that WHAT IS INSIDE THEM, PLANTED BY ME is needed in the Kingdom. Don’t leave your post… beloved. Always stand beside the one who is at the very brink of fading, fainting.”
The Spirit of this age seeks to kill that which it doesn’t understand or that which threatens to take away their current understanding. Our hope, however, remains in the Father who has called us. IF HE put this scribal fire inside your soul, then he is well able to keep it burning. Don’t fall prey to the lies of the enemy of your soul. YOU CAN DO THIS! Remember, Christ’s love meets us ONE SOUL AT A TIME. Shift your focus this way, and you will impact the world on his behalf.
I want to encourage you to read these awesome articles at your leisure: 7 Habits of Radical People Who Found Their Trust in God or Finding My Identity in Christ.
Beloved, I am praying for you today. If you need further encouragement or agreement, visit the Voices of Christ Prayer Center.
