To be used of God, will cost us. Back in the day, many of us were willing to “pay the price;” it came with the package. We didn’t even ask about the cost; we already knew what the Apostles had paid; what Jesus himself paid. In reality, it was even expected. It was considered worth it to us back then, for a very powerful reason. To be used of God, was our heart’s desire. To have Him use us for His glory and honor, for the Holy Ghost to move through us and do a work, was a joy, that was unspeakable.

We were instructed, through the writings of the Apostles, that we were to “desire Spiritual gifts,” particularly to prophesy. I can very well remember, when we did; not only desire it, but to do it, by the demonstration, power and voice, of the Holy Ghost. As He willed. These promises and directions, were given, to the Saints. It was also understood, that a person had to be a good saint, before they could ever move forward to some kind of leadership. There is one event in the New Testament, that always causes me to pause and to try and reason it out. Phillip had four daughters, that prophesied.

You see, I realized today, that God places us in certain places He wants us to be; all throughout our lives. It doesn’t mean that we didn’t put ourselves, in places that we should not have been in. With this comment, we automatically relegate the worst sins that we were taught people could do. And likely, will never see that if we went off into envy, jealousy, showing respect of persons, and seeking to elevate self, we were in deep sin also. Being so much into ourselves, that we convinced ourselves, that our program, our wisdom, was more important than following the lead of the Spirit.

Some of the groups we were in, were going in the right direction. In the beginning, we had some wonderful men and women, that were dedicated to the Holy Ghost, and sought to see those they were given charge of, become everything they were meant to be. We all benefitted from what we could learn from others; everyone was edified when the Spirit moved through someone. That’s the way it was intended to be. Many strayed from that. Let’s not go into all the reasons; if we’re honest, we already know the cause.

During the 80’s, there was a strong move of the Spirit, that began to encourage and even mandate, that we return to what was in the written Word. It was a mighty move; I’ve never known such a great move of the Spirit. The will of God, sent gifted ministers among us, to teach us, and once more demonstrate, how it was done. Let me stop and say today, that there are some teachings that were given in the New Testament, that so many did not believe. We could not deal with the fact, that many of us were called, before we were born. God had a plan for us. To go down certain paths, was our destiny. He looked on our hearts, and knew we would come back.

No one could have desired spiritual gifts, more than we did. We began to use them, and speak, as the Spirit gave the utterance. It is history, as to what actually happened to us. The bruises, the scars, the rejections, ridicule and loss of a place, in what we had believed, was the Father’s House. We would have perished for what we believed; what the Spirit had anointed us with. We are back at that place now. Esther said, I have a mission; I am fighting for myself, and my people. Once more, we are being asked to take a stand. Again, no matter what the consequences may be, how much opposition we get, or who says we can’t or tries to harm us, we are being called, to step forward again. If we perish, we perish.

~ Robert Blackburn

Robert Blackburn