Sometimes people give me the impression they think I am immune to doubt and deception. I am NOT ! Just like every other follower of Jesus, I only know and believe the revelations I receive by trusting what I am hearing from Holy Spirit. Like every other believer, I am looking for both affirmation from God and confirmation from other followers of Jesus. The greater my personal involvement or personal risk in a matter the greater my desire for affirmation and confirmation.
For example, I know as an absolute certainty – Father God personally loves you. So, when I hear Holy Spirit ask me to remind you of Papa’s love it is a zero risk for me to speak up and remind you – You are loved.
Conversely, I have heard Holy Spirit tell me to acquire a farm close to Washington, DC, on which we can have the facilities to serve four specific groups of people: 1) People interested in horses; 2) People from the international diplomatic community; 3) People who desire to learn to live in practical disciple making relationships; and, 4) People who simply need a spiritually safe place of refuge for a short time. This has all been consistent with Holy Spirit giving me the practical warning to prepare to travel less as I get older. As I have been believing this bit of revelation, I have also been filled with desire for both affirmation from Father and confirmation from the family of God. With a budget of two and one half million dollars and the need to relocate my home base, I see substantial risks, both financial and emotional, and no way to cover them except by God.
These desires for affirmation and confirmation have been common to the people of God throughout history. Perhaps the best known example from the scriptures is the story of Gideon from the book of Judges. Most famous, of course, is the story of Gideon putting out a fleece on the threshing floor to see if it would be wet or dry in the morning. But as you read the story below you will see that Gideon was very much a man who desired to be certain he was hearing God. There is nothing wrong for us as followers of Jesus when we desire affirmation and confirmation.
However, notice two things about Gideon, once he had God’s affirmation: he became a man of determination and action; and, he remained a man who sought to know and understand exactly how to go about following God’s path to total victory.
Returning to my personal example above, after I initially heard Father telling me what He wanted for the “Farm”, I wanted further affirmation. Jesus sent two different and unrelated prophecies to me from widely separated sources who knew nothing about the “Farm” issue. Each prophetic word was specific and clear to tell me yes this was Father’s plan. Ah, but that is just the beginning. Which farm? How much will it cost? Where do we find the money to pay for it ?
When I heard Holy Spirit about which farm, I discovered that the budget needs to be about $2,500,000. Now, I am faced with an emotional crisis. As most of you know, I never ask any one for money. That is an issue I have strong feelings about. How will God make this possible ? I do not know. It has honestly been a struggle for me to even let people know about all this because I feel so strongly about not even appearing to need money from other people. But gradually Holy Spirit has required me to begin informing people.
I am continually having to come back to Him for affirmation and direction. I am continually listening to my brothers and sisters for confirmation that they too are hearing these things from the Lord.
When you find yourself struggling to be sure you have heard the Lord, NEVER allow the enemy to deceive you into thinking you are alone. The experience is common to all your brothers throughout the Kingdom. And never stop listening. Remember that it was God who sent Abraham to sacrifice Isaac; but, it was also God who told Abraham to substitute the ram from the thicket. Both instructions were vital to God’s plan.
Moreover, it is important for us to continue to listen to our brothers and sisters. There is safety in a multitude of counselors.
His, thus Yours,
Stuart
Judges 6:11 — 7:25 (NASB including publishers sub-titles)
Gideon Is Visited
Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me. Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”
Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.
The Altar of Baal Destroyed
When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. They said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him? Whoever will plead for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.” Therefore on that day he named him Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar.
Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves; and they crossed over and camped in the valley of Jezreel. So the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.
Sign of the Fleece
Then Gideon said to God, “If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken.” And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.
Gideon’s 300 Chosen Men
Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him, rose early and camped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.
The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’ Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’” So 22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained.
Then the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink.” Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink water. The Lord said to Gideon, “I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his home.” So the 300 men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets into their hands. And Gideon sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
Now the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hands. But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, and you will hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant down to the outposts of the army that was in the camp. Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.” His friend replied, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand.”
When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands.” He divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. He said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets all around the camp and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”
Confusion of the Enemy
So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran, crying out as they fled. When they blew 300 trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. The men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.
Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian and take the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned and they took the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. They captured the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.
His-Family 
Fascinating, Stuart.
A “farm” like you describe surely rings true with me. In fact, I have a sense of stewardship over the 20+ yrs. during which the Lord used Mary and I to bring Green Oak Ranch from re-startup to financial independence.
Knowing as I do your heart for the true Church I encourage you to think large and wide. From my experience I am confident whatever Father God has revealed to you is only part of a larger design He is fashioning.
interesting, but not surprising to me, is the difficulty we have experienced in plugging into a faith community after leaving the Ranch in Southern California. As I reflect on things, I am convinced the Ranch was more church than most recognized churches spread across our region. Indeed, I came to see local “church assemblies” akin to college lecture halls, and therefore offered up the Ranch as a close to home laboratory where lecture hall lessons could be applied and proven.
Sadly, it seems most were content to attend Sunday lecture sessions while avoiding lab and field work.
Carry on, Stuart. I sense Father God has your ear.
Blessings,
CJF
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Thanks Carl, when He gets the Farm ready I hope you will bring Mary and come to share some time with us.
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Hi Stuart, I’m with you in prayer! Happy to read such personal stuff. Glory to God.
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Thanks Ian. Give my love to the Family there.
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Hi Stu,
You know you I am one of those people who sometimes think you are immune to doubt and deception and that you are larger then life. Laugh out loud. It’s easy to do. I read again this blog entry this morning and it was refreshing to see your transparency and honesty about where you are really living in this process of hearing God. You working out the details of what your hearing and talking about looking for confirmation/affirmation from your brothers and sisters regarding this 2.5 million dollar farm you see was a side of you we don’t often see and it was refreshing because it really helps us all realize we really all struggle with the same issues in life when we really get down to it. When God finally brings this vision to pass, I look forward to coming to visit from time to time and petting the horses 🙂 I love you deeply.
Shannon xxxoox
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