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by Richard Gazowsky

During the last month, I have been dealing with the issue of personal hindrances that arise when you try to obey a word from God. Please bear with me for a moment as I share some ramblings that might lead you to your own personal insight.

The Lord sent me on a mission to produce a coffee-table book based on a prophetic word that I gave to Taiwan and China in November, 2006. When I assembled the book, everything seemed to be perfect, but suddenly it would not upload. I had tried every computer trick in the trade to get it to upload and there seemed to be hindrance after hindrance. I asked the Lord again if He really wanted me to do this book and God answered with clear affirmation; I was supposed to order ten copies to share with others. So, I went back to my computer and started hacking away, trying to discover the problem, including e-mailing the website. Still nothing worked. Keep reading →

By Richard Gazowsky

This is a scenario that I find myself in; I’m trying to lead but in all honesty I have no clue where I am going. Oh sure, I do know the distant objective that is extremely clear, but most of the doors that I have attempted to access have been shut in my face and this has placed me in a position of complete dependency upon the Lord. Several years ago, the Lord gave me clear directions that our Christian film company was to make a feature film that would be a leader in the movie industry. Over the years it has become increasingly clear that the objective is not only doable, but the market-place is making it easier and easier to achieve. As most of you know, God has given us the key to developing a new camera called P65 Abraham, new innovations for theatrical audio systems, a new filming technique that changes how film is shown in the theater and, best of all, He has given us a group of investors who have committed to the 200 million dollar budget. As you can see, the objectives are very clear but how we get there on a day-to-day basis has become an incredibly mysterious pathway. Keep reading →

By Richard Gazowsky

Last week, one of the most famous ministers (and controversial figures in Christianity) asked me to help write his life’s memoirs. It literally shocked me! I’m not worthy to do such an auspicious task! To be honest, I was a little confused as to why he would choose me. I’ve known about this minister since I was a young lad. The only times I had ever seen him was from quite a distance. I remembered my parents speaking of him in hushed tones. Now, this same great person was asking me to write a book that would share his amazing life’s story but also expose his weaknesses. Keep reading →

by Richard Gazowsky

This morning, I committed a secret sin. I’ve always hated this about myself but I constantly see myself with failure resident in my flesh. Now, before some of you get up on your holy high-horse, I’m not going to tell you what the sin was, and most of you probably wouldn’t even consider it a sin. But in my relationship with God, I know I sinned and there is no excuse for it. I cannot tell you the times that I have dealt with famous leaders who allowed secret sins to overcome their lives and eventually destroy them publicly. That is my basic concern, and my own personal struggle. Keep reading →

By Richard Gazowsky

Most of our lives are spent seeking to be comfortable with our surroundings, neighbors, family, working conditions and even driving conditions. Being comfortable can sometimes become our life’s obsession. But over the last few years, the Lord has been showing me that true progress, advancement and happiness is found in learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. This message is especially important to owners, CEO’s and those in powerful leadership because many times our decisions are based solely on our personal preferences and these preferences are determined by how comfortable we feel with an issue at hand. Keep reading →

By Richard Gazowsky

In all of life’s traversing, one of the hardest things to give up is our own will. Nowhere is this more acutely exasperating than in the personal lives of those who are called to leadership. Just the title “leadership” can automatically cause one to become decisive, self-willed, and constantly come up with plans. I find myself planning at such a fast rate that many times just because something is going my way, I am immediately assured in my own mind that it is the will of God. I used to refer to this as the “open door” policy. In other words, if the door is open, it is God’s will. Here is the trouble with this whole scenario; one day, my hunger for prayer overcame me and the Lord spoke to me. His first word was very simply, “You don’t know me.” The second word was a question, “How much do you pray?” Keep reading →

by Richard Gazowsky

Last night I woke up for a long time of intercession. During this time of pacing in the presence of God and speaking in tongues, the Lord kept bringing the word, “mediocre” or “moderately” before me. My secretary said, “But Richard, those words aren’t even linked.” When we looked it up in the dictionary however, they really are. They both mean “barely adequate.” This led me to the 29th chapter of Job. Job is remembering his good times and how he had money and wealth and was able to help folks. But, as he says, “…they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.” In my early life, before I started radically and passionately throwing myself towards the will of God, I was in a place of contentment with luxury cars and homes and the ability to help others, just like Job. But my mouth was opened, waiting for the latter rain. The latter rain was not moderate, but is a deluge and that’s what I was ultimately after. Keep reading →

By Richard Gazowsky

There was a great article in the Washington Post written in 2007. It was about a young violinist, Jonathan Bowers. He went down to a metro station during early morning rush hour, opened his violin case, picked up his hand-crafted violin, and proceeded to play one of the most complicated solo violin pieces ever written. As he played, hundreds and hundreds of people walked by, and hardly anyone noticed. Three people stopped to place a few coins in his case. A teenager leaned against a post to listen for a few minutes. Besides that, his performance was pretty much unheard and hardly noticed. Nearly 2000 people heard him play, but obviously none of them realized what they were listening to. Because of this, his performance went unnoticed. He was playing a violin that cost $3.5 million dollars. Jonathan is one of the most celebrated violinists in history. What makes this story so fantastic, is that two nights before his metro performance, the same Washingtonians paid $750 thousand to hear him play the same piece at the civic auditorium. The Washington post had purposely picked that metro station because they knew that it would be filled with the previous night’s concert goers. They were experimenting to see if any one of them could recognize the glory of his performance without the elegant presentation. Keep reading →

by Richard Gazowsky

When I was called to pastor, I realized that I did not have a prayer life at all.  I prayed an average of 1 minute, 40 seconds per day, usually at mealtimes, so I began the journey to learn how to pray.  The first year, I used the Larry Lea prayer clock from “Could You Not Tarry One Hour?” as my training wheels.  But then, on January 1, 1988, I was praying on a mountaintop during the first sunrise of that year when the Lord spoke to me, “If you’ll pray with me at 4:00 AM every morning, I will do with you something that I have never done with anyone before.”  With this my journey of finding an open heaven began. Keep reading →

by Richard Gazowsky

One of the hardest lessons that I’ve ever had to learn was to shut up, stand still, and do nothing, especially when I had the power to fix it all. I learned that I had to let God fix the problem even though I felt pressured to use my own leadership ability. I have now become acutely aware of how important it is to exercise this fruit of the Spirit called ’self control’. Keep reading →