wysiwyghome.com

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.

Well, I have left all of that behind, though still expecting to come into the deluge of God’s glory in just a short space of time. Very carefully, I have been laying my own personal agendas aside and cautiously picking up God’s agendas that have been revealed to me through dreams, visions and God’s prophetic words. As those of you who have been on this journey for awhile know, God always gives the reverse of the promise before He will fulfill the promise. Here are a few examples: Abraham was promised a son, but first he received 25 years of barrenness, which included walking around and telling everyone that he was a father of many nations. Joseph had dreams that his brothers and family would bow down to him, but soon he became a slave and found himself bowing to everyone he met. David was promised to be king, and a crown, but found himself in a cave as a fugitive. This pattern continued on even into the New Testament. The Apostle Paul had a dream of a man crying, “Come over and help us!” but instead, he found a woman and wound up being arrested and thrown into jail. Only then does he find the man in the dream, the jailer, crying out for help because he is about ready to commit suicide.

I believe in the 29th chapter of Job, Job is crying out because he is seeing this spiritual pattern. Jesus said, “Take up your cross.” Paul said, “He chastises those whom he loves, and if you’re without chastisement, you are a bastard.” WOW. That’s some strong language! But it’s also a strong truth which leads me to this point: It is very clear that God is going to bless us with total fulfillment of our vision. It’s amazing when you are placed into the fire of purification how clear the destination and the proof of the promise becomes. I can tell you beyond any shadow of a doubt, no matter what my current financial situation may appear to be, that I know we will complete and finish the very expensive feature film projects that God has set before us, the first being “Gravity.”

The completion of the goals that are set before me appear to be the main events that are to occur in my life. But what I am stunned by is that all of these interruptions happen that are so big in the Kingdom of God that it is hard for me to put things in perspective. For example, I am working with a group of story development teams on the film “Gravity” and I am suddenly interrupted by God calling Ken Miller to run for the office of Governor of California. The next thing I know, I am his temporary campaign manager and I’m writing speeches! We traveled to a Tea Party in Sacramento that ended up exploding into a planned Tea Party in Washington D.C. involving 1.7 million people, one of the largest such events in Washington’s history. What just happened? Was that an interruption? Or was that the Main Event? And what about God calling me to do a movie?

Yes, I’m back working with the story development team. God told me to take a 2-week sabbatical for prayer. We were given a free 2-bedroom suite in Hawaii. But then, the Lord didn’t allow us to go. Instead, he daily interrupted our planned schedule with events that appeared to be sidetracks. I don’t want to take you through all of them, but one example might explain this unusual phenomenon. God told me to have lunch with David Andrade in Los Angeles, who is one of the leaders of the California Listening Team and also a mentor of the prophet Paul Cain. When my family and I arrived at the hotel, the Lord told me to book the hotel for two nights. At the last minute, David said, “Would you mind coming to a conference with me?” That night, we went to the conference and they asked me to speak for the final night. To my shock, the Lord had us take up a sacrificial offering, (giving that which is precious to you to the Lord). David gave a coat that was passed onto him from William Branham via Paul Cain. WOW! The place was shaken. From what I heard, the offering is still being added to and is sitting on The Gathering’s church altar even now. Pastor Ken said he’s not even sure when he can touch the offering. My family and I thought we were going to Hawaii for relaxation and prayer. But instead, we went through two weeks of interruptions or- wait a minute- was that the main event?

At the end of the two weeks, we drove up to San Francisco and headed for the 3:00 PM Friday service. On the way to the church, God spoke to me very clearly and said, “Go to the top of Mt. Tamalpais (a tall lookout mountain about 5 miles north of San Francisco). I want to show you something.” On our way to Tamalpais, we were literally stopped in the streets by: first, a pastor telling me that God is releasing tithing, and then a sister, running out of a bank saying, “Pastor, the Lord wanted me to tell you that I am paying tithes!” Of course, at first, I looked at these events as just interruptions, even though they were both talking about the same subject. Next, my family drove to the top of Mt. Tamalpais, which takes about 45 minutes. We arrived to a beautiful clear sky. Then suddenly, my daughter, Rocki Starr, saw a black trail of smoke that fell down right into the heart of the city of San Francisco. When she yelled out to the rest of the family to see if we could see it, it was very clear. I ask my daughter to run back to our car and get her IPhone and attempt to take a picture of it. It took about five minutes for her to do this, but this is the picture that she took:

The Lord said, “You have seen satan fall like lightning over San Francisco and this pillar of black smoke is a witness against him.” At the same exact moment, a member of our church was in Fremont, CA across the bay, looking in the opposite direction that we were. She actually witnessed the fireball that created the pillar of black smoke. I immediately turned to the Scriptures and read Jesus’ account of this. In the Message Bible, it reads like this: “I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky. See what I’ve given you? Safe passage as you walk on snakes and scorpions, and protection from every assault of the Enemy. No one can put a hand on you. All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God’s authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you – that’s the agenda for rejoicing.” We were not on the mountain for more than 15 or 20 minutes, but we realized that something profound had just happened. Was this another interruption or was this the main event?

Like Job, I remember the days of luxury, when my only concern was what kind of tee time could I get at the coolest golf course. The main event was always meeting somebody famous and claiming that they were my friend. Wow, have things changed! Yes, it still is clear to me that, like Abraham, I am called to do one thing and that is to be a Father of Movies. But it’s also extremely spectacular to enjoy the fascination of God’s interruptions. Many of His interruptions are so huge that they make my main event appear to be incidental. I don’t think I am talking about a case of priorities here, but I am talking about a case of moving without a map. Yes, that’s it. Like Abraham. He knew not wither he went. Now tell me if that’s not an exciting journey! It’s definitely cooler than the story of Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail. Indiana was looking for the Holy Grail and he accidentally discovered eternal life. But wait- is that an interruption? Or is that the main event?

Richard Gazowsky pastors a church in San Francisco called The Voice of Pentecost, and is also president of Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks. He has directed the films, “Guardians” and “The Roman Trilogy.”