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.

I finally looked for the brick and mortar location of the people who were running the website that would print the book and found it was only four miles away from my house in San Francisco! I called a friend of mine, Sherwood, and asked if he would drive with me downtown to see this company. We went past the high-security guard into offices normally inaccessible to customers because they are an internet-only company. In a few minutes we received some incredible connections concerning publishing. While driving back to my house, Sherwood said, “I just discovered today is your birthday. God told me to pay for the ten books that you are publishing.” I said that these books were expensive ($89.00 a piece), but he replied, “No problem. God told me to do it.

After I got home there were still problems that lasted throughout the day, including going through every computer fix that was suggested by the company, like switching computers and reconfiguring the book. I did this three times until I came to the seventh version of the book and the Lord said, “Change the title.” I simply changed the title and it worked. All of the problems were in the title.

Wow! I cannot tell you how many times God has told me to do something and then, as I do, I run into incredible opposition. The problem rests in two assumptions that I have always made:

The first one is the assumption that since God said it, I would be surrounded by angelic helpers to help me complete my task. I never took into account the satanic forces that might be waiting for the act of my obedience so they could hinder me into some level of disobedience. Of course, when hindrances start occurring, the first thoughts that rush to my mind are, “This never was the will of God in the first place” or “Maybe you should fudge a little on your obedience to make what God said work.” Of course, neither of these options are acceptable. This lesson is so clear in the life of King Saul who was told to eliminate all of the Amelekites and their possessions. King Saul, when he arrived at the battle, became wiser and more spiritual than God, and said “Let’s keep the unspotted sheep for sacrifice and, of course, the king for a testimony.” This resulted in God rebuking Saul as a rebellious king and eventually taking of the kingdom from Saul. But Saul’s mistake went much further than that. He was eventually killed by an Amelekite, and in later years one of the Amelekite king’s descendent, Hamaan, tried to annihilate the entire Jewish race in the story of Esther. So just one small change in our obedience can have devastating effects on our careers.

The second assumption that has an even stronger impact upon my reaction to obey the will of God is to presume, and to imagine out of my own fleshly desires, how God is going to fulfill my will. Like most of you reading this e-mail, we are trained as leaders to calculate a plan as soon as we get a task. In my background I would use critical path management (CPM) to break the plan into events and timelines, and eventually discover the critical path where hindrances to the plan’s success could be identified and dealt with as soon as possible. For years I tried to run Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks based on this premise, but each time I would have blockages, hindrances and completely unpredictable events happen to mess up my time chart. A while ago we had our funding for the movie, ‘Gravity’, locked down but then a series of unfortunate events began happening which ended with me being seriously ill and our funding cut off. At the end of my illness, I met with Lou Engle who was hosting a prayer meeting at our studio on Treasure Island. I told him about the series of events and our inability to pay the lease on the 144 thousand square foot studio. Lou looked at me and said, “Man, who can understand the ways of God?”

Lou’s question stayed with me for a long time. I remembered Loren Cunningham’s book, “Is that You, God?” It, in essence, asked the same question. God asked us to do an impossible task and as we set out to do it we got shut down by the most inconceivable obstacles. What was our reaction supposed to be?

This is the “big Kahuna”, because what I discovered a few weeks ago is the problem and situation I am facing wrapped all around my answer. I must embrace the problem, love it, don’t strike it and get angry at it because in it there is water of life flowing out. Now, if that last statement really bugs you, then you might want to read a little further for a gentler explanation.

The people of Israel were on their way to the promised land through the wilderness desert and they kept running into the problem of water shortage. God would show them a rock and out of the rock would flow water. The trouble was that their response to the rock (the trouble that you are facing) was always with negative, complaining. They did not realize that the rock that followed them through the wilderness was actually Christ.

1Co 10:4

And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

Think about this; Jesus is at the very center of every problem and hindrance that you are currently facing, and out of Him will pour out a river of living water that will not only remove the problem, but in the process it changes your personality permanently by causing you to react to difficulties with an opposite attitude than you did previously. Wow! That is a life full of change. I think the Apostle Paul was trying to teach to the people in Rome this very lesson. Think what obstacles they faced; beheadings, crucifixions, evictions and confiscations.

Romans 9:30

How can we sum this up? All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. 31 And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. 32 How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. 33 Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together: Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion, a stone you can’t get around. But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me, you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.

This last quote is from the Message Bible. I think it’s very plain. Now look, I realize that the things I wrote about in this e-mail might appear absurd to some of you, but God spoke to me very clearly about four weeks ago to share the most intimate downloads and rumblings I’ve had with Him to those who are wanting to listen.

I am doing my best to apply this revelation to my own personal life and the companies that I am responsible for. This means having to throw away my map, five-year plan, CPM chart and any other means of the flesh that I was trying to use to accomplish God’s purpose. Now to those of you who are businessmen, this abandonment could make a company incapable of operation in a complex business environment and, of course, nothing is more complex than the unpredictable, highly unmanageable movie production business, but I am going to trust God and trust the management team that He has given me and by releasing them into a network of God-ordained activities, our vision of completing the movie, ‘Gravity’ will be done. I hope that my experiment becomes a lesson and a point of study for you so that you also might choose to throw yourself at God’s will. Abraham, the father of the faithful, did this:

Hebrews 11:8

By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going.

I am sending you a link to the coffee-table book called “Word of God Over China”. It is the story of my family traveling through Taiwan and Hong Kong in November, 2006 and the prophetic words that God spoke over that nation. If you click on the preview provided at the website you can see the first eight pages.

Word of God Over China

Let’s embrace the rocks we are facing together with a level of commitment that changes the dynamic of the reality we face. By the way, Lou got his stadiums, Loren got his ships and you will achieve the impossible that is before you.

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.”

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.

My situation actually is reminiscent of Abraham. God promised to give him a land that would stretch from the Mediterranean Sea to the Mediterranean River, that he would be a father of many nations (even though at this point he had no children) and then to top it all off, that his 90-year-old wife would bear this promised child. One ancient prophet, when commenting on Abraham, said that he went forth but he knew not whither he went. In today’s vernacular, that simply means that he was lost. Nothing could better describe my own situation. I have 35 employees who work in our film company and it is very clear what our objective is, but we are collectively lost when it comes to telling you what we’ll be doing two, three or even four days from now. God has placed us all in a position in which the only way we can manage the auspicious task before us is to give the entire daily schedule planning over to Jesus and ask Him to guide us each day to see what the Father is doing. Now, for some of you this last statement could sound like total insanity, but it actually is the way that Jesus described His daily life. In His own words He said, “For the son can do nothing of himself, only that which He sees the Father do.” This puts an amazing load of personal dependency upon your prayer life. I had a private meeting with our story-board development team in an exclusive home today, which is built like a monastery in the hills of Marin County. It is an inspiring and luxurious environment, but we did not come here because of some long-planned reservation based on the multi-million dollar facility. Instead, we hopped into our car to leave San Francisco at a time that the story team schedule was completely turned around, and we were directed to this mansion on a hilltop, which was provided for us by a dear friend. The inspiration poured out of this divine moment is colossal, and is surely an example of a reward given for tuning into “what you see the Father doing.”

For most people, the idea of living a life of following God in an inspired, spontaneous manner seems impossible. The first approach from a person who is a natural born leader however, is that when they wake up in the morning their flesh and intellect naturally conceive a detailed schedule. This person pretty much knows what he or she will be doing a week, a month or even a year ahead. For this person, God has to interrupt a tightly-planned schedule. Many times this interruption is devastating, because the schedule is so tight that God has to allow bankruptcy, sickness, loss of job, loss of mate, forced moving and other apparently natural catastrophes so He can interrupt people enough to get their attention. This person then will typically attend church (and even special services) desperately looking for the pathway again so they can once again take control of their schedule and get back on their railroad of mediocracy. I hope I painted this picture correctly, because if you are a person who has been interrupted, I hope you realize that God will love if you would allow His interruption to become a permanent lifestyle of spontaneity in following the Father’s daily direction.

The second scenario is the picture of a person who is a follower, locked into a work schedule by forces and responsibilities that are beyond control. For example; if this person does something as small as taking a day off from work, it can affect their house payments, position in the work place and stability on the job; they feel helpless and every time the Father speaks to them to follow His direction, the domination and the power of money completely knocks hope from their minds in following God’s great adventure. Of course, they don’t realize that God’s adventure has the one purpose of breaking them out of slavery to enter into the exciting adventure that God has planned for them. This scenario is usually confronted twice, and maybe in rare instances more times, in a person’s life. They will come to a crossroad where the unstoppable force of God’s will confronts the immovable resistance of their own personal human will. These are moments of critical mass, when a situation becomes unstable enough to where it could cause a nuclear reaction throughout a person’s family, church and work place. Though the thought of this much trauma might make your flesh grow cold, it actually could be the best thing that could happen to you.

I had a dream two nights ago that a huge tidal wave brought me and those who work with me up to a cliff near the top of a huge mountain. The cliff’s edge was slanted so we had to watch our footholds, but we had too much baggage to climb to the top of the mountain and a safe haven. Suddenly, I looked behind me, and in the valley below there was the greatest tsunami wave rising that I had ever seen in my life. The wave curled over the top of our heads and crashed far above us on the mountain-top, not even touching the cliff upon which we were standing. It was then we realized that all of that water was coming down and about to crash upon us. I dug my feet into the foot-holds and everyone around me did the same, and the water came crashing upon our heads and shoulders and ripped all of the equipment and baggage from us. We were left safely upon the cliff face (in just simple white garments), and now making it to the top became easy.

God is full of surprises, unexpected twists and turns. Did He not warn us, “My ways are not your ways?” About three months ago, I had an open vision of a chess board, but I could only see one or two moves ahead. God spoke to me and said, “Don’t even think about how you are going to win. I will only show you one or two moves ahead, but trust Me. You will win the game.” This is how we lead, we have no clue about tomorrow, just what the Father wants us to do today!

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.”

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.

A few months ago I was asked to help Ken Miller (a Republican gubernatorial candidate of California) work on a book that had some pretty serious confessions in it. In the early nineties, I was asked to ghost-write Marvin Gorman’s book Road to Repentance. These experiences have begun to show me an incredible myth in Christianity concerning leadership. Many Christians may feel that the reason their leaders were chosen had to do with their lives being without reproach. Oh, how I wish this was true! I understand that what I’m saying may seem very controversial for many, but I must tell you, I have personal experience at this level.

When I was a young man, and saw Playboy Magazine for the first time, I was so guilt-ridden over the experience, that I repented desperately at my church’s altar. But, I didn’t get rid of the magazine. It wasn’t until I brought it to light, and threw it away, that I experienced a time of peace. Temptation is an ugly thing. I remember sitting in church looking at the ministers who would come by and speak, seeing how perfect their lives seemed without flaw or mistakes. And here I was, this dirty boy sitting there, trying to stay saved just one more day. I knew I could never match the standards of holiness these ministers held, though I wanted to desperately. To understand this timing in my teenage life, it was 1967 in San Francisco, and it was the summer of love.

The result of my adolescent struggle caused me to make a confession. Deep within my heart it has become a covenant between the Lord and myself. “Lord, if you ever let me become a minister, I’m going to tell the truth about my personal life.” To be honest with you, I have struggled with personal holiness for my entire professional life. I had a misconception that as I gained authority, staying pure would become easier. Boy, was that wrong! The truth is that it has actually become more difficult. The main reason for this is simply that with authority and power, your flesh can seek it’s personal conveniences much more easily. Then, there is an even more dangerous scenario. I call it the “I Deserve It” syndrome. In this situation, because you have labored so long to become the great business leader, pastor, or politician, you believe that “I deserve a little personal pleasure as a reward for my great efforts to humanity.” When you start believing your own PR, you are really in a mess.

So, what am I saying? Are all Christian leaders sinners? No, of course not. But I am saying that all flesh is “grass”. In Paul’s first epistle, he said he was the chiefest among the apostles of the tribe of Benjamin. In his last epistle, he said he was chiefest among all sinners. Wow, what a personal revelation! I know this may be hard for a lot of traditional ministers to read, and I’m amazed that you’ve made it this far down the page. But, if you have read this far, let me explain something. I’ve realized that many ministers have created a wall around their personal lives, so that others cannot see their Achilles’ heels. One great friend of mine , a preacher, loves to cuss and say rude sexual innuendoes in private. He needs that wall of protection to spare his ministry the embarrassment that any exposure would cause. When I was 19 years old, an evangelist came by the church and asked if I could go with him to the pharmacy. He took me to three stores and asked me to buy cough syrup at each store. I had absolutely no clue why he wanted my to do this. It wasn’t until twenty years later I discovered that there are drugs in cough syrup and that pharmacies, in many cases, have to limit customer’s purchases. (By the way, this evangelist was a great man of God!)

I am dirty. Yes, the one who is writing this article is far from being a perfectly-clean person. I struggle with my flesh on a daily basis. I’ve discovered that there is a way to deal with it: by shining light upon my weaknesses. If you were a member of the church I pastor, you would know that I constantly confess mistakes and vulnerabilities before the congregation. I do this as a means of strength; when I am weak, then Jesus can be strong in me. Many of you feel that if you were to confess your weaknesses, you would lose your followers. I will admit that, if you do so, some will leave. But those who do leave should leave, because they were following you instead of Jesus Christ. This is a hard thing to face because, as I’ve learned, you will experience the flushed, reddened face, the bowing of the head, and the criticism of the heartless accuser. But this is ultimately not about what people think of us. It’s about what God thinks of us. When you truly realize He sees you in secret, you realize He will cause it to be shouted from the housetops.

I’ve heard that a major minister is about to be exposed nationally. What does this mean? Is Christianity failing? No, not at all. Actually, this is a sign of Christianity working. The cleansing of people is the complete message of the cross. When a long-time Christian confesses in his local church that he’s a secret substance abuser and needs help, the church body rejoices. The result is a stronger church. So should it be if the leader of the church confesses his private sin. Then, we all rejoice, because the church is being made stronger. Purification does not weaken, it strengthens. Many Christians want to join the massive shouts against leaders who have sinned, thinking that their ranting and raving purifies the church. But it actually does the opposite; it drives other people who have similar weaknesses into the underground, hiding for fear of similar exposure. It is time for the church to realize that confession is healthy, wonderful, and strengthens the entire body of Christ.

During the last few days, I’ve been flying home from Germany. My wife, Sandy, and I had a layover in Las Vegas. While I was in the airport lobby, a very beautiful woman exposed herself to me. Sandy happened to walk up beside me at the end of “the show”. Rather than acting like nothing had happened, I put it under my wife’s authority. This is why I don’t travel alone. I know that my flesh is grass, and now and then, especially at the most unexpected times, God grabs the lawnmower and “cuts the grass”. Those of us who have grown really tall, and think we’re actually somebody, get mowed down to size. We suddenly find out that all of our PR work is a little silly. Leaders are the same as everyone else, but with more power, which makes us dangerous. Do you get it now? I’m dirty, but yet, I’m chosen.

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.”

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.

In the 80’s, I was a ghost-writer for a book that told the story of Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker and Marvin Gorman and I was honored to interview these three great men. What shocked me more than anything was that these guys did not fit the public’s perception of who they were. All three of them were very Godly men with personal prayer lives and personal disciplines. But in each case, I saw where a tiny sliver grew into a log that grew so large that it destroyed the very thing they had spent their lives creating.

I do not have enough paper or time to write about all of the great people, be they saints, secular, political, social or even philanthropical who have found the work of their lives destroyed because of secret sins. Of course, there are those that profess that they have never sinned. But often those same people stand in the sinful pot of mediocrity just waiting for God to vomit them out of His mouth. Oops! Don’t want to be there! And of course, this is one reason why fast-paced and hard-driving people believe that their accomplishments give them an excuse for sinful extra-curricular activity. This of course is not true… especially not for me!

There’s an interesting story in the Bible that deals with this unusual dynamic. It concerns two very powerful men who have to interact with one another concerning their own secret sins. David is the anointed King of Israel who has a secret sin of lust, wanting to watch pornography from his rooftop, have sex with a woman, and then kill her husband. Ahithophel, the Bible says, was David’s counselor and when he spoke, the words were as those spoken by the oracle of God. But then Ahithophel did have his own secret sin of unforgiveness. If one was to compare these two secret sins, (lust and unforgiveness,) most would say that lust is the worst. David was by far the bad guy. That, however, is not what the Scriptures show us. Ahithophel, because of his unforgiving spirit, counseled Absalom to rebel against his father David and as a result, ended up being totally humiliated before committing suicide. All of this because of unforgiveness! Think of how many leaders we know are harboring the sin of unforgiveness. Now, the people that we know who are harboring unforgiveness may not be leading a rebellion against another leader, but let’s look back at the biblical story:

Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bathsheba (2 Samuel 23:34-38). When David’s secret sin of peeking at Bathsheba turned into a relationship, which then led to the murder of Ahithophel’s grandson-in-law, Uriah, Ahithophel changed. He placed himself on a high and arrogant judgement seat of his own design. Absalom’s rebellion against his father played into his own revenge. Yes, what David did was wrong too. But David was constantly repenting and engrossed in a myriad of soul searching. Not even once do we find David placing himself on a judgment platform to where he expects vengeance. This is the character that had been developed in him by his long-term servanthood under the ruler-ship of the ungodly King Saul. Even Saul was tormented by the secret sin of unforgiveness.

Of course, I do not presume to know the secret situations behind leaders who fail. However, I do believe that the key to dealing with personal failure before the Lord is to be constantly in a state of humble repentance. Even the great Apostle Paul, said that he was troubled by a messenger of satan. Who knows? This could have been in reference to a seductress who tried to entice him. But Paul knew that the Lord’s grace was sufficient.

The issue that I really feel that I’m dealing with in this blog is not obvious sin. It is that sin that you probably don’t even look at as a sin. You might even look at it as what makes you right, holy, and better than most other people. We must look beyond the obvious sins and examine our own willingness to forgive, because unforgiveness is a sin that could pull an entire kingdom down.Oops! Did I just give my secret away? Forgive me, Lord and cover me, for I have sinned.

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.”

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.

At the same time, most of you that are in leadership positions realize that the context of the situation that you are in and the expectations you may have concerning it can determine the level of comfort that you feel. The root element that we all face is that being comfortable is actually a matter of control. If you are the one booking the restaurant with a great BBQ but completely shoddy bench seats, you may feel comfortable with the choice because you know the restaurant, and that despite it’s seating situation it is a good choice because the taste of the spicy BBQ far outweighs the discomfort of the seats. Of course, if I’m your guest and I don’t like the seats and I can’t stand the taste of spicy BBQ, then I am now at an additional level of discomfort.

Nowhere is this more acute than when it comes to following God. The prophet Isaiah said, “For the Lord’s ways are not like our ways, as high as the heavens are above the Earth, so are His ways above our ways.” Isaiah was not just being metaphorical, for this is a real dynamic truth that each Christian faces. Now let me cut to the chase: Most of the time you will have to go through a process that will push you, literally, to the limits of your activity and effort. When Thomas Edison was developing a filament for the light bulb, his main problem was finding a filament that could last more than a few seconds. After going through three thousand different types of metals, he attempted to follow the advice of a friend with a bamboo shoot. It seemed almost ridiculous to attempt using something organic in a metal object. But when he placed the bamboo shoot between the positive and negative poles, it not only lit up for hours, but lasted for days! I recently heard of a man who had closed a closet in the 1930’s and then opened up the door recently to see the bamboo shoot light-bulb in the light socket, still burning over sixty years later. When they turned it off, however, the filament disintegrated. I believe it is this way for those following the words of the Lord over their lives. We try so many things, and then the most unexpected of all things is the one that works. As I mentioned in an earlier letter, sometimes it is the most unexpected thing that ends up becoming the main event.

Our youth group has been scheduled to minister in Germany. Suddenly, through a day vision and some confirmations, God spoke to us about doing location scouting at the “Smallest Kingdom in the World.” To our amazement, the smallest kingdom in the world is actually only an hour and 45 minutes away from the place our youth are scheduled to speak next week. Since we are now gearing up to shoot a 70-mm musical with the P-65 Abraham camera, we realized that the main event may not be the youth ministering, but may rather be us preparing to do this big shoot. I find events and scheduling like this to be very uncomfortable and I’ve discovered that pre-determined plans give me a sense of comfort and control. This is the issue that God is dealing with; it appears that God’s ways are laced with mystery and unpredictability and it is especially the unpredictability that makes us feel like we are sitting on the edge of a knife. I am currently the temporary campaign manager for Ken Miller during his Gubernatorial run for the State of California. A few months ago, I felt the Lord strongly impress me to go to a prayer meeting in Los Angeles. At this prayer meeting, to which I was tardy, I met David Andrade and Rick Wright. To my amazement, they were putting together a coalition of churches statewide to alert the churches about candidates who are conservative Christians running for office. The link happened immediately and I was able to facilitate Ken’s being plugged into this massive voting block of Christians. I never would have expected this to be the result of a simple prayer meeting, but I am discovering that in the timings of God, the tiniest meeting can result in massive movement.

So, in conclusion, let me be extremely honest with you. I have discovered that I do not think like God. I never will, and most of the things He is asking me to do make me feel uncomfortable. I realize that for years as a leader I was only doing that which made me feel good, and by doing so, I was actually working against the will of God. Today, I am often uncomfortable. I don’t know if this is a temporary situation or if it’s going to be a permanent existence, but I also realize that I am now having extremely satisfying moments when I experience the results of an action that God initiated, and the following joy is completely overwhelming. It has made me the richest man in the world because the satisfaction is found completely in Him. So, to you fellow travelers, try it. Try being comfortable with the uncomfortable, and you may just enjoy it.

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.”

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?”

“You don’t know me,” was a statement that hung in my mind almost as an accusation. It reminded me of what a wife would say to a husband to whom she had been married for thirty years and realized that he had absolutely no clue what color she liked, what size dress she wore, or anything about her personal desires. She was to provide him with romantic pleasure, food on the table, and children. But when it came to personal insight, there was none. To be honest with you, I didn’t even know that this type of intimate relationship could even exist with God. The Lord spoke to me that this intimacy was what He desired with me. I asked the Lord, “How can I get there?” God said to me, “Love your wife Sandy as I love the church; in that process you will learn how to love Me as your personal Savior. I realized God wanted me to have this intimacy with my whole family. So, I took my wife and began to discover her desires in clothing. I went to a class about colors and discovered that Sandy was a “winter” and that my daughters also had a color season to fit their skin tones. This was a fascinating! I soon saw my girls looking at a super thick wedding book. I wondered what that was about. Even though my oldest was only twelve years old, I bought the 500-page wedding magazine and for the first time in my life, I look through a wedding magazine page by page. My eyes were getting dim until I suddenly saw some of the revealing dresses that my daughters were looking at. This woke me up and I realized I needed to be more involved in their visionary process. My son was a whole different story. At eight years old we starting playing golf together and I began to really get to know him.

Just as the Lord had said, this discovery process with my family also introduced me to the prayerful discovery of my relationship with the Lord. As it was with my family, so it was with the Lord. I had spent very little time trying to discover what the Lord wanted. My prayer time was filled with personal and corporate requests and God had become my personal “bless me” factory. But I was not yet interested in His desires, favorite color or even favorite day. Just as a side note, did you know that there are days that God really likes? For example, as a leader without intimacy with the Lord, I was motivated by satanic attacks when choosing what days to call for prayer; this was one of the reasons why we filled Candlestick Park on Halloween night in San Francisco. The result of this particular response to attack was the loss of a major national ministry. None of us in the group were intimate enough with the Lord to find a date that would’ve pleased the Father.

I discovered that many Christians were like me and seemed to place God in the same category as an absentee landlord, like God didn’t have a personal opinion about anything–that He was just a neutral observer. As I moved into a daily life of intercession, I was stunned by the instructions that the Lord gave me. He told me to go ahead with a outdoor crusade that I had planed unintentionally in the center of the African monsoon season. God promised that He would stop the rain. God enjoys placing those that He loves in risky places that only He can provide rescue from. It stormed in torrents up to the day of the crusade, and I was surrounded by people that weren’t sure how to respond. It appeared that I was the only one seeing this as an intimate day with the Lord. At 6:05 pm at the Samuel Doe Sports Coliseum in Liberia, West Africa, God did it. He stopped the rain and continued to do so for every night of the crusade.

The result of long intimate times with the Lord brought me to the place where I needed to obey God in the face of strong opposition, even if that opposition appeared to be mere common sense. This was the conflict God was after all along. Although the whole world told us our crusade would be washed out, God showed up and stopped the rain and I was left with an inner glow of His satisfaction in my heart. I didn’t have to do anything spectacular; in fact, I didn’t have to do anything. I just had to stand there and wait for God to do what He said He would do.

The Apostle Paul said that when Abraham responded to what God was doing, it was a turning point. I recognized this same turning point in my life. God has placed me in the place of obedience in spite of incomprehensible obstacles of human reasoning too many times to count. Each time, a breakthrough rescue occurs, sometimes leaving me in ever increasing positions of embarrassment, with my only response being,”You know, I am just a little child. Right now, I don’t have a clue what Daddy is doing, but I trust Him.”

As I meet with prayer leaders, I am amazed at how much effort is put into researching what to pray for. Why research evil or what satan is doing in the earth? I have found it is better for me to spend imitate time with God trying to discovery what He wants and desires. As I achieved this intimacy with the Lord, my adventure in knowing Him really took off. The purpose of my prayer life was to teach me obedience and in obeying, I discovered intimacy that has shown me the character of God. Believe me, He is a whole lot more fun than people may think.

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.”

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.”

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.

At some level you could say that this is the difference between a Gucci couture dress and a Walmart garment. Of course, I have not dealt with what the British call the X Factor, and that is the quality behind the garment, though this does play a very significant role. The quality of the garment is not recognized unless it is given the appropriate presentation. You could take a Gucci or Armani dress, remove the $1500 price tag, put a Walmart $14.97 price tag on it, and slip that garment on a busy Walmart rack. I’m sure that hundreds of shoppers would finger through it, never realizing the value they hold in their hands.

So, what we are dealing with here are two issues. The value of something, in one case like the violinist playing the greatest musical piece with the greatest violin. In the second case, the finest garment being made with the finest material. But, this first truth about quality, I believe, pivots on the presentation, so that the proper glory can be released.

Just as a violinist searches for the finest instrument, and as a couture designer searches for the finest cloth, so God searches for the finest people. The part of the search that God makes that confuses everybody, is that He never makes a search based on the outward appearance. But, it is those inward qualities that must pass His meticulous inspection. It appears from scripture that the hardest quality to find in a person is humility. This humility must be as pure as refined gold, that gold which reflects only the image of the refiner Himself. It appears that this quality can hardly be found among the educated, wealthy, famous, and those of royal birth, since each one of these qualities is laced with the desire to take credit for accomplishments. Here inherently lies the “Achilles heel”.

The apostle Paul says wrote that the Lord chooses the weak, simple, and even despised to set at naught all of the greats in the world. Wow, wow, wow, what a conflict of upside down expectations. In other words, when we’re looking for hope in new leadership, we’re probably looking the wrong way.

It is in this new scenario that I have found one of the most troubling paradigms. I have many friends that are among the despised and rejected ones, and they are literally shining with the gold that has been tried in the fire. But, for some reason, they cannot grasp the concept, or even the necessity of God making a divine presentation of their life. If God doesn’t make a divine presentation then you will be forgotten like the violinist in the Washington DC metro station.

An example of this principle is found in Moses’ willingness to lead the children of Israel into a military trap. Their backs are up against the sea, and they are surrounded by Pharaoh’s army (that has blood in its eyes). Look at this set up here, or should I say presentation. Even the Lord says in Deuteronomy that there was a safer way to go to the Promised Land. This pathway was land only, ran up the Sinai Peninsula and went into the heart of Canaan, but God Himself said He chose the Red Sea’s passage. Moses was no fool; he knew when he walked up to the shores of the Red Sea, that they were in an impassable situation. The quality that Moses had that made him so valuable to God, was that he realized his life and actions were being presented on the stage of history; for the purpose of showing Pharaoh, the people of Jericho, and even modern day Cecil B. Demille’s presentation of God’s glory. This type of presentation cannot be shown in any safe manner, it is the risk and danger that is the essence of the presentation itself. And, it is the time you are suspended waiting in the element of this risk and danger that increases the validity and authenticity of God’s glory.

The strangest dynamic that constantly flabbergasts me, is that Christians who are truly chosen by God and have verifiable words from God, get completely frantic and desperate to escape from the center of God’s presentation. Some historical examples: Suppose King David, who was anointed to be king and was being chased by King Saul, decided to escape the chase to establish his own kingdom, instead of submitting under the horrible kingship of King Saul. Obviously, today many young men and women have decided to choose this “Escape God’s Presentation mentality,” and decided to start their own ministry or business. Another example is Joseph, who could have tried to escape the presentation of being called a rapist or his long stint in prison. He could easily have left Egypt and started a new life in any of the other surrounding countries. This is why the Psalmist says that the word of God tested Joseph.

The purpose of the Word of God, be it prophetic, a dream, vision, or God’s voice speaking out of you, is to show you what you will look like when you are being presented on the stage of history. For your presentation to be glorious, you must experience a loss of reputation. No one can predict how this loss of reputation will occur, but I can tell you that it’s designed is so that you and everyone around you will never forget it. And the reason is simple: It’s like choosing between Carnegie Hall and a metro station, or between Milan Italy’s Fashion Week or Walmart’s sales’ rack.

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.”

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.

At first, I figured that my prayer was to be spiritual warfare.  I went to the worst neighborhoods in San Francisco and tried to pray at 4:00 AM in the morning.  Yes, it really was spiritual warfare!  But it was a spiritual warfare that I was not winning.  Instead, I found myself facing temptations like never before.  This caused a lot of confusion in my own personal life because every place I went to pray, my prayer time became tougher and tougher.  This scenario continued for years until one January, five years later, God said to me, “I want you to find a place to meet me.”  Well, I had no clue what this meant so I looked around the San Francisco Bay Area for a good place to meet God but just couldn’t seem to figure out what it was that I was looking for.  About a month into this search, I was called to minister in San Diego and my flight back home was canceled.  The alternate flight I was given took me through the city of Palm Springs.  When the plane was leaving after its stopover in Palm Springs, the Lord said out of the blue, “I’ll meet you on that mountain.”  It was at that instant the Lord pointed out a mountain we were flying over with an aerial tram taking people to the top.  A few weeks later, I scheduled a visit for my wife and I to this mountain.  When I arrived, I experienced for the first time an “open heaven”.   I mean, it was so easy to pray!  My heart was racing with excitement and the presence of God appeared to be ever-so pervasive in this place.  I experienced no temptations and no distractions- just an easy focus on God and His will.

As the years progressed, I began to realize that it wasn’t very wise to constantly visit difficult places to pray, but that, I should find in my own city “open heavens” and maybe my prayer life would be more enjoyable and also more effective.  I’m sure you can realize how amazed I was to discover that Jesus also had a favorite place to pray.  This is why Judas looked for Him at the Mount of Olives, because the Garden of Gethsemane was His place of “open heaven”.

These places of open heaven are not determined by location or any physical attribute.  They appear to be mysterious, ancient and extremely important to the angelic realm.  After talking with some of the Native American First Nations people in the San Francisco Bay Area, I have discovered that some of the places that I have found to be an open heaven are also recognized by the First Nations people as being a physical place anointed for prayer, or a sacred site.  The more I pray in the city of San Francisco, the more I discover how significant these “open window” places have become.  Many times, Christians have laboriously interceded in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, not realizing that their intercession should occur at the House of Abraham.

Some  Christian leaders have given intercessors incredible and detailed accounts about past demon activity in their cities and the locations of all of the devil’s strongholds.  But I’ve never seen this pattern reflected in the Scriptures.  Does any Scripture say, “Oh, find the devil for me!” or “Magnify Lucifer.  Let us detail his power.”  NO!!!  When you read those words they probably sounded blasphemous to you.  Yet, we have actually wasted valuable time going in directions like this.

One of the reasons that I am sensitive in this area is that I’m both pastoring and launching a Christian profit-making industry in the city of San Francisco, which is recognized world-wide as being a city where evil reigns.  And, yes, years before I found the beauty of praying under an open heaven, I too was busy researching satan’s strongholds.  But now the tide has turned in our city.  A member of my church, Ken Miller, is running for the office of Governor of the State of California.  Another close friend of mine, and a strong Christian, is running for mayor of the City of San Francisco.  Besides these two, there are literally thousands of great victories that are happening in our city daily.  People are now traveling from around California to experience the ministry of the young prophets in our city.  Never once did we see Jesus teaching His disciples about the power of Zeus or any other Greek or Roman god.  Believe me, those ancient false gods were much more an issue in the Lord’s time than they are today.  So what is the motivation that causes a ministry or a prayer-intercession group to spend time talking about these useless, ridiculous demon-influences upon our society?  Obviously, calling out their names and identifying them does absolutely nothing but empower them.  So what’s behind this method?

I realize that every minister needs to excite their constituency to follow them in their Godly activity or “God project”.  One motivation technique that has been very effective is what a football team uses in the sports arena and politicians use in the political arena.  That is to demonize your enemy.  Make your enemy look big so that the righteous person will rise up in anger to defeat them.  This is also effective in fund-raising.  More people will give money to stop evil than will give money to praise something that is good.  So, in our meetings when we may hear a dear sister gasp, “Oh, how terrible!  They’re actually doing THAT?”, it appears that people have been brought to an appropriate strategy level to become effective prayer warrior.  But years of experience in the place of prayer have taught me otherwise.  I have discovered that the joy of the Lord is my strength and if I am giggling and laughing.  I can crunch more demons than I can when I’m crying and moaning.

If I understand things correctly, fear is the opposite of faith, so if we are ministering fear to people, we are actually destroying the one element that could give us victory.  Faith, joy, good news, happiness and peace strengthen your faith and puts it on a solid foundation so that you can enter the battle in victory even before you engage!

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.”

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’.

The natural response of all leaders is, “The reason that God has placed me into this position of power is so that I will do something and use my God-ordained power to perform God’s will.” The problem with this statement is that ninety-nine percent of what we are calling God’s will is what we presume His will is for the moment, rather than His actual will. In this blog I am pouring out my heart concerning a difficulty that I recently have had in restraining myself from dealing with some people whom I love that have been influenced by silly doctrines of men. I feared that instead of revelation the spirit of rebellion was entering their hearts. Believe me, when it comes to finding fault in any leader’s ministry, no one has to look very hard. Once a person allows himself to enter into the rebellious world of criticism, almost anything goes, as long as it’s critical. When I saw them involved in this, the Lord would not let me confront the issue, even though I had the power and the “know-how” to do so. Instead, the Lord told me to restrain myself and showed me that self control *is* a fruit of the Spirit. I had to put them in the hands of God and God only.

My personal revelation of self control actually started several years ago when I was dealing with negotiations concerning a high-speed camera being manufactured for us. As I was preparing for the negotiations in New York City, my mind was flooded with hundreds of negotiation angles and proposals. Most of them involved defending our company’s position in developing the camera. A very close friend of mine, Victor Emenike, was with me at the hotel on the day of these negotiations. He quietly turned to me and said, “Richard, you need to have a quiet mind.” I looked at him like he was crazy. What did he mean, a ‘quiet mind?’ He simply responded, “Think about nothing, absolutely nothing.” Well, this seemed like an impossibility for me. My mind was constantly filled with plans, agendas, and alternate plans, in case the primary plan failed. I had become so accustomed to my personal ability to create agendas that a life without these agendas constantly pounding through my head would only be on the day I died. Honestly, this is what I thought. The only way my mind could be quiet would be if I was dead! I was so hyped up all the time that if I wasn’t thinking or calculating at thousands of miles per hour, I would have to turn on the radio, news, music, etc. that would keep my brain in the fast lane so I would not lose my edge. I felt that the constantly active mind was not only healthy, but necessary for me to be a successful leader. WOW! Was I to discover how completely absurd and untrue this was!

Many leaders feel, like I did, that the juggling of many projects in our heads is the healthy signs of a good, active leader. But I soon saw the Lord was showing me exactly the opposite. The truth of God’s view can be clearly seen in statement by the Apostle Paul, “Oh foolish Galatians! Who hath bewitched you? Having begun in the spirit… are you now made perfect in the flesh?” The answer to this question is an obvious, “NO.” The flesh does not perfect what the Spirit has started. What God’s desire is for all of us, is to begin in the Spirit and continue in the Spirit, never turning it over to the flesh. This can only be done by the fruit of the Spirit, self control.

Back in New York City, I realized that I needed to achieve this place of the quiet mind. I made a mental list of every agenda that I had in my head that I was going to mention as a point; but then instead of rehearsing those agendas over and over again, I erased them and thought about nothing. And by this, I mean, absolutely nothing. When I arrived at the meeting, I found that things had dramatically changed and nothing was how I had expected it. So every point I was going to deal with in my mind was now useless. Praise God! Because I had chosen to have a quiet mind, I was really in a position to listen to the Holy Spirit. When the company presented some of the things that had become issues, I was totally ready to receive the “out of the blue” suggestions from the Holy Ghost. This would not have happened if I had not first agreed to enter into the place of the quiet mind by meditating on the Lord. The Apostle Paul said, “I am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” We can look at this position of self control as actually crucifying our own flesh, which Paul said he ‘does daily.’

The quiet mind has completely changed my prayer life. Instead of coming to the place of prayer with an agenda list of all of the things that I want to happen, I am now finding myself taking the position of an intercessor, a listener, and a praiser. Many times I find myself sitting in the active presence of God and saying nothing. I can feel the warm fire of His presence in my chest. Time, space, needs, pressures, and plans all burn away at His hallowed Presence. It’s almost like my mind is a clean slate at the front door of my life and I am waiting for God to write something there. Jesus actually said this, “The Son can do nothing of himself but only if he sees the Father do it.” So if we are to be like Jesus, we should be listening and watching for the actions of the Father, and then do what He tells us.

A few years ago a very close friend of mine was taken to the hospital with a life-threatening heart condition. I wanted to rush immediately to the hospital, but the Lord said, “Wait.” People around me began to say, “Richard, you need to go see them. They are being operated on soon and this might be the last time you get to talk to them. They may already have passed away.” But I realized that if I just went there to visit, it would not help them at all. A week went by and then I had a dream. The dream was very vivid and I was traveling in a car through the island of Malta on the Mediterranean Sea. This friend and I were driving throughout the island on all the crooked roads. Suddenly we came to a town square. I asked my friend to stop the car because in the center of the square was a very old car. When I looked at that car in the center of the square, I saw that it had a plaque on the car saying the car was 100 years old. When my friend with the heart condition got out of our car, she looked at the car in the center of the square and suddenly screamed out, “Look! This car was built on my birthday!” I said, in my dream, “Wow, that’s great! It’s 100 years old. That means you are going to be 100 years old!” I told the dream to my mother, who is a close friend of Joyce Chivis, the friend with the heart condition and said that I needed to see Joyce immediately. My mother thought that the doctor had already taken her into the operating room.

I went to the hospital anyhow, because I knew if God gave me the message, that there must be time to share the message. Sure enough, when I arrived at San Francisco Kaiser Hospital, I found Joyce sitting in her bed, completely prepped for the operation. They had not yet wheeled her into the operating room. I shared the dream with her that God had given me and that she was going to live to be 100 years of age. A smile exploded across her face and she said, “That is exactly what I needed to hear!” She was immediately ushered into the operating room and now years later, she continues to enjoy wonderful health.

In ancient Israel they share a story about two messengers. One young man was anxious. He could see that Israel was about to win the battle and he wanted to run to tell the king that they have won. He is cautioned, “Don’t run until you have the complete message.” But the young man did not have self control so he raced back to the king and told him that his army had almost won. The king was angry with this message and told him to stand aside because the king wanted only to hear the complete message that the victory was won. They waited until the older messenger arrived who had seen the actual outcome of the battle and his message was greatly received. On the cross of Calvary, JESUS cried out, “It is finished.” His was the ultimate message of self control. The Apostle Paul said, “It’s all about Jesus and Him crucified.” Sometimes the fastest we can go is doing nothing and that’s self control.

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.”