Thank You... (To My Spiritual Fathers)

Thanks Stephen. You're always telling me I'm anointed and even though we are often sacrilegious and sarcastic when we joke around (maybe sacrilege is actually a good thing... future post?), I always end up in a good place, closer to the Lord than when I was prior to hanging out with you. You don't have to build up to a place of reverence, you can switch to the spirit realm instantly when you feel the Holy Spirit urge you to. Thank you for being sensitive to the Spirit. From the moment I entered the desert, you were there, literally, and that has made me a more earnest lover of the Lord. I love you and I look up to the discipline you possess, running in the physical and spiritual without fatigue.

Thanks Brett. You have dug so deep in my soul during the talks we've had that it feels a lot like when Ramey does his heart surgery stuff, except it's every time we talk. You don't mess around, and I have been blessed by that. Your respect and awe of the Lord puts things into perspective for me, and your knowledge of the prophetic and inner healing always leaves me with a 'good heavy,' the weight of the truth of the Lord resting on me. Every time I'm in your presence, I'm blessed by the presence of the Lord. I couldn't ask for a spiritual brother with more integrity and faithfulness. 

Thanks Grant. You have spoken words over me that have altered the paths of my life, and without knowing it, they were words from the Lord, telling me to follow my heart and not my head. If it wasn't for your words, I would've been in school to be an electrician or a businessman, forsaking the gifts the Lord has given me. You've pushed me in the areas of my creativity, being an integral part of the force that made me a person of passion. Thank you for loving me selflessly and pouring advice and life lessons into me since I was only 15 years old.

Thanks Blake (Slatten). You're the one I've looked up to as a man of supernatural passion and conviction since my first weekend at OU. You've taught me how to run after the face of God, leaving everything behind and offending the minds of people. Your faith that fears no man and cannot be bought challenges the deepest parts of me to live extravagantly. Thank you for the times of prayer in our room with our faces buried in the carpet, overwhelmed by the reality of the supernatural realm. Thank you for getting that tattoo with me that proved to be more prophetic than we had bargained for...

Thanks Philip. You're my father, brother, guide, and role model. Everything I know about intimacy with Jesus and hearing the voice of God can be traced back to the roots you implanted in me about 3 years ago. My spiritual heritage wouldn't have been rich and experiential without you. You've taught me how to know the Lord and commune with the Spirit, not by words, but by power. You've pushed me musically more than anyone I've known. You've believed in my musical and spiritual anointing, causing me to experience the love of the Lord through both in a way I never could have dreamed of. I want to fall in love the way you did.

Thanks Nick. God blessed me with you as a boss, friend, and band mate. I have continually been inspired by your energy and work ethic, knowing your abilities and defying the voices of the Enemy that have told you that you can't accomplish the things God has put on your heart. I'm proud of what you've done and when the worship music we play stops playing, I will have learned vast amounts of what it means to have a career in music and ministry simultaneously.

Thanks Tim. I don't know why the Lord had you spend coffee meetings and conversations at the Refuge with me, but apparently He wanted to deposit in me an element of His heart that would change the way I saw the poor and addicted forever. I want to follow Jesus in the apostolic gifting the way you have, fearlessly and fully abandoned to the guidance of the Lord, forsaking wealth and fame for the Kingdom. Thank you for teaching me how to have a Kingdom mind.

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I love you all. I cannot believe the amount to which each of your spiritual lives has changed me. Thank you for speaking life over me time and time again. My prayer is that I would make each of you proud to be in the place of spiritual authority over me, that I would have respected your position and proven myself faithful to the calling you placed on me. Because of you, I've seen too much. I've been ruined, and I have no excuse for disobedience, laziness, or ignorance. The knowledge I received from you was of the Spirit, causing me to know the face of God... not a cheap form of inspiration that led me to a perceived accomplishment. Your words left me undone. Elevated in revelation, but broken as I gained perception of the reality of who God really is and what that means for me.

You are the most serious parts of my life and I love you.