School, Work, and My Future

As some of you know, I have quit my job so I can go to school. A lot of you don't know why or how I'm going to provide for my family during this time. Here is a brief explanation.

I felt a calling to ministry 10 years ago. I have been waiting for the time of fulfillment for this call. We are called to be ministers, but I knew this would be a full time job for me. I've worked in the marketplace this whole time and used those experiences as witnessing tools. I never felt like my jobs were just for paychecks. God is my foundation. God is my provider. Jehovah Jireh can be translated as, "The Many Breasted One." He is my source of income. I may work at a 9-5 job but I'm not doing it for the paycheck. Just like God has called me to one day enter into full time ministry, He also called me to work in the marketplace for the past 10 years. But now it is time to take the next step.

I still am unsure of what my calling completely looks like, but I felt it was time to move on. The organization that I went to Brazil with is called Global Awakening. This is an international organization and it's headquarters are in Mechanicsburg, PA. This is only a few minutes from my house. I have been blessed by this ministry numerous times even before my Brazil trip. After my trip, I knew I needed to do so much more. I saw so many miracles and I watched God move in such powerful ways. I had a lot of trouble going back to work inside a cubicle for 8 hours a day.

My wife and I were praying about what to do. When both of us starting to think about Global School of Supernatural Ministry or GSSM for short. This school is a part of the same organization as I mentioned above. It is only a few minutes from my house and it is not very expensive.

This is not an academic school and it is not technically a college. This is a "hands-on" school that thrusts you into ministry right away. Basically everything I learned in Brazil over 2 weeks, I will be learning in more detail over 2 years. After 2 years, I will be ordained with their network of churches. God is a supernatural God and I want to learn more about that aspect of Him.

Rachel and I didn't really believe this was for us. It sounded great, but it was hard to believe that I should quit my job for this. There was no way for me to work my full time job and go to this school because the hours were simultaneous. After some spiritual confirmations, we started to take this serious. We tested this in every way we knew how, but God kept showing us this was His will. We talked it over with Godly advisors and they also felt this was God's will so I started the application process for the school.

Our plan was that I would work part time while going to school. I started to look for part time work. Even with a part time job, we wouldn't be able to pay the bills. We moved in with my in-laws back in March because we needed more room with my son being born in April. We wanted to save money to buy a house. We are not planning on living off of our in-laws. They do not have the extra money to do that. The money would have to come from God.

We believed that I never worked for a pay check and now that is becoming painfully obvious. God has to provide for us to do this. This is not everyone's call in life and I don't expect people to start quitting their jobs. But this does happen. Elijah lived off of ravens, Jesus had no place to lay His head, Israel lived off of manna from heaven. There are many more stories in the Bible of God providing for those that have none. Also, George Muller lived off of God back in the 1800's and Heidi and Rolland Baker live off of Him today. There are also many more modern day examples.

We continue to pray about this and we feel that I may not even work part time. That has not been completely decided. There is plenty that I can be doing with the church during non school hours and I also may begin to write a book. But whatever we decide to do, God will have to provide. He is the Many Breasted One. I know this is hard for some of you to understand. It goes against all logic. But Jesus said in John 5:19

I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

We feel this is what the Father is telling us. He gives good gifts and He doesn't bring confusion. Please pray with us during this time. He will meet our needs, but we need your prayers just the same.

Spiritual Readings

I have felt a call to full time ministry for 10 years now but God has not opened the door yet. So I have worked at different secular jobs to pass the time away. I have been at an insurance company for 6 years now. I have seen God do some pretty cool stuff. But last week, He did something new.

I sit next to a lady who is into New Age. Another lady came over to her desk to get some chocolate. The New Ager wasn't at her desk at this moment. I heard the other lady speaking to herself saying, "I should really get her to give me a spiritual reading sometime." I looked at a Christian coworker of mine and she looked at me. We knew that wasn't good.

I sat at my desk for a while and felt the tugging of the Holy Spirit. I'd love to tell you boldness came over me and I preached the Gospel, but it took me a while to work up the nerve. I thought about it some more and I decided that I wasn't going to let the enemy (not my coworker, but the devil) speak into her life. I was going to take back what the enemy has stolen. I wanted God to speak into her life.

I approached her and told her that I could do something like a spiritual reading. She seemed kind of freaked out and didn't talk to me the rest of the day. So near the end of the day I decided she was going to get a spiritual reading whether she wanted one or not. So I sent her a prophetic word through email. I prayed for accuracy. I sent it out and then went home.

The next morning, my Christian coworker told me she overhead this lady speaking to someone else saying, "Josh gave me a spiritual reading and it really freaked me out because it was very accurate." The other lady replied, "He just knows things."

Later in the day, some people called me over to their desk. As I came over, I noticed the lady I had given a reading to had printed out the word and was showing it to people. These two women she was talking to asked me to give them readings too. I said, "Sure, I'll send you an email."

As the day went on, more and more people asked for spiritual readings. What started out as the enemy trying to speak into one person's life, ended up being God's heart of love being spoke into 7 people's lives! And that was Friday. As I came back to work on Monday, I had more requests. It's only been four business days since this happened and I've already given spiritual readings to 11 people. I have found out that they are very accurate words which what I prayed for.

Most of these people haven't really been talking to me. I think I freak them out. Actually, I know I do. Several of them have told me that. I keep telling them it is God telling me His heart. But other Christians in the office have told me that these people are coming to them about the words. My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are able to take the ministry to the next level. What a great time! We truly can and should be ministers even if we aren't called to full time ministry.