What do you do when you hear the whisper of the Holy Spirit?

In 2015 I heard the Holy Spirit say, “You will launch a thousand churches.“

As I sat pondering what that meant, the sheer size of that number running through my mind: A thousand. One thousand. That’s one, zero, zero, zero. A-thou-sand. I was thinking, “God, that’s not a small number.” But… I have learned to never doubt the Holy Spirit. He has taught me to trust Him even when it doesn’t make sense. Especially when it doesn’t make sense. In fact, I believe Holy Spirit loves to talk to us about things that don’t make sense –at least not to the unspiritual mind, so that we don’t lean upon our natural understanding and ability.

One thousand churches, God!!

At the time the Holy Spirit spoke, “You will launch a thousand churches,“ (and repeated it a few times over the following weeks) it really didn’t make sense in the natural. I was serving in a church that didn’t have a vision like the one God had just downloaded into my heart. So, like many things the Holy Spirit had spoken over the years, I pondered it, shared it with my husband and one prayer partner, then I hid it in my heart… because if it’s God, He will make a way.

Fast forward two and a half years to December 2017, my husband and I planted our own church, Seashore Church. The Holy Spirit has given clear direction and we are now seeing the fulfillment of things He spoke, either individually, or as a couple, and for many decades, including the stirring of our hearts to be a church that plants many other churches…

Sometimes, through the smallest whisper, the Holy Spirit fans great faith into our hearts to do things that seem impossible. Jeremiah 29:11 states, “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and future.”  Ultimately, they’re not our plans, they are His, and what seems impossible for us has always existed in Him. He’s just waiting for us to step up and go do them.

God speaks to all of us. He causes us to desire great things. Impossible things. Impossible in the natural. But as we trust Him and surrender our whole lives to Him, He delights to bring to pass the dreams in our hearts. He is the One who places the dreams in our hearts. He does not place dreams in our heart to frustrate us but to fulfill us. He longs to be known by us as a good and loving and involved Father. He longs to show Himself as the One True, All-powerful, All-knowing God, Creator of all we can see and all we can’t see, Fulfiller of men’s hearts, Loving and Merciful Savior of our souls.

Since I first heard, “You will launch a thousand churches,” He has stirred many more things in my heart.

Here are a few:

  • Launch a thousand preachers. It is my strong belief that there is at least one preacher for every fifty people. The Gospel must be preached to everyone and everywhere. The current trend of one preacher amongst multiplied thousands of believers does not look like the New Testament Church. Too many Spirit-gifted people are sitting in pews on Sunday’s unseen, undeveloped, and unutilized. Too many are not walking in their God-given calling.
  • Launch a thousand authors. I am not fully sure how this will look but I know I’m called to help others publish, not just produce my own books. That is what the Kingdom of God is about: serving others, investing in others, discovering their gifts, developing them, providing opportunity, and setting people free to fly.
  • Launch a thousand women. Great misunderstandings and mistruths have dominated Church thinking concerning the place of women. Jesus championed women. So did Paul. So does the Holy Spirit. In times of revival God used men and women in the same roles –there was no discriminating gender line. My church will ordain women and launch them into their God-given calling/ministry, boldly and unashamedly. And we will gladly shoulder the burden of persecution that comes with this.
  • I want to giveaway a thousand musical instruments to kids. I learned to worship Jesus in my bedroom as a young girl because I had a guitar. I spent countless hours worshipping simply because someone gave me a guitar. I know what providing an instrument to kids who otherwise don’t have access can do: it opens up their world to Jesus, the King of Kings, and to a life of worship. It opened mine.

What do you do when you hear the whisper of the Holy Spirit? 

My advice is stay on your knees in prayer. Wait for His instruction and His timing. Don’t run ahead of Him with your own plans. It’s not about you. It’s always about Him.

The plans of God are vast. They are beyond our comprehension. His power is limitless. He is looking for people who will hear His whisper and obey. Stop doubting. Start listening. Get up in His strength and go.