Mbostrom2's Blog

Habakkuk 2:3, “For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come; it will not tarry.”

The second example the Holy Spirit used to enlighten me during my teachings from my Father God on waiting was a parent and a child.  During my quiet times I heard Him say to me clearly, “Wait, hold up, hide yourself in Me.” Children that run ahead of their parents could get run over, kidnapped or lost.

I was reminded of my sister-in-love needing immediate prayer support for her grandson. This is the story in her own words: (but I am going to change names)

“My son Joe and his wife Kay had moved from their house to an apartment as he was coming close to graduating from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. They had lived there about a month. It was a warm Spring evening and my son had ridden his bicycle to school to do some work. My daughter-in-law was pregnant with her third son and she had her little son in the stroller and her preschool son Josh on his bicycle and they set out for a walk.

Josh was riding in front of Kay when they came to a hill that turned at the bottom. He picked up speed as he went down the hill, rounded the corner and got out of Kay’s sight. When she came to the bottom he was nowhere to be seen. There was a squeaky chain on his bike that could be plainly heard if he was close by, but she heard no sound of it. She became frightened. There were several ways to go to the apartment. She looked one way and did not find him so she headed for home to call Joe.

Joe told her to call the police and he called me to pray. I in turn called others to pray with us. Meanwhile, Joe and his friend got into his car and headed for the apartment. By the time they arrived the police were there. Joe and his friend each took cars, and including the squad car went in search for Josh. One policeman stayed with Kay to get the information from her as to his age: 5 years old, what he was wearing, etc.

The policeman found him and he was pretty shaken up and crying. Interestingly, he had come back to the apartment and not found his mom there. He thought that she was lost, so he went to find her and in the process he got lost. There was a man in a yard that had seen him and saw that he was crying. The man said something to him but it only frightened Josh and he peddled faster.

The whole episode took about 45 minutes, but as you can imagine it seemed to us like an eternity. What wonderful words were the words, “We found him!” How we thank God, our Father, for keeping Josh safe from harm.”

Sadly, too many stories have not turned out this well and parents and children had to suffer for a lifetime as a result of children getting ahead of their parents.

TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE

When I was born again, July 4, 1982, God implanted the ‘knowing’ inside of me that I would minister on the streets of Russia. This was such a part of me that I knew it was true, just like I knew my name is Mary Bostrom. No one could cause me to doubt that. My husband continually told me God had not called him to go into the mission field and I was not going to go to the other part of the world without him. For nine years he was not in agreement and I did not have any open door or freedom to go.

In the fall of 1990 my former pastor, Pastor Al Scott who was residing in Colorado at the time, sent me literature regarding Trinity Broadcasting Network planning a mission tour to Russia and were enlisting volunteers to be part of this ministry experience. In Minnesota we did not get TBN on our cable network so I had no way of knowing about the trip.

I went to Ken again and expressed the need I felt within me to go to Russia, and if I did not go I would be out of the will of God. We were financially challenged at that time and Ken was struggling in his business. He said if I could find the money needed I could go to Russia. I was thrilled! Money was no problem with God. All I needed was my husband’s blessing. I knew God had called Ken to be my protection and He would not bless me if I was rebellious to that authority in our home. I believed God for every nickel and dime that came in for that trip and many friends helped me financially.

May of 1991 I was off to Russia, nine years after God called me. During that trip to Moscow, Kiev and Leningrad I had the most miraculous happenings I have ever had in my life. On the flight to Russia I did not know anyone and asked God to seat me next to unbelievers the whole flight. Between Minneapolis and New York I witnessed to a member of the Israeli consulate who was not a believer in Jehovah or Jesus. The anointing flowed from me as I shared with him how God had changed my life and the miracles I had witnessed. I know with every fiber in my being that he will never be the same and that seeds of salvation were planted inside him.

From New York to Helsinki, Finland I was seated by a Russian model. I had seen her in an interview on television the week before. God had set this up for her to hear the gospel. It turned out her father and mother were both in government in Leningrad, USSR. I won’t know until heaven how many people were reached from that airplane ministry.

In Kiev I preached on the streets and without knowing who they were, I ministered with the anointing to professors in the University who later corresponded with me when the communist government fell later that year.

On that trip I met Dorothy B. and Geraldine B. from Orange, Texas who played an important part in the next year in our going to Wisdom Bible Institute in Orange, Texas.

None of these things would have happened if I had not been obedient to wait for God’s perfect timing. If I had gone the first year God called me I would not have had the maturity of faith to weather the storm to bring it all to pass. My life would have been in extreme danger because of the hatred for the gospel in the USSR at that time.

When I went in 1991 the gospel was allowed to be preached freely for the first time in 70 years. Too many people feel called into ministry but do not wait for God’s perfect timing and become ship-wrecked.

THE MINISTRY OF THE DISCIPLES

After Jesus died and rose again, He breathed on them as recorded in John 20:22, “And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. I believe this is when they were born again. Adam was just a lump of clay until the breath of the Living God was in him. Genesis 2:7 says in the Amplified Bible, “Then the Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of the spirit of life, and man became a living being.”

Jesus taught his remaining eleven disciples for forty days following His resurrection, gave them power and authority in the great commission of Mark 16:15-18 and Matthew 28:18-20. Yet in Luke 24:49 Jesus told them to “wait” until they were given power from on high. “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Think about this for a moment with me. They had been born again, “on the job training” for 3 years, personally tutored by the Son of God Himself, given a very specific assignment and then told to ‘wait’?  To us this would sound like the devil himself trying to stop the work of God. We would fast and pray, kick down doors, rebuke the devil, and make a mess of everything all because we did not wait for the perfect timing.

But the disciples remembered they could do nothing without Him. Jesus had promised them in John 14:16 in His last teaching to the disciples that He was going away, but would send them another Helper. The Greek word for “another” is allos (al-loss); Strong’s #243; one besides another of the same kind. The word shows similarities but diversities of operation and ministries. Jesus’ use of allos for sending another comforter equals “one besides Me and in addition to Me but one just like Me. He will do in my absence what I would do if I were physically present with you.”

Jesus told the disciples this before He was crucified. They remembered this promise afterwards and understood that they would not have to do the assignment themselves.

The Gospel according to Luke was written by a Gentile physician named Luke who was also the author of the Book of Acts. Luke was a servant of the master Theophilus, and was giving an accurate accounting of the facts to him much like a reporter of today. In the Gospel of Luke he gave accounts of when Jesus was on the earth and in the Book of Acts he reported what followed after Jesus left the earth.

Taking this into account, we connect the end of Luke and the beginning of Acts. In Luke 24:49 Jesus gave this directive, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry (wait) in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” In Acts 1:4-5 & 8 Jesus confirms His instructions, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me;  for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now’….But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Ten days following they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, as recorded in Acts 2, with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Peter (the one with the foot in his mouth most of the time, who wanted to do right but was not able to follow through, who denied Jesus three times) preached and 3,000 religious Jews were born again. That is the power of waiting for God’s perfect timing. If they had tried to do the great commission themselves in their own timing they would have failed. But because they waited for the power of the Holy Spirit they were able to carry on the work of the Lord.

EVEN JESUS WAITED

How about Jesus? At birth He was the Son of God, for thirty years we do not see or hear of Him doing any miracles. But at age thirty He was baptized in the River Jordan by His cousin John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove.

Matthew’s account in 3:16 speaks of the “Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.” Mark 1:10 tells of “the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.” Luke’s account in 3:22 tells us, “And the Holy Spirit descended in the bodily form like a dove upon Him. In John 1:32, “And John bore witness saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.” All four gospels record that Jesus did nothing until He was anointed with power from on high, which was the Holy Spirit’s presence and power.

For three years Jesus did so many miracles, signs and wonders that all the books could not record them all. (John 21:25) Most ministers want to go to school for three years do the work of the ministry for thirty years and retire. We need to follow Jesus’ example and wait for God’s timing. Jesus was God in the flesh, yet it was recorded in John 5:19, “Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing in Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” This is a strong statement, the Son can do NOTHING by Himself! Why do we think we can do God’s work in our own strength and timing?

KING DAVID’S EXAMPLE

Another good example is David.We see in I Samuel 16:13 that David was anointed to be king. He was a shepherd boy and after he was anointed went back to his sheep because there already was a king, King Saul. Even if Saul had lost his anointing, the calling and the gifting of God is without repentance. (Romans 11:29) Saul had to carry out the duties of being a king without the anointing or power of God because of the following examples of resistance to God:

• Not waiting for Samuel the priest to offer the sacrifice found in I Samuel 13
• Building his own altar instead of waiting for Samuel in I Samuel 14:35 where he almost lost his son because of disobedience
• The final sin of doing his own thing and keeping the best Amalekites in I Samuel 15

God is merciful and long suffering, but there is a time in leadership when God removes His anointing when rebellion and disobedience were displayed This is what happened to Saul and I hope this a good warning to every one of God’s servants.

Even if David had the anointing and power to be king, Saul remained in that position for the remainder of his forty year reign. David stepped into a full “duties and work” as a king over all Israel only after Saul died. David was anointed at approximately fifteen years of age and did not serve as king until he was thirty years of age.

RESPONSIBILITY OF A MENTOR

One of the major assignments of a mentor or spiritual teacher is to teach the disciple to wait. Proverbs 5:13 speaks of the rebellious attitude we are to shun, “I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, not inclined my ear to those who instructed me.”

I Corinthians 4:15 speaks of the need for mentors, “For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many (spiritual) fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” Spiritual fathers or mentors guide you in the walk of faith, teaching you from their mistakes and successes, shielding you for the mistakes that can cause you to lose your assignment or ministry that God has given you. With a spiritual leader tutoring you or actually home-schooling you, your achievement  will be built on  their foundation that they have building in Jesus Christ.

Let’s look at some examples of mentors or spiritual fathers:

• Elijah and Elisha: Elijah has many students in his prophet’s school, but he had one that stuck so close to him that he received a double-portion of the anointing, Nothing was ever written of the remaining students of the Prophets school. 2 Kings 2
• Jesus and John: John was the closest to Jesus and was the only disciple that did not leave Him at His greatest need, in the courts during Jesus’ trial. John called himself ‘the disciple Jesus loved’. He wrote the love books: the Gospel of John, letters 1-3 John and the Book of Revelation. He was so full of love that they could not kill him when they boiled him in oil. He learned that love walk from Jesus. Many of Jesus’ disciples were not good students, they were hearers and not doers.
• Paul and Timothy: Paul called Timothy his son because he was a spiritual son in the ministry. We may declare many people we follow to be our spiritual leaders or fathers, but for a leader to say someone is their son in the faith is saying they truly followed their teachings, examples and disciplines.

Probably the most successful and rewarding thing I have done in the ministry is to mentor several women in the church Ken and I were assigned by God to serve for a ten year period. Some of them want what I have without going through what I did, but most of them were obedient and realized that I did nothing of myself. I am nothing in my self and everything I have ever achieved as a Christian was because of the obedience to what God has called me to do.

They have learned that there are no instant successes in this Christian walk and no easy formulas. Too many teachers are teaching that if you do some 1-2-3 formula then God will give you whatever you have asked. But if you have walked with God for any amount of time and have seen success, you know there is a series of many kinds of prayer, faith, obedience, etc.

Most of my failures are not because of lack of knowledge, but lack of obedience. Spiritual mentors will hold you accountable and positioned on the right course if you let them. I had one disciple that would not listen to her doctor, listen to her pastor and would acknowledge but not obey my teachings. That is plain rebellion and as a consequence I had to discontinue my personal guidance and pray from a distance. Sometimes that is hard to do, but love must be tough.

When a teacher has chosen to personally tutor a student, that student becomes very close and there is a spiritual connection. I will even grieve over them as I would my own children. Spiritual parents are given for the safety of the disciple and are to be honored and obeyed just as natural parents.

There is always a ditch to fall into with any truth and the trap for accountability is a movement from that past that was called “The Shepherding Movement.” This movement had its beginning in the United States in the early 1900’s when the Pentecostal movement began and within the Charismatic movement of the 1960’s.

This teaching was based on discipleship, accountability and teaching of the Word of God to new believers. This is definitely needed in the Body of Christ right now. A major problem arose when the people who were doing the instructing began to be the ultimate authority over the student, making family decisions for them and lording over them. Some oppose the amount of control exercised by shepherds over such a matter as the choice of mate and the decision to have children.

There is one Lord, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is well able to lead and guide us into the whole truth. He spoke of the Holy Spirit in John 14:15, “the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

There is a great need today for mentors and I hope the true teachers and shepherds will step up and do this one-on-one work of the ministry.