Apostolic Grace
I have recently been going through one of the most significant and glorious changes of my life. I have gone through an almost instantaneous metamorphosis of my mindset in life and ministry. The favor and grace that have been released in my wife and I is incredible. I want to share with you the supernatural events that have led me to this time in my life and what I believe God is releasing in the Church. It has been an interesting season in the Body of Christ, to say the least. We have gone through and are currently on the downward slope of an intense shaking. Every believer has gone through a hard time in the past couple of years and there is a reason for it. God is preparing us for a reformation. He has brought us low in order to bring us up.
In February of this year (2007) my wife Lori and I were living in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Everything we knew and many of our friends in life and ministry were there. Needless to say, it was difficult when God spoke to us that it was time to go home, to the States. We didn't know where we were going or why the Lord was taking us there. One day I was discussing my questions with Todd Bentley. Todd told me, “Craig you are like Abraham. 'By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.' (Hebrews 11:8) You don't know where you are going, but you are looking for the city whose builder and maker is God.” At the time I didn't understand the prophetic word Todd was giving me, but I kept it in my heart. For the next few months, as Abraham did, we went back to our hometown in Madison, Mississippi. We went back to the place where God first visited us.
This was a hard time for us. I didn't understand why God had brought us back and the dissatisfaction in ministry I had felt for the past year remained. I was drowning in the unknown and was already burnt out with ministry. One day I was discussing these feelings with the Lord and He responded to me, “Craig, what were the four most life changing meetings that you ministered in this past year?” For a couple of days I began to ponder about the most powerful meetings that I had done in the past year. The ones that filled, at least for a time, the cry of my heart for revival and the glory of God. I came to a conclusion about my top four meetings of the previous year and told them to the Lord. He responded, “What is the common denominator of all four?” As soon as I heard this I realized that all four meetings were young adult meetings. The Lord said, “Craig, you were afraid of being labeled a “youth guy” because you are young. Your reaction was to distance yourself from young adult events because of pride. I have called you to raise up a prophetic generation. Embrace where you are most effective.” His words hit me like a ton of bricks. Yet, I still did not know where this was taking me.
A few weeks after our move I was in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee with my fried Ryan Wyatt. Ryan told me that he had had a dream about me recently. In the dream I owned and operated a Harley Davidson motorcycle shop. I built new Harley's and repaired old ones. It was both a repair center and a retail store. Without having much time to contemplate the dream I was perplexed of the meaning. Ryan then said, “I believe the Harley shop is speaking of a training center and apostolic base.” He went on to prophesy to me and describe what he felt the dream meant. When I heard his words I felt something stir in my spirit. In the same way that I am no where near the typical Harley Davidson persona, I didn't feel apostolic at all and had no real desire to do anything of the sort. I received the word in my heart and placed it in the back of my mind.
A week later I was ministering in London, Ontario. One particular night I had finished ministering at about 11:00 pm. I walked into the speaker area to rest. I was doing the meetings with Todd Bentley and he was in the room as I walked in. As I sat down Todd said, “Craig, I forgot to tell you that I had a dream about you recently. In the dream you owned a Harley Davidson shop.” As tired as I was, when I heard this I immediately perked up. He continued, “You walked into a “green” room like this and you were dressed in full biker gear. You had on a Harley shirt, bandana, tattoos, ripped jeans, sunglasses and you were holding a motorcycle helmet. In the dream I said, 'Craig, why are you dressed like that? You're not a biker like I am.' When I said that, you reached in your pocket and pulled out a license. It was not only a motorcycle license, but a license ride, build and repair motorcycles. When I saw the license I felt the authority that you had to do it.” As I was contemplating the similarity between Ryan's dream and Todd's, Todd said, “I believe the dream has to do with a training center and apostolic base. If you would have told me that you were going to do that I might have said it wasn't time, but because of the license I believe God is giving you the authority now.” I was blown away by his words, but at the same time I began to feel inadequate and ill-prepared.
From Ontario, I flew directly to Edmonton, Alberta to spend 6 days doing meetings. We saw some incredible fruit and had great meetings, but at the same time I was contemplating the dreams and the feeling of inadequacy continued to gnaw at me. On the last night of the meetings I was sitting on my chair during worship. After preaching twice a day for six days I was feeling like I was about done. I had given all I could give. As I worshiped the Lord with my eyes closed, I saw a figure walked toward me from very far away. As they drew closer I began to notice the almost blinding shimmer that came from their long white gown. The figure was in the form of a female, but I could not see her face. It was covered in a large draping hood. Although she was veiled, her appearance was still that of pure elegance. As she drew closer, she stood about a foot from me. She opened a large book. As she did, she blew from the pages of the book as if blowing of the dust of a book that had been hidden away in a basement. As she did white dust came off the book and into my face. At the same moment I heard a loud whisper that said, “Wisdom.”
After ministering until late into the night, I was lying on my bed about to go to sleep. It is difficult to explain, but as I closed my eyes I began to receive the “blueprints” of Heaven. Vision was being poured into my spirit from Heaven. I began to see the details of what God was calling me to do. I saw buildings, financial budgets, young adults as far as I could see. I saw a training center and every detail that went along with it. Without a moment of prayer or pressing in, details of not just conferences, but large gatherings of people that would meet together not just for a meeting, but to celebrate the love of God. I saw multitudes being trained and equipped. It wasn't just the young, but the young and old alike. There was a merging of the generations where there was no longer a split between children, youth and adults, but unity like I had never seen. I saw a movement of young adults, full of love and miracles, being raised up and released in North America. Not only did I see a general vision, but almost every detail of God's plan to see it happen. For hours I just laid on my bed and received the instructions. I didn't have time to write down a thing, but it all went directly to my heart.
A couple of days later I was home in Moravian Falls. It was about midnight and I had just lain down to sleep. Everything that I saw and the vision that God had given me was all I could think about. At the same time moments of doubt and that same feeling of “how is this going to happen” were still swirling around in my head. I kept telling the Lord, “Who is going to rally around me to see this happen? I thought you brought me to this place to support others. Will anyone really receive a 25 year old young man as the head of a training center, much less an apostolic base?” As I was asking these questions I felt that I needed to leave my wife to sleep and go outside our room to pray. I walked outside the door and laid down at the bottom of our staircase. As soon as I was lying down the glory of God descended into the hallway. For thirty minutes I basked in the glory of God and entered into a deep place of prayer. Suddenly I opened my eyes. When I did, I found that I was no longer lying on the floor in the hallway, but I was lying under millions of stars. As far as I could see I saw stars. From my right, above me and to my left, all I could see were stars. Being in the deep place of prayer that I was, I had forgotten where I was physically. I began to try to remember where my body was. As I was thinking this, I looked to my left. As I did, I saw an angel staring at me from about 6 inches away. I had never seen this angel before. I noticed his smooth jet black hair. He was so close I jumped back. It was then that I heard a voice in my spirit, “Look at the stars, so shall your sons and daughters be.” I was so overwhelmed that I immediately came out of the encounter. At that moment I was changed forever.
For the next few days and even until now, I have been taken over my heavenly vision. Like much of the Body of Christ, I had previously been in a season in which I didn't even know what I would do the next day, much less have vision beyond the next year. Now, I had enough vision to give away to a thousand people. Not only had that, but the faith to see it come to pass exploded in me. For days after that me, my wife and some of my team got together. We would get out a notepad and I would just start talking. Everything came together so quickly. Everyone, including meetings I have done since, said, “Craig, what happened to you? You're a different person. We've never seen you like this!” I went through a complete spiritual metamorphosis.
It was over the next week that God opened up to me what He was doing for me and for the extended Body of Christ. He said, “Craig, I have released an apostolic grace into your life. It is not something you asked for, but I have given it to you freely. Abraham asked for an heir and I gave him nations. You asked for a revival and I am giving you sons and daughters of revival.”
Over the last few weeks the favor that has been released in our personal life and ministry has been incredible. A few hours before writing this, I signed the papers on a new car that was given to us. In the past few days an incredible cabin in Moravian Falls was opened to us. We had the best financial month of our entire life in August. We have been attempting to buy some new domains for our website for quite sometime and the domain awake.org (which is appraised to be worth into the six figure range) was given to us two days ago. The vision of an internship/training school hybrid, AwakeU, is completed and opening in January. (For all the information, visit our website at
awake.org
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10)
In the season you are presently walking in, God is preparing you. Though He might seem far away, He is closer than ever. You have called out of the place of comfort. Whether you realize it or not, you have been called to the place that you will receive as an inheritance. You feel that you are dwelling as a stranger, but God is going to give you the land. You have crossed the Jordan into the promise land, but it is not yours yet. There are still giants and worldly kingdoms to be conquered, but God will give you the grace.
The Lord is releasing an apostolic grace upon the Church. In the same way that you don't have to be a prophet to be prophetic, you don't have to be an apostle to be apostolic. You have got to lift your vision higher. Remember the dreams and promises God gave you. Allow those dreams to be re-awakened in you. You might feel inadequate and ill-prepared, but “MY grace is sufficient for you, for MY strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) For some of you the previous season has made you disillusioned and hopeless. You feel that God has given up on you or that you have “missed the boat”. You haven't. God has been in the entire season and His purposes will be completed. For the whole Body of Christ a true understanding of the apostolic is coming. It is not about networks and corporations, but about sons and daughters of the King. Lift your vision higher and allow the grace of God to infiltrate your soul. He will give you the power to see it come to pass. Rally around an apostolic vision and allow the disunity that has invaded the Church to be broken.
God is bringing you out of the place of insignificance. He is shedding light on the lies of the enemy that say, “You are not worthy to do that. God would never use you. You were deceived to even dream such a thing.” God will use you. He is looking for weak vessels that He can fill with strength. The apostolic is about you receiving your part in the “big picture”. You have a part to play in the promises of God for this generation coming to pass.
Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir! And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir." Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." (Genesis 15:3-5)
Abraham was worried that one of his servants would have to become his heir. He thought that he might have to settle for a “lesser” promise rather than see the full promise of God come about. God shows him the stars and promises him that “one from your own body shall be your heir.” Many people are content to live out their dreams through someone else. You have your own dreams and God will give you an heir “from your own body.” Success in the kingdom of God is not measured with a worldly measuring stick. Success in the Kingdom is fulfilling the dreams that God has given you. If God calls you to reach a million and God calls me to raise up just a few sons and daughters, if we both fulfill that call we have succeeded.
Do not be content to live vicariously through someone else. God has given you your own calling and mantel. That does not mean that each of us should be a “lone wolf” and expect others to see it our way. Part of your vision might be under the “umbrella” of another. That does not mean that you are any less significant in Heaven's eyes. Apostolic grace allows you to see your dreams in the same light and with the same significance that an apostle sees his or hers.
It was not until God's promise was established with him that Abram's name was changed to Abraham. Abram means “high father”, but Abraham means “father of many nations.” This metamorphosis that will happen in you will bring a name change. People will be able to see the difference in you. You complexion will change and the authority that you carry will be evident. Some of you have been known as “quiet” and “shy”, but the boldness of the Lord is going to release you as a radical lover. Some of you that have lived in perpetual poverty will see a dramatic increase in finances and resources to see your dreams come about. The previous season is not your lot in life. It will always be a part of your walk and God's purpose will be completed, but you are coming into a new day. It is a day of apostolic grace and favor.
August '07