Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship (22 page)

During winter time, it is very difficult to find two or three consecutive days of weather calm enough to fish deep water off the Outer Banks. These treacherous waters are known as the
Graveyard of the Atlantic because of the many ships that have gone down there. So, over the next two months, there were very few days that I could fish Jack’s Bank, and to complicate matters, every fishing boat in the fleet wanted to catch me on this “bonanza” where Captain Jack, on his boat,
The Life of a King
, was catching more fish in a day than most boats caught in a month.

It is difficult to put into words the passion and faith that I found in God during this season of reaping the harvest that He had prepared for me. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the discovery of Jack’s Bank was a supernatural God thing and that He was providing everything I needed to transition my life of being so entangled in the world system to a life given over to seeking the Kingdom of God and making it known to the world.

For two months, the fleet tried to catch me on Jack’s Bank in order to steal my inheritance. When at port, I would keep my boat fully equipped with fuel, bait, ice, fishing gear, and food, and wait until a winter storm passed through. Then on the last day of a freezing gale, at 2 o’clock in the morning, I would sneak
The Life of a King
(a 44-foot Thompson) away from the dock while all others were in their warm and cozy beds. When the other captains came to the dock at Morehead City, North Carolina (my home port at this time) the next day, they would see my boat gone and had no idea the direction I took. By the time the weather was nice enough for others to go out, I would have beaten my way through 8- to 12-foot seas and be ready to fish as soon as the sea would die down. Then within 24 hours, I would have my boat loaded with snowy grouper and be on my way home while the rest of the fleet was on their way out. I must say that I wasn’t driven only by the calling of God on my life, but also by a boatload of pride and ego at slyly outsmarting the fleet. Even now, 25 years later, my emotions can feel the glory of those weeks.

Finally, the captain of a boat named the
Blue Water
wised up. He too had his boat outfitted and ready to go, and started sleeping
on the boat, waiting to hear my Detroit diesel engine fire up in the middle of the night. With the help of darkness, rough seas, and radar (I had no radar), he followed me to the northeast from a safe distance in the middle of the night and all through the next day. As the winds calmed down, I anchored up on Jack’s Bank and started pulling grouper two at a time, when the
Blue Water
snuck up off my bow and caught me on the fish. The problem was that he had no idea that Jack’s Bank was in 840 feet of water, and he didn’t have enough anchor line to fish this depth. He caught a few fish drifting, but the current was too strong to drift-fish. I outfished him 6,600 pounds to his 600 for those few days at sea before a severe winter storm drove us home.

Whether he was jealous, or ashamed that I had outfished him, or just wanted revenge for “putting it to him” so badly, I’m not sure—but the
Blue Water
revealed the location of the shipwreck to the rest of the fleet, and they in turn went out and burned out (caught all the fish) Jack’s Bank. Under the cover of darkness, they were able to steal the rest of my inheritance that I believe God had laid up for me. The $25,000 I made from Jack’s Bank did help prepare Trisha and me for the next two years of Bible school, but there could have been thousands more if I had been a little wiser to the schemes of others who sought to plunder my inheritance.

So many Christians have received Christ and have the right to be joint heirs with Him. Everything we see in Christ we are an heir too, but sometimes jealousy, shame, or feeling that others are more blessed seem to hold us back. At other times, it just seems that the thief steals the blessings of God right out from under us. Whatever it may be, many people do not receive their inheritance because of two important truths that were robbing me for years of provision and fruitfulness in my life and family. Let’s see how much they may be hindering you from being subject to Father’s mission.

An orphan heart is bound up and steeped in lies and ungodly beliefs that have their source in the father of lies. Consequently, an
orphan does not legitimately receive an inheritance. Orphans live in the realm of untruth and darkness while inheritance belongs to the realm of truth and light.

This contrast between truth and lies leads us to the sixth truth in our quest to move from slavery to sonship.

Proverbs 23:7 says that we become according to what we think in our hearts. If you think like an orphan, you will live like an orphan. If you think you do not have a home, you will live life as if you don’t have a home. If you think like a son, you will live like a son. If you think you have a home, you will live life as if you have a home. A key truth to displacing orphan thinking is to expose the lies and ungodly beliefs that are at its core and let light dispel the darkness. It is a daily battle that we all fight. In fact, Paul describes it in blatantly warlike terms:

The word
speculations
in Greek means, “reasonings, thoughts, and imaginations that precede and determine our conduct.” “Fortresses” or strongholds in themselves are not demonic; this Scripture refers to a fortress of thought that includes lies against what God has revealed about Himself. It is a habit structure of thinking that exalts itself above the knowledge of God’s love. The fortress of thought gives the enemy ground to traffic in your life. If you cast out the demonic influence but let the fortress of thought
remain, then the demonic influence has a legal right to return and to reoccupy the fortress.

Our minds are either influenced by the Father of Creation or the father of lies. We saw in Chapter Two the 12-step downward spiral that orphan thinking takes that culminates in a stronghold of oppression. Only in daily walking in the truth of Christ can such a stronghold be displaced. One of the biggest dangers in all of this is the fact that so often lies and ungodly beliefs creep into our thoughts so subtly that we don’t recognize them as orphan thinking.

In January 1998, a couple of months after my act of confession and restitution (see Chapter Nine) with Bishop Miles, Trisha said to me, “I had a dream last night about your upcoming trip to Poland.” I was scheduled to attend a pastors’ conference in northern Poland during May of that year. Trisha continued, “I dreamed that Bishop Miles was with you. Why don’t you call him and invite him to go with you?”

“He doesn’t have time for me,” I replied. Did you catch that? Do you see how orphan thinking twists our thought life? True, Bishop Miles was a very busy man who regularly traveled internationally. His time was precious, and I immediately assumed that I had no value to him and he could spare none of his time for me. So I left it alone.

The next day Trisha said, “I had that dream again. You really need to call Bishop Miles.”

“He’s booked years in advance,” I protested, “He’s not going to take time for me.” Again I was thinking like I was a little bitty nothing, an orphan nobody values or would promote. Nobody was going to favor me; nobody cared about me. Do you see how quickly and easily we can come into agreement with the accuser of the brethren—the first spiritual orphan?

For the next few nights, Trisha had the same dream about Bishop Miles being with me in Poland. She took the risk of being a nag and kept insisting that I call him.

Finally, I picked up the phone and called his office, believing I would not get through to him. I spoke to his secretary, “I’d like to schedule a phone appointment with Bishop Miles for any time he is available.”

She put her hand over the phone, and I heard her say, “Bishop Miles, this is Jack Frost; he’d like to get with you.”

“I’d love to talk to him right now,” he replied.

There went one ungodly belief blown right out the door! I couldn’t believe he was there and available and sounding genuinely interested in talking to me.

Bishop Miles got on the phone. “Hello, Jack. How are you doing?”

“Things are going pretty well,” I said. “In fact, they’re going great.”

“So, tell me about what God is doing.”

“Well, we have a pastors’ conference in Poland coming up in May, and I was wondering if you would come with me and be one of the key speakers.”

“I can’t believe you’re calling me,” he replied with excitement in his voice. “Two years ago, I felt that God told me to go to Poland. I don’t know anybody there, and I’ve been praying ever since for an open door to Poland. I’ll adjust my schedule and come with you.”

And just like that, Bishop Miles went to Poland with me. He flew into Warsaw on one airline, and I flew in on another. He met me at the gate, having arrived an hour ahead of me. As we walked out to the baggage claim, this man who had been faithful in ministry for over 40 years, and whom I had served under for three, put
his hand on my shoulder and said, “Now, Jack, I’m here to serve you.”

“But Bishop Miles,” I protested, “you’re the apostle. You’re the one who …”

“This is your conference, Jack. You’re the host and you invited me. I don’t even need to speak. I just want to be here to help you with anything you need.”

And I’m thinking,
And my orphan heart had trouble receiving this humble man’s servant heart all these years?

So we went to the conference, and I opened up teaching on Father’s transforming love. The central European pastors were weeping in travail as Bishop Miles sat there watching in amazement. By the fourth day, most of the 90 pastors present were on their faces on the floor in repentance. Many went to their wives and asked forgiveness for sinning against love. Having observed and absorbed this all week, Bishop Miles asked, “How soon can you come back to Evangel Cathedral and conduct an Experiencing Father’s Embrace Encounter? How soon can you come to the ministers’ fellowship and teach this to all the ministers?”

Since I had left Bishop Miles’ church in 1991, he had never invited me back to speak. His church was huge, and I was used to ministering in churches of 50 to 100 people where the offerings often would be barely enough to cover my travel expenses.

I replied, “My calendar is pretty clear. I can come whenever you want.”

“How soon can you go to Russia with me and teach our 300 pastors there on the Father’s love?”

“Whenever you want.”

“As soon as we get home, I’m going to call all the elders of the ministers’ fellowship and tell them that they need to get this revelation in their church.”

Bishop Miles was true to his word. When he returned, he started calling pastors he knew, and almost overnight our little impoverished ministry that was used to barely getting by began receiving all kinds of invitations from larger churches.

When I came to Bishop Miles’ church for the Encounter and stepped into the pulpit that Sunday morning, I knew I couldn’t speak until I cleansed the defilement I had released upon the church that I spoke about in the previous chapter. Standing before those 1,500 people I said, “Before I can ever speak in this pulpit, I have to ask this church to forgive me because I unconsciously defiled the soul of this church when I was on staff here for three years in the late 1980s. I was not here to serve this pastor; I was here to serve myself, and I used many of you to try and meet my need to be needed. I ask every person here to forgive me for trying to use you and Bishop Miles to promote my life and ministry. Please forgive me.”

All over the building people broke down weeping. Talk about a powerful conference!

Not long after this, I went to the ministers’ fellowship meeting. Bishop Miles asked me to speak on the first night, which was always a night of honor at the fellowship. He introduced me to the 275 pastors who were there and told them that what I had to say was one of the most needed revelations of our day, a vital word for the endtimes. This was the same place where for years I could hardly get a speaking slot or promotion to save my life! But back then, I was an untrustworthy orphan, and now I was moving toward sonship. I had begun walking the path of humility, getting my eyes off others’ faults and weaknesses, and acknowledging and
confronting orphan thinking and ungodly beliefs inside me that fueled an orphan heart. When we are willing to humble ourselves before God and man, God honors and exalts us in due season.

I stood before those 275 ministers and confessed, “I joined this fellowship in 1986 in its second year when there were only 18 of us. Now there are hundreds, and for the last 12 years, I have done everything I could to promote myself and to manipulate you to further my ministry. I came to meetings with a calendar in hand, hoping I would get a meeting from you. I have related to this fellowship based upon what you could do for me rather than on how I could get underneath and be a blessing to Bishop Miles and to Evangel Fellowship. In my immaturity, I tried to use you. Please forgive me.” Needless to say, everyone was shocked because you do not normally hear stuff like that in a ministers’ meeting.

Then I shared my testimony of receiving an experiential revelation of Father’s love. When the altar ministry began, many of the very same elders who had no trust in my life or ministry before were the first ones at the altar weeping. In fact, some ended up in my arms as we wept together and they asked forgiveness for judging me harshly. Later several pastors from large churches asked, “How soon can you come to my church and teach on Father’s love?”

If I had not cast down the ungodly beliefs and invited Bishop Miles to come to Poland with me, the reconciliation of relationships, restoration of trust, and promotion to areas of greater influence might never have happened. Casting down orphan thinking is a daily battle. Acknowledging and renouncing the ungodly beliefs and hidden lies are so important to displacing an orphan heart with the truth of God’s transforming love.