The Finding Home Podcast: Partnering with Prophecy

Hey everyone, Caleb Henshaw here, Finding Home Podcast. I am enjoying a nice cup of coffee with raw milk. Um, it's my favorite mix, and I'm excited to just talk through some stuff today. It's kind of awkward, you know, it wouldn't be so bad if this was just audio, but where there's a camera, um, not really used to this yet, just me talking to a camera. It's always better for me to be in conversation, but there was something that I wanted to talk about that was really personal, um, things that I wanted to share that, that maybe, um, you'll relate to. Maybe it'll help you, encourage you. Um, it almost felt like preparing for a sermon, and I have not done that in a long time. So I have notes, um, in my journal. I was thinking about this, um, last night and this morning, uh, in preparation of of this podcast. This is almost more for me, um, to be able to talk through some things, um, than it is for, for those that may listen. But if I had to title this thing, and it does already sound like a sermon, um, I would say Courage to Believe: Partnering with Prophecy. I know prophecy can be a really strange, um, word, especially if it's abused. Um, you can get kind of weird sometimes, but I wanted to really dive into what it means to understand what a prophetic word is. Uh, I'm sure that those that would be watching would have some experience in, in going to a church or, or having a friend in your life, or even having the gift of speaking into someone's life what you feel Yahweh saying over that person. Um, but there are a little bit of misconceptions on what you do after. Maybe you receive a word, maybe you remember a word that, you know, you were given 20 years ago. Maybe you're starving for one now. Um, my question to, to whoever's listening is, you know, what has Yahweh spoken to you? If you could really write it down on paper, are there 1 to 2, maybe 3 things that he has spoken over your life and it could be recent, it could be when you were a child, it could be years ago. Do you hold on to it as if it's valuable? And then, um, how have you partnered with that? How have you lived your life in a way where you're partnering with that word that was given? So we're just going to go over a couple things tonight, and I'm just going to be vulnerable on how I have missed it in the past in partnering with, with a word that I felt like Yahweh was speaking over me, uh, and how I've, I've realigned and, and begin to understand deeper what that means. So I have some notes, I'm going to look down a couple times just to make sure I'm, I'm staying on task. But a prophetic word is vital to a people because As it says in Jeremiah, without vision people perish. If you look at the original language, it actually says without prophetic vision people perish. And, and that will make sense as we unfold just what a prophetic word does. So an example, um, you're, you're with friends or you have someone call you, send you a message and they release something, you know, I feel like Yahweh is saying this, or I feel like, you know, the Holy Spirit has put something in me for you and this is what it is. Um, there's ways to really distinguish, you know, if it's right, if it's true, if it stands, um, with the nature of Yahweh, and if it points to Jesus. Um, so really understanding how to steward a prophetic word is step number one. But I will say this, it's, it's such a gift to the body of Jesus to be able to have those in your life. And just like, you know, a previous podcast we just had with Christian, we were talking about the power of community and how there were things that were for you in other people. And you can easily say like, that's a selfish outlook, but it's, it's really not. And I know I can count such vital, pivotal moments in my life where I had a group of people or a close friend really speak what they felt God was saying when I just wasn't in the right place to hear it on my own. And that's usually the case if you look at, you know, scripture most people that receive the prophetic word may or may not be ready to, um, walk in that immediately. And that's what, what's unique about a prophetic word. It is, is what it does. It's, it has action behind it. There's a scripture in Isaiah 55 that I'm reminded of, that my word will not return to me empty, it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish what it set out to do. And there's action behind those. There's, there's things that happen to you that prepares you to walk in the promises that, that God has given you. Um, one, one passage of scripture that I, that I love, it's Paul talking to Timothy. It's 1 Timothy 1:18. It says, this charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies made concerning you that by them you may wage the good warfare. So there's action even behind, behind these prophetic words. And again, I remind you, you know, what are the ones over your life? You may be in a completely different place, um, now than you were 10 years ago, but I will say that those words still hold weight, still hold importance, um, One of the things that's very important in terms of, you know, someone spoke on my life and they said this— you don't know how many times that I received words that were just strange. I mean, like, there's some that just didn't hold up. I didn't feel like they were from Yahweh, and that's okay. And one of the main filters, if you only had one filter, a prophetic word is never highlighting you. It's always pointing to Jesus. It's always pointing to Yeshua, even though it may involve you, it may involve, um, life changes that you may make. It may, it may surround your activity, but ultimately it leads to you expressing a new way of Yeshua to the community around you, um, whatever sphere of influence that you have. So if you have a word that doesn't match up to that, there's no roadway to, to magnifying the name of Jesus, I would have a red flag. I would— and it is not to say like you, you completely throw it away. Don't be afraid to take these to, to Yahweh in prayer. I— we have to be more confident in his ability to to guide us, to speak to us, to let us know, like, yes, this is, this is where you're at. Um, because the danger, the danger of, of trying to follow so many prophetic words and always hungering for a prophetic word, you, you begin to diminish its importance. It's almost like I'm thinking supply and demand, you know. Every time you go to a, to a, that particular church, you're going to get a prophetic word. Or every time you go to a prayer meeting, they're going to sit around in a circle and everybody's take turns, um, and that can really diminish the value of what a real prophetic word will do to a person. But then, man, there's those moments where you know that, that Yahweh is speaking through a friend or through a stranger, and it's exactly what you needed to hear at the right time. Um, here's, here's where sometimes we, we lose focus. We immediately think that when we receive a word from Yahweh, it's supposed to happen immediately. And I can only speak from experience, I can only speak from what I read, um, in the word, and there's, there's plenty of examples that those promises that you receive take time. And that's the most frustrating part. But on the other side, you see how important it was to, to learn how to wait. Um, I know that, that one thing that waiting does is it tests your faith. It perfects your faith. It puts you in the position to not only receive the promise but be whole enough to receive the fullness of the promise. What, what does that mean? For example, and, and please don't look at it like this is a prophetic word, but so I feel like you're supposed to receive a million dollars. There, there I go. Well, if let's say you're— you struggle with money and you're— you, you like to spend a lot of money on things that you don't need, that promise would be almost abusive if it happened immediately. But the promise is still true. You're going to walk in this blessing, uh, being a millionaire, and you're going to help a lot of people. But right now, there's things that need to be tested in you, and you need to lean into that process to where you become whole enough to, to receive that promise and be able to be to fulfill it in the fullness of all aspects. I have really particular things that I'm praying for that I've heard even as a young kid. And those words really directed the way that I lived my life. I remember as a, as a child receiving a word about ministering to a large amount of people. The man that was speaking over me. And it was, it was a real moment. And I felt the presence of, of Jesus in these, in these moments. He said, you'll minister to millions of people. And I was 6 years old, 6 or 7 years old. And that word really directed the next 10 to 15 years of my life. I would often remember it. I'd often think about it. And I tried to figure it out. Okay, I'm supposed to minister to millions of people, so I'm going to be a really hotshot preacher. I'm going to be a famous celebrity Christian. I'm going to be a marquee worship leader where everyone's going to know who I am, and that's going to be the influence. I'm going to do stadiums. And this, this grew. This ambition in me grew and grew and grew and grew. In, in an unhealthy manner. But it's not all awash. It— I really had to learn some things when the plug was pulled out and, and those— the ambition was addressed, that that prophetic word would not return to the Lord empty-handed, that it would finish what it was intended. I believe that word to be true. But I believe that it's not going to come from my ambition because that doesn't point to Yeshua, that doesn't point to the goodness of God. I don't know what that looks like now, but I'm leaning into the process of things that I need to learn, of things I need to lean into, because I want to be whole. I want— I'm invited into this place of wholeness in community, in Yeshua, where we can express the body of Jesus. Jesus. And I hope that reaches millions of people because that is the good news. So this, this prophetic word that really directed my life as a, as a young boy, it reminds you of a lot of people in scripture. And you think of Joseph that receives this, this dream of leading, of being, um, a leader over his brothers. And what happens? He immediately spills the beans and he walks around with this kind of arrogance and releases something he should have never released to his brothers. But there was intention behind it. There was a promise behind it. And he goes through betrayal. He goes through being in captivity. He, he, he's learning a lot of things about grace and about mercy and his character and his, his humility is formed in those moments. So when the time comes He can look at his brothers with love and compassion, and he can lead people the way that Yahweh intended for him to do so. I think of Noah. What a crazy word to be given to— you need to build this boat. It's never rained before, but a flood is coming. And for him to do that, I can imagine. I love the movie. Evan Almighty. Yeah, I, I really, really like that movie because it highlights kind of what I'm talking about. You know, he, he gets this word from God to build this boat because there's a flood coming, and he gets ridiculed and he gets made fun of. And then through that process, his character is being changed from one that's a self-absorbed leader that's caring about his career to now becoming a family man, which was the prayer of his wife. And then his wife is even going through the same thing. She's praying for them to be a closer family. And there's this really powerful scene where she and God encounter one another. And he says, if someone prays for patience, do you think they're going to just receive patience or receive a moment to have to activate patience? So attached to that promise and to that word, even though it can be powerful in that moment where you finally, it almost feels like you're finally getting a drink of water and you've been parched for a long time. You're in the middle of a desert and you find this oasis and you receive this word like, God, you hear me, you see me, you know me. And it's such a life-changing moment when you have have that word spoken over you, especially if it's, if it's just you and, and Yahweh. Those are really special moments. But there's an important step that we must not forget, and Joseph has taught us, Noah has taught us, and David has taught us to lean into the process. David is anointed king at a very young age. First of all, he's in a shepherd field. His dream and desire, I don't think, is to become king. I think that's not on his radar. He gets anointed king and then has to wait such a long time. Hey, Caleb Henshaw here from the Wild Country. Again, I wanted to thank you for all that are listening and subscribing to this podcast. We really appreciate it. Appreciate all the support. And did you know that we are launching a brand new community called the Wild Country Uncensored as an online platform? On this platform, we can talk about a lot of things that normally YouTube and other platforms would censor. We'll have weekly lives, we'll have master classes, we'll have how-tos, we'll have a library of books and content that you can join. But most of all, We have accountability. People in this group hold each other accountable on our homesteading dreams, our homeschooling dreams, and our content creating dreams. If you're interested in joining this community, sign up in the link in the show notes. We are launching this community in summer of 2025, which is this year. It's getting close. Pre-register now and find out more. There's, there's process that's attached to promises from Yahweh, and we, we, we can't— and I got to be careful talking about this because you can easily go into, well, it's, it's your time of testing, it's your time, which it is, but it's such an enjoyable place if you view it rightly, if you approach it with the right heart. And you're receptive to it, that's when you and Yahweh are walking so close together. There's not this, this separation where there's this promise and he says, here's where you're starting, this is where you're going to be, and I'll wait for you right here. He is walking so intimately with you, reminding you of who you are. And there may be times where you don't feel him there, but, but I promise you If you approach this with the right heart and you really lean into this process knowing that he's for you, he's not against you, you'll look back and see that this was the treasure. The process was the treasure. Habakkuk 2:2-3. I, I've— Habakkuk, I used to call it Hakuna Matata because it's just a weird name. Um, but you even see from Habakkuk 1 to Habakkuk 3 the process of what prayer can do. Prayer is not reciting things that you think are right. Prayer is not, um task-oriented. Like, I have to pray this, I have to pray that. Prayer is coming in agreement with what Yahweh is doing, with what Yahweh is saying. As Jesus was expressing this, I don't say anything that I don't hear my Father say, and I don't do anything I don't see my Father do. This is what prayer is. And we get so caught up with our list of demands or our cries or our complaints. Our prayer life looks more like the prodigal son when he's rehearsing, you know, I've messed up, I'm going to go back to my father, I'm going to be a slave in his house, I'm going to tell him how, how sorry I am and how much I've blown it. That is the typical example of a Western prayer life. When we're invited into this partnership, you Yahweh, how do you see this? How do you view this? What are you doing right now? What are you saying right now in this moment? So when you receive this promise through, through a prophetic word or a dream or a vision, that's a good place to start. Yahweh, what are you trying to say? And it may not be answered immediately. It may take you a couple years. That's something you really don't want to hear. But if we go back to what we just talked about, that will be the sweet spot, is that process of waiting. Because waiting— I love what Jessica Sowers say of Roots and Refuge. It's a YouTube channel that we follow around agriculture. She says the waiting room is the classroom. It's the place that you really find out who you are in a real deep way. You, you learn things about his nature, you learn things about your nature, and you learn how everything that was spoken over your life is to make you like Jesus, that we would become more like Jesus says the testimony of Jesus is the very spirit of prophecy. The words that we receive should begin this process of forming us into the likeness of his Son. I'm feeling— I feel Yahweh right now all over me, and maybe I'm speaking this to the camera just to remind myself Cuz sometimes those years of waiting become really, really tough because it forces you to ask questions that you were too scared to ask. Like, God, where are you? You say that you're good. This doesn't feel good. You're dangling this promise in front of me and ripping it out You're unfair. And should I go even further to say that maybe a couple cuss words come out when things are stripped away and you're in this waiting period, this classroom between you and Yahweh, and he begins to strip things away where you can have an honest conversation? He's not intimidated by those questions. You're not going to catch him off guard. He actually knows that they're already in your heart and they need to be addressed. I feel like a lot of you that will see this are in this place now, this lingo between— I feel like God has invited me into this, this new world or this new place in him or whatever that is, whatever promise that is. And, and then there's this shaking of that, there's this rearranging, there's this confusion to where's he at, why isn't this happening the way that I thought it was supposed to go. I, I remember hearing You know, one of the last prophetic words that I received when I was in ministry, I held— I was a part of a school of ministry that I really held very dearly. It was very small. You know, there were, you know, 6 students, 6, and I think we had 8 our last year. And there was a community around that. There were a lot of people that came to, you know, our chapel services and and her prayer meetings. And I remember Yahweh asking me to lay that down and to go into the wilderness. That's a really weird prophetic word because I was focused on the ministering to millions, you know, and I had seen the business model of that, of how that works. Of— I know other places that did school of ministries, and you know, you get famous. We had a revival that happened that caught national attention, something, and this is my moment. You know, there's certain people that you see as pillars in the faith that start to pay attention to you and want you to come and speak and all that, all that good stuff, right? Have your face on a poster and you think, I remember that prophetic word. This is my moment to scratch the itch of my ambition and to hear Yahweh say You need to put this on the altar. And I didn't do it for a whole year. Continued to operate in that school, and we had amazing moments in, in his presence. He's good enough to still show up. Um, and then I finally had the courage to go and to leave. Because at the end of that prophetic word was, I hear the prayers of your heart. You want something real, you want something tangible. And I began to have all these passions, you know. I thought if I leave and I, and I, and I sacrifice and I do this grand gesture for the Lord, that I would have weekly meetings with him at my dinner table. He'd walk in the room and I would be the next prophetic voice of, of America and save the planet, right? And it's not saying that that minister to millions prophecy was untrue, but that word had some action to it, and it took years of refining, took years of, of rooting up you know, ambitious things that took hold. I remember walking away from ministry and I was waiting for the best year of my life, and it was the worst year of my life. Worst year of my life. Talking about, you know, people say I cried myself to sleep. I was like, that's not possible. It's very possible to be in such a dark place and so lonely, losing your community just like that, just like that. And to be hidden away and to cry. And you cry so hard that you just eventually tap out, go to sleep, feel like a failure as a husband, feel like a failure as a father. And to say that a prophetic word led you there, like, maybe it wasn't him. Maybe I just wanted to tap out of ministry altogether. Maybe I just wanted to go hide for a while. And there was such grace and mercy because he'll, he'll give you a word, he'll show you some direction, and he's not going to wait on you at the finish line. He is in the midst of your darkness. He's in the midst of your struggle. He's in the midst of your sin, camping out, saying, you and I are going to walk out of this together. So the years go on, and I learn a little bit more of his nature. I learn a little bit more of of who I am in Christ, not who I am as a preacher, who I am as even a father or husband. I'm learning who I am in the body of Christ. And that, that doesn't just involve me. It involves everyone around me to be connected in community that way. And I haven't fully stepped in it. I'm just now learning to be friendly again. I'm learning to be available to friends, and I even now I'm struggling with that. But I know that it's important. I know that that's true wholeness. And I can't achieve wholeness by myself, but it's going to take time. I think, and I believe that I will minister to millions. I think I'll do that with a lot of other people. And I think I'll do that in ways that I don't know. I'm not going to try to define that. I learned that the hard way, but leaning into the process that way, when the delay is there, which it is now, I know that he's in control. I tried to read Habakkuk 2 earlier. Um, Habakkuk 2 says, write the vision, make it plain on tablets so that, so that he, uh, may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time, it hastens to the end. It will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay. And I've, I've learned that this process that I'm in, it, it's getting me to a place where I'm not really worried about the destination anymore. I'm not really worried about where I'm going. I'm more focused on who I'm becoming. I'm becoming less like the person that I thought I was, and I'm becoming more like him, which is the goal. My word will not return to me empty. It has purpose. So I, I talked a lot about my, my personal prophecies that's been spoken over my life, and there's been many. I used to get the John the Baptist one a lot because I had beard and tattoos. Um, that was a common one. You're a John the Baptist. Um, but there are some that really took root, and now the one where I was a kid really took root, that, that we would minister to millions of people. This process has taught me to redefine what ministry is. It may look a lot different than you on a, on a platform, may even look different than what I'm doing now, but I'm leaning into whatever Yahweh wants to do. The second part to this, and I know I took a long time for, for that, but the second part to this is, is almost more important because it's where I'm at now. You can get used to hiding. You can get used to using the process as an excuse not to be active. And there's a time where you're— where I think inactivity in terms of you doing things like being in ministry or being active in those things. I think there's a time to not do those things and to really sit back and be with Yahweh and learn and learn. But there, there has to be a point where you receive a word and you partner with it. Just because something was spoken over you doesn't mean that it's going to automatically happen or fall in your lap. I think of, you know, David Goliath, who we were talking about before, you know, David is assured that he's gonna kill Goliath, but he still has to get the stones. He still has to put them in his slingshot. He still has to show up and throw it at the giant. So there is some activity that you can partake in now, and don't be afraid to fail. There's been countless things because I'm a dreamer. I've dreamed of, you know, I'm supposed to do something important for, for, for God, you know. So I'm going to— I think this business will work, or I think this idea is going to work. I think this play is going to work. You know, my friends would even laugh at that because they'd say, you're a dreamer, you want to do all this cool stuff. I tried to open up a coffee shop in 2020 and it didn't work. There's a lot of things that didn't work. And then I was so sore, I guess, from that. I became like, this is a touchy subject for me. So when I would go through failure, I would just hide away. It was easy for me to hermit away and to be by myself, to recluse and recoil from other people. And just say, you know what, it's not my time yet. There's, there's more things I need to learn. And I completely wrote off the experience of failure. In my mind is I should have never even tried that. What I'm learning now is there's so much about his nature and about my character that evolves through those failures. So don't be afraid to walk through a couple of them. They say, you know, starting a podcast is, is pretty tough, um, especially the first couple ones. They actually say those are going to suck, just keep doing it. And who knows, this may not even have traction, people may not care. And that used to bother me, that used to keep me in this reclusive state. Because I know Yahweh has called me to be vocal now. I know that Yahweh has said it's okay to speak about what you believe because I've put that in you. There's a community of people that are longing for this, that want to hear this, and I'm sitting there so afraid that the people around me won't care. I was so numb to their opinions. I was so fearful of what they may say. You know, how embarrassing will it be to post this on YouTube and have 3 views? My mama, me, and Clay. Maybe my wife won't even watch it. Who cares? Who cares what people think? Who cares what they say? This is about you being perfected into the image of his son. This is about you partnering with the words that were spoken on you, in you, through you. If it means that 3 people watch this video but I made more like Jesus. I think that's an unfair trade. I get the best of that. So I'm thinking, you know, I got to get over this hump of people just not caring or being ineffective. Man, my kids are going to watch this eventually. If this is just a gift for my kids, if this is just a gift to my family, This is what Yahweh has asked us to do. I don't know how long we're going to do it for. Who cares? Because the, the point of it is, is I'm being conformed and I'm partnering with the word that he spoke over my life years ago. And there's so many things that I believe that are different when I was 5 or 6. There's so many things that are different theologically that I believe uh, from the past 5 years, and we're so in a hurry to write off all the past things that we've gone through. No, it's, it's all leading you up to the moment you're in now. So I ask you again, what has he spoken over your life? It may be more than one thing. It may be confusing at first. There's patience. Breathe. Have the courage to believe it. That's the first part. What he said points to Jesus. It changes me into the image of his son. I'm going to have the courage to believe that that was true. And if you believe it, faith without works is dead. There has to be some activity. There has to be some partnership. And there may be a delay, and you have to, to write it in your spirit. If it takes years, if it takes generations— I think about Abraham, who receives a promise to be father's, uh, father of many generations. Have the courage to believe it. Have the courage to partner with it. And for the love of all that is holy, enjoy it. Lean into that process where there's times where you can't help but cry because you just— you see another angle that you didn't see, or you're seeing something change in you. Maybe you speak to your kids different. Maybe you speak to your wife differently than you did before, and there's just something that you can't make happen. You just decided to partner with the process. Maybe, maybe you don't know what you're supposed to do. You received a word, or you received this whisper, and know that he is good and he, he doesn't do abandonment. He won't leave you in that place. He'll test your faith, not in a way of, of proving that you're the best version of you, but he's helping you get there. He's walking with you. So I leave you tonight. I don't know how long I've been going. My coffee's getting cold, so probably a good long while. What has he said to you, and how, how have you partnered with it? I want to know. Send me a message. Let's connect. What's he saying to you? How are you putting that into action? What are you doing right now? Are you afraid to step out? Are you afraid of people's opinions? Are you afraid of offending people or whatever that may be? Even if you fail, It's beautiful. Thank you for watching. Again, love to hear from you. Love to hear some feedback. Love to be a part of your journey. Until next time, see you then. I hear it whisper such beautiful mysteries in the deep. In the deep.