Author: Wayne Johnston

Road circling back

Circling Back

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It was mid-fall, the prairie sky was growing dark and sleet was turning the highways into hockey rinks. I zipped up my jacket, started my 4×4, and steeled myself for the trip. I was circling back. ‘Circling back’ is an idiom from the 80s corporate world meaning ‘to avoid an unpleasant or unwanted topic’ by circling back and talking about this later, much later, or maybe never. In the military sense, it means ‘to reverse direction,’ when scouts would move ahead of the main force and then having spotted an enemy, they would circle back the same way they came and report what they saw. Sometimes to move forward, you have to go back. I was circling back to meet up with a group of people where fellowship was a challenge for all of us, me and them. As I traveled, I listened to Christian music and did lots of praying. For years, I felt like an outsider in this group. I felt like a Zebra and never knew if I was one of the …

What does it mean to be perfect, as God is perfect?

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Our church has had a theme of ‘sowing and reaping’ for some time. Last week, as an elder, it was my turn to share part of it, with my own unique style? So I started with this passage from Matthew: 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is …

A Prophetic Word: ‘Gen Radical’

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I’m packing as I’m writing this prophetic word out. I am heading to a conference in a day and God gave me the following word that I hope to be able to share there. Editor’s note: The following prophetic word by Wayne Johnston was delivered on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023: ____________________ God is looking for a generation that will be radical for Him. Young David was radical. While King Saul cared what man thought, David was only concerned with God’s opinion. God is raising up a radical generation. Elijah on Mt. Carmel was radical at 450 to one odds, but God…. You may also have to stand alone in your family, your team, your university class or workplace, but like Elijah, you are not alone. God is looking for a radical generation to stand for Him. When God in His anger told Moses that he would have to continue towards the Promised Land without God’s manifest Presence, Moses the radical said if You don’t go with us, then I won’t go either. God is calling …

The One-Dollar Mission Trip

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4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (John 15:4 NKJV) In John 15:1-11, we find the famous ‘abide’ chapter where in 11 verses we find the command to ‘abide’ about nine times. I think God may be trying to tell us something! This passage clearly makes the point that if you want to bear fruit in the Kingdom of God, then you need to abide in Christ. In order to understand this passage even better in our day, I like to use the analogy of a garden hose. You may be the most expensive, 50′ hose with stainless steel ends and fresh from the store, or you may be an old and worn-out 15′ hose from a garage sale, but we are both equally useless until we are plugged in the faucet. Hoses are made for one reason to abide in the tap. I may be an old-worn hose, with rusted ends, but …

From Ashes to Life

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Men, you know what it is like to be challenged by your wife in an area of your life, right. I had it happen to me a while back as it seems I was becoming too negative and cynical over past ‘church’ involvements. I was wanting my pound of flesh as I felt people owed me for the wrongs they had done to me. While ‘Da boss’ was lovingly encouraging me to deal with these past issues, God showed up on her side. Come on, two against one isn’t fair. As my wife was talking to me about this, I received a vision from God. The vision consisted of me trying to walk from a place filled with bushes and brambles down to a nice, sun-lit open field. But my foot was hooked on a piece of barbed wire, an offense from my past, and I was being slowed down in my walk to this new place. But more than that I was also trying to drag this barbed wire and brambles from my past …

Shammah: David’s mighty warrior who stood his ground

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Shammah is one of my favorite heroes from the Old Testament. He was a member of a group of men who followed David to the cave of Adullam. At this point, David was a young adult fleeing for his life from an unstable King Saul. David had years earlier killed his giants, lions, bears and under Saul, many Philistines. And even though the prophet Samuel had declared David to be the next king, he was running for his life from the ‘old guard’ in Israel. The warriors who had gathered with David were part of his 3-D club. They were in distress, in debt and discontented: David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was[a]discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him. (1 Samuel 22:1-2 NKJV) There were originally …

Wayne Johnston: A prophetic word for 2023

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A few days ago while celebrating Christmas early with family, I woke up after 3 am because of pain in my shoulder from an injury. I did not want to get up and disturb others, so I raised my arm before God and in hushed tones started to worship and pray. During this time of brokenness, God gave me the following vision for 2023. The next day, I shared it with a church leader where it resonated, and later I felt it was not just a word for his church, but the Body of Christ as a whole. The Vision I saw the master of a vineyard carefully looking over the grape harvest. He lovingly and carefully picked one ripe purple grape and put it on a shelf to admire its perfect mature form. It represented the perfectly formed mature fruit. It had everything in its right place. It was a fully grown grape that had it all together, but it lacked one thing. The master of the vineyard lovingly and carefully picked it up …

In celebration of the church’s 3 main holidays, Christmas, Easter/Passover and Oct 31?

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Christians all over the world would probably agree that the celebration of Christ’s birth and His death and Resurrection are the two most important days in the church’s calendar. But allow me to now add a third day, Oct. 31. No, I am not referring to Halloween or even All Saints’ Day. Halloween, birthed in pagan fears, has to be the worst thing for believers to celebrate. Overindulging in sugar and wearing silly outfits often glorifying evil is strange because evil does exist. Years ago when I did security for a large corporate hotel, Halloween was the worst day of the year for the drunks, fights and all-around mayhem. Yet, we, the church, already have this date, Oct. 31, to celebrate. It is the most significant date in church history since the Book of Revelation was written. The problem is that we collectively have all but forgotten what we have and where we came from. Most Christian historians and theologians agree that the Protestant Reformation started on Oct. 31 in 1517. On that auspicious day, …

The Pit and the Path

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In Nehemiah 2:12-16, there is an interesting story. After arriving at the ruins of Jerusalem, Nehemiah desired to inspect the damage. At one point, he must have got off his sure-footed donkey, because of the rubble “Then, I went on to the Fountain gate, and to the King’s Pool, but was no room for the animal that was under me to pass.” (Nehemiah 2:14 NKJV) Nehemiah wanted to check out the damage to the walls himself. He needed eyes on the problem and did it secretly without others unduly influencing his survey. He soon learned how bad it was. Before you can enjoy the blessings and refreshments of the Fountain’s Pool, you must clear away the rubble. This was an ancient problem, played out many times and in many ways. The word in Hebrew for rubble means, ‘ashes, dust, earth, ground, mortar, rubbish.” The root word literally means ‘to be dust.’ Nehemiah understood that the issue was more than just a physical one, but it was also about people. Sometimes, the path to our call …

Back to basics

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Well, it finally happened, I got COVID. During a heat wave in August, I am well ….. sick! I now understand what the phrase ‘fellowship of His suffering’ means. So on my way to the Futon, I randomly grabbed one of my martial arts books off our bookcase. Just something to read and get my mind off the ugh… I have found it strange, that I have had very few prophetic words concerning direction during this pandemic, but I got a word for the church while reading this ‘random’ martial arts book. The book by Richard Kim, called ‘The Weaponless Warriors,’ is a series of stories about an Okinawan Karate master from the past. Reading a book, while your eyes feel like they are running with what appears to be gorilla glue, is not fun. But I randomly read one chapter and could not see past the goo to read anymore. I initially thought this would be a good story to share with my karate class. Then I felt like God saying, how about sharing …

Weeds in the driveway

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Almost one year ago, my wife and I plus our dog moved to a new home. This once beautiful large lot on the edge of town had become overgrown with bushes, dead trees, and huge wild roses. I have been spending months cleaning out dead trees, garbage, and weeds. Much of this work only requires brawn and not too much thinking. One day, I had the idea to talk to God about my plans for the property; I needed wisdom. One of my winter jobs was to remove a very large raccoon nest; at the same time, I needed to fill a low area on our land. I felt like God was saying, don’t burn it, use it in the low area. Ha, how come I didn’t think of that? Like I said, I’m good at moving the junk, just not thinking about it. Then spring came, and I could not put off the large paved driveway with all the cracks in it any longer. I got several pails of cold patch pothole filler and …

The Day God Ran

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Years ago, while I was doing security work, an off-duty police friend came by for a coffee. He was wearing a funny t-shirt with the logo: “Bomb Squad – if you see me running, try to keep up.” When those in charge run and panic, where does that leave us? Biblical theology makes it clear that God is omniscient and omnipresent – He knows all and is everywhere. God is sovereign. So, it leads me to the question – If you are God, the almighty Creator of the universe, do you ever have to run, or be in a hurry? Christians often say that God is never early and never late, and Jesus, while He walked on the earth, never seemed to either be in a hurry or panic about anything. I don’t remember Jesus ever running to do anything, ever! I have never found a reference to God being in a hurry either in the Old or New Testaments – except in one passage – Luke 15. Luke 15 contains three similar parables, the …

The Deadly Ditch of Gnosticism

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Many years ago, when learning about Gnosticism while at Bible college, I wondered what the big deal was with it in our day – how is it relevant? Much of the New Testament after Acts deals with keeping the church out of two ditches – legalism (the Law) and Gnosticism (special knowledge) Legalism was trying to add the Law on top of grace. Acts 15 reveals one of the pivotal challenges that the early church went through to deal with this problem. We are saved by what Christ did (justified by faith), not by our works. Gnosticism on the other side of the road was the adding of “special knowledge” on top of grace. It is defined as “an early heresy based on knowledge instead of faith” (NKJV dictionary) And “knowledge” is not necessarily truth! When I was at Bible college, it was the late 70s and 80s. Cults and secret societies were very fringe, so it wasn’t really an issue? Yet so much of the New Testament deals with warning the church about both …

Prophetic Journey #16: From the Hand or the Heart

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You can always spot the fridge of a proud parent or grandparent, covered with photos and artwork of children. My wife and I are no different. The great value in our granddaughter’s art is not that it’s from the hand of a great artist, but that it is 100% from the heart. The heart trumps the hand! Matthew 19:14 says, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Our response to our heavenly Father must be one focused on His heart, not just what comes from His hand. Two brothers in the Bible illustrate this perfectly – Jacob and Esau. Romans 9:13 says, “Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated.” Without getting into Calvinism vs. Arminianism, I just want to look at what these two very different men focused on. Jacob, for all his grasping for things and other faults, had a heart for God. On the other hand, we see in Genesis 25 that Esau not only sold his birthright …

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Inner healing: My story of three pelicans

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In my previous article, I wrote how Jesus wants to bring healing to our inner hurts and when the Lord does this He often takes us back to the point when we were first hurt. Jesus did this for Peter through a charcoal fire and the Lord did it for me through three pelicans. In the summer of 2018 I was at a church senior camp, enjoying all the fun a “senior” can get away with – kayaking, swimming, climbing a climbing wall and practicing karate, as well as tormenting people with a water gun! In the midst of this, I had no idea what God had in mind to complete my healing. Although I had experienced significant healing in the 90’s, there was more to be done. One day at camp the movie “I Can Only Imagine” was going to be shown. It’s a fantastic must-see movie about the life of Bart Miller and what led to his writing the song. I had not seen it yet, so was looking forward to spending the …

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Inner healing: Peter’s ‘charcoal fire’

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Have you ever had a sports injury that put a stop to your active life? Sometimes once the medical treatments have been done and we have a clean bill of health to continue our sport, the fear of not really being healed or of re-injury can cause us to freeze in our tracks. It started with a real physical injury, but the real problem has become an inner one, a fear of moving forward, an “infirmity.” We can look healthy on the outside, but inside be broken with fear, doubts, anger, insecurities, etc. The gospels use similar phrases to describe how Jesus ministered in different communities, phrases like, “healed the sick,” “forgave sins,” “cast out demons,” “preached the good news,” and “healed people of their infirmities.” Most Christians can easily define the first four phrases, but many are not sure exactly what an infirmity is. Matthew 8:17 says, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.” Other references to infirmities can …

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Your Martha Meltdown Moment Part 2: Broken Glass

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This is my meltdown moment. In the 80s and early 90s I worked in the private security sector. My goal was to be hired with the city police, and I had taken a number of policing/security courses to that end. Being a cop was my dream, not God’s, or my wife’s. I did not hear God say “yes” or “no” to my dream, but He let me scratch my itch for a time. But in December 1990 everything changed. I was working as a loss prevention officer in a large department store. It was a busy Saturday two weeks before Christmas. I watched a tall male pick up a Nintendo unit, put it under his arm and walk out of the store into the attached mall. I started after him, he saw me coming, and dropped the game. I stepped over the Nintendo, still chasing him, and seeing me follow him, he ran full speed out of the back door of the mall. I was starting to catch up to him as he ran out …

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Your Martha Meltdown Moment Part 1: Rusty Dreams

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Trusting God at times can be a real challenge, especially when your dreams seem to have turned to rust.   We all go through dark times when we must verbalize two things: God is Lord, and He is good. I will trust Him even when I don’t understand and it seems too late – the rust is too far gone! Psalm 42:10 says, “My enemies reproach me, while they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” During these dark times the enemy loves to use people to taunt us, questioning, “If God really loves you He would not have allowed these things to happen. Where is God?” To answer, we can leave the Bible open to the book of Job. God is God, and He is good! If my dreams seem to have turned to rust, and I picture the word “rust”, and bring the cross into the picture, right at the beginning, we now have the word, “trust.” It’s always about trust. We walk by faith, full stop. Ask yourself, “Is this …

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La intersección

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English: The Intersection Hace unas semanas, en una reunión de oración semanal, tuve una palabra profética para un joven. Después de compartir la vision que había recibido con el, recorde que tenía que aplicarla a mi propia vida. Comencé a orar por la dirección de su vida e inmediatamente Dios me dio esta “película” – vision- para él. Lo vi en su vehículo parando en una señal de alto en una intersección donde tenía dos o tres opciones para su destino. ¿Qué dirección debería el tomar? Luego ví la decison que Dios quería que el tomara. Lo vi estacionarse al costado del camino, poner algunas canciones de alabanza y comenzar a adorar a Dios. Él debía hacer declaraciones sobre quién y qué es Dios: Él es el Señor, Él lo sabe todo y El es más grande que todas nuestras circunstancias. Él sabe lo que necesitamos y cómo llegar allí. Lo que pasó después no fue lo que esperaba. Cuando la alabanza  y las declaraciones subieron como vapor al cielo, entonces  comenzó a llover. Toda …

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The Intersection

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A few weeks ago at a weekly prayer meeting I had a prophetic word for a young man. After I shared the picture I had received with him, I knew I needed to remember it and apply it to my own life. I began to pray for direction for his life and immediately God gave me this “movie” for him. I saw him in his vehicle pulling up to a stop sign at an intersection where he had two or three options for his destiny. Which direction was he to take? Next I saw the action God wanted him to take. I saw him park at the side of the road, put on some worship tunes, and begin to worship God. He was to make declarations about who and what God is – He is Lord, He knows all, and is greater than all our circumstances. He knows what we need and how to get there. What happened next was not what I would have expected. As the worship and declarations went up like vapor …

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Being centered: A personal struggle to belong

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Joseph is one of my favorite Bible characters. After studying his life for the past year, I have developed a love/hate relationship with this Old Testament hero, both for the same reasons. He stood faithful in God, no matter what happened. No matter who lied or betrayed him, no matter how far down in the pit life pushed him, he kept serving and looking to God. He stayed centered on God when most of us would have given up on God and our dreams. But I want to look at one aspect of Joseph’s life that is often not discussed but is both encouraging and challenging. Most people agree that Joseph came from a very dysfunctional home: 9 older jealous brothers, 3 step-moms, and a doting father who was clued-out as to the effect that his favoritism was having on his family. After studying Joseph’s life, what I see is a loner. He was a loner but never alone. He was too Egyptian for his family and too Jewish for the Egyptians. At the end …

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Centered Like Clay

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One of the best definitions of intercession I have heard goes something like this: “Intercession is not about defeating the devil in a particular battle; it is about getting into the face of God, with the defeat of the devil as the by-product.” Reading the many accounts of Jesus’ ministry to desperate people reveals something wonderful about God’s character. It seems that the more irreverent and noisy, and the more into Jesus’ face and space someone was, the more Jesus liked it. He even went so far as to touch a leper before He had healed him. Yuck! (Mark 1:40-45) What a wonderful Lord we serve, who beckons society’s “lepers” to come to Him, and get into God’s face and be redeemed! My question is, how centered on God can you get? Centered Like Clay The term “centered” means different things to people of different backgrounds. From doctors setting bones to machinists working on a lathe, being centered and focused is critical to the success of any endeavor. I want to look at two Old …

Called to be a superhero with flaws?

Prophetic Journey #15: Last Word

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[This is part of a series of articles on the ministry of the prophet and gift of prophecy.] God desires an army of broken and weak supermen and women to change the world. In II Corinthians 12:7-10 we read about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Verse 9 says, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” In many ways – pedigree, education and position – Paul was a heavy-weight, a “superman” if you will. But it was Paul’s thorn, his weakness, that drove him closer to God. Being used by God in the prophetic, or in any gift, is not about our greatness, but His grace. Several years ago God gave me a disturbing vision of myself. He showed me a before and after picture of me as a vessel. The first picture was what looked like an empty tin can with a number of nails and nasty looking screws sticking into it from the outside. God told me, this was you. The next …

Michael the Arch Angel battling Satan by Luca Giordano (1632-1705): Wikipedia

Prophetic Journey #14: The Angel and the demon

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[This is part of a series of articles on the ministry of the prophet and the gift of prophecy.] As we journey in the prophetic, we are involved in the supernatural realm, and our perceptions can help or hinder us. Fear is something that can definitely hinder. Even as a young Christian I was oppressed with fear, including a fear of the devil.   Somewhere in my family’s past there was a very dark shadow.   As I got older I still had an unhealthy fear of the enemy. Several years ago my wife and I prayed for a friend who had a number of issues in her life. I got a vision while praying for her. I saw a demon sitting on top of a well. God revealed that she had a Christian inheritance in her family, but the enemy was doing all he could to keep her from accessing that godly well. I have only ever had one vision of a demon and this was it. This demon was a small stupid looking imp, and …

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Prophetic Journey #13: Prophetic props

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For several years I helped to teach introductory level classes dealing with the prophetic. These classes were divided into two parts – a teaching session, and a practical application. We often had people come who had little to no prophetic experience, who just felt they should be there. One of my greatest joys was seeing these people come alive in God, realizing that they could hear from God! When I attended Bible college our classes always had opportunity for budding preachers to practice preaching and teaching in a safe environment. Why should it not be the same for those stepping out in the prophetic? In teaching the introductory prophetic classes I enjoyed coming up with practical exercises using props. One of these props was an empty chair. I remember putting our prime minister’s name on a slip of paper, putting it into an envelope, and putting the envelope on the chair. The group gathered around the chair. They were told that the name of a real person was in the envelope, but weren’t told who …

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Prophetic Journey #12: Using keys

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[This is the twelfth in a series of articles on the ministry of the prophet and gift of prophecy.] Years ago I worked doing security in a large corporate hotel. When I came on duty I would sign out the large set of keys that I would carry with me during my shift. I had keys for every part of the hotel except the manager’s office. I had authority from the manager to open or close any door I needed to at any time I chose. With so many keys it took some time to learn which key fit into which locked door, especially in the dark. And, I needed to be sure to never lose the keys – guarding their safe keeping was a huge responsibility. My journey in God has been very much like being given spiritual keys and learning how to use them. In an emergency in the darkness you have to know which key fits which door in order to “save the day.” Over the years God has taught me kingdom …

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Prophetic Journey #11: You Can’t Draw Water from an Empty Well

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[This is the eleventh in a series of articles on the ministry of the prophet and the gift of prophecy.] When I was first called to the prophetic ministry, I remember the admonition to not only know the Word, but to live it, and have it as a great well to draw out living water to refresh others. In the past number of years, at the beginning of the year I often have gotten “marching orders” for that year for an area to study, a book of the Bible, like Amos, or a person’s life, like Joseph. As examples, here are a few of the lessons that I learned from these studies. Amos was a farmer, and spoke the language of a farmer. God used his rural background to speak repentance to the northern capital of Bethel. God does not always send us to our “own” people. The book of Isaiah is almost like the whole Bible in one book. Isaiah is in some ways the opposite of Amos – he was an educated blue-blooded …