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Nate Johnson

CAN YOU HANDLE A DIFFERENT MANTLE?

Nate Johnson

CAN YOU HANDLE A DIFFERENT MANTLE?

CAN YOU HANDLE A DIFFERENT MANTLE?

A few days ago as I was driving around praying I heard this question;


“Don’t apologize for your different mantle.”


Instantly I thought of Elisha who In a moment had a new mantle thrown over him and his whole world changed. 


He slayed his oxen and his plowing tools and said goodbye to his family to be Elijah’s protege. 


We don’t see it in the Bible, but that could have been a movie in those unspoken lines right there. 


Imagine everything shifting that dramatically in your life that quickly? Yet you have been there and many are there right now. 


That process can be a shock to the system, adjusting to so many new surroundings but even more vividly, dealing with the internal changes. 


You see, when God throws a new mantle over you, it’s not just about a new anointing and role change.


It leads you into an internal rewiring and initiates a season of crossing over from one capacity into the office you have been prepared for. 


And that’s the messy place many are in right now. 


But to you? You just feel lost or like something is missing. 


But nothing is missing, except the juice you had for the old thing running out. 


The oil is producing in the new thing God is highlighting to you, if you choose to see it. 


But the problem or challenges in this process comes if we refuse to recognize or transition over. 


For instance, where the grace on what you were doing or the way you were doing it lifts, but the longing for the familiar keeps you at a plow you are no longer anointed for. 


Refusing to adjust our lives to accomodate the new mantle can lead us into feeling like God has removed His hand on our lives when that is not the case. 


Mantles are upgrades not downgrades, but are we willing to surrender our desires for what He knows is best for us? 


And for many this is hard because their identities are also wrapped up in the old mantle and that can be hard to separate from. 


“But I’m a pastor and this is my role and what I do and what people expect me to do!” 


But what if you suddenly dream of nations and you can’t deny a pull in a different direction? Will you surrender to it, or stay stuck in the expectation you and others have placed on you? Even if it means stagnancy? 


No, you burn the plow and you adjust. 


But here's the thing, it’s not just you that has to adjust to your new mantle, but those around you. 


Those who have known you for a long time have been used to you operating a certain way, thinking a certain way, and being focussed in a specific direction. 


Those you use to run with, may not understand you, or even recognize you as you put on a different mantle on. 


It may cause them to feel like you are being disingenuous or being something you aren’t. 


But they don’t know that God has shifted your life in a moment. 


They see this new mantle and it looks like a costume, but it’s the most authentic you that you can be. 


So let me ask you again, can you handle a different mantle? 


Are you diagnosing this season properly? 


Lord I pray for those in this shift right now, out of one anointing and capacity and into another. Help them navigate their own personal process well, the relational process, and their process to adjust to your leading well in Jesus name!





Sow A Seed

RELATED prophetic WORDS:

RELATED prophetic WORDS:

By Nate Johnston February 11, 2025
Christy felt it was important to keep people in the loop with us as we are still settling here in CA. (Boxes still around us but definitely on the other side of months of transition now.. whew!) Excited to see what God unfolds here. It’s bizarre that after all the years we have lived in California we feel like such novices when it comes to what God did here. I know what He is about to do.. and doing, but maybe a lack of knowing is a gift because we are approaching this season with childlike wonder and hunger to see the simple gospel reach the hurting and for an Acts 2 to begin on these shores and all nations of the earth. We are waking every day here with a sense of “your will be done” not wanting to fall in the trap of just doing what we feel needs to be done or doing what we have always done. We also know we aren’t the answer but that we can simply be the hands and feet of Jesus alongside many others who have toiled the ground here for many generations. And we are acutely aware of how we are standing on the shoulders of giants right now. We feel like novices. But I’m ok with that! Dreams have been nonstop since arriving like pieces to a puzzle, and like a constant stream of prayer points. God truly is stirring us up because He is birthing something incredible that HE is doing. It feels ripe. Like the days in 2009/2010 when we used to drive through the canyons and pray “WAKEY WAKEY” we have been doing the same here and feeling that what God 50 years ago during the Jesus people movement is about to happen again! A raw, grassroots revival bringing in the lost and returning the church back to being the hospital and sending place again! Anyways back to the story of the last few days; In the midst of all of of this stirring Lou calls us and asks if we would like to see him Friday as he was coming for Carol Wimber's memorial, so we pick him up from the airport and he is carrying three Lonnie Frisbee books! After a morning of prayer and talking about the history of prayer in the region. As he is talking I suddenly go into a vision where I see the coastline of California and I see the missions lit on fire. Then I hear “Light the fires of prayer in Calfornia!” Not knowing the history of the missions or what they even represent prophetically, Lou began to tell us about his prayer walks to the missions and their significance in being places of prayer. I decided to go join Lou for the memorial as he felt that it was important one of us were there. As we arrived a man approached Lou and we soon realized it was Lonnie Frisbees brother Stan! At the end of the memorial Stan approached me and said that he felt to pray for me. I have no words for what he spoke directly from the throne in those few moments except that God was trying to send a massive message, not just to us but to many others.....
By Nate Johnston February 4, 2025
This feels like a very simple yet direct word for the pioneers out there this week, and I believe it will be a continual theme for the year. It feels as though the Lord is setting us on the right path right now. He has been shifting us off the wrong track and onto the right one, aligning us with the right conditions and out of the round-the-mountain-goose-chase many have been on. It almost feels like God is bringing us into an environment or season where things around us finally work or connect. It no longer feels like we are living in clutter or at least God is beginning the process of getting us out of it. We can no longer live bombarded by a constant, overwhelming number of influences and distractions on a daily basis. For the last four to seven years, our pioneering journey has felt noisy, filled with constant swirling chaos. It’s normal in that part of the pilgrimage. It’s settling sail with little to nothing to go on. It’s the season of trial and error - learning to hear His voice and lead as best as you can. That’s why 2024 felt difficult because at the end of that road it feels like it’s the culmination of some wins and advances but so many more painful outcomes to navigate, regrets, and even failures. But coming out of that, the Lord wants to establish us. He wants to set us up for victory in our pioneering efforts so that we are no longer expending so much energy defending ourselves or constantly being on the offensive due to a lack of wisdom in certain situations, circumstances, or decisions we have made. Over the past few years, we have been moving toward a new level of maturity. I believe 2024 was the year of realizing what was not going to work and what would. Now, in 2025, the Lord is bringing us into a place of settling and clarity in key areas, our people, our mission, and our calling. Many of us have gone through a season of redefining our calling. As pioneers, we tend to see needs, recognize things that must be done, and take action. However, not all of these tasks are what the Lord has called us to do. Many are simply things that need to be done by someone, but not necessarily by us. The Lord is teaching us to discern what is from Him and what is simply a distraction. This also applies to the people in our lives. As highly empathetic individuals, we naturally see the needs of those around us. We see hurting people, and we see those who want to run with us. Because we have experienced seasons of isolation, times of feeling like an outsider, there is a part of us that craves companionship. We don’t want to feel like a Lone Ranger right? As a result, we may gravitate toward people who validate or flatter us. We may also be drawn to those who are needy and require help. While these things are not inherently wrong, they can drain our energy and prevent us from fulfilling our main mission. This is something we must address. Right now, the Lord is calling us to establish boundaries. He is leading us to greater wisdom and discernment regarding who we align with, who we pour into, and who we allow into our lives. In our desire to avoid loneliness, we have sometimes allowed “bad apples” into our circles. But the Lord is dealing with these misalignments now. Another challenge pioneers face is our familiarity with mess. We have spent so long dealing with chaos that it has become normal to us. We have accepted clutter and disorder as part of our calling. Some of us have even come to associate progress with drama, as if things must be chaotic in order to be “The Lord” But I truly believe this next season of pioneering will be different. It will be a season of building from a place of peace and rest. The Lord is bringing the right people into our lives, and He is making our assignments clear. We are shifting from a pilgrimage phase of pioneering into a settling phase. This means we are coming to the end of searching for the right location or environment. Migrations are still happening but that will begin to change as God anchors people. Now, it is time to plant, establish, and build the things we have been talking about for the last seven years. At the beginning of this year, I felt a strong warning from the Lord: “Do you really want to go around the mountain again?” There are areas in our lives where the Lord has been calling us to maturity. Yet, it is easy to fall back into old patterns, opening the floodgates once again to unnecessary drama, noise, and distractions. The Lord is asking: “Do you really want to go around that mountain again? Do you really want to keep expending energy filtering out the noise just to hear My voice?” I know the answer is no. The wisdom of the Lord in this season is clear: We must filter better. We must discern better. We must step out of the cesspool of drama, noise, and constant demands. We must break free from the need to appease people and from our own need for affirmation from the wrong places. We must embrace the truth that less is more. We must work smarter, not harder. I believe the Lord wants me to pray today for pioneers, that a great level of discernment and wisdom would come upon your life in this next season. Write this down in a journal: People, Assignment, and Heart. The Lord is calling you to govern and steward these areas well. He is calling you to guard your heart well. He is calling you to steward your one true calling well. He is calling you to nurture the small community of people He has placed around you. As you do this, you have permission to block out everything else. Focus on His face. This will ensure that you are no longer caught in the enemy’s wild goose chase, constantly going around the same mountain, losing time, losing joy, and nearly losing your divine calling. It is time to move forward with a high altitude, spiritual and emotional aptitude, and a clarity and peace that only comes by getting off the broken carnival car of demonic distraction and coming back in step with Jesus. I prophesy, you will not go round the mountain in 2025 in Jesus name! 
By Nate Johnston February 11, 2025
Christy felt it was important to keep people in the loop with us as we are still settling here in CA. (Boxes still around us but definitely on the other side of months of transition now.. whew!) Excited to see what God unfolds here. It’s bizarre that after all the years we have lived in California we feel like such novices when it comes to what God did here. I know what He is about to do.. and doing, but maybe a lack of knowing is a gift because we are approaching this season with childlike wonder and hunger to see the simple gospel reach the hurting and for an Acts 2 to begin on these shores and all nations of the earth. We are waking every day here with a sense of “your will be done” not wanting to fall in the trap of just doing what we feel needs to be done or doing what we have always done. We also know we aren’t the answer but that we can simply be the hands and feet of Jesus alongside many others who have toiled the ground here for many generations. And we are acutely aware of how we are standing on the shoulders of giants right now. We feel like novices. But I’m ok with that! Dreams have been nonstop since arriving like pieces to a puzzle, and like a constant stream of prayer points. God truly is stirring us up because He is birthing something incredible that HE is doing. It feels ripe. Like the days in 2009/2010 when we used to drive through the canyons and pray “WAKEY WAKEY” we have been doing the same here and feeling that what God 50 years ago during the Jesus people movement is about to happen again! A raw, grassroots revival bringing in the lost and returning the church back to being the hospital and sending place again! Anyways back to the story of the last few days; In the midst of all of of this stirring Lou calls us and asks if we would like to see him Friday as he was coming for Carol Wimber's memorial, so we pick him up from the airport and he is carrying three Lonnie Frisbee books! After a morning of prayer and talking about the history of prayer in the region. As he is talking I suddenly go into a vision where I see the coastline of California and I see the missions lit on fire. Then I hear “Light the fires of prayer in Calfornia!” Not knowing the history of the missions or what they even represent prophetically, Lou began to tell us about his prayer walks to the missions and their significance in being places of prayer. I decided to go join Lou for the memorial as he felt that it was important one of us were there. As we arrived a man approached Lou and we soon realized it was Lonnie Frisbees brother Stan! At the end of the memorial Stan approached me and said that he felt to pray for me. I have no words for what he spoke directly from the throne in those few moments except that God was trying to send a massive message, not just to us but to many others.....
By Nate Johnston February 4, 2025
This feels like a very simple yet direct word for the pioneers out there this week, and I believe it will be a continual theme for the year. It feels as though the Lord is setting us on the right path right now. He has been shifting us off the wrong track and onto the right one, aligning us with the right conditions and out of the round-the-mountain-goose-chase many have been on. It almost feels like God is bringing us into an environment or season where things around us finally work or connect. It no longer feels like we are living in clutter or at least God is beginning the process of getting us out of it. We can no longer live bombarded by a constant, overwhelming number of influences and distractions on a daily basis. For the last four to seven years, our pioneering journey has felt noisy, filled with constant swirling chaos. It’s normal in that part of the pilgrimage. It’s settling sail with little to nothing to go on. It’s the season of trial and error - learning to hear His voice and lead as best as you can. That’s why 2024 felt difficult because at the end of that road it feels like it’s the culmination of some wins and advances but so many more painful outcomes to navigate, regrets, and even failures. But coming out of that, the Lord wants to establish us. He wants to set us up for victory in our pioneering efforts so that we are no longer expending so much energy defending ourselves or constantly being on the offensive due to a lack of wisdom in certain situations, circumstances, or decisions we have made. Over the past few years, we have been moving toward a new level of maturity. I believe 2024 was the year of realizing what was not going to work and what would. Now, in 2025, the Lord is bringing us into a place of settling and clarity in key areas, our people, our mission, and our calling. Many of us have gone through a season of redefining our calling. As pioneers, we tend to see needs, recognize things that must be done, and take action. However, not all of these tasks are what the Lord has called us to do. Many are simply things that need to be done by someone, but not necessarily by us. The Lord is teaching us to discern what is from Him and what is simply a distraction. This also applies to the people in our lives. As highly empathetic individuals, we naturally see the needs of those around us. We see hurting people, and we see those who want to run with us. Because we have experienced seasons of isolation, times of feeling like an outsider, there is a part of us that craves companionship. We don’t want to feel like a Lone Ranger right? As a result, we may gravitate toward people who validate or flatter us. We may also be drawn to those who are needy and require help. While these things are not inherently wrong, they can drain our energy and prevent us from fulfilling our main mission. This is something we must address. Right now, the Lord is calling us to establish boundaries. He is leading us to greater wisdom and discernment regarding who we align with, who we pour into, and who we allow into our lives. In our desire to avoid loneliness, we have sometimes allowed “bad apples” into our circles. But the Lord is dealing with these misalignments now. Another challenge pioneers face is our familiarity with mess. We have spent so long dealing with chaos that it has become normal to us. We have accepted clutter and disorder as part of our calling. Some of us have even come to associate progress with drama, as if things must be chaotic in order to be “The Lord” But I truly believe this next season of pioneering will be different. It will be a season of building from a place of peace and rest. The Lord is bringing the right people into our lives, and He is making our assignments clear. We are shifting from a pilgrimage phase of pioneering into a settling phase. This means we are coming to the end of searching for the right location or environment. Migrations are still happening but that will begin to change as God anchors people. Now, it is time to plant, establish, and build the things we have been talking about for the last seven years. At the beginning of this year, I felt a strong warning from the Lord: “Do you really want to go around the mountain again?” There are areas in our lives where the Lord has been calling us to maturity. Yet, it is easy to fall back into old patterns, opening the floodgates once again to unnecessary drama, noise, and distractions. The Lord is asking: “Do you really want to go around that mountain again? Do you really want to keep expending energy filtering out the noise just to hear My voice?” I know the answer is no. The wisdom of the Lord in this season is clear: We must filter better. We must discern better. We must step out of the cesspool of drama, noise, and constant demands. We must break free from the need to appease people and from our own need for affirmation from the wrong places. We must embrace the truth that less is more. We must work smarter, not harder. I believe the Lord wants me to pray today for pioneers, that a great level of discernment and wisdom would come upon your life in this next season. Write this down in a journal: People, Assignment, and Heart. The Lord is calling you to govern and steward these areas well. He is calling you to guard your heart well. He is calling you to steward your one true calling well. He is calling you to nurture the small community of people He has placed around you. As you do this, you have permission to block out everything else. Focus on His face. This will ensure that you are no longer caught in the enemy’s wild goose chase, constantly going around the same mountain, losing time, losing joy, and nearly losing your divine calling. It is time to move forward with a high altitude, spiritual and emotional aptitude, and a clarity and peace that only comes by getting off the broken carnival car of demonic distraction and coming back in step with Jesus. I prophesy, you will not go round the mountain in 2025 in Jesus name! 
By Nate Johnson February 3, 2025
For the last week, I have felt an intercession in my spirit for the emerging breed of prophets that are rising up. I remember being at a massive prophetic summit in 2018 when I went into a vision. I saw an older generation of prophets and apostles opening up the gates, opening the doors of a massive church, and they were calling in the next generation of prophets to arise. I saw them coming in, and they were covered in rags, yet they carried the fire of the Lord on their tongues. As soon as they stepped inside the building, the older generation of prophets almost regretted what they had done. “Oh, this isn’t what we expected them to be. This is not what we wanted in here.” They wanted polished. They wanted suits. They wanted the image. They also wanted praise. And so, this group of prophets was turned away. I stood there in the vision, my heart sinking, knowing that the future of what God wanted to do in the church would require a healthy generation of prophets, young and old, not removing the older generation, but rather bringing them into partnership with something fresh that God was doing. For the last six to seven years, I have been praying and interceding for this next generation of emerging prophets to arise. I have seen the coming and going of trends, voices stepping out of the wilderness, only to be shut down quickly by the gatekeepers, the prophetic police, territorial prophetic guardians, wardens, and apostolic wolves. I have seen it time and time again. I have walked through it myself. It is not an easy road as a prophetic voice, especially when there is a lack of mothering and fathering in the prophetic movement. It is a difficult road, and only a few seem to make it through to the other side. But something is shifting... An emerging prophetic company has arisen, one with boldness and unbridled zeal to step onto the scene and establish what no one else is establishing. This is a company of prophets that recognizes that there is a vacuum to be filled. It is like the sons of the prophets in 2 Kings 6:1-2, who recognized that their dwelling was too small and that it was time to build something bigger. “Look now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us. Please, let us go to the Jordan, and let every man take a beam from there, and let us make there a place where we may dwell.” (2 Kings 6:1-2) We are in the midst of empires crumbling, people who have operated with “flies in the ointment” (Ecclesiastes 10:1) are falling. This new breed of prophets recognizes that if they do not step out, ignore the fear of man, and begin to build, then: Who will be the marker for this generation? Who will point the way and lead the body of Christ forward? Who will break the stereotypes and religious, whitewashed dogma of past regimes? Who will establish something pure? Something Has Shifted My friends, in 2025, this new breed that has been underground for years—coming in and out, in and out, in and out, has finally arrived at a place of boldness and courage. They have walked through deep orphan mindsets and Jezebelic attacks, but now they are ready to step out and be who God has called them to be. In these last few weeks, I have heard the Lord say: “There is a faceless group of prophets rising up right now, untangled and untainted by the past prophetic administration. And because they have been untangled and rejected by the system, that very rejection was their protection, so they could now build something pure.” They are a generation whose hands have not been in all the religious pies. They have not been muddied and soiled by the compromise and the leaven of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6), which have brought division, error, and polarization to the prophetic movement. A Prophetic Reset This group of prophets is rising to reset the prophetic movement. They will bring healing. They will bring humility. They will destroy thrones and golden calves. They will restore the prophetic movement to what it was meant to be. And I keep hearing the Lord say: “Listen to what the wild prophets are saying right now. Listen to what the wild prophets are saying right now!” People are looking for those with a track record. People are looking for the household names. I am not against any of that, but right now, the anointing is on the wild prophets. God has anointed the faceless for a purpose. They are like the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3) They have no agenda. They have no personal ambition. Their only mission is to lead people to Jesus and move the body of Christ forward. God is Looking for the John the Baptist Voices God is looking for those John the Baptist voices who look different, sound different, yet carry the pure word of the Lord, the kind of word that clears the air in a time of unrest, distraction, and noise. God is looking for those Micaiah voices (1 Kings 22) who will say what He is saying, even when thousands of others have bowed to Baal and kissed his lips for approval and fame. “Then Micaiah said, ‘As the Lord lives, whatever the Lord says to me, that I will speak.’” (1 Kings 22:14) Micaiah was hated by the religious system but loved in heaven. A Call to the Wild Prophets And I want to simply say to the emerging wild voices out there this week: Please rise up. Please rise up. What is the Lord saying to you? What has He put on your heart? What are the dreams He has given you? It is time to release them. It is time to decree them. It is time to pray. It is time to break past the lies of false coverings and ideologies that have tried to keep you muzzled and silent, at a time when both the church and the world need to hear what you have to say. Because you carry the heartbeat of heaven. And as you rise, it will bring a reset to the body of Christ and lead the church forward. 
By Nate Johnston January 29, 2025
Over this last month, as I’ve been off social media, the Lord has been highlighting a profound yet simple instruction for 2025 and beyond. This is something He has spoken to me personally, but I know it applies to many others who have felt a deep reverence stepping into 2025. There has been a real fear of the Lord regarding what we are meant to do, what we are meant to be involved in, and how we are to advance His kingdom. It feels as though, especially over the last six months, the Lord has been shifting our appetites and affections, down to our appetites and desires. He has been prompting us to redefine and even question what we have been doing in the past and what we are called to do moving forward. It feels like the Lord is making a very loud statement to us - begin to build unusual! As pioneers, what we step into in 2025 must be a brand-new blueprint. It is as though we have come to the end of the last map. We had to write it, plot it, and walk into the unknown to discover it. But now, that map is complete. We have walked the path we were meant to walk. And now, stepping into 2025, the Lord is handing us a blank slate, a new parchment and a pen to begin charting a new course. This means stepping into something that has never been done before. It means forging a path that has not yet been paved. But it is impossible to step into the new while still clinging to the old instructions, methods, and mindsets of our last pioneering journey. What needs to happen now is a grand departure. That is why your affections have changed. That is why your appetites have shifted. That is why you have felt an unusual discontent watching what others are doing. It is not that those things are wrong; rather, the Lord places that discontent in us when He is calling us to detour from familiar paths and step into our own unique journey. In 2014, Christy and I felt this pull deeply. At the time, we were involved in a church where I was serving as a worship pastor and we both began to sense that if we didn’t step into what God was calling us to, we would be forfeiting a decade of our lives. We knew that if we ignored the call, we would be stuck going around the same mountain, doing what everyone else was doing instead of what God had placed on our lives. The Lord was asking us, “Are you willing to feel uncomfortable for a season to step into the destiny upon your life?” I can tell you, it was a deeply uncomfortable season of leaving behind the familiar. We had to burn the oxen and the plow and be okay with being misunderstood. Yet now, ten years later, we are reaping the fruit of that obedience. We chose the unfamiliar, the unpopular. We took hold of the blank parchment and began to etch out the revelation of the Lord, taking daily steps of obedience. That journey has now formed a map for many others to follow. And I believe we are at that same moment again. I know many pioneers reading this are asking, “What is my next step? Why do I feel lost? Why does nothing seem to be coming together? Why do I feel the pull to leave this, to walk away from that, to not do what others expect me to do?” It is because the Lord has called you for seasons, not to be a lone ranger, not to be isolated, but to walk in the grace He has given you for the unusual. You are called to step into the unfamiliar, to embrace the unknown, to pioneer a new language and build an infrastructure that no one else is building. Right now, God is redirecting many. It reminds me of the Macedonian call, when they were set to go in one direction, but God gave them a dream and redirected them elsewhere. In the same way, God is now releasing mass revelation to His pioneers. He is sounding a clarion call: “You cannot follow the same path as before” There is a temptation to fall into complacency because it is comfortable. It is easy to think, “God, I’ve paid my dues. I can settle into ease now.” But the Lord is saying, “I have not called you to ease. Ground does not break beneath your feet through comfort. I have placed a sledgehammer in your hands to break the hardest of ground. And as you break that ground, what has been hidden and concealed will begin to erupt.” Wells need to be uncapped and YOU are called to do this in cities and regions that are blocked. We are in a season where the nations are ripe, but the ground must be tilled to prepare for the harvest. So, pioneers, my word for you today is this: Lean into the unusual. Do not do what everyone else is doing. Do not fall into the trap of continuing with the same religious or ministry endeavors simply because they are familiar. Step into the unusual. There is a grace and anointing upon the unusual. There is a grace and anointing upon that which is organic and grassroots in this season. You do not need the masses. You do not need widespread approval from people. You simply need the yes of the Lord. Step into what may not make sense to others, because in heaven, it makes perfect sense. This is your call. 
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