Nate Johnston

FOR THOSE FEELING A DISCONTENT

Nate Johnston

FOR THOSE FEELING A DISCONTENT

FOR THOSE FEELING A DISCONTENT

(This is an excerpt from the Letters to the Pioneers found at www.letterstothepioneers.com)


Dear Pioneers,


I wrote this last May as the first chapter to the book but not realizing its significance not just for back then but especially for 2024 and beyond. 


Many stepped into this year feeling this letter to a T, the deep sense of holiness around what God was doing, the caution not to just continue with the “run sheet” so to speak. 


We just can’t. This is a holy moment and we don’t want to miss it. 


I can’t even tell you how many times this month I have surrendered every one of my plans and activities to the Lord. I just don’t want it if it’s not Him. 


It’s a deep longing inside me for more of Him above all else and an undeniable DISCONTENT for anything else. 


It’s the uncomfortable RAW moment that feels awkward but it is there to reveal the new ROAR waiting to burst out of you. 


Have you felt it? 


This discontent is a gift from the Lord to you because He doesn’t want you to stay stuck in an old pattern and rhythm that produces no fruit. 


It’s a sign of the Lord leading you out of the season of deep grief and Sheol and into fruitfulness. 


I pray this speaks to you and leads you on the low road that leads to the mountain of the Lord in 2024;


To those feeling a deep discontent,


It starts with discontent. It starts with a sudden discomfort, dissatisfaction, frustration, and feeling like something is off or missing. It starts with a deep crying out to deep, a longing for more. 


It starts with a grief that sits in the very recess of your soul that is telling you that something is out of alignment and you need to pay attention to whatever it is or you’ll keep feeling this sorrow overtake you. 


It's the epiphany of the vast unknown that needs to be explored and the incredible discontent that you have with your current surroundings. 


It's the realization that unless you move, shift, break out of where you are, you'll no longer be fulfilling the call of God upon your life in the way that you are meant to. 


DAVIDS DISCONTENT 


I believe David lived with the same discontent. A boy whose sole job was to shepherd sheep in the wilderness. A boy that was overlooked, unseen, invisible, and outside the system. When Samuel came to the house of Jesse to look for a king, he was so overlooked that even his father said, these, all my sons, and David was not one of them, yet God saw him. When david was anointed by Samuel it’s like he was suddenly commissioned with a holy discontent that would lead him out of his season of minding sheep and into a season of stepping into the greater calling upon his life. 


I believe this discontent is what caused David to see Goliath not as a problem or an obstacle or a mountain in front of him, but an opportunity. 


David saw Goliath as his responsibility to take care of because he was driven by a discontent that was not his own, but the Lords. He knew that this Goliath had his name on it and unless he took this Goliath down, he just wouldn't be fulfilling the call that was upon his life and would be falling into disobedience.


He knew this giant was made for him and him alone even though by outward appearances he was unqualified, not equipped, too small, and didn’t have the right armor. Yet against all odds this discontent was what drove him into his destiny and secure the victory for his people. 


So many times we've felt this over the years, and I believe many men and women of God, leaders, pastors around the world have felt the same discontent too. But we have seen it as a sin saying “There's something wrong with me. I must be ungrateful. There must be something wrong with my heart. I better ask for forgiveness. I better repent!”


But what if God placed that upon your life to shift you out of the stagnancy you've been in and used it to lead you into something you did not even know you were created for? 


This discontent is not the fruit of a heart that is complacent, but a life that is surrendered. 


This discontent is the sign and the symptom of a person who has said yes to the Lord, and God has said, “okay, here is your next assignment, but it's going to be uncomfortable. Here is your next assignment, but you are gonna move against the grain. Here is your next assignment, but you're gonna have to forsake all to follow it. It's gonna cost you everything”


THE TEARING OF DIFFERENT CLOTHS


It could be said that this discontent feels like a tearing away. It feels like God is literally detaching you from every place of comfort or area you placed your trust in that was shakeable or sinking sand. 


It's a sovereign act of the Lord to begin to close doors and lead you out of things that would only cause you to be stuck or stagnant and tethered to the old move and the old thing. And right now, God is shaking up the church and he's making us feel a discontent for what no longer carries his glory. 


He's making us feel a dissatisfaction to keep eating the old manna of yesterday. We can't keep reheating the old moves frozen meals. We can't keep snacking on the party food of the kingdom of God when we're called to hunt and find the meat - the new thing that God is doing. 


We can't keep licking the last drops of the old wine when we're called to tap into the new and usher it into the earth. 


Ever heard the phrase “You are made from a different cloth?” Pioneer that is you. You are literally fashioned in heaven with a dna and language for a time yet to come. 


“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matthew 9:16-17


Recognise in this moment that you are not a rebel. You are not against the church. You just don't fit that mold. You don't fit the old thing because you're called usher in the new. 


You are no longer fed by something that no longer carries the fullness of glory because you are called to tap into the unlimited flow of a new spring bursting up. 


THE TEARING AWAY OF THE FAMILIAR


Pioneers, this is is a time that you are feeling the tearing taking place right now in assignments, in relationships, and alignments, where God is literally causing you to feel the tearing of wine skins and bringing you into a season of having to choose to keep going along with the old, or to lean into the new and being a part prototype for it. It a call to stay fruitless or be the first fruits of the new thing. 


It a call to move away from the familiar and tried path and to lean into the unfamiliar and that which has not be walked or road tested. It’s a road few say yes to easily. But this is the hour. 


It's a time where it'll be unpopular to move with the Holy Spirit, but you know that you will just not feel like you are being your authentic self unless you do, 


It’s a time that you may feel that tearing taking place with some that you have been in alignment with, and you'll have to just lean into the Lord even deeper as you say yes to that process. 


It’s a time where you'll have to lay down those assignments that you've been running with for a long time and step into the new and a time of surrendering to the new blueprints, themes, and plans that the Lord is revealing to you. 


A NEW CYCLE OF PIONEERING


I believe we're in a new cycle of pioneering, which always starts with this great discontent and holy fear. It's like where you feel a red light or a caution, or a holdback or momentary stop sign. There's just this moment of reverential warning that you cannot move forward without him. 


Like Moses said, “unless your glory goes before me, I will not go” In your spirit, you've just been sensing this reverential fear and this cry deep within you of, “Lord, unless your glory goes before me, I'm done with what I have been putting my hand to”


Like Elisha who knew he couldn’t go back after Elijah threw his mantle on him, you know that you just can’t go back to the old plow and old activity you were involved in. 


You know that your name has to be changed and your role has changed and you have to let go of what you were doing to embrace whatever is coming. 


THE CALL TO THE PURE THING


The discontent is a call to purity because pioneers have a calling to that which is genuine, untainted, and uncompromised. The Lord uses the pioneers to experience and encounter this first, so then they can lead the church out of stagnation and into that which is fresh, flowing, and pure. 


Right now across the body of Christ, God is stirring up discontent in the hearts of pioneers and a remnant that have not bowed their knee to culture and not allowed themselves to fall prey to the appetites of this world. 


God is right now stirring up discontent in those within the institution who who cannot be lulled to sleep like others around them nor are they impressed by the achievements and accolades of man that is valued in the western church. They just can’t be like others who have fallen into apathy and weariness in their faith. 


They just can’t be sold for celebrity status or the praises of man.


God is stirring up a discontent in a people that would break the church free from her chains of bondages and lead her into her next chapter and her best days. 


This is why you are feeling what you are feeling right now. This is why you've been feeling unsettled with the current state of the church. Why you can't seem to even sit through a service the way you once did. 


Is why you've been frustrated with the buzz words and the cliches. You can't go back. You can't go back to the Christianity you once knew. 


Pioneers, there’s nothing wrong with you. You are the bell ringers of a new day and new hour in the body of Christ. 


THE GREAT DETOUR


God is right now leading you away from movements that are no longer moving. He's leading you away from messages that no longer carry the freedom they once did, and he's leading you away from the path that is going to cause you to fall asleep like the many others who have fallen asleep before their time. 


He is putting a bad taste in your mouth for the ministry machine and the career Christianity model. He is breaking your longing to be seen and popular. He is instead giving you a voice and influence that transcends the status of man. 


You are in a detour that is reshaping your affections and desires. You will find that you can no longer feel the synergy and peace you once did for Christian activities and projects you once held dear, but you’ll sense the pulling away to build that which has not be done before. 


Right now God is also awakening those who have been in a season of decommissioning, a season of being on the sidelines, those that people counted as the fallen, the compromised, those who crashed and burned and shipwrecked. God is awakening them as he's remnant, as his pioneers. You'll feel as if overnight you woke up to a fresh wind and a fresh fire burning in your spirit, and the longing to break free at all costs for whatever lay ahead of you.


CANA & THE VOID


Pioneers, just as in the story of Jesus at Cana, where the wine that was used for the feast ran out. We are in that moment right now in the body of Christ. Can you see it around you? 


Can you see the evidence of the drought that has been upon the church where people are scrambling for the last drops of an old way?


There’s been a desperation, a struggle, a fight, and a wrestle. 


People desperately trying to grasp on to the memories of something powerful yet past. Movements that have become monuments and museums, void of anything living and a power that is no longer present. 


We have traded the Holy Spirit for intellectualism. We've begun to be opinion fueled protestors Instead of powerfully postured revivalists carrying the torch of truth and justice. We have begun to rely on her own understanding.


This is all the signs of the void, the tearing and the crossover and you pioneers are called to usher in the new, to be the new, to lean into the new. 


The Lord today is wanting to affirm that what you've been feeling Is not rebellion, but it is holy. This detour is him leading you on a new pilgrimage with him. This longing is a sign of being marked for a move that has not yet even begun. 


It is a calling and a branding of a people that have been assigned to a to the future and right now been given the task of walking out a journey so others can follow in it. 


THE VALLEY OF DECISION


Pioneers right now you are in a valley of decision and before you lay two choices. Will you choose to lean in to this discontent or will you run from it? 


Will you surrender your heart to the Lord afresh? 


Will you lay down your methods, your blueprints, everything you thought you knew? Will you lay them down today? 


Will you say “yes, Jesus, I choose you over my denomination. I choose you over my theology. I choose you over the opinions of man, over the teachings of man. I choose you even above being accepted by my community, above the people I'm trying to stay connected to. Above my reputation”


Will you choose him above all else? 


Will you stop fighting the discontent and begin to step into it so you can see the fruit of it? 


We're in the void and the hallway of eras and this is the moment not to hide and to wait for it to pass, but to grasp it with both your hands and choose this moment to give your life, and to follow him wherever it leads. 


Pioneers, this is your brand new day and first step on a new adventure with God. Will you say yes? Only time will tell. 


Sow a seed

RELATED prophetic WORDS:

RELATED prophetic WORDS:

By Nate Johnston May 15, 2025
I have spoken about this topic alot lately, but I feel to encourage you again today... 10 years ago we birthed in a wilderness. I had nonstop calls from old friends saying it was illegitimate. It was uncovered. It was rebellion. I honestly believed them. I had never felt more isolated and alone. We were out of community at the time. Our old church friends would run a mile when they saw us at the mall. Just because we chose to step into our calling.. I wrestled it more nights than I can count. Kept trying to give it back to God and created so many excuses of why I should just let it all go and fall back in line. But as much as my head was telling me I was in error, my spirit was burning and the Father kept saying “Keep going, I have led you this way!” I could feel his delight in the midst of so much internal battle and daily messages and judgement. And I decided that was enough. We kept going. Then fruit started erupting. Yes, it was like streams in the desert. A wasteland season by religious standards was our personal revival. I can’t even tell you how much of a mental battle that season was though. I was unlearning while I was leaning into the voice of the Lord. The pressure was on all sides and the Jezebel spirit kept flaring up around us to make us cave in and shut up but we decided we have tolerated that long enough. And ten years later, it feels Iike another wilderness birthing season. But this time it’s not just us, but many. It’s grassroots. Building from the secret place up. It’s where you look around and see a wilderness but yet you also feel a fresh wind blowing. And while you could go with your head and wait til the weather changes and conditions feel more right and you have all the things in place, God says “NOW…” And as in writing this I keep feeling the grief of some of you reading this who have come to this moment many times before but fear and pressure around you has made you forfeit it over and over. It’s the grief of feeling like you missed it on one hand and also the grief of knowing if you choose it you will be letting go of the familiar. And right now the giants in the land are screaming loudly at you and telling you to sit down and shut up. “Get back to your seat!” They say. That’s the mental torment you have been feeling. It makes you feel double minded. But you know what breaks it? Saying yes even when it doesn’t make sense… John’s voice cried out in the wilderness and a movement was birthed. The battle has been so intense because the enemy knows that if you step into this it will turn not just your wilderness into a garden, but it will bring so many right now who are lost into a super bloom. It doesn’t add up. But it’s just what God does. So if this is you today, stop fighting it and giving God all the reasons you can’t. You weren’t created for the Gucci ministry model, you are called to the messy… And watch God do what you have been trying to do but has failed in your own strength and your own methods. Watch him take the ashes of your striving and trying to fit a honey and locust vision into a white-washed tomb, and use it to confound the wise.  So today I prophesy - no more wandering confused and conflicted. It’s time for you to see the fruit of radical obedience and placing the fear of man on the altar. No more barrenness and feeling like a cursed fig tree. For you will feel a fresh wind and anointing to step into Gods plan for your life and the weighty mantle and call ONLY YOU can wear in Jesus name.
By Nate Johnston May 13, 2025
What if Orange County became a sending ground for revival? That's what we believe God is building and we want to invite you into it. We're establishing an apostolic hub in Orange County. Not a church service. Not a ministry brand. But a KINGDOM GREENHOUSE designed to train, heal, equip, and send. Think of it like an air traffic control tower: helping people hear clearly from God, align with their assignments, and land on the right runways, churches, cities, ministries, nations. This is for the leaders, intercessors, creatives, and reformers who are asking, “Where do I fit in this new move of God?” We're building on Ephesians 4:11–13 , apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers working together to equip the saints for ministry and maturity. What's Next? We're preparing to launch the foundation of this hub by: • Rallying the hungry • Equipping the Church • Calling out reformers • And inviting pioneers to build with us But we can't do this alone… WE'RE ASKING FOR TWO THINGS AS WE TAKE THIS BOLD STEP: 1. Prayer – for protection, provision, and clarity. 2. Financial Partnership – one-time or monthly partnerships, every seed helps us build. Would you pray about joining us either in intercession, generosity, or both? Click below to read more and give! Thank you for linking arms with us as we contend for a new wineskin in this hour. With hearts burning, Nate + Christy
By Nate Johnston May 15, 2025
I have spoken about this topic alot lately, but I feel to encourage you again today... 10 years ago we birthed in a wilderness. I had nonstop calls from old friends saying it was illegitimate. It was uncovered. It was rebellion. I honestly believed them. I had never felt more isolated and alone. We were out of community at the time. Our old church friends would run a mile when they saw us at the mall. Just because we chose to step into our calling.. I wrestled it more nights than I can count. Kept trying to give it back to God and created so many excuses of why I should just let it all go and fall back in line. But as much as my head was telling me I was in error, my spirit was burning and the Father kept saying “Keep going, I have led you this way!” I could feel his delight in the midst of so much internal battle and daily messages and judgement. And I decided that was enough. We kept going. Then fruit started erupting. Yes, it was like streams in the desert. A wasteland season by religious standards was our personal revival. I can’t even tell you how much of a mental battle that season was though. I was unlearning while I was leaning into the voice of the Lord. The pressure was on all sides and the Jezebel spirit kept flaring up around us to make us cave in and shut up but we decided we have tolerated that long enough. And ten years later, it feels Iike another wilderness birthing season. But this time it’s not just us, but many. It’s grassroots. Building from the secret place up. It’s where you look around and see a wilderness but yet you also feel a fresh wind blowing. And while you could go with your head and wait til the weather changes and conditions feel more right and you have all the things in place, God says “NOW…” And as in writing this I keep feeling the grief of some of you reading this who have come to this moment many times before but fear and pressure around you has made you forfeit it over and over. It’s the grief of feeling like you missed it on one hand and also the grief of knowing if you choose it you will be letting go of the familiar. And right now the giants in the land are screaming loudly at you and telling you to sit down and shut up. “Get back to your seat!” They say. That’s the mental torment you have been feeling. It makes you feel double minded. But you know what breaks it? Saying yes even when it doesn’t make sense… John’s voice cried out in the wilderness and a movement was birthed. The battle has been so intense because the enemy knows that if you step into this it will turn not just your wilderness into a garden, but it will bring so many right now who are lost into a super bloom. It doesn’t add up. But it’s just what God does. So if this is you today, stop fighting it and giving God all the reasons you can’t. You weren’t created for the Gucci ministry model, you are called to the messy… And watch God do what you have been trying to do but has failed in your own strength and your own methods. Watch him take the ashes of your striving and trying to fit a honey and locust vision into a white-washed tomb, and use it to confound the wise.  So today I prophesy - no more wandering confused and conflicted. It’s time for you to see the fruit of radical obedience and placing the fear of man on the altar. No more barrenness and feeling like a cursed fig tree. For you will feel a fresh wind and anointing to step into Gods plan for your life and the weighty mantle and call ONLY YOU can wear in Jesus name.
By Nate Johnston May 13, 2025
What if Orange County became a sending ground for revival? That's what we believe God is building and we want to invite you into it. We're establishing an apostolic hub in Orange County. Not a church service. Not a ministry brand. But a KINGDOM GREENHOUSE designed to train, heal, equip, and send. Think of it like an air traffic control tower: helping people hear clearly from God, align with their assignments, and land on the right runways, churches, cities, ministries, nations. This is for the leaders, intercessors, creatives, and reformers who are asking, “Where do I fit in this new move of God?” We're building on Ephesians 4:11–13 , apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers working together to equip the saints for ministry and maturity. What's Next? We're preparing to launch the foundation of this hub by: • Rallying the hungry • Equipping the Church • Calling out reformers • And inviting pioneers to build with us But we can't do this alone… WE'RE ASKING FOR TWO THINGS AS WE TAKE THIS BOLD STEP: 1. Prayer – for protection, provision, and clarity. 2. Financial Partnership – one-time or monthly partnerships, every seed helps us build. Would you pray about joining us either in intercession, generosity, or both? Click below to read more and give! Thank you for linking arms with us as we contend for a new wineskin in this hour. With hearts burning, Nate + Christy
By Nate Johnston May 13, 2025
I’ve had this dream more times than I can count where I’m holding a hammer and I hear the Lord say “What will you do with what I’ve given you?” It echoes the parable of the talents. I know the guilt of burying what God gave me out of fear, out of a desire not to rock the boat. But for me right now? I can’t bury it anymore. And I know I’m not alone. I see others - seed carriers with pockets full of heaven’s plans, who can feel the fire of God stirring them to finally come out of hiding and build what He gave them long ago. But it’s been a journey to get here right? Because the enemy saw what you carried long before you even knew it so he tried to discredit you, silence you, shame you and wound you. You were called heretic, rebel, false prophet, and disruptor of the peace. And maybe that last one is true. But here’s the burning message on my heart to you rogue builders... To the ones who’ve been off the grid, outside the system, who have felt misplaced and displaced - you’re not lost, you’ve been on assignment. You have been pregnant waiting for the moment. And l believe for many that moment has finally come but it’s a strange and uncomfortable tension. I feel this tension even in myself. That feeling of not wanting to step on toes, of not wanting to rock the boat. But let’s be honest, you were never meant to go with the flow. God led you into the wilderness because you’re not called to walk the road everyone else walks. The anointing on your life is not activated in comfort. It activates in disruption. You need to swing that hammer to see your calling come to life. But you have been hesitant because of what you have been through. You are called to disturb what is stagnant, to confront systems that stifle, and to release what heaven is building. That’s where your oil flows. Not in compromise, not in trying to appease the structures you were never meant to serve or come under. This doesn’t give you permission to be arrogant or critical. You’re not building against anyone. You’re building for the King. Like David dancing before the ark, undignified, misunderstood, but in a state of deep worship, you carry this call in that same way. Its worship. And yes, some people will misunderstand your motives. That’s the cost of carrying something holy and different. But it’s no longer a time to hesitate or wait. It’s a “strike while the iron is hot” moment. And even as I am writing this I am seeing a scene from Lord of the Rings where the rogue king Aragorn has the sword of his ancestors restored that was broken in pieces from battle. Maybe that represents you and what you have been through or your mission. You have felt the hammer on the inside of you and you have walked through the fire but not God is restoring you to your post in a pivotal hour of history. You see, we are shifting from an institutional model to a harvest age. The Lord is asking, “Who will build it? ” It’s 2 Kings 6 all over again where the sons of prophets realized, “This place is too small.” And they began to build but in the middle of construction, the axe head fell in the Jordan. One of the building prophets yelled out “Oh no, that axe head was borrowed! Then Elisha threw in a stick, and the iron floated to the surface. And there’s a prophetic message in this passage for us right now. The axehead represents the apostolic office and regional authority. The Church has lost its edge, relying on old models, and borrowed tools. There is a rising cry to recover true supernatural authority and power and you are called to bring it back. The Jordan represents massive change and baptism into a new era. Old systems, though not evil, are insufficient for the harvest ahead. The time for murky waters and mixture is over. The building of the bigger house represents movement in expansion but not in the way we expect. We have to build for the harvest but this means looking beyond a building and building into homes, cities, nations. It’s building beyond the current blueprint and limited infrastructure that unleashes the church into full occupation as the ecclesia. We are in a moment where it’s uncomfortable because we are leaving maintenance behind and embracing mission. This isn’t rebellion, it’s return. It’s not pride, it’s prophetic alignment with the original vision. We’re stepping back into the apostolic mission of Acts, where apostles and prophets set the foundation, and the whole body is activated to move, grow, and expand. So let me keep stirring you for a moment. Think of Nehemiah overcome by grief for the ruins, but driven by the call to rebuild. What if he had listened to Sanballat and Tobiah? What if he laid down his hammer out of fear of man? We’re at the same crossroads. This is not us vs. them, it’s us FOR them. We are leaving behind a shepherd-only model and stepping into a fivefold framework. This is where cities are won, regions are reclaimed, and the local church actually thrives because apostolic centers rise and the saints are sent. And this is what I keep seeing in the Spirit, wildfires igniting across a map. Not chaos but commissioning. Not destruction but awakening. Apostolic hubs of true power, Kingdom authority, cultural shift, deep belonging, and the rise of the firebrands. In the next five years, God is recommissioning the decommissioned rogue ones, the factionless, the wanderers and calling them to pick up their hammer and build. To set fire to the beacons. To call in the hungry. To prepare places for the harvest. It’s like Joseph who saw in a dream what was coming and PREPARED for it by building goshen. What if this was a similar moment? What if this alarm we feel is the Lord saying “PREPARE, BUILD, PIVOT!” Not out of fear but out of a strategic zeal to get the church in order, ready for the return of Jesus and our most glorious days seeing the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Yes we need to build! The reason many feel unrest is because we have a LONGING in us for what the church will be and what she is becoming but we haven’t seen it modelled yet! Until you step into your shoes and swing your hammer. Because we need the messy hospitals where the lost and broken come. We need the places where the glory comes and there is no ceiling on it. And in order for that to happen, we need our ducks out of a row for a season. We need our systems ruined so we need HIM again! But rogue builders, you may be misunderstood. What you’re building may look different, offend traditions, and challenge norms but it’s not yours - it’s Gods. You are just the carrier. So, today I believe He wanted me to write this to you as a way to shake off the dust and intimidation...He is calling you to dream with Him again. It’s time to step into the mantle and office. It’s time to stop hiding, running, and waiting for the conditions to be perfect. Oh and it’s time to stop apologizing. Pick. Up. Your. Hammer. There I said it. Yes, the hammer breaks, but it also builds. It restores, it heals, it forges foundations. That’s your call. That’s your assignment. That’s your mission. You were never rogue, you were set apart. So no more casting your pearls to be trampled. No more forfeiting your mandate. Do you keep reaching the moment of birthing and handing your baby to someone else? Do you silence your vision for fear of being seen as “too much”? Are you shrinking back because what you carry doesn’t look like the norm? You are carrying something sacred. And the enemy has been trying to convince you that it’s a pipe dream. That you’re rogue, uncovered, and a heretic? Because the Father says that you are highly favored, and even now you are breaking hard ground. So stay focused. Keep plowing by faith and don’t be bullied. This is the moment where OBEDIENCE meets DISCERNMENT meets BOLDNESS and PUSHHHH. It’s time to bring it forth In Jesus’ name. “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem… And they said, ‘Let us rise up and build.’ So they strengthened their hands for the good work.” — Nehemiah 2:17-18 “Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.” — Ephesians 2:20 “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.” Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” … Then he made the iron float. And he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.” — 2 Kings 6:5-7 
By Nate Johnston May 12, 2025
Ministry betrayal hurts. Church fatigue is real.. I was praying recently when I kept seeing the image of Samson with his head shaved. I know this often represents those who in a previous season who felt like they lost their strength, but what I felt so strongly in my spirit is that this went even deeper - this was about church and ministry fatigue. For those who have been involved in church life or serving in some way, the enemy used what was closest to you to take you out. The things you poured your heart into, the things you were deeply invested in became the very tools used to wound you and wear you down. This is especially true for those who have experienced spiritual abuse. I know this pain is incredibly painful and can feel difficult to come back from. But I also feel this - the enemy has come hard after those whom God wants to use powerfully in this next season. Because if the enemy can disillusion you, if he can cause you to associate ministry and kingdom work with burnout and betrayal, then he can keep you sidelined. He’ll make you hesitant to ever step into that space again and if that happens, the call of God on your life remains unfulfilled. The same goes for those battling ministry fatigue. I know many people right now who feel deep anxiety at even the thought of ministry. The memories of being pulled in every direction, emotionally drained, abused, and left shipwrecked have left a bitter taste. It’s not just that people came against you, they betrayed you, tore you down, and then disappeared when everything fell apart. Or maybe things didn’t turn out how you envisioned, and you were left disillusioned. Some of you have been walking like Samson with your hair cut for so long that you don’t remember what it’s like to move in power, authority, confidence, and anointing anymore. You woke up like Samson, to find your hair gone and your strength vanished. In a moment, he went from powerful and fearless to weakened and humiliated, like a lion whose mane had been shorn. It’s not just strength that leaves it’s the shame and regret that follow close behind. And that’s how you have felt.. But I feel led to pray that life would come back into your bones this week. That a fresh wind would stir in your spirit. For many, revelation has dried up. Vision is gone. Passion gone. Life feels flat because you gave everything, and it cost you deeply in your family, your peace, your health, your marriage, your children. I get it. It’s been deeply painful. But hear me out - there is another chapter beyond this and there is a fresh wind coming! So this week, I want to start by praying for you. For those who’ve come out of a season of ministry burnout, spiritual abuse, or deep disappointment. For those walking in shame, questioning everything: “God, did I not hear You right?” “Did I trust the wrong people?” “Why am I now depleted in health, finances, and confidence?” I believe the Lord wants me to prophesy over you - GET UP AND WALK! DRY BONES COME ALIVE IN JESUS NAME! You may have heard this before, but I want prophesy it again until something breaks in the spirit. GET UP AND WALK! DRY BONES COME ALIVE IN JESUS NAME! GET UP AND WALK! DRY BONES COME ALIVE IN JESUS NAME! GET UP AND WALK! DRY BONES COME ALIVE IN JESUS NAME! Sit and receive that from the Lord. Let his healing balm penetrate your heart right now. I also pray for the muzzle to come off, for fear and anxiety to be removed. For witchcraft and chatter to stop swirling, for confusion to be lifted and for STRENGTH to return in Jesus name. It’s time to step back into the fullness of your calling and RECOVER ALL! I know what it’s like to hide under the covers after ministry hurt. I know what it’s like to feel disillusioned with the church. But just because you went through that season doesn’t mean God can’t use you again and it doesn’t mean he can’t turn it around. So as we begin this week, we are also praying for those who’ve received bad reports, for those who’ve lost hope, for those who are sick in their bodies or tormented in their minds, and for those facing impossible circumstances. Jesus is still the answer. But today, in Jesus’ name, I say it again - GET UP AND WALK! Leave your sickbed behind. Receive your fresh wind. Receive your fresh anointing. And I prophesy - Everything that was stolen or cut off will grow back, in Jesus’ name!