Nate Johnston

GUARD YOUR HEART AS YOU CROSSOVER

Nate Johnston

GUARD YOUR HEART AS YOU CROSSOVER

GUARD YOUR HEART AS YOU CROSSOVER

A few nights ago I had a dream where I was holding a checklist that simply said “Protect your heart” written at the top. I believe God is wanting us to protect our hearts right now more than ever because whether you see it or not we are at a pivotal turning point where our actions, affections, and heart posture is critical.


August has felt like a major test across all fronts from relationships, motives, and identity, to mission and purpose and many more where the enemy has been trying to TRIGGER you in hopes that you would MESS UP or GIVE UP so close to the finish line.


Here are some of the things I remember written on the list in the dream;


REHEARSING THE PAST


Protect your heart from;


  • Rehearsing past mistakes and failures
  • Past breakdowns and shipwrecks
  • Old labels, ownerships, and damaging words
  • Old offenses and bitterness
  • Reliving past seasons of betrayal
  • Reviving dead and dealt with trauma and triggers
  • Dishonor from the past that God is dealing with or has dealt with
  • Trying to fix or justify what Is Gods to do
  • Old people or connections trying to re-access you and hold you back


IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS


Protect your heart from;


  • Strife and division
  • Gossip and chatter
  • Judging others and writing them off
  • Assumption of peoples motives and character
  • Small hurts and offences that add up
  • Letting the enemy break apart God-alignments
  • Warfare against families and marriages
  • Relational disconnect through the enemy planting lies
  • Letting the enemy rob your inner circle


SLUMBER & APATHY


Protect your heart from;


  • The sudden lack of motivation to be in the secret place
  • Discouragement and disappointment
  • Complacency and apathy trying to steal your fire and divert your affections
  • Temptations and distractions
  • Slumber trying to lull you into spiritual sleep
  • Compromise and double mindedness
  • Wanting to give up
  • Mental warfare and bombarding thoughts
  • People who are complacent and asleep


FEAR & THE WRONG FORECAST



Protect your heart from;


  • Demonic narratives of the enemy that steal your focus and attention
  • The enemy’s fear-fueled forecast for your life
  • Crippling anxiety and foreboding fear
  • Earthly wisdom that tells you to quit and not risk/play it safe instead the walk of faith
  • Letting your circumstances preach you depressed
  • Believing you will never get there and it will all go wrong
  • Sudden irrational fear over every area of your life


But I pray today that you would not fall prey to these assignments of the enemy but that you would press through the fires, illusions, and distractions and SEE God do what He said He would do in Jesus name!


“So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life” - Proverbs 4:23



sow a seed

RELATED prophetic WORDS:

RELATED prophetic WORDS:

By Nate Johnston June 3, 2025
One of the greatest epidemics of the church is breaking right now. And as we start this week, I want to pray over you and prophesy into your life especially if you’ve been isolated by the enemy or been in a season of feeling very disconnected from other believers and from people. If you’ve seen attack and warfare on your relationships, marriages, your kids, and those around you… If you’ve gone through season-after-season of wrong alignments, unhealthy coverings, Sauls instead of fathers & mothers, all while being surrounded by wolves... Or if you’ve just been rejected over and over again, and it’s sent you into isolation. I believe the Lord is speaking to us all in this season. I believe we are seeing a spiritual movement both on a micro and a macro level right now to shift this tide. We’re seeing the Lord expose an assignment that has been allowed and tolerated in the body of Christ for too long. That assignment is isolation. It’s a tactic of the Jezebel spirit, one that has hidden easily within the institutional church paradigm and its thrived within the current culture of the church. But the Lord is weeding it out, exposing it, and bringing us back into the revelation of family and belonging. That truth is counteracting and unloosing the bonds of this demonic principality because people are no longer interested in a nice sermon if they have to go home and be alone in the week. This spirit has worked overtime on us. It’s a principality that hasn’t just broken apart the body of Christ into factions and denominations. It’s also stopped the most powerful voices, those carrying truth, and authority from rising into their place. It’s created a cancel culture within the church. An isolation culture. It’s created antisocial behavioral norms within the church, and we’ve accepted it for too long. But I prophesy today - That is all shifting. I prophesy it’s shifting over your life most importantly. As I was praying into this, I asked the Lord why Jezebel seems so invested in creating this kind of division and isolation. And He said that Jezebel recognizes the power and anointing that comes when the church walks in unity. That’s the macro. The Jezebel spirit knows that when believers support one another, when we link arms, there is an anointing that is unleashed. Because if it can isolate - it can assassinate. Let me say that again - If Jezebel can isolate, it can assassinate. Why do you think so many people can attend church on a Sunday and still feel utterly alone? Why is it accepted that we go to events and meetings and conferences, but still lack genuine connection? The church has often wrapped mission in religious activity, while relational connection, the very essence of family has been lost. It’s led us into pain and deep spiritual disconnection. And it’s time for this to shift. As I continued to pray, the Lord reminded me of the seasons in my own life where this spirit came after us again and again. I remembered being in churches where the nature of our calling led to sudden rejection, pushing us out of community. I remembered delivering a warning word to leaders, and immediately being outcast. I remembered being in a toxic work environment, where a Jezebel-influenced boss physically isolated me in a separate building so she could bully me. And I remembered the many times this happened in ministry spaces. It’s happened over and over again and we have all become used to it. We’ve learned to operate alone. And we’ve called it “normal” ministry life. We say the church is a family, but so many have lived as lone rangers even inside a church setting. But this is breaking now! Look at Elijah in 1 Kings 18. Jezebel threatens him. And he runs for his life. He hides in fear. He isolates. And even though God looks after him, there are a few things that take place in that moment that I believe the Lord is highlighting now as a blueprint for us. First, Elijah is fed. I see this in a few lights - one as the fresh manna from heaven and sustenance building him up again. Secondly, in light of the breaking bread of Acts 2 pointing to God leading him out of isolation. And thirdly as the bread of deliverance. Next he’s reminded of the still-small-voice because fear had drowned it out. In isolation and fear, the voice of the Lord pulls us out because we are so bombarded by lies and it’s the enemies lies that keep us there. Right now the lies that sent you there need to be broken. Then what happens? Elijah wraps his mantle around his face and leaves the cave which is prophetically representative of choosing to pick up what we dropped when we went through the pain of slander and accusation that led us to isolation in the first place. It’s picking up our calling again. Oh but it’s also more. It’s choosing to allow your heart to let people in after a season of being wounded. I believe this is the invitation from the Lord right now. To leave the cave. To leave the place of isolation. I know it’s easier said than done. I know many of you are afraid, and rightfully so. You’ve been burned. You’ve been rejected. But there is a grace right now to break this assignment of isolation and assassination that has put your gifting on pause and your purpose on the back burner. This is a season of finding your tribe. Finding the people who will lift your arms. It’s time to step out of religious, controlled environments and into true community. Into spiritual family. There is a remnant rising for this moment and we are linking arms while creating safe spaces. Pastors and leaders from all walks of life are laying their brands in the dust and choosing connection over control. It’s the Acts 2 core calling us back to breaking bread. This is the priority now. We are better together. Healthier together. Even COVID was a prophetic image of the enemy’s plan to isolate. But we’re saying no more. We will not let this spirit mute our voices or steal our destinies. We need each other. So I prophesy over you: This moment right now marks the breaking of isolation. Loneliness is breaking off of you. It’s time to find your people I prophesy this week you will feel something stirring on this front. A stirring. A longing. Your heart beginning to feel again. And bondages will break in the process. You’ll feel the shift inside and see it on the outside as God brings this into being. I prophesy - New environments, new rooms, new tables places you never imagined will open to you. God can do it in a short time. But I also challenge you , you need to step out. Start walking toward the community God has prepared for you. Because isolation is over In Jesus’ name. 
By Nate Johnston May 27, 2025
Let go. Don’t get stuck because you can’t move on without the closure of answers to why things landed the way they did. Why things fell apart and why you were left holding the broken fragments of a dream you felt God led you to. Why you were attacked so relentlessly and lost so much. Why you were shipwrecked, slandered, and feel like you have only gone backwards not forwards. I know it’s cost you everything and you don’t see what it produced yet, but unless you turn the page it won’t allow God to connect the dots and reshuffle the pages that right now feel out of order. For isn’t he the orchestrator of your life? He knows what those dark nights produced even when you didn’t. He knows what those seasons were for even though right now all you see when you look behind is dead ends and wild goose chases. But unless you turn the page you’ll never get to see the rest of the story and see Him connect all the seasons like poetry. Yes, even the hard and most painful moments He has a way of turning around if you’ll let Him. So how do you do that today? Give up. It’s where you choose to close the chapter by giving Him the pieces and questions. It’s a faith thing and the deepest surrender when it feels unjust and you don’t understand. And I know many reading this feel bottled up with grief, but today refuse to keep rehearsing or trying to do this in your own strength. The floor is the only way forward and there’s a brand new chapter waiting to unfold. It’s a call to trust. To believe that even what you can’t understand has been seen, measured, and held by a God who doesn’t waste pain. But you have been living in a chapter that ended a long time ago. The ink dried, the door closed, but your heart stayed behind trying to rewrite what already happened. Let that go. The new is already here waiting for you to choose it over the tired tape of the past you have been watching. It’s here to show you that there’s so much more ahead for you than you knew. It’s waiting to breathe life into your lungs and bring clarity and vision after the fog. So turn the page, not because you understand but because you are choosing to trust the one who’s writing it. And watch what He does with the blank space. 
By Nate Johnston June 3, 2025
One of the greatest epidemics of the church is breaking right now. And as we start this week, I want to pray over you and prophesy into your life especially if you’ve been isolated by the enemy or been in a season of feeling very disconnected from other believers and from people. If you’ve seen attack and warfare on your relationships, marriages, your kids, and those around you… If you’ve gone through season-after-season of wrong alignments, unhealthy coverings, Sauls instead of fathers & mothers, all while being surrounded by wolves... Or if you’ve just been rejected over and over again, and it’s sent you into isolation. I believe the Lord is speaking to us all in this season. I believe we are seeing a spiritual movement both on a micro and a macro level right now to shift this tide. We’re seeing the Lord expose an assignment that has been allowed and tolerated in the body of Christ for too long. That assignment is isolation. It’s a tactic of the Jezebel spirit, one that has hidden easily within the institutional church paradigm and its thrived within the current culture of the church. But the Lord is weeding it out, exposing it, and bringing us back into the revelation of family and belonging. That truth is counteracting and unloosing the bonds of this demonic principality because people are no longer interested in a nice sermon if they have to go home and be alone in the week. This spirit has worked overtime on us. It’s a principality that hasn’t just broken apart the body of Christ into factions and denominations. It’s also stopped the most powerful voices, those carrying truth, and authority from rising into their place. It’s created a cancel culture within the church. An isolation culture. It’s created antisocial behavioral norms within the church, and we’ve accepted it for too long. But I prophesy today - That is all shifting. I prophesy it’s shifting over your life most importantly. As I was praying into this, I asked the Lord why Jezebel seems so invested in creating this kind of division and isolation. And He said that Jezebel recognizes the power and anointing that comes when the church walks in unity. That’s the macro. The Jezebel spirit knows that when believers support one another, when we link arms, there is an anointing that is unleashed. Because if it can isolate - it can assassinate. Let me say that again - If Jezebel can isolate, it can assassinate. Why do you think so many people can attend church on a Sunday and still feel utterly alone? Why is it accepted that we go to events and meetings and conferences, but still lack genuine connection? The church has often wrapped mission in religious activity, while relational connection, the very essence of family has been lost. It’s led us into pain and deep spiritual disconnection. And it’s time for this to shift. As I continued to pray, the Lord reminded me of the seasons in my own life where this spirit came after us again and again. I remembered being in churches where the nature of our calling led to sudden rejection, pushing us out of community. I remembered delivering a warning word to leaders, and immediately being outcast. I remembered being in a toxic work environment, where a Jezebel-influenced boss physically isolated me in a separate building so she could bully me. And I remembered the many times this happened in ministry spaces. It’s happened over and over again and we have all become used to it. We’ve learned to operate alone. And we’ve called it “normal” ministry life. We say the church is a family, but so many have lived as lone rangers even inside a church setting. But this is breaking now! Look at Elijah in 1 Kings 18. Jezebel threatens him. And he runs for his life. He hides in fear. He isolates. And even though God looks after him, there are a few things that take place in that moment that I believe the Lord is highlighting now as a blueprint for us. First, Elijah is fed. I see this in a few lights - one as the fresh manna from heaven and sustenance building him up again. Secondly, in light of the breaking bread of Acts 2 pointing to God leading him out of isolation. And thirdly as the bread of deliverance. Next he’s reminded of the still-small-voice because fear had drowned it out. In isolation and fear, the voice of the Lord pulls us out because we are so bombarded by lies and it’s the enemies lies that keep us there. Right now the lies that sent you there need to be broken. Then what happens? Elijah wraps his mantle around his face and leaves the cave which is prophetically representative of choosing to pick up what we dropped when we went through the pain of slander and accusation that led us to isolation in the first place. It’s picking up our calling again. Oh but it’s also more. It’s choosing to allow your heart to let people in after a season of being wounded. I believe this is the invitation from the Lord right now. To leave the cave. To leave the place of isolation. I know it’s easier said than done. I know many of you are afraid, and rightfully so. You’ve been burned. You’ve been rejected. But there is a grace right now to break this assignment of isolation and assassination that has put your gifting on pause and your purpose on the back burner. This is a season of finding your tribe. Finding the people who will lift your arms. It’s time to step out of religious, controlled environments and into true community. Into spiritual family. There is a remnant rising for this moment and we are linking arms while creating safe spaces. Pastors and leaders from all walks of life are laying their brands in the dust and choosing connection over control. It’s the Acts 2 core calling us back to breaking bread. This is the priority now. We are better together. Healthier together. Even COVID was a prophetic image of the enemy’s plan to isolate. But we’re saying no more. We will not let this spirit mute our voices or steal our destinies. We need each other. So I prophesy over you: This moment right now marks the breaking of isolation. Loneliness is breaking off of you. It’s time to find your people I prophesy this week you will feel something stirring on this front. A stirring. A longing. Your heart beginning to feel again. And bondages will break in the process. You’ll feel the shift inside and see it on the outside as God brings this into being. I prophesy - New environments, new rooms, new tables places you never imagined will open to you. God can do it in a short time. But I also challenge you , you need to step out. Start walking toward the community God has prepared for you. Because isolation is over In Jesus’ name. 
By Nate Johnston May 27, 2025
Let go. Don’t get stuck because you can’t move on without the closure of answers to why things landed the way they did. Why things fell apart and why you were left holding the broken fragments of a dream you felt God led you to. Why you were attacked so relentlessly and lost so much. Why you were shipwrecked, slandered, and feel like you have only gone backwards not forwards. I know it’s cost you everything and you don’t see what it produced yet, but unless you turn the page it won’t allow God to connect the dots and reshuffle the pages that right now feel out of order. For isn’t he the orchestrator of your life? He knows what those dark nights produced even when you didn’t. He knows what those seasons were for even though right now all you see when you look behind is dead ends and wild goose chases. But unless you turn the page you’ll never get to see the rest of the story and see Him connect all the seasons like poetry. Yes, even the hard and most painful moments He has a way of turning around if you’ll let Him. So how do you do that today? Give up. It’s where you choose to close the chapter by giving Him the pieces and questions. It’s a faith thing and the deepest surrender when it feels unjust and you don’t understand. And I know many reading this feel bottled up with grief, but today refuse to keep rehearsing or trying to do this in your own strength. The floor is the only way forward and there’s a brand new chapter waiting to unfold. It’s a call to trust. To believe that even what you can’t understand has been seen, measured, and held by a God who doesn’t waste pain. But you have been living in a chapter that ended a long time ago. The ink dried, the door closed, but your heart stayed behind trying to rewrite what already happened. Let that go. The new is already here waiting for you to choose it over the tired tape of the past you have been watching. It’s here to show you that there’s so much more ahead for you than you knew. It’s waiting to breathe life into your lungs and bring clarity and vision after the fog. So turn the page, not because you understand but because you are choosing to trust the one who’s writing it. And watch what He does with the blank space. 
By Nate Johnston May 27, 2025
As we start this week, I have a word for many out there: Don’t miss your burning bush season. Or maybe I should say, don’t overlook your burning bush season. Don’t miss it. We often look at seasons where things don’t add up or make sense and diagnose them as seasons of waiting, seasons we’re just trying to survive until we get to the next destination, the next stop. We don’t always see the richness of what God is depositing in each season. In the last few days, I keep hearing this: Don’t miss your burning bush season. Remember the story of Moses? He was tending his father-in-law’s sheep in the wilderness when he saw the burning bush. He was simply doing his job, satisfied in it when suddenly, there was an encounter with God. And God pulled him out out of the wilderness, out of that environment, out of that situation, out of the guilt and shame of his past. God pulled him out and gave him an assignment. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law… and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.” - Exodus 3:1–2 “God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’” - Exodus 3:4 He was simply doing his job, when suddenly, there was an encounter with God. And God pulled him out of the wilderness, out of that environment, out of that situation, out of the guilt and shame of his past. God pulled him out and gave him an assignment. “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” - Exodus 3:10 And I believe we are in a moment right now that, to many, feels like a standstill. It feels like a hiatus after a long season of pioneering for the Lord, one that has strangely led to this place of wilderness. As I’ve been sharing for a while, we’ve been in a Hosea 2 season, where the Lord has been leading the Church back into the wilderness. That wilderness has been necessary for you. You’ve needed respite. You’ve needed refreshing. You’ve needed to break away from the hustle so God could reset you and bring you back to encounter, which is the ultimate reset. That’s what truly resets you. You’ve taken on so many mantles and jackets—Saul’s armor—for years. You don’t know which way is up anymore, or what your assignment is, who you’re called to, or who you’re not called to. You don’t know where your alignments are meant to be. You’ve had your hands in too many pies, your feet muddy from too many places. You’ve been slimed, slandered. You’ve walked through heartache, difficulty, betrayal. Yet, you’ve felt the compulsion to step into anything just to feel like you’re not lost. But no, the wilderness has been necessary to set you free. Here’s what you need to know: the wilderness can shift quickly because the wilderness leads to encounter, and encounter launches you into your new assignment. I say this over you and prophesy: you are in a very small window of time where the Lord is doing a massive work. The time isn’t long but the work is deep. Let me say that again: the time isn’t long, but the work is deep. God is going deep generationally. This isn’t a short cleanup process. God is going deep into your life, and He wants to set your feet on a new foundation. That’s right this season you’re in right now is a season of a brand-new slab being laid in your life. A new foundation. What is foundation? It’s where God gets you ready, gears you up for the new thing He’s going to build in your life, around you, and through you. Last year, we went to Australia, and the Lord gave me a dream: two towers crumbling to the ground. He said, “You’re at ground zero.” That’s what this is—a ground zero. A new slab has been laid in your life. God is going low and slow right now. He’s getting you ready because many of us have built for years without a foundation—without solid structure or deep roots. So God’s been setting that right for the new season, and for the Church. But we often misdiagnose seasons of fresh foundation as stagnancy, when they’re anything but. When the Lord sets your heart right, He aligns you to a rhythm and a synergy you didn’t know in the past season. He sharpens your discernment your ability to see and know what’s true. He leads you to the right people, right places, and right environments. I believe one key part of this new foundation is that God is leading many out of loneliness and isolation. He’s not just setting your feet upon the rock of salvation He’s breaking off orphan mentalities, the hustle, the striving and leading you into an Acts 2 infrastructure: community, family, people who hold your arms up so you can thrive. This foundation includes restoration God restoring the years the locusts have eaten. And He’s doing that right now. Now for the weighty part of this word: That moment with Moses at the burning bush was more significant than we often realize. It was like Elisha being mantled by Elijah a sudden shift into his true calling. In that moment, God told Moses: “ Go. Set my people free.” And Moses responded, “But God, I don’t know how to speak.” God replied, “When you go, I will give you the words. I will give you signs. I will give you the power.” “Moses said to the Lord, ‘Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent…’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Who gave human beings their mouths?… Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.’” - Exodus 4:10–12 He didn’t just send Moses on an impossible mission. He backed him with the power of heaven. And I feel the word of the Lord right now for many who have been in this season of waiting: You have been fashioned and formed to be a voice for the Lord in this next season. To set the Church free. To set the bound free. God is raising up unconventional, unusual, untrained voices who carry His heart. And I prophesy, in the mighty name of Jesus: this is your burning bush season. You are stepping out of the wilderness and into the bold voice God has called you to be. Let me go one step further: This week look. Look for the signs in your life of breakout. Look for the moments. The encounters. Because that’s where God is waiting for you. You’re looking for external change, for doors to open. But you’re missing the door that’s already swung wide open: the door of encounter. The door to the secret place. The door that leads into the tent of meeting. That’s what I’m calling you to. That’s what God is commissioning you into - a season of intimacy and encounter. So let me prophesy over your - this week, your wilderness shifts. It shifts from waiting to encounter, from wandering aimlessly to walking in clarity. The fog lifts. The silence breaks. Heaven is speaking. Dreams come now! Insight floods your spirit like a rushing river. May the full healing of the wilderness come—so the rest, the restoration, the commissioning can follow. Lord, raise up your wild voices. Those untrained by man but marked by fire. Those who have met You in hidden places. Let them rise now, rooted, ready, and roaring in Jesus’ name. Amen. 
By Nate Johnston May 21, 2025
You feel things others can’t. You walk into a room and sense the atmosphere shift. You carry burdens that aren’t yours—and you know it. You’ve been called to discern, but not left without direction. You are a Prophetic Feeler. And it's time to get equipped. On July 1st, we officially launch FIREBRAND —a powerful, unapologetic prophetic training course designed specifically for the prophetic feeler. This isn’t just a class. It’s a spiritual bootcamp. A forge. A furnace. A place where your gift is refined, understood, and weaponized for Kingdom impact. Inside FIREBRAND, you’ll: 🔥 Learn how to steward your discernment without burnout 🔥 Understand the spiritual mechanics of what you’re feeling 🔥 Develop prophetic confidence, clarity, and authority 🔥 Discover how to navigate spiritual warfare with wisdom 🔥 Connect with a tribe that speaks your spiritual language If you’ve ever felt alone in your gift—like no one quite gets what you carry—FIREBRAND was made for you. July 1st is the beginning of your firewalking. Are you ready? 🔗 Reserve Your Spot Now! No more confusion. No more carrying what isn’t yours. It’s time to train. It’s time to burn. You are a FIREBRAND.