Nourished Through Identity, Love, and Obedience, with Paul Langan

In this episode, Paul Langan, a sales manager from Eugene, Oregon shares with us his unique journey of being taught by the Holy Spirit in different seasons of life.  Paul shares his journey of overcoming spiritual warfare, going deep in his identity in Christ, learning to love himself, and living life as a witness on the streets and on the job.  The power of God's love is so evident in Paul's testimony and will both motivate and challenge you to go to greater depths with the Lord as you seek to advance His Kingdom!  

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome back, everybody, to the Mission to Mobilize podcast. We have a special guest with us here today, Paul Langan, who lives near Eugene, Oregon. A friend of a friend of a friend. I just keep getting these great referrals from people. Had a really nice conversation with him on the phone the other day, and I'm so excited to welcome him to the podcast today. Paul, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_04 0:32

I am doing wonderful, Jay. Thanks for having me here. Uh yeah, love, loved our conversation. I I'm I'm excited to see what uh what God's gonna shake out here.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Yeah, Paul, you work in sales and marketing. You're a sales and marketing manager, actually, uh, for a roofing company down there. Tell us about that and a little bit about your life there.

SPEAKER_04 0:54

Um so uh yeah, um it uh that job, my my career's kind of interesting. Every time I get good at something, God tells me to move on. So there's no, I don't get I don't get a settle anywhere. So I was I was and I never get to do the same kind of thing. So I had asked God about uh what he wanted me to do for uh uh next jerk part of my journey, and and he said sales, and I said, Well, I'll write that down, but I don't like it. And then I asked him a month or so later, and he and he gave me all the details, very, very specific down to the exact date I was gonna start. And uh that's that's what I ended up doing. And that was the beginning of it was March 2021 when he had me do that. And so I ended up uh moving, uh changing industries again into roofing and with a very, very good friend of mine, and uh just learning how to do business together, uh hearing God's voice, following God's voice. Uh, you know. Um my uh I've got uh I'm married. Um I've uh got a daughter, she's uh 29, she's in the military. She uh trains dogs in the military. Well, actually, she trains the trainers now, um, so to go out and combat and stuff with the dogs. And um she is uh coming back home here the next six days, so I'm looking forward to that. Uh coming back to the States. I have uh my my uh raised my sister-in-law, so she's family, and uh she is a teacher, and um, yeah, so that's that's kind of kind of me and uh a little bit about what I do and who's in my life.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Sure, yeah, that's what that's great. I think what really struck me when I was talking with you on the phone the other day is just um your similar heartbeat of what we're really going for on this podcast um to live life on mission wherever you are. And I think we had that conversation about how mission is not simply an activity that you go do, but a lifestyle you live out uh wherever you are. Tell me about your journey in growing into that um and how you kind of developed that over the years.

SPEAKER_04 3:22

Um yeah, so let me let me kind of uh segue, you know, yeah, sure. Segway this a little bit and kind of put some things in context. God's God's been very intentional, as I said before, not letting me settle in it into any one thing. And so uh, you know, uh when I look at business, I was a grocery manager for seven years, and then I transitioned and I was a service manager for a copier company for seven years. And then I transitioned and I was uh helped my brother grow his IT company and I worked there for him. And then I transitioned and I was a uh division manager for a parking company for 10 years, and then I transitioned again. Each one of those was God directly talked to me and led me into different things. My my spiritual journey is exactly the same. And it is I've never got the chance to just settle and go, okay, well, this is where we go to camp now. And so the, you know, I'm I'm I've been just continuously on a journey. And so, like to just kind of bullet point what that what that looked like, I I um going through a real hard time in my life and uh picked up the Bible and it said repent. And I said, I'm not repenting for a book. So I spent two years studying apologetics, devouring information about how the Bible was written and his and those things and prophecy, and my mind was blown. So I very rebelliously grabbed a cigarette and grabbed uh grabbed a beer, sat on the back porch after two and a half years. I actually went back and studied every other major religion and realized they were so full of holes. And I was very frustrated. And I said, God, uh, I like to do a lot of things you don't approve of, but uh, I cannot argue that this Bible is the word of God. Jesus is Lord, and you go ahead and do whatever you want. And uh uh immediately um I had some encounters with God, some very radical experiences. I started seeing miracles. I'm not even going to church. God is being my teacher, the word of God has come alive, and I devoured the word of God. I would read that something all day. I would go away and and I would fast and just get up in a cabin and just read that thing. And I don't know what I'm reading, I didn't understand it, but I was it was alive and it was changing me, and people were freaked out because I would be counting a different person and uh didn't even go to church yet.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Back up real quick, timeline-wise, when was this happening?

SPEAKER_04 5:47

Uh I my daughter's 29, so roughly 29 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Wow. Wow. Okay, continue.

SPEAKER_04 5:53

So a few years that way, God said I'm reading scripture and I'm like convicted. I need to go to church. That's what it says. We need to gather together with other believers. I'm I'm sharing Jesus with everybody, I'm seeing miracles. I'm just, I could just sit, sit and share, and I don't know any better. So I go to church and I'm like so excited. They're teaching me, they're giving me foundational stuff, and I'm loving being a church. And I'm serving a church and they tell me, work with the kids, because no one wants to work with them. So I just work with the kids. I do children's ministry for seven years. And and I'm I'm there, we're doing camp, and I'm you know, working with the volunteers, and I'm working, you know, classes with the parents, and I'm just I'm loving it. And uh I'm there and and just I'm seeing miracles. And but but at a certain point, I start to get, I start to get divinely, and I call it today, uh divinely discontent. And uh and I started to get frustrated. I'm like, why don't we look like Jesus? And I recognize that some of the freedom that I got so easily when no one was teaching me, I was actually losing and I was trying trying harder with all the things I was learning. See in the beginning it was God taught me, and he taught me what I needed to know, but now I'm listening to people tell me what they think I need to know. I had some really good things and I didn't know how to balance it, and I was making, I was making them my teacher when the scripture says God is our teacher. And God told me to leave the church. I thought it was the devil. I argued with him for about three months, and uh he told me to leave that church, not the church. Christian can't leave the church.

SPEAKER_03 7:29

Right.

SPEAKER_04 7:29

It's not possible. And uh argued with him about three months. I started to get sick after every service, and I I finally left. And God talks me, and I have a divine encounter with God. And he tells me in this divine encounter, I'm gonna root you in truth and I'm gonna root you in love, and I'm gonna take you on a wilderness journey, I'm gonna teach you what it means to be taught by me. And you're gonna find that most of the people at this season are not gonna be on page with what you say, and you're gonna learn to stand in my truth even when no one else is standing with you.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

And I went through a very unique three-year season of learning what it meant to follow God's voice no matter what. I was very lonely. He told me I would be lonely. And as I came to the breaking point, he says, Now I want you to go out and start doing it, uh ministering on the street. And as people see that community will start coming to you. So after three years, I still go out, go out and ministering on the street, and I'm seeing people healed, and I'm seeing people delivered on the street, right? Just miracles, broken bones, ears, eyes opening. Uh, and I start getting uh community coming around and going, How are you doing what you're doing? And so this is the next season. So we do that for a while, and I have people come into my house and I'm preaching till you know three in the morning and people are falling asleep, right? Like Paul did. And so I did that for a season and I went through a Job season. I'm like, I felt like I was untouchable. I felt like I could walk on water. I felt like if you kill me, I win. And people started getting these prophetic words saying you're going like the devil's gonna come after you because of what you're doing. And I said, let him, let I'm like, I'm not afraid of the devil. If he kills me, I win. You know? And I went through a joke season, and uh it was it was worse than I thought it would be. And it was very humbling. And God spoke to me, He said, Now I want you to, now I want you to gather a community around you, and I want you to learn to be loved by community. You learned what it was meant to not need their affirmation. Now I want you to receive it as a gift, not as a need.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 9:44

I brought a community around me and I and I just let community love me. I never I'd never done that before. I just God was everything I need, and I learned how to receive community, and for the next several years, God really taught me how to how to really be part of a real community. Uh I've done I've done ministry discipleship. I had stuff, but what does it really meant to look like? And so we we we had that. Um part of another church, beautiful church, Kairos, love the church. Everybody there is awesome. Uh, served there for seven years. And then uh God told me to leave that place, not the church, because you can't leave the church. And he said, I want to I want to teach you something new now. And he said uh to me, uh, I want to teach you how to fellowship. I want to teach you how to fellowship. You know how to teach, you know how to disciple, you know how to mentor, but you really actually have no idea how to fellowship. And scripture says that the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are gonna equip the church, but the church is gonna perfect itself, it's gonna build up itself. And so he took me into another season, and then that's been the season I'm kind of coming out of now. So I've I've just kind of been all over with different things that God just keeps working and trying to chip away some of the the chinks of my armor.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

So amazing. You know, when you talk about the hard time, um this isn't something I plan to ask you, but kind of, because it was a little bit on my heart as I'm as I'm uh just driving over here today. So talk to me about spiritual warfare because when you say yes to God and you really walk with him, you know, we know there's gonna be resistance and we can laugh it off and act like it's no big deal, but there's times it is a big deal and it's challenging. So tell me how you, especially maybe in that Job season, how did you persevere and stay living from a mindset of victory?

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Jesus gotta get wisdom.

SPEAKER_04 12:01

So I uh I gotta say this that that God gives us tools and he and and he and he gives us these tools and they're wonderful. But we don't follow a tool, we follow his voice. So he gave me some tools, and those tools are the word of God. But God is a person, and we hear his voice and we follow. So God said to the children of Israel, you know, hear my voice, keep my word, keep my statutes. You know, and you you gotta you gotta do all three. We were in a new covenant that still that still carries over. So in that season, that meant something very specific to me. And I remember gathering a group of people, and I gathered those friends, and I I said, here is how we're going to pray. This is God's will. And I I don't care how we feel or what we're looking at, this is what we're going to believe. And anything that we if it doesn't line up with the word of God, good scripture says that he's given us dominion, all power and authority to destroy the work of the devil. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And if it's the work of the devil, we have dominion to destroy it.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Amen.

SPEAKER_04 13:22

So that he's not he's not telling us to ask him, he's not telling us to ask him to do it or ask him if it's okay. He says that the the spirit is love, joy, kindness, meekness, self-control, long suffering against such, there's no law. There's no law against me walking out the love of God to destroy the works of the enemy.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Amen.

SPEAKER_04 13:44

And so I don't have to ask what God's will is in the midst of the fire. I do not have to ask what his will is. I know what his will is. His will is love, and and Jesus forever, forever finalizes and solidifies what the truth of love is on the cross. You'll feel it sometimes, sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you won't. But that but in when you're in warfare, when you're in warfare, you don't, you don't, you can't up and down. So I remember and now now kind of getting down into the nuts and bolts of what that looked like. Um, so you gotta like know in that season or uh, and and I have another one that's you know, but they're always almost the same. Um my my ex who recently came back to Jesus and going to church uh you know left. She found another guy, had a secret affair, took off. Um, looked like I was gonna potentially lose my job, lose my house. Uh my doctors were telling my mom she's gonna die. My uh father-in-law has a heart attack on the other side of the street in the middle of the night. Uh my CEO is, you know, coming to visit and uh or uh the vice president of the company coming to visit and his plane catches on on fire. Uh my I get a brand new laptop and it's full of viruses. The office, new office they give me, is uh stuck at like 85 degrees. That's just the beginning of the list. Cars breaking down, everything's going wrong. And you know, just to give one example, Jesus shut his mouth. He was oppressed, he despised the shame, and he shut his mouth. And what we love to do is murmur in the wilderness. And and he didn't have anybody to he never shared his burden with the disciples until the end when they became, he says, I no longer call you servants, I call you friends. So when they became friends, they were just starting to get a concept of what the kingdom of heaven looked like, he said, Hey, I never shared this with you guys before, but I feel like I'm about to die. He never was transparent with them because they never would have been able to contribute and help him in his suffering, and even then they weren't. And yet we love to share with people who don't believe the promises of God and they want to bring us over into their belief system rather than into God's belief system.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

And so we can't, if we don't have people like that around us, we can't, we gotta shut our mouth and go listen to the only one who knows the truth and come into his presence and get transformed. So I remember I would go into, you know, I would, I would get, I would get emotional because we get emotional, I get hurt, I'm wounded, I would, I would, I would run to God. And I would I would go in my room, you know, and it was regarding my my my ex, for example. And this is this is spiritual warfare because we resist the devil by getting into our faith. We resist the lie by getting into the personal truth.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Amen.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

And so I go into my bedroom, shut the door, and I'm like, God, thank you. Thank you. You love me, God, and and and if she would have known who I am the way you know who I was, she never would have done it. And if she know, she never would have left. God, and if she would have known who she was and who you created to be, she never would have left. God, I'm not the sum of what I'm going through. I'm the sum of what Jesus went through. God, you've given me a wife. You call me to be a husband, you reserve that in heaven for me. Thank you, Jesus. God, you've told me, you've given me, uh you've told me you're gonna prosper me. It looks like on earth I might lose my job and lose my house. Lord God, you've given me a home, right? And I and we're just and we're just declaring truth. And me for the moment, this is like raw faith. This is just me meeting God in truth. And I'm just declaring, I'm not crying out, God, why? I'm not going, God, please help me. I'm God, I'm going, God, it is finished. I hide myself in that finished work, and I just call forth the things that are not. And he just meets me there. And he just starts talking to me. And he's almost like he joins in and goes, Yeah, yeah, that's right, son. And he starts staring things and he starts prophesying things, and he gets me stirred up. And I'm like, Yeah, and that too, that's gonna happen. And you just start prophesying, but he meets me there. Two can't walk together unless they agree. I start agreeing with him. He goes, Yeah. Comes in, he starts walking with me, and he starts, and we we just start prophesying and we start overcoming. And and I I knew this was the first season I'd ever gone through anything horrific to this degree in my life, but people didn't know. This is the first season I ever shut my mouth. Jesus shut his mouth. He was oppressed and he shut his mouth. And I went to God and I and I stood in agreement with with God, and things just began to change. You know, the end was better than the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Wow. It's very powerful. You know, I feel like as we're doing this podcast, someone's listening to this, and their their heart is to be actively engaged um in mission, wherever they are, as we as we promote here, um, but they're going through so much spiritual warfare that they're just tired and they they're just trying to survive. Um, what advice would you give that person right now or those people?

SPEAKER_02 19:35

Man.

SPEAKER_04 19:38

You know, Jesus said this, and this, yeah, I can't give away what but what I have. And a lot of people have experiences that bring them to truth, and some people have truth that bring them new experiences. Does that make sense? Some people have these encounters with God that are very supernatural, and they and that and that takes them into journeys. You have Muslims right now having visions of Jesus and that taking them into a journey of truth. You have people who are starting out like I did, very intellectual with truth, and they follow truth, and that takes them into encounters. But we need to have truth and encounter. We need to encounter Jesus. We need to encounter the one uh and a couple couple things that I have done ever since I've been saved, and one of them uh is I start out I'm gonna share a dream. Which one? I'm gonna share this dream. I had a I I had a dream that I was on my parents' property and I was with twelve twelve men. And uh and we hear that the enemy is going to attack, you know, the enemy comes to steal, kill, or destroy. People are going through stuff right now, and it was it was a call to what you're saying. Right now, the enemy is terrified because God is raising up his church and she's putting him under her feet, and he's and he's acting out of the place of terror, and people are having some really difficult trials because of this. It's some weird stuff. And so I see the enemy coming, we see the enemy coming, and it's hundreds, and we're 12 and we run. Now I began to run, and there's a 12-year-old boy in front of me running, and I don't know who this 12-year-old boy is. I'm chasing this 12-year-old boy, but I'm thinking we have to hide. See, scripture says that we're, you know, we're to be hidden in Christ, we're to be hidden under the rock, we're hidden in the cleft of the rock, we're to be hidden in Christ, and yet we keep poking our head out in the moment of trial, going, here I am in my flesh, I don't believe. Help! I'm waiting for. for you to come please come and he came he's he came and i'm chasing this this 12 year old boy and this what does the 12 year old boy represent well sometimes we interpret scripture based upon our prophecy and dreams based upon scripture but it's a really good thing to start with God what is it what is this your heart in this and when I was 12 years old I was a violent 12 year old boy who was great at things and I would feel super proud of myself and then I would fail at things because I was trying to stretch into new things and I would feel super insecure. Right? And I was judging myself continuously based on my performance and people's assessment of me. And God says I'm taking you back and I'm redeeming you as though you never went through that. 12 years old he's like that should have been the time of your life where you was like you were so insecure and you didn't feel loved and you didn't feel valued and I'm redeeming because I'm calling you back into childlike faith. And you are not the sum of your performance you are successful because of who you are not how you performed. It's who you are it can't change. You are successful that's who you are and everything you put your hand to that's a promise not because of what you're going through or anything you've done. It's who you are it's your identity. And so I'm chasing this identity of restoration all the way back to my youth and we're going we have to hide I'm thinking we can't be we can't be on our phones we can't we can't be out in the trees where they can see we have to hide. And I wake up hearing this God what do you mean hide? He's like you have to hide yourself in Christ right now. Tell the church right now she's so poking her head out when she goes through stuff and the devil's like I gotcha I just kept on poking until I saw flesh and the devil's job is to devour flesh. Right? We've tried to hide ourselves through works rather than in his work. We tried to hide ourselves and trying to win rather than hiding ourselves in Christ and believing it's finished and we're not even sure how to do that. We're going in a fight trying to get an outcome and when we don't receive the outcome we are discouraged. Right? And Jesus never got discouraged until he saw victory. He's calling you to grow up you're not you're not following a tool you're following a person and he loved where you started but he's pruning you you know so so what I'm what am I what am I talking uh about all these things we have all these wonderful tools for spiritual warfare but the gist of it is is this as Christ is so am I and I have no idea my eye hasn't seen my ear hasn't heard my heart doesn't even understand what that looks like and so my advice to people is we we have to learn to access that place. We have to learn how I call accessing heaven we have to learn to say God and I'm just gonna do it God I trust and I'm just gonna do it this way. If you're listening to this kind of an example yeah let's join in here. Father you know what I'm going through and just like Jesus of like man if you can take this cup away take it away God just like Shadrach, Meshach and Amendigo, God, I believe you can, I believe you will, but even if you don't I die right here in secret. Not out in the battlefield I die in the place where there's no sting of death I die here and I lay it down and I declare that you've forgiven me entirely so it has nothing to do with an open door. You bore away the fullness of the curse and so I become a fool and I set my eyes in heaven there is no curse up here. The devil can't come up here you've blessed me with every spiritual blessing so it's not because I lack anything and you give me the fullness of the inheritance and then it's in Christ and I am rich. I am not impoverished I am not lacking so God I've come here to be taught by you and to get a revelation of my full identity and my full purpose and from that place I listen I just listen I might pray in tongues because I'm going to pray in tongues he encourages me build me up edifies me and shows me things to come and as I begin to acknowledge those things some of those things might be the very thing because God we don't examine ourselves to look what for what's wrong we start with the examination of God and we enter heaven God you tell us we'll be perfected forever by one sacrifice that I come boldly to the throne of grace and then I listen now funny thing is when you don't examine yourself God will examine you and all of a sudden you might feel excitement and faith and boldness rise up and it comes to your mind now whatever comes to your mind in this place you have to trust Holy Spirit to lead you and teach you you don't know where it's going you you you're following his voice you just have to acknowledge God I I just all of a sudden I feel your presence God all of a sudden I feel your peace to the person who has more will be given as you begin to acknowledge these things God goes yeah you're right he starts to release more God I feel really angry because yeah that's what I put my finger on let's talk about that let's translate that let's work through that right I didn't I didn't I'm not coming here hindered by sin I'm just telling you there's some feelings in my flesh and when I come into the secret place you put you're not looking all these things or me trying to figure out what's wrong you're saying this is the thing I've set you free from okay God this is this is what I'm feeling what do you want me to know and then I listen and wouldn't you know he always tells me as Christ is so am I he always every time takes me on a journey to encourage me build me up in the truth of who I am in Christ and show me what that looks like in things to come powerful.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

That identity peace that living from the place of the kingdom seated with him in Christ Jesus just so incredibly important I know in my life I've seen that and as I've discipled others I really really thank you Paul for bringing that up here today um we could go on on that the whole podcast honestly but I want to I want to transition here and ask you you've worked a number of different jobs over the years and you know sometimes people will um listen to a podcast like this and hear people talking about you know it was Wednesday night and we went on the street and you know like and you were mentioning some of that earlier you saw ankles healed and all that and that's wonderful I love to do that I train people to do that if we want to keep doing that but I want you to give me some stories and some advice for our listeners too about how you've seen this play out through the context of your job or your neighborhood you're living in and specifically your jobs and what does that look like how do you how do you bring the kingdom people without getting fired so so let me put some context around it really really quick um I asked a guy I said you know he was talking about ministry family church those things and and he was stack ranking it I don't I don't believe in that uh God gave me a vision of the seraphim and Ezekiel and the seraphim and revelations and it's the face of an eagle face of a man face of an ox and face of a lion they and he said to me in revelation scripture can have many interpretations we can bring out of it many things that are true Jesus said that and the face of the eagle is your love for the Father love of God love of Jesus love of the Holy Spirit and you have a ministry with God there's a ministry just like a a man and a woman have a ministry to your wife and there is a ministry a mission to your intimacy with God there's a love of yourself love yourself love your neighbor as you love yourself.

SPEAKER_04 30:31

This is love not that we love God but that God loves us and there is a mission that sometimes Christians on mission miss of loving yourself well and being a conduit of God's affection for you there is a there is a work there is a mission in the workplace there is a mission to your to your family or to your business to your to you how you do business not just not just sharing Christ but there is a mission there to do it well there is a mission for your own unique ministry in whatever fashion form and and they are one and whichever in Ezekiel's wheel whatever way they go they go straight with all their heart mind and strength as one new man there's not these are not divisions and different stack rankings you're just in Christ so it doesn't matter whether I'm all of them are holy right and so the mission on the min the the the the person so in the past and I was this way I was on mission and I wasn't holy I was I was so set on mission and that was my life at the sacrifice of my family at the sacrifice sometimes of intimacy with God at the sacrifice of work man I've seen this one Christian so excited about the power of God and are horrible in their stewardship of being on mission in the workplace. And so like what does it look like it's it means I'm always listening and I'm always looking and I'm I'm hungry because this is going to sound blessed are those who's hungry. The meat of the word you and I talked about this the meat of the my meat is to do the will of him who sent me and there is something about me that loves myself that wants that meat. And when I love myself I feed myself and to feed myself is very self-loving and I want to grow up into Christ and all things I want to experience him so I want the meat and my meat is to do the will of him who sent me. So I'm always hungry and I've developed a mind you want to develop a mindset and attitude of whatever wherever context I'm in I am hungry. Now if I'm hungry and I'm seeking his face in all these different contexts he just will show up. It's that simple if you don't love yourself you won't feed yourself. If you're not hungry you won't be asking and seeking and these doors won't open so you watch all these different things it's like how do you do that? I just stay hungry and I don't know how it happens. I continuously acknowledge him in all these fears and I don't it's like my wife would go how did we get there I'm like I know I don't know we were we were at the the the uh we were shopping for furniture and we found ourselves in front of this guy and he's bearing his soul to us and his son died and he has a vision of God that's skewed because of it and now we're prophesying over him in the middle of rife's furniture I don't know how we got there. I wasn't even I'm just I'm just hungry you know I'm I'm at work and and I got a and I got an appointment I got an appointment with a uh a guy's gonna come and try to sell me a billboard to put in in the the safe way uh no the safe way Fred Meyer on the Fred Meyer carts where put your business name on all the Fred Meyer carts. So he comes in there and he's limping and I want to minister healing to him but I want to become all things to all people and God what do you what do you want to do? I know you want to heal him and I know I have freedom to do that but let's start with your heart. Where are you at? I really want to heal him you know what's your heart and I don't know how he got there. I have no idea how we got to him telling me his wife died three years earlier and he's been walking in a fog for two years. But I know I asked the question I can't think of anything overly prophetic that I did. But I was sitting there asking the question because I was hungry for it and we're having a conversation and the guy doesn't want to leave and I'm just ministering to him about his his wife and and and and and how how you know how to work through these things in a dynamic way rather than a psychology psychological way. I don't know how and you asked the question so I could just sit there and tell testimonies of ministering to um oh man I could sit and tell testimonies of ministering to customers and prophesying over customers and healing customers but how did I get here everybody would love that I have a I have a my my my one of my best friends in the world owns the company we're working on the business together um we're super close we both love Jesus you know he's like hey I prayed for this gal today she had broken ribs I'm like I'm gonna pray for that and heal that praise for so we're he doesn't care about losing the job he cares about Jesus right that's unique but I didn't start out there I was working for the I was working for the city where they were we were not allowed to do that. I was I was a division manager for parking we were managed uh parking for all these different places and I was praying for people knowing that anytime I could lose my job and I'm stopping a customer and and I'm like I remember sharing with one gal I was like hey uh and they they couldn't they couldn't they couldn't walk and I'm like all right I'm gonna pray for you God's gonna heal you and you're gonna get out of that car she's like I can't walk and I'll Jesus' name be healed get out of the car and she's like jumping up and down crying in the front of the business place. I'm not supposed to be doing that right but what if we're so afraid of doing that we don't actually enter into the promised land of God where we actually have freedom to do that. Wow what if we have to believe and and we have to go up into heaven what if what if we get persecuted in the marketplace I I have I went through a season where I was getting persecuted. I'm praying for people I like I've always had freedom and all of a sudden I'm praying for people they're having encounters and then they go and turn me in to the city and and what if what if hiding ourselves in Christ is coming back and saying God thank you for your word this is what it looks like on earth but I just forgive everybody I die to myself Lord God and I come back to the truth that hurt that that was terrible was painful. I'm not denying the truth I'm not denying the pain of it but I can't wallow in my flesh I need to come up here and allow you to heal my heart God and so I just ask you you would speak to me. And I tell you if you don't hear anything just start with truth. Even if it's just just start with truth just put on truth just declare an atmosphere of truth God I thank you you keep me and nothing will hurt me. God if nothing else that this one thing I can do I I I my my to be a my sacrifice it's the sacrifice of my lips giving praise to you is the only sacrifice you ask for you already did all the others you already killed me. There's nothing else I can do but put my eyes in heaven and the sacrifice of my lips giving praise to God. God so I thank you that I live and those who do the will of God even their enemies will be at peace with them. God I thank you that my enemies are peace with me. That's your that's my inheritance in heaven I come up here to get it I come up here to get it I'm not going down there begging you to bring it down you you told me to bring it down and so I remember going through that season I didn't do a perfect thank God I didn't I got judged on a on the scale of Jesus rather than my scale but he but he he overcame for me we don't have to be perfect right he's perfect and so I just saw that and come out of that season how do you overcome you probably will go through some persecution sometimes in your life and you'll probably have to go and say which one am I going to do am I going to look at what things are on the earth or am I going to come up there forgive myself forgive them forgive God and everybody want to blame for why heaven doesn't look like on earth and come up into heaven let me God show me the truth powerful yeah I I really like how you're talking about you know just receiving God's love for you so that when you're going out to other people you know you're trying to remember how you put that but it's like that really stuck with me as you're sharing all this there's so much revelation especially in this last little part that you just released.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

And I think that this this um ability to walk in God's love where we feel loved is really connected to us and it's like as we receive so freely can we give to others and if we're so trying to minister to people that it's a it's like a striving to fulfill the Great Commission as opposed to a an overflow of the of the abundance we have in Christ that goes over onto others.

SPEAKER_04 39:41

Am I hearing you right on that yeah and I'll share this testimony I remember this gal and I was I was sharing with them she was a Seventh-day Adventist and she was just sharing these principles blessed are those who are not offended because of me. Inevitably in this world you're gonna have tribulations and through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom. Now what does that mean? God didn't orchestrate your tribulation it's the nature of living through a fallen world and to him who overcomes I'll give to the eat of the tree of life to him who overcomes will not be heard of the second death to him who overcomes so every time you you go through a tribulation in this in this world you have you you have an opportunity eat from the tree of knowledge speak from the tree of knowledge live from the tree of knowledge of what you went through on earth talk about that process that with all your friends who are seeing things from earth or live from the tree of life which is Jesus the truth and you have an opportunity and with anywhere on your journey you can go backwards or you can go forward and be promoted. Every time you go through a trial it's not God working things for the good God will work things for the best that's the story that's the the story is he will he will upgrade you every one of those times. This is why we rejoice in our tribulation because when we when we're fathered by God and we come into that secret place and we we start to engage God this is how I feel on earth I lay that down I die to that it's not the truth of heaven I become a fool I believe everything in heaven is my inheritance thank you for every good and perfect gift that you give me that's in heaven and he's like yeah let me let me give you a revelation let me give you a vision that's good it's very powerful um one last question before we go to prayer yeah if you look back over the years um let's say there's somebody that's doing this that's trying to you know abide in Christ live for the kingdom um you know is intentionally seeking to reach out pray for people as the Holy Spirit leads and so forth and their heart is I want to disciple others to do this you know I I like doing this but I actually want other people to you know to make disciples of um as you've lived this way how have you been able to pass it on you're passing it on here through our podcast but what do you look for in other people you know Jesus chose 12 and he did so prayerfully and then he you know he trained more but you know what I'm saying so how have you been able to pass on what you have you know I I've spent the majority of my time and I'm and I enjoy it teaching discipling um a lot of teaching classes and I and I think I'm I'm I'm really believe that there's something different about the way Jesus did things he still taught he still gave classes but who who really benefited twelve men twelve men that he was very very intimate with and he was having fellowship with in the context of watching men of God and women of God pursue after God and ministry and all these things to the detriment of their own love of themselves or the love of their family um I lost my my my my I was married for 20 years and she left um and um yeah there there was an affair there but God what's my responsibility what do you want me to learn and this is an answer to your question. It's like how do we pass this on my daughter she grew up in that environment she was ministering prophesying healing but she never had a victorious intimate relationship with God that she was happy about and wanted to share with the world she believed in God but she was never ecstatic in an overflow of wanting share that with the world around her. So I came to her, it was after this last time, this guy said, I want you to invest your time more heavily with people individually in fellowship. Because the church builds itself up. And then and and and people need to learn at their own pace. And you can't tell everybody what they need to know. You you will be better off if you're a guide. So rather than taking people and telling them which is faster for you but slower for them, you need to learn how to do fellowship with them, which is slower for you and faster for them. And you need to be a guide that lets them find their way in their journey. So one of the first people I did this with was my daughter and I said, you know, she was really struggling at the time during the season I said I'd I'd like to start all over with you and I'd like a second chance. And I'd like to do fellowship with you. She's like what does that look like? And God had been talking to me for a long time about what that looked like.

SPEAKER_03 44:55

And so we begin to do fellowship and then we fast forward and she's like dad this is easy. She's like I want to just I'm doing this everywhere. I'm sharing Jesus everywhere I'm going. I'm doing fellowship with this person doing fellowship with this person. She's like and her my uh my ex, her mom mom wants to do fellowship with me. She's come back to Jesus and she's like I'm praying and it's like I got all these testimony and she's on fire.

SPEAKER_04 45:19

Not because I taught her but because I walked beside her and let her hear God's voice. Amen and I was a guide and the scripture says that a man can be a city on a hill but in Isaiah it says this it says Israel representing the church is a mountain and the nations will come to that mountain and be taught by God there. So what they're learning when they come to this mountain a church a man who runs a church can never be the mountain but a community that comes together and lets Jesus lets Holy Spirit lets Father teach them and be the head of that community people can come and watch how they hear and follow Holy Spirit and they can learn from God there by their example.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Amenful Paul I'll tell you what I'm going to pray for you and then after I get done I want you to pray for our listeners and then we're just going to kind of uh I'll just kind of lead them into a time of just being still okay after you're done praying. So Father I just want to thank you so much even as I'm praying here I'm I'm reflecting and my spirit is full from this time that we get to sit and hear the revelation you've taught your son Paul Langan. Father we bless Paul we bless all the seeds that he has sown over the years the seeds that he has watered the people he has come alongside and guided to you and I just thank you father for his example that really shows that he is a follower of Christ he's not trying to create followers of himself but just simply follow Jesus and let that be an example to others to do the same. Father we do pray that you would go and open doors for Paul that you would open doors more doors than what are open now regardless of where they are you you see his whole life and all of his life is lived in the kingdom of God. And I pray that you would open the doors in his life Lord for the things you have prepared in advance for him to do. Father I pray that he can walk in the power of the Holy Spirit that as he abides in you it would be easy because your yoke is easy and your burden is light that he would simply remain in you sensitive to your voice and find himself in some extraordinary places talking to extraordinary people about extraordinary things because you have made each of us fearfully and wonderfully Lord. And so Father we bless Paul we bless the work of his hands the work of his ministry we bless his family and the work you're doing there. And Lord God we we just bless his testimonies his ability to speak from experience of what you've done in his life I pray that boldness will continue to be able to share about who you are everywhere he goes which is the heart of a witness. We pray all this in Jesus' mighty name amen.

SPEAKER_04 48:48

God I thank you that our audience they are your sheep they hear your voice God you've forgiven them you've cleansed them Lord God there's no consequences you bore away the curse of the times that they hadn't heard your voice they're not carrying any of that Lord God that that they hear they are you they are your sheep and they hear your voice. They don't need anyone to teach them because your spirit leads them into all truth. That means there's no truth that you won't lead them into. That's all truth it's all encompassing it isn't just for ministry it's for how they live their life and how they enjoy their life it's for how they engage you and experience greater spiritual encounters it's how they do business how they do community you lead them into all truth. God you didn't hide from Abraham what you're doing. God you don't hide from them what you're doing you show them all things. They're going to be astounded like God are you really showing me this it's kind of freaking me out God because you're putting trust into them as a father puts trust into his children as he puts keys into the car for the car he says here's your car and then sometimes the kids wreck the car and he gets him a new car because he's a good father and he says try again God you're putting trust into your children because you believe in them greater than they believe in themselves. And God's inviting you to say I believe in who you made me to be father. God they have the mind of Christ they have the mind of Christ all the riches of wisdom and knowledge and understanding are hidden inside of them you show them things to come you show them things to come you reveal mysteries. Now God and you're going to start making that God was the I am He was the I am He said let me tell you who I am and you're a co-laborer with Christ as you're co-laboring Paul says by the grace of God I am what I am as we begin to put clothes on that God begins to show you God's going to begin to show you who I who you are and what it looks like in things to come I want you to as you begin to do that as you begin to get dreams you're going to begin to have visions you're going to begin to and I want you to come in agreement with what God's showing you those are those are generalities but what does it look like when the rubber meets the road so as God is revealing these things begin to process what you're feeling put it on label it begin to process what you're seeing in your dreams I am God I am who I am this is who you made me to be He's going to start you meet him with that confession but he begins to co-labor with you in the creation of who he the redemption of who you made to be begin to come into agreement with these things and you're going to see he goes before you prepares you a way to walk it out.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

So we're just going to wait just a few more minutes here quietly in the presence as we reflect on the things Paul's released over us both through his prayer and just through all his testimonies today. Lord I pray right now that you will bring one or two things to our mind that you just want to minister to us in from today. And I pray in the future you'll bring more back to us. Amen Thank you for coming on today Paul awesome awesome to hear your life and testimonies and we say yes and amen to more thank you thank you has been a lot of fun to Mobilize is a nonprofit organization that trains, mobilizes and coaches disciples of Jesus Christ to live life on mission. To sow financially into the work we're doing at Mission to Mobilize visit our website at mission to mobilize dot com slash partner