Seed, Death and Rebirth - A Prophetic Word

A few weeks ago I was given a prophetic word. I shared it with a few people but hoped it would mature. Some words come because of a quick download from heaven, some are seed and they mature in the spirit. This is one of those words:

I hear the Lord say, "Do NOT Fear Death".

All changes I want to make in your life, all improvement I want to bring, all prosperity I want to produce for you, all new beginnings must begin with a death, a loss, a perceived failure, an end. With pain and a death.

Every time you experience the pain of loss from a situation dying in your life, look up and see the beginnings of a new phase I am bringing. Unless a seed fall to the earth and die it new birth of a new vision cannot begin.

People go thru great financial difficulty, the collapse or failure of a business, the loss of a home by foreclosure, the end of a relationship, the loss of a job, the illness that causes pain and even the tragic death of a loved one. While on the face these are all bad and painful things, they are at their root seed falling to the ground. If you don't keep digging up the seed by hanging on to the past an mourning the loss you will not experience the new life I want to bring to you. Allow the seed fallen to the ground to grow and bloom. There will come a day when that failure or pain will become seed for greatness in your life.

This is MORE than the promise that I will make all things new, this is more than the promise that I work all things together for your good, this is the promise that I will turn your mourning into joy. That I will take the ashes from your life and make them beautiful.

Don't hang on to the old. The new birth of destiny in your life can only come as you release the past. Press on to my high calling, forget what lies behind. Many rob themselves by mourning the past, trying to hold on to the past, trying to keep the past alive and miss what I want to do in their lives.

That is the end of the word of the Lord.

On a personal note, this word came and as confirmation the Lord showed me how in my life there have been many deaths, failures, collapses and loss and how each of them carried in them the seed of greater greatness that I could never have experienced without letting those things go and pressing on.

At 13 I lost my parents in a car accident. I lived for a short time in limbo. But, by the goodness of my Aunt and Uncle, Earl and Ruth Redlin I was taken in and raised in a loving and supportive home. I missed and miss my parents but the question is, would I be the person I am today without that loss? I don't think so. That loss had at it's core the seed for my good education and other opportunities I wouldn't have had without the money set aside for me and my siblings. A fair trade. NO. On the other hand, the pain of that loss carried with it the seed of a new birth.

In my early years of business I formed several business's some of which worked and some of which did not. Northern Data was painful. There was a day when we put it to death. We decided it wasn't worth going on. From that day that we let it go it began to prosper. We were holding on too tight.

There was a cattle farm that failed. There was a Software firm that didn't work out. There was even the Dale Carnegie work that after 10 years ended. In all three of these cases the residual benefit was greater than I could have ever anticipated. My understanding of production agriculture was enhanced. I no longer feared failure. The software firm prepared me for the eventual Presidency of Commodity Communications Corporation. Dale Carnegie Courses where I poured my life for a long time has produced much fruit in ability, relationship and knowledge of who I am.

There was Ag America Radio Network. An apparent Failure. We eventually merged with another organization. The death of that business and the reversal in agriculture in the early 80's meant that I needed to find a new thing. That meant that I moved to Chicagoland to work as CEO of a floundering data communications firm.

In that capacity I rubbed shoulders with the greats, I traveled the world, I lived overseas. Life was good.

Then that ended too. Another death.

However because I had traveled all over the world I had international experience. That meant that I was qualified to move to Europe and manage an international firm in the machine equipment industry.

After a few years that ended. We moved back. Another death. Then I decided to access my ability in Horticulture and at the age of nearly 50 I leaped once again off the pier of life an launched into a new career.

That has been very successful. Then one day a check showed up. The merger of Ag America was paying dividends. Ultimately it paid big time. Big.

I formed another business. The largest one I had ever formed. This one after several years failed. At that point I was in my late 50's and facing near bankruptcy. At this point I had seen the results of the seed of new birth in every failure. Pressing on looking to the future I expected great things. They happened.

At the same time I was pastor of a little church. That closed too. Great pain. Great rejection. Great betrayal.

In that moment to the world it looked like nothing would work out, nothing could be saved, everything was either death or dying. 2002 was a horrible year.

5 years later. I'm in my early 60s. The Lord kisses me in prosperity I could not have imagined. I walk in ministry in places I could never have walked if I would have stayed pastoring that little church, I have lived and traveled the world, in many ways I am among the respected of my generation.

WHY? The seed to every victory in my life began by something falling to the ground and dying. If I had tried to hang on too hard, feared failure, worried about what others would think I could never have become what the Lord is making me.

Death, where is thy sting, Grave, where is thy victory.

I have no fear of you.