Have you seen God use a delay as a divine setup for His purposes?
I have. Let me share a story.
During the spring of 2014, the Lord gave me an idea to honor my friends, Jon and Jolene Hamill. As the founder of Burning Lamp Media & Publishing, I agreed to publish their first book, Crown & Throne. Of all the books we published, none encountered the level of warfare as this book. It was diabolical resistance seeking to thwart the release of this anointed book.
For the first print run I requested an unusual number due to the Lord’s leading—2,222. The Lord impressed upon my heart that Isaiah 22:22 was a key verse for this book launch, “Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder, when he opens no one will shut, when he shuts no one will open.”
Roughly 60 cases of Crown & Throne sat on a pallet in my garage with another pallet off to the side that originally secured the top. While viewing pictures of the prayer room at the Fredericksburg Prayer Furnace, I noticed they creatively utilized the wood from pallets to create a distinct look on their wall.
This got me thinking.
What if I were to use the pallet wood from the very first shipment of Crown & Throne to build a small bookshelf for Jon and Jolene? This bookshelf could be a memorial of sorts that could be pass along to future generations. To me it felt like a God idea!
Immediately I contacted one of my authors whose father owned a furniture business. I learned they actually built furniture from pallet wood! They had the tools and expertise to build a bookshelf. Within six weeks the bookshelf was in my garage.
I was full of anticipation about the opportunity to give them this gift. My heart longed to see their response. Several times I tried to connect but to no avail due to their hectic travelling itinerary. However soon thereafter I came into a verbal agreement to sell Burning Lamp to them. At that point I decided to wait for to give them the bookshelf. It had to be the right moment.
Although I yearned to give it to them immediately, I decided to wait. Several months passed. Then it became obvious that the right time was going to be at a conference Jon and Jolene were to co-host with several ministries—The Revolution 2014.
Finally the day arrived, after much waiting.
I transported the bookshelf to the conference. I told Jon that at some point I’d like to publicly give them a gift to honor them. He assured me that we’d do it during the morning session. It passed by without an opportunity. Afterwards he grabbed me to apologize profusely and said, “Lets do it during the afternoon session.” Likewise the afternoon session went into overtime so Jon was unable to accommodate my request.
The moment seemed to be elusive.
That evening Pastor David Ruleman of The Gate, orchestrated the service; he ensured time set apart for me to give the Hamills their gift prior to the keynote speaker’s session, Gary Beaton.
The delay became a divine setup.
It was a holy moment. With deep gratitude, I communicated my deepest appreciation for them as we unveiled the bookshelf. However what proceeded caught me totally off guard.
When Gary came up, he immediately prophesied to the Hamills. Here’s an excerpt of a few things he said:
The Lord spoke to me about your bookshelf. I really feel like this gift that was given to you tonight speaks about humility. It speaks about your lives. His life. It speaks about your lives together. And the 22:22, and the key of David on your shoulder for this revolution. That what you open no man can close, what you close no man can open. And what you’re doing is opening what no man can close. And this gathering has been that fulcrum to unlock and open up that next chapter that no man can close. No man can close what just happened this weekend. That’s the word of the Lord.”
…
“But I sat here thinking about the manger and thinking about the humility of the manger. This [bookshelf] is like the manger, the humility that’s sitting here tonight. And that’s what your lives have been about, and the Lord chose you because of your humility. The fertile heart of your lives. Like Mary. You know? A place he could plant a seed that would grow in humble soil, where he would be crowned king and glorified. And he wanted this to be a prophetic representation tonight of your lives. And the other books that will fill this with the crown of Glory and with the key of David.”
“All of this was a set up. All of this was planned…But it’s beautiful. Isn’t it sweet how Holy Spirit orchestrates everything so perfectly, so beautifully, at the right moment, the right time. Every single thing that happens in our lives, God’s right in the middle of it. Every day and every moment of our lives, and things we miss every day because we’re just not aware that He’s doing stuff. I call it, ‘Life is like a dream.’”
There’s things He does where we’re like, “Well that’s pretty cool”. But He’s really saying something so much deeper, and we’re just not aware. And as a prophetic people, that’s such a message to us tonight about being aware.
God’s so big about honor. He wants us to honor each other all the time. He wants us to have open hands 
and open hearts. And the simplest things we call “protocol” are huge. You never go before a king without a gift in your hand. You go in honor. The same amongst us. And Jon and Jolene exhibit honor about everything they do….Honor, humility, there’s so many practical things that go without saying. If we will just do the simplest things, we can’t comprehend how pleased the Lord is with the simplest things. Thank you cards, anything, gratefulness. The most simplest things, the Lord is really big on those. It’s amazing.
I wanted to just jump on [the shelf word] immediately because that is huge for your next steps. You were saying “What are the next steps? What does it mean for 2015? What does it mean for the days ahead?” And I think that’s a word for the days ahead for you. The Lord will give you the plan for why you’re holding that out saying, “The Lord is coming.” Because you’re going to write definitive books of our time. They will be definitive books of our time. They’ll help lead a generation (or generations) in winning the lost and going after those billion souls and bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. Because that’s the key, that’s the goal, that’s why we’re running this race. And we’re gonna all run it until we can’t run it anymore.
The gift was given at the right time. God’s perfect timing! The delay was a divine orchestration so that Gary could minister prophetically into Jon and Jolene’s life concerning future definitive books of our time. The delay was indeed a divine setup! Allow the Lord to turn your delays into a divine setup.
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