He scored a 370 on the English section of the SAT.
When his wife and her best friend heard him preach for the first time, they both fell sound asleep on the front row.
“I think God did that for my protection,” bestselling author and internationally known pastor and speaker John Bevere tells Dr. Steve Greene on the 1000th episode of the Greenelines podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. The author of The Bait of Satan and 21 other books says in all his years of travel, he has only met two people with lower SAT scores—one of whom just guessed at the answers. He knows his entire ministry is based on the gifts and anointing of the Holy Spirit, and he wants to encourage others who feel unqualified for their calling as well.
“I think on purpose, He allowed me to see how terrible I was, how I couldn’t write,” Bevere says. “He loves me more as a son than He loves what I can do for him, and He said, ‘I want to make sure that My son is protected from pride, because he will always know how bad a writer he is.'”
And God made sure Bevere would always give Him the glory for his speaking ability as well, he says. In his first church position, he served a senior pastor by taking care of visiting guest speakers, but any speaking he did himself either put people to sleep or kept them from coming altogether.
And then something changed. “Because I was faithful to my pastor, God promoted me to youth pastor,” he says. He had no desire for youth ministry, but God spoke to both Bevere and his wife, Lisa, independently, so they made the move from their Texas church to one in Orlando, Florida. “I knew it was obedience,” he says.
On their first Sunday, the senior pastor called him up to speak for a few minutes.
“I remember there were 2,500 people in the building, and my wife is dreading what is about to happen,” Bevere says. “I get up there; I take the mic from my pastor. And within 60 seconds, every person in that building is on their feet, screaming. And I go for four more minutes … I hand the mic back to my pastor; I’m shaking like a leaf.”
To this day, his wife says he became a different man when they crossed into Florida, Bevere says. “And so that was obviously the moment that gift came on my life.”
What he loves about this story is how God blessed his obedience with the gifting he needed to carry out His calling, Bevere says. “To be honest with you, I absolutely loved being youth pastor after the fact. But in my obedience to Him, here comes the gift.”
“Peter makes a statement in Acts Chapter 4,” he continues. “He said, ‘God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him.’ So again, if the Lord tells me, ‘I want you to be an ER nurse’ … in my obedience, now, all of a sudden, a gifting comes on me to be an ER nurse.'”
But we must have faith to develop that gift, Bevere says. For much more of his teaching on the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives and how God has used Bevere’s areas of weakness to pour forth His power and gifting, listen to the entire episode of Greenelines here and enjoy additional highlights as well.
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