the
spiritual
MENTOR
the
spiritual
MENTOR unlocking the treasures of THE COMING GENERATIONS
RON D E PRIEST
© Copyright 2005 – Ron DePriest All rights reserved.This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America.This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Version of the Bible. Scriptures marked NIV, KJV, AMP, and, ASV are taken from the New International Version, the King James Version, the Amplified Version, and the American Standard Version, respectively. Please note that Destiny Image’s publishing style capitalizes certain pronouns in Scripture that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and may differ from some Bible publishers’ styles. Take note that the name satan and related names are not capitalized. We choose not to acknowledge him, even to the point of violating grammatical rules.
Destiny Image® Publishers, Inc. P.O. Box 310 Shippensburg, PA 17257-0310 “Speaking to the Purposes of God for This Generation and for the Generations to Come” ISBN 0-7684-2262-0 For Worldwide Distribution Printed in the U.S.A.
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Dedication
I want to dedicate this book to three people most precious to me. My wife, Minnie, our daughter, Ronda, and her husband, John, my son in the faith. To Ronda, for she has seen my inability as a natural father and now can see a true father’s heart but has loved me through it all. To John for all his ability in being there for me and for being the son that God sent. Thank you both for all the sacrifices in giving of yourselves to Minnie and I and to this ministry. To Minnie, who has never stopped believing in me and all that God has for us. When I couldn’t pray, Minnie prayed my prayers. When I couldn’t walk in the Spirit, Minnie walked my steps. When I couldn’t cry, Minnie cried the tears so that God’s grace would cover my life and bring an understanding of the Father’s heart. Many people have helped along the road to see this book to completion and I want to thank you all. Yet special thanks belongs to these three for giving of their time and lives for they are the reason this book was written. Ron DePriest
Acknowledgment
I met Brother Ed Cole right after Minnie and I got saved, when he baptized Minnie. For several years after that impromptu baptism this wonderful man exerted a powerful influence on our lives, giving us counsel and insight out of his depth of wisdom with an everpresent love and concern. Before Dr. Cole went home to be with the Lord I was in his home with others to pray for him. I felt the urgency for Dr. Cole to pray for me. I asked and he said,“come here.” I knelt down beside his bed as he laid his hand on my head and began to pray. He stopped and placed his other hand on my head and prayed. Dr. Cole prayed a father’s blessing on me—for me to become a father in a spiritual sense. This goes to show we are never alone, no matter how alone we may feel. And this is the story of my life. (Rewritten from the introduction of “LOCO” my life story.)
Endorsements
Along with the disintegration of the American family, many have lost what should be the normal experience of a father’s love. If this describes you, Ron DePriest will bring you back home through the pages of this book. Read it and discover the true father’s heart! C. Peter Wagner, Chancellor Wagner Leadership Institute Apostle Ron DePriest has tapped into the heart of the Father. In this book you will not only read and hear about the Father’s heart, but you will see it in action as it comes to life through the revelation on these pages. Ron in every sense is a true father in the faith. Apostle Dan White Sr., Ph.D. Malachi dealt with a system of belief that had lost relationship with the Father of it all. Their religious ceremonies were nothing more than just ceremonies. The sad senario of our day is that much of what happens in religious systems is a long replay of sameness, every thing has changed, everything is still the same. I met Ron DePriest not long after he began his journey back to the father. He became a victim of his own testimony and in the process he lost his focus on that which was most important, his relationship with his Heavenly
Father. There was a period of over 20 years that I did not see or hear from Ron. Then one day out of the blue, he came back into our life. We met in the parking lot of a local motel and when he stepped into my car, I asked the question. “Who is this Ron DePriest?” There before me was a study in brokenness. Ron was a changed and changing man. He reminded me of a verse in the book of Malachi,“If I am your Father, where is my honor.” He had discovered the joy of giving the Father all honor. Ron DePriest had found his way back home to his Father and this became the heart of what he has written in this book. It can be a long way from Loco to Sanity and from understanding systems of truth to understanding true relationship with the Father. It is the difference between works and love, law, and grace. Ron’s story can show you a short cut to the Father’s heart, for it is now a piece of his life. Cleddie Keith Church Planter, Revival Speaker, author and pastor Ron DePriest uses his ministerial gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher to give fullness of Biblical and personal expression to The Father’s Heart. I know Ron as more than a preacher, prophesier, or teacher, but as a true end time patriarch of the Church. He is a man of great depth in the Word and the Holy Spirit who cries when he prays and ministers to people. His tears flow upon many pages in The Father’s Heart. I read this book looking for gleanings and instead I reaped a harvest of knowledge and understanding. Ron DePriest is a man of God who has taken hold of the Father’s heart himself! The pain inflicted upon him by an abusive father who literally tortured him, caused him to take his pain and sacrifice, so you the reader might gain healing as well as insight to the Father’s heart. Ron’s desire is to see the Father’s heart imparted to all who believe on the Lord to receive this great gift. This book goes beyond where many others have ventured on the subject of spiritual fathering. It is a prophetic wakeup
call for spiritual fathers, sons, and daughters to come together. It is a passionate cry from the heart of Father God. It is a principled approach to spiritual fathering. It is a power packed revelation. It is a present day truth the Lord is restoring to his Church. I recommend this book as a must read for all ministers who desire to reproduce manifest sons and daughters and all who desire adoption by a spiritual father or mother who will nurture, guide, heal, and lead them to their destiny! Apostle John P. Kelly Founder/President LEAD (Leadership Education for Apostolic Development)
Table of Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 CHAPTER 1
Cry for a Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
CHAPTER 2
God’s Vision for the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
CHAPTER 3
God’s Plan and Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
CHAPTER 4
The Laws of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
CHAPTER 5
Preparing the Next Generation . . . . . . . . . . 71
CHAPTER 6
Enter the Place of Rest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
CHAPTER 7
What Is a Father? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
CHAPTER 8
My Father, My Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
CHAPTER 9
Speaking to the Generations . . . . . . . . . . . 121
CHAPTER 10
Recognizing a Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
CHAPTER 11
Hearing From God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
CHAPTER 12
Trusting a Father Figure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
CHAPTER 13
Until He Comes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
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Foreword
Every one of us longs to have someone believe in us. We passionately long for someone who is willing to invest his life into ours. The problem is that we live in a culture that is possessed and controlled by its own self-created schedules. Most of us are just trying to figure out how to live our own lives much less having the time to become an influence in someone else’s life. What will it take to convince us that we must empower and emancipate the next generation so that they can fulfill their own destiny? It will take a company of men and women who understand the power of generational blessing and the necessity of preparing that generation to build upon the foundations being built in this generation. Ron DePriest understands these issues and has delivered to the Body of Christ a compelling concept that will energize the Church if she will ever capture the implications of its message and dedicate herself to its fulfillment. We must become convinced of the utter necessity of entrusting our life and message into the rising tide of future generations. Romain Rolland, winner of the 1915 Nobel Prize in Literature declared, “If a man is to shed the light of the sun upon other men, he must first of all have it within himself.�
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Ron DePriest’s story is a miraculous story of how the Father of all fathers rescued him from the pits of hell and caused His light to beam down from heaven into his very soul. The man is the message and his message in this book is clear: we must once again apprehend Father’s original intention for the generations. We must submit ourselves to the healing power of God so that we can extend that healing to the next generations. We must understand and walk in our destiny so that we can mentor the succeeding generations into their destiny. In an age of selfishness when so many are focusing in on their own destiny and ministry we must come to understand that our destiny and our ministry is found in unlocking the treasure of the generations. We will find our fulfillment as they find theirs. As you turn to the first page of the first chapter I pray that Father will shed light into your soul so that you might become a beam of light for your generation. Don Milam VP, Acquisitions, Destiny Image Publishers Author, The Ancient Language of Eden
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CHAPTER 1
Cry for a Father
As a young, eight-year-old boy, I was standing out in front of our house in California, looking for my father. All my life I saw other kids with their dads, and I craved the relationships they had with each other. I always wanted to have my father helping and encouraging me. I needed him to help me develop and fulfill all my desires and dreams. I never knew my father in my earlier years because he was sentenced to a federal penitentiary four months before I was born. I can still remember the day that I was standing in front of our house on a two-step porch looking for my father to come home. I didn’t know where he had been, and it didn’t really matter—he was finally coming home.All the hopes and dreams that had been developing in my heart were now going to come true. I remember the yellow cab that pulled up in front of the house, and with rapped attention, I watched as a man, well over six foot and very well built, stepped out of the vehicle carrying a brown suitcase. I just knew this was my father. As he approached the porch, I wondered how I should greet him. As he arrived at the step, I decided to reach out my arms to hug him. To my stunned surprise, he put his hand on my shoulder, pushed me off the porch, and said,“Get out of my way, boy.” He then simply walked into the house. I was shocked and deeply hurt, 17
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questioning how this man I had waited for my whole life could instantly inflict so much pain. In that single moment of time, all my dreams were shattered with that one swift hand and the coldhearted words that broke my heart. My life, from that time on, took a terrible turn. In today’s psychological terminology, my dad physically and mentally abused me. Torment and beatings were a regular part of my life for the next five years. His fists were large and made many imprints as he pounded on my chest and arms. These beatings often left me black-and-blue from my neck to my stomach. No one ever saw me without a shirt, not even my mother. He would chain me to the beam in the basement and literally beat me with his fists. And he was determined to beat me until I stopped crying. I visited that basement every week of every month for five years. His goal was to make me tough enough to deal with the world he had come from, man enough to take care of myself, and able to manage the affairs of my life. I never understood his way of thinking until I was older. I begin with this story because it laid a tragic foundation for the rest of my life. This was my first understanding of a father. I knew that somehow it was very wrong, but you work with what you are dealt. I had no other alternative. Many years later at the age of 26, as I put my head on my mother’s lap, I realized the tragedy of my life. I had aggressively inflicted all the pain that I could, on those around me. I was angry with everyone. I had killed and hurt as much as I had been hurt myself; I had repaid them in full. Because education was never a priority, I could not read, write, or spell simple words like “book”; but I could shoot a gun and fight with my fists. I was very good at those kinds of things, and most people stayed away. I cared only for myself. I was a product of many years of violence. But the night Christ came into my life, I felt a breath I had never known, blowing over my tortured soul. I have heard other people talk about 18
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their experiences of salvation, and there is no question that salvation pierced my dead heart and brought life into me. The very breath of God was infusing life back into my spirit. I felt the loving words of the Father when he said,“Ron, I love you.” After all I had done and after all I had become, Jesus Himself called me by my name and said,“I love you.” Something came into my life that day, and it answered the questions of my heart, the questions of my purpose and destiny. For over 30 years now, I have walked with the Lord, and He has continued to unfold many wonderful mysteries. But it all started that day with the breath of God flooding into my desperate soul.
“Ron, Do You Love Me?” I recently read a book entitled, Ancient Language of Eden, by Don Milam. He put in words the very thing that happened to me the day that Christ came into my life. Compelled by the intense longing to experience Himself, Father placed His lips on the face of man.As the warmth of Divine compassion pressed lovingly against the human vessel, God gathered Himself for the moment He had so long anticipated. Breathing in deeply and with one great force of spiritwind, a surge of divine breath exploded, as it were from His mouth, instantly filling every portion of the creature’s being.As celestial substance poured into the creature lying still in Creator’s arms, and the first of a new species came into being. In that instant,divine life infused the lifeless matter held in the arms of the Creator. The final result was almost instantaneous.Out of the dark shadows of nonbeing,a life came forth, and a spirit was created.1 Don goes on to describe the moment Adam’s eyes opened and he looked up and beheld the face of God. From the minute I read these words, it took me back in time to that day when 19
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Christ came into my life. The language that Adam learned in the land of Eden was the very heart of the Father in Heaven. He learned what it was to breathe the presence of God. When I accepted the Lord, I began a quest to understand that vision of the Father, when He said, “Ron, I love you.” It has taken me decades of searching. First, I tried to do what people told me to do. Within ten days, after my wife, Minnie and I had accepted Christ, we were filled with His Spirit, and baptized in water. I had committed a crime in Arizona and knew that I would be heading to prison, so I wanted to get Minnie back to her parents in Missouri. On that trip we stopped in the mountains, and Minnie was making some sandwiches in her car. I opened the tailgate of the pickup that I was driving and sat down; what I saw was beautiful. I had not been admiring the beauty of God’s work for many years. The blues, reds, and greens were all so glorious. I was on cloud nine, and life seemed so virginal and refreshing. Then as I was sitting there, I felt the truck drop a little. I looked to my right, and there sat the Man I saw on the cross—Jesus. He said, “Ron, do you love Me?” I recognized the voice. My heart was pumping. It was Him. Peace surrounded me just like the night I had accepted Him. The Bible says that no man has ever spoken like Him (John 7:46). His words penetrated the very essence of my life. I looked at His face and said, “Yeah, I love You, man.” He said, “I want you to tell My people who they are, where they are going, how to get there, and call My church to attention.” Without hesitation, I said, “No.” I had no ability whatsoever, and I couldn’t even read His Word. I was still full of anger and rage; my humanity just reeked of terrible years of violence, self-will, and my own purpose. He asked again, “Ron, do you love Me?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Then, do what I tell you to do.” And He has spoken these words to me over and over throughout my walk with Him. 20
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So sitting on the back of that truck, I finally said, “Yes, God.” Not knowing what that entailed, I surrendered and said, “Show me, and I’ll do it.”
Training for the Ministry One Saturday, about one month after returning to Missouri a young man came to our house and invited us to the church on the hill. After we talked with him for a while, we agreed to go to a service on the following Sunday. It was a small body of believers, but very friendly—more so than any other place that we had previously visited. We were hugged like long lost family and even invited to dinner. We were both excited about what God had directed us to—a little church on a hill. The pastor and I began to fellowship during the week. I knew in my heart that someone needed to tell me and show me how to be a believer. I needed to know how to function, to be Christ-like. I had already trained to be a good sinner; now I needed instruction in order to learn how to change my character to be Christ-like—to love. Unfortunately, my natural father had built terrible fear, hate, and anger in me; and consequently, I had erected an incredible wall in front of me—a wall of protection. As I began talking to him, he questioned me about my experience, about what God had done, and about what the Lord was telling me. I shared all that had happened, even the part about my conversation on the back of the truck. He very quickly discerned that God had a call on my life. We spent many hours together, and each time he shared God’s love. I would be blessed and at the same time troubled as I wondered what his real motive was, because my own natural father had built great layers of mistrust into my life. There just had to be something in this for him. Then after asking many questions and receiving answers, I asked the big question: What do I do about this “call thing”? He told me I needed an education and training in order to learn the Word of God. Others also told me 21
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I needed to go to Bible college. So after learning how to read, which was a miracle, I eventually took the G.E.D exam so that I could gain entrance to college. I passed! (which was another miracle). I then headed to school. Almost immediately I experienced great conflict with the college. I discovered that although the Word said one thing, it was often misinterpreted by “those of higher learning” to say another thing. But I hung in there, and finally after 12 years, I finished my education.And during those years…I learned the system.
A Longing for Something More As I shared my testimony in those beginning days, many people heard about how sinful and horrible I had been and also what had changed my life. I had great success sharing about the “bad guy,” but I began to notice that slowly I was losing His presence. Many were touched and changed as I shared, but my testimony had become a canned sermon. I was being used for the Kingdom, but I was still a novice. People were very interested in hearing my dramatic testimony, and their applause made me feel good about myself…but there was something missing. There was more about my life and message than just being saved, but people weren’t as interested in hearing how the Word was being formed in my life; they just wanted to hear about the salvation of a very bad guy. I had found the form of godliness, but still something was missing. In the pursuit of His life and the heart of His love for me, I knew that I needed help. I searched in many venues; and finally in 1974, I became involved in the shepherding movement. Some great men of God reached out and talked to me about fathers raising up sons and daughters of God. Though I had heard these terms before, what these men were doing seemed to be more than just talk. 22
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My wife and I had been on the road ministering all over the country, but to be trained by these “fathers” we would have to stop and come under their instruction. So Minnie and I obtained jobs that gave us lots of free time, and we jumped headfirst into our new roles of learning to be sons and daughters. We were being trained in God’s way…at least it seemed we were. But after a couple months, I stopped hearing and feeling the presence of God. I was doing well in their sight, but God was not present with me as I had grown accustomed to His presence. I began to cry out to the Lord asking, “Where are You?” I heard no answer. Finally, after many days of fasting and praying, I heard in my spirit that I had made man my god. I was shocked by the reality of what I had done. It was these men whom I had wanted to please, and it was their voices that I was listening to. I realized that I had stopped listening to my true Father in Heaven. I could see now that I had traded hearing my Father for hearing a natural man. When others could not hear God for me, I had them to blame for my failure. I had walked left when God had walked straight ahead. While these men were trying to correct my outer man, God wanted to deal with the spiritual man. If you change the heart and the desire, then the natural will be redirected. I was changing the outside, but the inside was still Ron. I was trying to hear God through man only; but it was God who had breathed life into me, and it was Him I needed to hear. Instead of encouraging me to listen to His voice, other people were encouraging me to hear them. This is the natural way to bring authority in a child, a babe in Christ.Although I was a grown man in the natural, I was still a babe in Christ. People tried to take natural tools, such as Scriptures that say,“I do nothing on My own, only that which pleases the Father,” (see John 14:10), and implement them in a way that indicated if I would do what they told me to do, then 23
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I would hear God. The problem is that it caused me to become a man-pleaser instead of a God-pleaser. I was hearing man’s heart but not listening to the heart of God. So after several months, I broke the relationship with this group, because I needed to hear God. I needed to hear from the One who loved me. I was struggling because my natural man was changing, while my spirit man needed God. I would pray and not hear Him. I would read His Word and not understand what I was reading. And so, I went back to what I knew—and that was to preach and minister to others. And again, His presence became real. I started developing my ministry and the gifts of God in my life. I started churches that would help others meet and know Christ. It was time to give back what I had received. Unfortunately and totally unaware, I too was building a structure built upon myself.
Coming to the End of Myself In the late 1990s, everything came crashing down. This is one of the first principles in the process of God: Men must come to the end of themselves. As the apostle John said,“Unless a seed fall to the ground and die, it can’t bear fruit” (see John 12:24). I had spoken this Scripture many times saying, “I am dead to this issue and that issue.”The fact was I would die, but then I would pick the problem right back up again. I kept trying to adjust the situation to fit God’s purpose. After 25 years as a Christian, I still remained a failure to God, my family, friends, and those I had tried to raise up as sons and daughters. I failed them miserably. Instead of carrying a heart to lift others to their destiny in God, I used them to accomplish my own destiny. I wanted them to please me, and I sought the gifting in ministry instead of the anointing in God. I finally quit. For a season, I did nothing but feel sorry for myself and blame everybody for everything that went wrong. I became very 24
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depressed. I hid in my chair in front of the television, becoming the old man. Eventually, Minnie and I would lose everything. I had to do something, so I started selling cars and detailing them, making a little money. I worked Minnie and myself to death. I hid myself in this mindless work, running from everything. I did love God, but I wanted no part of the ministry. One day, a man by the name of Jack came into the shop. He knew some of the people I knew, so we talked, and he invited me to go to lunch at Daily Bread Ministries. There I met people who had been hurt by religion but loved God and were working with the homeless in Fort Worth. I knew that I was no better than they were, and I began to go downtown and minister on Sunday and Wednesday nights to the homeless. Roy Gray was the founder of Daily Bread Ministries. He saw the hurt in me but believed God could bring about the change in my life. God used this man and men like Bunky and his wife, Cindy, and others to arrest my heart again with the love that God had for me. My purpose, vision, and direction came back into my heart. There was a call on my life, and it had not left. Now my purpose had become to please the Father, listen to His voice, and obey all that I heard from Him. I prayed more now than ever before— not just to change, but to know Him intimately. I wanted to touch His heart. It is written that God in the last days will restore the hearts of the fathers to the children (sons and daughters), and then He will restore the hearts of the sons and daughters back to the fathers (see Mal. 4:6). This verse was now ringing in my heart. I, who had been virtually fatherless, was being called to father others. I was beginning to understand that “fatherhood� goes back all the way to an ancient garden.The end of all things is found in the beginning of all things. I was being drawn back to the truths laid out in the beginning chapters of Genesis.
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