“Those of you who are following hard after Me affect your world more than you know. Most people don’t know what to do with you, especially in My church. Your mere presence makes carnal followers of My Word very uncomfortable. People who are prideful in what they know become confused just being near you. Their little world is rocked by your immovable love for Me. Your faith makes them see how puny their faith is. I have told you this before; now I am telling you again, so that you can shake loose from the guilt that has been placed on you for so many years.

"Be prepared to see foolish, prideful hearts harden before your very eyes. Prepare yourselves to see what you have considered to be close friends separate themselves from you for no apparent reason. Watch as they do an about face, making flimsy excuses for their departure. It is not you. It is the exposure of their hearts. They cannot go where they would be expected to go if they stayed in your midst. Their boundaries are being stretched by My call on your life, and it is too far for them to go. All of their talk of service, all their religious games are too comfortable to leave. You don’t fit in their world. You are too much of a maverick in their eyes. They must revert to their comfort zones. They are too weak to face the scorn of their peers if they acknowledge your way of life fully.

"Rest assured, I will take care of you. You will never really fit with anyone but those of like mind and Spirit. Your life will always expose the values of others whether you know it is happening or not. Take comfort in the fact that I will lead you to those who are not playing games with Me. Others will go about their business, relieved that you are no longer in their midst. I will heal your wounds and remove the rejection. I will be Lord for you. I will be your friend. I appreciate you. Pray for the others as they increase their activities, so that the stain of rejecting you feels less painful to them.”

Ps. 31:20 AMP

In the secret place of Your presence You hide them from the plots of men; You keep them secretly in Your pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Matthew 5:13 AMP 

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality) how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.

It is encouraging and refreshing to share “war” stories with fellow misunderstood, so-called maverick believers. Somehow, doing so makes the rough times a little easier and the very difficult times more bearable. It also helps to know that you have kindred spirits in your corner, when your faith seems small and all you have the strength to do is hang on desperately to the hem of Jesus’ garment.

To those of you who have embraced the call of a crucified, sacrificial life, you need to understand that you will not ever be understood. Every opportunity to discredit you will be taken. Every effort to show that your way of living is not the proper way will be made.

You will be forever on the sidelines, perpetually called to do without, and continually labeled as misfits. When your spiritual help is no longer needed, you will be discarded with as little concern as yesterday’s laundry, of no more use. After you have paved the way to the most current move of the Lord, others more powerful and more credible in the eyes of the church will take what you have given and make it more saleable, marketing it with professional expertise. You will then be called to start all over, paving the way for the heart of your Lord to be presented in another way, until that takes hold, and so on and so on.

Having said that, you will also have access to the heart of our Father in a way that few understand. You will be able to intimately hold the hand of your Lord during the roughest of times, and you will feel the refreshing breeze of the Holy Spirit more than those who do not have your calling could ever imagine. You are truly blessed.

In the times when you feel weakest, and long for even a morsel of the delicacies that most of the comfortable church enjoys daily, you need to remember the life of your Lord and Savior. You need to remember that you have been called to live as He did among others. Your reward is not in this present time. Your reward is in seeing the Lord’s pleasure as He directs your life, paving the way for His desires to be initiated in a cold church. He will be your reward.

You are groundbreakers. You are called to stir up the complacent. You are gaining the heart of God. You are the salt that has not lost its saltness.  He is very pleased with you.

I remember what it is all about once again, Lord,

Jim Corbett