In 2002 while being trained in the discipline of Inner Healing & Deliverance I asked the Lord, "What am I supposed to do with this?" The question was born out of frustration as I saw myself already overwhelmed with ministry. I was an Asst Youth Pastor to a group of 120 teens. I was involved in street ministry to the homeless in both Atlanta, GA and Houston, TX. I was involved in leadership in two local churches.
Almost immediately the Lord showed me a vision. I saw myself standing in a field, my mentors standing a short distance away. They were hacking away at this tree. Pulling fruit from it's branches, severing limbs, digging up roots, and ultimately pulling the entire tree down. I looked down and in my hand I held a single piece of fruit. I crushed it, hurled it to the earth and with my heel ground it into nothing.
"What in the world was that supposed to mean Lord?" I asked. His answer surprised me. "I have not called you to deal with the entire tree." He answered. "Rather I have called you to deal with whatever fruit my children bring you. I am equipping you so that you can minister to my children wherever you find them and in whatever state."
Then the Lord led me to Isa 22:22 And the key of the house of David I will lay upon his shoulder; he shall open and no one shall shut, he shall shut and no one shall open.
The Lord told me to loose the Key of David to shut every door the enemy has used to afflict His children. To open the doors to the blessings, calling, and destiny He has for them. For what HE opens no one shall shut and what HE shuts no one will open.
--Rev. Stephen Fredericks