Are you an expert at something? There are a few areas in my life that I feel like I have a level of expertise. Some of these are very valuable, some confusing and still others are useless. Starting with areas that are useless I enjoy sports football (also known as soccer), baseball, and my current favorite golf. In golf with total humility I can say I am an expert… At shorting my puts and I seem to be moving in and out of showing great promise at losing my golf balls. But what keeps me coming back for more is that one great shot, the really long put, the ideal drive or a chip in from 20 feet all make the 100+ shots simply slip away and for moment I feel like Jack Nicklaus. But the truth is except for 1 or maybe 2 strokes in a round I am far, far from it.

Another area where I have some level of expertise is in cuisine. I trained under a French master chef and have also worked with a few wine experts. Watching, learning and practicing have made me a pretty good cook. I can make difficult dishes and easy dishes and I understand the flavors and textures that are being tied together from amuse-bouche to dessert wine. One of the things that I have discovered on that path is that the closer to being an expert you are the less often you are surprised and the more you begin to see and understand nuances. This expertise is knowing what you have, and knowing what you are going to get when you are done. It is not being surprised, and at the end what happens is you fall back in love with the simple things like French onion soup, mmm. Early on fundamentals are intimidating, making the stock reducing the wine and onions, toasting the croutons just right. But, quickly you want to move on to bigger more exciting, difficult and elaborate challenges. I have started to get surprised again and focus on the details that weren’t there when I started. On the lifelong practice that is cooking I think I have reached a first step of expertise.

In contrast to cooking I know that I am not an expert in the prophetic. I sometimes glimpse the nuance, but I am frequently surprised. It has caused me to change the way that I approach the gift tremendously. This change is caused by 2 primary realizations – expertise is a level of understanding that precludes surprise, surprise inhibits truly grasping the nuance. At first I thought that this revelation would feel like a demotion but, it is actually exciting. It requires a tremendous shift from “God told me this…”, so this is what I am doing, who I am, etc. To I think, I feel, but I am still learning. Learning is always a good place to be in and leaves a lot of room for discovery, teachability and excitement.

I am not sure if God wants me to be an expert – when Jesus said let these children come and further more the kingdom of heaven belongs to them I feel he sent a powerful shot across the bow of all the experts(Matthew 14 13-15). Those verses imply that he prefers the curious the excited and the teachable to those of us who feel that we are experts. When I teach on the prophetic and other spiritual gifts this is the place I attempt to come from. I am not an expert, but I am excited and I am learning – and this is what I think I have learned. Many people might not want to learn from someone who is still learning – it implies that there are things that you don’t or can’t foresee, I intend to always be learning. But, I think that is OK we all have our place and our areas of favor and gifting. Couple this with how seasons of sowing, tending, harvesting and resting fit into favor and gifting and you have a recipe for total submission to God. Because from what I have learned so far nothing else really makes sense.