[00:00:00] Jim Jansen: Hey everybody. Welcome to the Quip Cast. So today I sit down with Father Michael Voy Hoffer, and we talk about everything. No, we, we talk about, we talk about ministry, like how do you live with the freedom and the joy and the power of, well, what, what the New Testament offers us. We talk a lot about priesthood, right?

What it means to be a priest of God, all of us, by virtue of our baptism, to be a bridge between heaven and earth, and how easy it is to fall into the trap of self-reliance. And how do you get free from that? It's a really fun conversation. Don't listen to this one on two times speed, right? You need to, this is, this is like whiskey.

This is a sipping conversation. You need to listen slow and uh, let all of the goodness that Father Michael shares soak in. You're gonna love it. Take a listen. Hey everybody, welcome to the Equip Cast, a weekly podcast for the Archdiocese of Omaha. I'm your host, Jim Janssen. Now let's dive into some encouragement and inspiration to equip you to live your faith and to be fruitful in your mission. Let's go.

Father Michael, er, welcome to the Equip Cast. How you doing? 

[00:01:22] Fr. Voithofer: Amen. I'm doing great. This is awesome. Thanks for having me. 

[00:01:25] Jim Jansen: Yeah, you know, I can't, I normally don't like to say like what date we're actually recording on 'cause like, you know, if we release it later, it can be disorienting for people. But this just feels like kind of an epic moment.

Right. We are recording here in the octave of Easter. We, we all just found out of the, you know, the, the news of Pope Francis' passing just a few days ago here in the Archdiocese of Omaha. We are in the kind of interregnum waiting for our new archbishop Archbishop Michael McGovern, to be installed on May 7th.

And it's like, it's Easter and it's the, like, today was the gospel of the road to Emmaus and just feels like it is such a moment, like kind of pregnant with Grace. I'm so excited to be with you. Have a chance to, yeah, to talk today. It just feels like we're in this really powerful space of, of kind of waiting on, on the Lord.

Father give, give people a little bit of an intro to kind of who you are, what's your story? 

[00:02:30] Fr. Voithofer: Sure, sure. So I was ordained in 2010. By Archbishop Lucas, and I always like to share with people. Like for me, I love being a priest. I mean, that's at the heart of this whole podcast. Mm-hmm. I really believe is this love for the priesthood.

I remember when I was ordained a priest at the cathedral here in Satan, Lias, and I, you know, there's a point in the ordination where you're, you're prayed over by all of the priests. You're, you're, you're blessed by all the priests. And I remember the love of the father in me was so strong for my brother Priests, which was a unique experience in the way, I mean, I've loved, you know, the church, I've loved my, you know, priests growing up.

And, but it was a unique experience to experience in my heart, the love of the father for the priest. And, and it wasn't just for the priests that were praying with me, but it was this hunger in me. To bring the priest of Jesus as a father in the spirit, as a spiritual father, to bring the priesthood of Jesus out of the, the hearts of the laity, the hearts of the faithful in a marriage, in a family.

Yeah. In a day-to-day life. And, and, and in a way, this hunger in me for the revival of the priesthood. Mm-hmm. Because a priest is a bridge between heaven and earth through the sacraments, through day-to-day encounters, but washing dishes, cleaning the floor. Our priesthoods meant to be lived out in our drive to work.

You know, our priesthoods meant to be lived out in, in changing a diaper. I mean, cutting the grass, shoveling snow. A part of the mission of the priesthood is, is learning how to wait in that pregnant silence as the Lord's about to. Break into a situation, a circumstance, a, a, a moment in a traffic jam. Holy Spirit wants to take that moment and not let the enemy rob me of experiencing Jesus.

The priest in my body make an offering to the Father through the Son in me, by the power of the Spirit. And, and, and so I was ordained in 2010, and I remember that moment vividly where I felt this love of the Father for the priesthood and the Lord over the years has really grown me in a, I guess you could say, a, a spiritual awareness of the richness of the priesthood and, and this ministry that God's called me to found and, and to kind of guide and direct, which is a blaze house of prayer.

And the role that's playing in helping me to, if you will, step into, if. You know, when God, when God invites you into a ministry, even like you quip cast, it's like you don't quite know no what's going to happen. 

[00:05:34] Jim Jansen: Which is usually for the best. 

[00:05:36] Fr. Voithofer: For the best. Right. Because we're. 

[00:05:37] Jim Jansen: Because I'd hesitate if I knew.

[00:05:38] Fr. Voithofer: Right. And we like to control things. Yeah. Right. So like, we like to be in a driver's seat. And often when the Lord introduces something in your life, there has to be a poverty of spirit that says, um, Lord, I don't know, but you do. And I'm okay with not knowing. I think of Abraham, you know, it says, yeah, righteousness was accredited to him because of his faith.

And it's like that whole understanding of the priesthood is really about if you're gonna bridge heaven and earth, sometimes it's immediate. Yeah. You know, like when we pray with someone and they get a physical healing, it's great to see that it's immediate, but other times it's progressive. 

[00:06:18] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:06:19] Fr. Voithofer: And sometimes there's such a mystery.

And this is where I'm a huge fan. We were chatting a little before of, of the adventure, of waiting in the mystery for the revelation and the unfolding of like the tomb. Right. We just had the resurrection. Yeah. The tombs. The tomb is a womb that awaits the new life that's coming forth, namely Jesus, our Lord.

And it's the same thing with us, like the old passes and the new, you know, were launched into this new adventure of exploring what's it like to drive to work as a priestly people, you know, or, or to change a diaper, wash dishes, et cetera, on and on. 

[00:07:02] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Well, and that, that really feels like kind of the moment the church is experiencing now, where there's this like, I mean, even in the resurrection, you know, in Jesus' resurrection ministry, it, it unfolds slowly.

I mean, he's just, you know, out for a walk in the garden and just encountering people slowly. And then of course, you know, Easter Sunday night, there's a, there's a larger group and Paul tells us that there's, you know, 500 brothers at once at, at one point that experienced him. But there's this kind of slow unfolding of revelation.

Father, I want to give you a chance to talk a little bit more about ablaze, but if you can, I, I want tie in so powerful that you should talk about the priesthood, whether it be, again, your role as a ministerial priest, our role, those of us who are baptized into the baptismal priesthood. This is a priesthood that isn't just lived out for an hour a week on Sunday.

That it's showing up on our drive to work in all, you know, in our day jobs, what, you know, whatever, whatever those. Happen to be. Talk a little bit more about that and how ablaze helps kind of nurture that. 

[00:08:19] Fr. Voithofer: Right, right, right. So, so ablaze house of prayer, you know, I was so, just real briefly, when I was at, when I was first ordained in 2010, I was, you know, during my holy hours in prayer as a newly ordained priest, I just kept filling this, that same hunger as of the father for the son.

And I prayed into it and the Lord gave me Luke 1249, which is, I've come to cast fire on the earth. How I wish it was already blazing or on fire, a burning. It's this, I feel like the father, I sense the father's hunger for activating the, the, the son of God that we've been re freely, we receive now freely were to give.

And so baptism isn't something you earn, it's nothing you've done to get. From God or like, Lord, I'm, I'm, I'm convincing the Lord as if I, I deserve this or I need this. Right? It's a free gift. That's what we, you know, grace, it's unmerited favor. It's free gift. It's pure given. You know, I always like to invite people, we're saved by grace through faith and it produces the works of Jesus in our bodies, through our bodies, which is really, you can't really separate your baptism from your common priesthood or your ministerial priesthood.

Like we're called to be priestly people. It says a chosen race, a holy priesthood or a holy nation, a people set apart. So, you know, we know that word set apart is where we get the word holy to be different than other than we, we should look different. I always say you can have two people, um, washing dishes and one can have a rich interior experience of the father delighting in them, and the other can be like, I just gotta get this done.

And we've all been both. Like, I mean, there's days where I'm like, I've lost conscious awareness of my identity. And that's why I really encourage people, read the word of God, go to the scriptures, take time to pray, sit in quiet, you know, worship God. And so I was ordained in 2010 and I've been praying in the spirit and just praying in holy hours and really asking the Lord, how do you want me Lord to, to give the church?

'cause I believe each person has a unique assignment, a kingdom assignment. We would say we have a kingdom assignment and we're called specific charisms to, to, to bring to the, to the world. We live in the kingdom of God in, in unique and beautiful ways. And the adventure of that is so exciting. And so I remember hearing the Lord gimme Luke 1249 come to cast fire on the earth how I wish it was blazing.

So I'm like, okay Lord, what does that look like? And I remember. In college, I had profound experiences in praise and worship and adoration of encountering Jesus in the Eucharist, in prayer, um, in the charisms and gifts of the spirit being prayed over, prayed with, and just as tremendous, tremendous transformation happening in college in my life.

And that involved receiving the sacraments of reconciliation, Eucharist. And I, my hunger kept getting stronger. And I remember again, this fire in me, like I, I, I want to give to the church. Like I can't explain this. Like, you know, like you Yeah, you're trying to explain something that's. It would be like Mary Magdalene trying to put in words what happened to her. I mean.

[00:11:49] Jim Jansen: Yeah. You, you could, the biblical accounts give this, like, it kind of stumbles out a little awkward, right. She's not super persuasive. Right. But enough that people get curious and they go check it out for themselves. 

[00:11:59] Fr. Voithofer: Right, right. Like, like something happened. Okay. Yeah. Something happened. How do you explain it other than it's an encounter with the mystery of God.

We always say it mass, the mystery of faith. That's what it really, it's the mystery of faith that brings this encounter with the living Jesus, the risen Lord, the power of his presence. That it's the presence of God that shifts, atmospheres, changes lives, and take someone that washes dishes as a mundane task to someone that washes dishes with knowing the affection of the father for them.

And, and, and it's not what you're doing, but it's. It's doing it with the knowledge of his affection and his love for you, and how that happens. It's the mystery of grace. But we, we can make ourselves vulnerable to those moments through faith and through like maybe podcast or a good book, a good spiritual book, or, or Lexio, Davina or reading scripture and just being like, Lord, like for me, what I like to do when I wake up, for example, I'll turn on some praise and worship, contemporary worship.

I'll get on my knees and, and we could talk about that quote of drawing a, a, a circle and, and staying in it and crying out for revival to hit that circle, like, you know, always say, you know, this guy Gypsy Smith, as you were suggesting from our website, he says, draw a circle. Find an empty space in the room, draw a circle, go to that room, shut the door, draw a circle on the floor, kneel down in that circle, and ask God to start revival in that circle.

[00:13:25] Jim Jansen: Yeah. So when I get up, start, start with me Lord, right? 

[00:13:27] Fr. Voithofer: Yeah. Start with me, Lord. So when I get up, that's kind of my posture. I, I start low to the ground. Because I really believe there's something sacramental about getting down on your knees low to the ground and just being like, without you, I can't do anything.

[00:13:42] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:13:43] Fr. Voithofer: Lord, without you, I can't breathe. I can't, my heart won't be, I can't think. I can't do anything without you. And this comes from blessed or the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of God. So there's a unique connection there. So I would say a blaze house of prayer isn't an event we do. 'cause somebody would be like, well, we do an a blaze event at this church, at that church, right?

Which is worship and adoration, which is great. But a blaze really is God's heart in us to live his priesthood out through us day and night. Night and day. That my body, as Roman says, becomes a living sacrifice to the Lord. And when you're living in a posture of abandoned, surrendered to the Lord's presence in you.

Beyond what our minds could fathom and grasp, that he's so good that he's chosen to abide in me as I abide in him in faith, and he's the vine. I'm the branch, and I'm on this journey and adventure of exploring what my life looks like from that place. So to me, that circle is beginning my day in poverty of spirit.

And I worship. I worship and I worship because worship to me is the response of someone who knows what's been happening on the cross, who knows what, like I worship because he died for me. I worship because he's chosen to live in me, in my, all my weaknesses. He's come to me. I worship because I know that worship's a posture of expectant like, Lord, I don't know what you're gonna do, but I know it's gonna be good 'cause you're a good father.

I worship because I'm grateful. For what he's doing, what he's done, what he's gonna do. And I worship, if you will, as a form of warfare against self-reliance. 

[00:15:40] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:15:41] Fr. Voithofer: Yeah. Worship is coming against self-reliance because when you're self-reliant, you don't wanna worship because I got everything. I, I'm the driver's.

[00:15:48] Jim Jansen: Why, why would I ask for help? I got it. Right. I got it. Yeah. I wanna talk more about that. 'cause I hear, you know, as you tell your story, it's like the Lord does something beautiful for you in college. You kind of recognize the patterns and, and then you're like, gosh, you know, in, in your priesthood you're feeling this call to help others claim their own priesthood, right.

To be this bridge between heaven and earth. I wanna, I wanna jump off you, you talked about just like the, the danger of self-reliance. We would both, I think, I dunno, roughly the same age. We remember a time when the church wasn't talking about mission. You know, uh, again, thinking about John Paul ii Benedict, right?

Pope Francis, it's been so clear, but early on, you know, when I was like four, I wasn't paying much attention to, uh, you know, John Paul ii. Right? But in the last 20, 25 years, like what the church has been talking about mission, but I think there's a, which is praise God a, a amazing, but there's a danger for us to do it or try to do it by ourselves, right?

In our own, in our own power, without letting the spirit lead and empower. How, how do we, how do we keep the spirit in the driver's seat. 

[00:17:13] Fr. Voithofer: Right? So, so this is huge. I mean, what, what I would say is self-reliance. I would, it's very clever by the way. It's a clever, yeah. It's one of the dumbest best track. You know, sometimes like, so at a blaze house of prayer, we work a lot with non-Catholics.

We're big into unity. John 17, like, we really want, we believe in the, it's the priestly prayer of Jesus that we all be one. And so I would like to just, you know, suggest that, you know, sometimes you'll hear our non-Catholic brothers and sisters talk negative toward a spirit of religion. They'll say, or reli, we would call it religiosity in our church.

Right? But it's the same idea of self-reliance can be cloaked through a false religious virtue of striving in efforts. 

[00:18:03] Jim Jansen: Right. I, I thank you father, that I'm not like other men. 

[00:18:06] Fr. Voithofer: Right? 

[00:18:06] Jim Jansen: I fast twice a week.

[00:18:07] Fr. Voithofer: Right? 

[00:18:08] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:18:08] Fr. Voithofer: Like I didn't all I, I prayed my Nina is, I do my rosary day. I did all the, my s and I do do do, but we don't do to earn.

We do because we've been given an inheritance that's out of this world access to imagine heaven's a vault, that when original sin happened, it closed and we, we lost life. 'cause God is life. And when you're separated from God, you don't have life, you have death. And so self-reliance to me, I always, when I spell the word sin, SIN self-reliant is a very eye focused life.

[00:18:48] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:18:48] Fr. Voithofer: Even under the guise of religious virtue, it can be really a very eye focused and, and I really think it's not because people are bad, it's because we haven't learned often or perhaps ignorance of scriptures, ignorance of Christ. As you read the word, you begin to realize like God's asking me to think different about him and how he interacts with me.

That's important and about myself. About my lived day-to-day reality. So the word we know, we hear the word all the time, repent and believe in the gospel. I would say one way to come against self-reliance is to first identify that we all, to some degree, struggle with it. It's not like you're gonna be perfectly set free on earth.

Like you're always on this journey of, of Jesus help me. 

[00:19:46] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Only dead people are perfectly right. Free from self-reliance. 

[00:19:50] Fr. Voithofer: Right? Right. So, so what I would say is repent means by definition to change the way you think. So when I draw that circle on the ground and I deal down in it, a part of me, if I'm honest, is I gotta get going.

I got all this stuff on my agenda today. I gotta, I gotta do my schedule, I gotta finish my, I got this, I got that. So you see this right away, the. I call it the older son syndrome in the prodigal son story. Mm-hmm. The older son syndrome is, dad, I gotta, I gotta do all this stuff for dad. And the dad's like, I want you to do it from my love for you, not for me, but from me.

So there's a difference between living for God or living from God. And I really believe that it's the Martha, Martha in me that draw. Like I draw that circle. I'm say, let's just say you're starting your day. You draw your whatever, uh, prophetic circle on the ground. Pretend you're drawing a chocolate circle.

You're kneeling down, you're putting on your worship, or you're gonna pray your morning offering whatever prayer you pray. But your focus is not you, it's the father, it's the son, it's the spirit and he's inside of you. And there's this sense of awe and wonder in your porn spirit. And by the way, porn spirit means I've come to the end of me and I'm now ready to begin the adventure of him.

'cause it's no longer I who live. 'cause I died with him and now I've risen with him. That's what Paul says. And so what's it gonna be like when I step out of that circle? Beginning from a place of reset in eyes on Jesus. 'cause we know Peter, when he took his eyes off Jesus and he became self-reliant.

Starts to sink. Yeah. He sank. So, so that, that, I would say the way we come against self-reliance, or another way I like to describe the self-reliant spirit is the orphan mindset. The orphan spirit. Mm-hmm. Which is, you're a baptized orphan, which is sort of contradictory, right? 

[00:21:43] Jim Jansen: It's a oxymoron. 

[00:21:44] Fr. Voithofer: You can't, yeah, you can't be baptized in an orphan.

But I would say if our mind's not renewed to agree with what happened to us at baptism, we can actually resist the new creation lifestyle, which would be, again, the priesthood being lived out through me. We say it massed through him, with him in him. Well, but let's believe what we say, you know. Glory and honor to you, God Almighty, father, forever and ever.

Amen. So be it. Meaning Lord, my life lived through you, with you and in you. Galatians 2 20, 21, 22, whatever is, I can't, it's no longer I live. It's Christ who lives in me. The good work He began in me in Philippians, he'll bring about and complete it. And then I have here Philippians, he says, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for us.

Good pleasure. Like Jesus is the only one that completes the Father. And when you and I surrender, starting with poverty of spirit, I'm coming to the end of me. I'm gonna worship eyes on Jesus. So what Christianity is really a water walking ministry or a water walking lifestyle? So Peter was demonstrating. 

[00:23:00] Jim Jansen: Wait, wait, you gotta say that again. 'cause that's really, it's like Christianity is a water walking lifestyle. 

[00:23:06] Fr. Voithofer: So, so real mission, as you talked about, mission, real mission is not in the boat. It's being called out of your comfort. 'cause often our, we, we can have a pseudo piece if we're self-reliant and we're in control. Yeah. But when things don't go well, I always say how you handle weakness and failure determines whether you are in self-reliant orphan mindset, or you're in your identity as a beloved son or daughter.

Because when you don't handle weakness or challenge as well, let's say a marriage problem or a, an argument or mm-hmm. An issue at work, or let's say you come down with a diagnosis from an illness and you're freaking out. 

[00:23:47] Jim Jansen: Right. 

[00:23:48] Fr. Voithofer: I'm not saying this to, to bring any level of making you feel bad or condemnation to anyone listening.

But what I am saying is it's an honest assessment of, I would call it my spiritual dashboard. There's a flashing light saying engine overheating. Meaning self-reliant. Self-reliant. Self-reliant. Self warning. Yeah. Warning. Self-reliance. Self-reliant. And what that means is I need to go back to my circle.

Mm-hmm. My prayer circle, get on the ground, go low to the ground again, get my eyes back on him. And worship is the, I would say the activity of a priest is worship. You know the priest is to worship. And that means what? Eyes on him, not on self. Because we live in a culture that's very, if you have a will, you can do it. Well, not necessarily. 

[00:24:33] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Well and seems like the father is at pains to teach us. It's safe to be needy, right? It's safe to be small, it's safe to look at children. Right. Well, I mean, I'm thinking about like that. I I love that orphan metaphor. I mean, it's so powerful because there are stories of children who have been orphans, who are, who are adopted, and they now have all the love they need, all the food that, but sometimes they'll still, you know, first meals at these new, they'll, they'll still hoard their food.

Right. You know, and because they've, they're, they have not, their mind has not yet caught up with this new reality that there's enough for you. Right. And so, yeah, when we're fearful, when we're hoarding, all of those things are signs that we, that our mind hasn't grasped this new reality. Right. That there's enough. 

[00:25:28] Fr. Voithofer: Dad's good.

[00:25:29] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:25:30] Fr. Voithofer: Yeah. Dad is good. Dad takes care of me. 

[00:25:31] Jim Jansen: And, and even when objectively bad things happen, my dad knows. How to make it good. 

[00:25:39] Fr. Voithofer: Amen. Amen. I love it. I love it. I love it. You know, I always say we need an orphan enemy. An orphan enemy. Right. We need to be delivered from the orphan mindset. Yeah. And, and really, this is why I believe scripture.

[00:25:51] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Retrain our hearts and minds. 

[00:25:52] Fr. Voithofer: Right. Scripture's so important because, you know, I had an experience, I was on the IPF retreat for priests. It's an institute for priestly formation in Florida. I was doing at the, at the, uh, Clearwater Retreat Center there. Yeah. And I was doing a silent retreat, an eight day silent retreat, and I was reading the book of Romans and I, and I'll just share with you, like God just showed up in so much power, like he does in silent retreats many times.

And, and, and we do silent retreats as well at our Blaze house of prayer. And, and I see people just touched and transformed, but I'm just, I'm just so excited because it's like I was walking from the chapel after mass to my room at, at the retreat center and. I'm walking and I'm walking on the sidewalk and there's, it's just a normal street, public street.

Mm-hmm. And there's these little, you know, shrubs along the sidewalk and this little gecko jumps out, you know, the little, like, they look like a little gecko, as you probably know. If you don't look one, Google it. Yeah. Like a little gecko sell insurance. Like a little, yeah. Yeah. And he jumps out and he looks at me and it kind of startled me because there's a lot of them down there.

But I just, he was so close and he just looked at me and I, I heard God the father, like, not audibly, but in my spirit, it was clear in my spirit. The father said to me, Michael, nobody cares about that little guy, but I do. And I, and I'll just say, that was a personal private revelation that came in my prayer walk from the chapel to my right.

[00:27:22] Jim Jansen: You're not even like, yeah. You're not in the chapel, you're walking. Right, right. And 

[00:27:25] Fr. Voithofer: what happened though? Uh, what I wanna share with, with you is, and with those listening is pay attention. God's speaking all the time. He's so, so excited to break into our very much, you could say we, we put a threshold on God.

Like oh God can speak to the prophets or God can speak to mm-hmm. The priest or God can speak to, you know, the Saint John Paul the second, or Saint Catherine the Sienna or there of the little flower. No, I wanna say to you all renounce the lie that God doesn't speak to you 'cause you're a sheep. He's your shepherd and you can hear his voice.

And, and we, we could talk a little bit about the prophetic we offer in our encounter school of ministry and, and how we teach people how to begin to live out the prophetic life. But I wanna share to, to live prophetically, which would be to live from your identity. And sometimes I think people think that the prophetic as just hearing God and speaking to God because we would say prayer is hearing God for you.

Mm-hmm. Prophecy is hearing God for others. Mm-hmm. It's not just for telling the future, it's. It's looking at someone, like, if I'm looking at you here, Jim, as we're doing this podcast, and the Lord puts on my heart, tell Jim he's beloved. That's prophetic. You know why came from God? I'm releasing it to you.

It's not about me figuring out, well, that don't really mean much to me. It's not me. Right? It's, it's about me obeying what God asked me to release to you. 

[00:28:54] Jim Jansen: It being a vehicle for his truth a to another. Right? 

[00:28:57] Fr. Voithofer: And, and then what happens later in your day? You're, you're, you're having coffee or you're having your lunch and you hear the Lord say, Hey, remember I said you're beloved.

Mm-hmm. Now something's begun. 

[00:29:09] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:29:10] Fr. Voithofer: A seed that was planted is now being watered in your personal private prayer. So prophetics actually very normal for the Christian. Mm-hmm. And I would say prophetic more than anything. This is, there's so much I wanna share the prophetic more than anything. Is my countenance radiating as salt and light?

To the world of my spheres of influence, what it's like to live from sonship, not orphan. I'm not a slave, I'm a son. I'm not working for dad. I'm not an employee. I'm a beloved son. The older son in the prodigal son story lived like an employee. He didn't live like a son and the younger son probably was living the same way.

'cause his, probably his older brother was teaching him what he knew. And then what did he do? He's like. 

[00:30:09] Jim Jansen: He's like, heck no, I'm here. 

[00:30:11] Fr. Voithofer: I don't like this at all. So in a way you could say the son had a. Manufacturing sort of mindset with the church. The younger son was into research and development. Now it let him off a ways, but after he came to his senses, he was researching and developing, I want really, let's talk.

He really wanted happiness. He wanted, you can say blessedness, he wanted be attitude. He wanted joy, he wanted fulfillment. He was feeling less than he. He was like this, there's gotta be something more. And, and I would just like to say, I feel like the Lord is speaking right now. He's like, I want to invite everyone listening.

Is there something more that you're hungering for? And I would say, if you're listening, yes. Because you wouldn't be listening to this if you weren't hungry for more. And, and for me, what we offered our blaze house of prayer, we're building that space right now where we 24 7, ministering to God as priests all over the church.

I. People just worshiping and, and seeking the father's guidance and heart for their personal life. So I would say from worship comes rest. When you're resting in the father's love, you're worshiping. And as your priesthood is resting on the cross at times or resting washing dishes or resting in traffic, you're, you're trusting your father's good.

And from that rest comes revelation. And revelation brings you more and more into the kingdom realm, your identity, and then you start imparting to people that you live around something that only Jesus in you and through you can accomplish. So it's like if everyone, if you could smell through a podcast and you wanted.

If you were hungry and I brought pizza in and you could smell it, your nose would find the food. So the Bible says, we're called to be a fragrant aroma of Christ to the world. Well, what does that mean? It means when I'm living from rest, I'm living out my identity as priests, prophet and king. 'cause I'm a worshiper.

I'm bridging heaven and earth by my countenance. The way I live my day to day is different. It's like the younger son, when he met the father and received his identity with his robe, bring sandals as priests, prophet and king. He went to the party. The father threw for him, not 'cause he deserved it, but because the father wanted to celebrate his return of his son.

He said, I. Wanna celebrate. My son was dead and now he's alive again. Now the word revival is life again. Yeah. So you could say the prodigal son, the younger son went from dead to life. 

[00:33:11] Jim Jansen: Experience a revival. 

[00:33:12] Fr. Voithofer: Revival. 

[00:33:12] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Father, I wanna go back to something you said. 'cause as you're talking about the prophetic ministry, you're like, I mean it's, yes, there are words right that come out.

You know, the, the Lord shows us something that is a gift for others, even if we don't totally get it. But I love that you're talking about like, but it's also just as much or maybe even more, it's our countenance, right? It's like this aroma so good. It's like right. It's our resting in beings. Loved son and daughters that has a prophetic quality.

[00:33:49] Fr. Voithofer: No doubt. That's, that's my, that's what I feel like is the most important part of the prophetic. 

[00:33:53] Jim Jansen: That's, that's deep. Well, and and it makes sense, right? Because I mean, it's almost like, I mean, I'm kind of drawn back to one Corinthians 13 where Paul talks about if I am speaking these words of prophecy, but there isn't that love.

Right? Right. This like, first off, right. My experiencing the love of the father. Just a noisy gong. 

[00:34:14] Fr. Voithofer: So, so this might be a little time to introduce, we have our encounter school and ministry. We're, yeah. In Omaha, we're a satellite campus for encounter school and ministry, which means we have a school, it's a two year school.

We've graduated about 175 to 200 students. I don't know the exact number, but we've been doing it three years. And, and if it's, so, if it's, it's like what we're saying is, is something you're interested in or you're hungry for, or seems to resonate or you wanna discern further if maybe that school would help you.

You can go to our Blaze website. It's a blaze worship.org, but we have a couple free events coming up. It's a School of Identity, which is dialing into everything we're talking about. Yeah. School of Identity on May 9th and 10th. Um, at St. Gerald's, it's a Friday evening Saturday, and you can go to get to details onto your Blaze website, a blaze worship.org.

But we also have a School of Prophecy on May 30th and 31st, again Friday evening, Saturday. And then we have our, on July 22nd to the 25th, we have a four evening summer intensive on identity prophecy, physical healing, and inner healing. Phenomenal. Renewal of the mind posturing you for Kingdom living water, walking, Christianity posturing you for the adventure of discovering what it's like for Michael to be surrendered to the goodness of God and to be a vessel of salt and light.

And as you just shared, Jim, as we can dive into, is sometimes when we start our encounter school, we always start, well, we always start with worship for that very reason we talked about, which is worship leads to rest in the father's love for you as a priestly people. And I would say this, the greatest to me, the greatest witness we can give our restless world is a restfulness that is a countenance of rest.

In the midst of the chaos of a world that's gone mad. So right. What does it look like for a mom that has. I don't know, 5, 6, 7 kids trying to hold everything together at home. 

[00:36:26] Jim Jansen: Anything but what would seem to be Right. A restful life. 

[00:36:30] Fr. Voithofer: Right? Right. But imagine just, uh, I love Archbishop Lucas when he, we begin to talk about, just, I want you to use your imagination.

I love the idea of imagining Holy Spirit loves to, for you to imagine what's possible. Think of Abraham. Like, he had to imagine like, well, what's, what's this gonna be like? Now I'm just here to say it doesn't mean it's always easy, you know? Thank you. Yeah. It doesn't mean it's easy, but the cross is the beginning when you put your life on the altar and you're like, God, I can't do this anymore.

And he's like, thanks. It's about time. 

[00:37:08] Jim Jansen: That's so, that's so good. 

[00:37:09] Fr. Voithofer: That you came to your sense, it's like the prodigal return. 

[00:37:11] Jim Jansen: Yeah. He's like, I've been waiting for you. For you to give up to get done with yourself. Yeah. 

[00:37:15] Fr. Voithofer: I always call it thrown in the towel. 

[00:37:17] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:37:17] Fr. Voithofer: Like I'm done with me. 

[00:37:18] Jim Jansen: Start with that. 

[00:37:19] Fr. Voithofer: The me project ends. Which is poverty of spirit coming to the end of yourself, the me project ends so that the Jesus project can begin. 

[00:37:26] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:37:27] Fr. Voithofer: And, and I would say this, I know I'm sharing a lot of thoughts, but like I always say. 

[00:37:32] Jim Jansen: Yeah, all of the, this is like mic drop quote after mic drop quote. 

[00:37:35] Fr. Voithofer: But I, but I say like, I like to invert, invite people to consider moving from sin consciousness to unconsciousness.

Mm-hmm. It doesn't mean you're ignoring your sin, but what it means is you're working with Jesus on issues you struggle with. Mm-hmm. Not working on yourself to please Jesus. Sometimes I think we work on ourselves and God's like, hello, I, I kind of came into the world. 

[00:38:00] Jim Jansen: Yeah.

[00:38:01] Fr. Voithofer: For a reason. Um, I'm the only one that can fulfill the law and the profits, and I have, and now I've given you the grace.

To actually live in fellowship with me. And by the way, Michael, I need you to be okay with the pace I'm moving you at because when you wanna move faster than I want you to move. I'm here to just announce from heaven as your savior, that you're trying to do something for the wrong reasons, like you don't move out of weakness to please God.

He's already pleased with you. He already loves you. And I would say this right now as you're listening to this podcast, God doesn't love you any different than he is gonna love you when you're in heaven. We hope and pray, right, like He, his love doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, which means repent.

Change the way you think about the nature of God's love for you. That's really important. Change the way you think about the nature of God's love for you. I'd like you to think of the word repent is return to the penthouse. Repent. Repent house meaning think from heaven down. What does God think about me right now?

How did he think about Mary Magdalene? I love that scene in the Chosen, by the way, where Mary Magne steps back and Jesus comes and visits her and he's like, she visits him. It's kinda like a confession. It's so beautiful. 

[00:39:21] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Well, and I mean, all of this is like, you used kinda like the, uh, I dunno, construction metaphor.

Like Jesus is the type of friend he is like, no, no, no. You don't need to get your house in order to, to welcome me. I will help you. Right. Remodel, right? Like, let's do this together. Like Acha. Yeah. I, it it's this beautiful, you know, I, I heard this, this quote, like, the annoying thing about Jesus is he doesn't just like take us out of our mess is he comes and he's there in it with us, right?

He's like, no, no, no. You don't need to get this all. Like, I will help you. Right. And it may not go as fast as you want, right? But what are we worried about if we're there with the beloved? 

[00:40:01] Fr. Voithofer: And, and this is where, this is an, I think this is so important. This is the Lord's taught me this. Not too many, like in the last few months, he's really.

Driven this teaching home for me. But the Lord said to me in prayer, he is like, Michael, I need you to be at peace in your weakness, in your failures and in your brokenness. And when you aren't, it's because you've become more focused on yourself having to overcome in order to keep me. And he's like, newsflash, I'm keeping you.

[00:40:36] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:40:37] Fr. Voithofer: I, you're secure through faith. My grace is yours. Just change the way you're thinking about how you're handling your weakness. That's repentance. So. When I read scripture, I'm like, oh my gosh, why did Jesus tell the prodigal son story? Why did he tell the story of the case? Why did he tell the story of Peter on the water?

Why did he tell the story of Peter's betrayal in return? Why did he tell these stories? Because they're meant to renew our minds and change the way we think about God. And think about this, Jim, and for all of you listening, why was Jesus crucified? Because there are times where we will not let Jesus change the way we think about God.

So he is God in the flesh. And people were like, how dare you say. You're God, God number one. God would never be just, Hey Jesus. I'm here to tell you it's really not possible for you to touch a leper or a prostitute or a tax collector. Right? Stop breaking the rules. Hey, stop breaking the rules, Lord, because yeah, you know, or, or not Lord, but stop breaking the rules, Jesus, right?

Because you're, you're misrepresenting God. When actually he was coming to correct our vision that Adam and Eve got bad vision in the garden of of Eden. They were told the lies of the serpent, the father of lies, birth blindness, birth blindness, and Jesus is the word that comes back through the New Eve to correct our, I always say he's a divine optometrist.

He corrects our vision of the father's heart, father's love. He tells us all these wonderful parables and stories and teachings for not just back then, but for today, which then as I start believing, like I, I remember when I woke up one day. I'm like, is this real? Like, am I allowed to be this happy? Am I allowed to be this free, this joyful?

Because there was a time, Jim, where I spent a lot of my life, even as a priest for the early years, I spent a lot of my priesthood striving, really going after working harder, working harder. And I noticed that I wasn't letting him fill my oil in my lamp. Mm-hmm. I was burning, but the intimacy of the oil wasn't there.

And it wasn't because I wasn't always praying. It was because I didn't know the Lord's gonna wound you with his love in a way you'll never recover. So you're never gonna be able to go back to self-reliance once you've been introduced to the kind of love that puts a ring, a robe, and a sandals on you and throws a party for you when you least deserved a party, by the way.

[00:43:16] Jim Jansen: Right? 

[00:43:16] Fr. Voithofer: Right. Like look at Saul. Saul was at his worst point on his way to arrest and persecute Christians. And that's when the kindness of God shows up and says, Hey Saul, I got a job for you. I love you. Yeah. I got a job for you. Who are you that I might know? I'm Jesus the one you're persecuting. And he's like, I, I bet there was a holy Oh crap.

[00:43:37] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:43:37] Fr. Voithofer: And Paul was sort of like, oh my gosh, I'm wrong. And I would say, God in all of heaven rejoices when we all would just admit I'm wrong about you, Lord. You really do. As you just said, Jim, you don't have to get your house together, Lord, you're gonna do that. You're gonna be with me. But Lord, what do you want me to do?

Michael? I made you, and for all of you listening, I made you to be salt and light and as you serve me in love, in your brokenness, as your loving people, in your, in your sense of I'm not complete yet. Yes, it's, it's, it's newsflash who Heaven knows. You're Jesus knows we're not perfect yet, but in his eyes, we are perfect by faith.

And he's like, I'll bring about that on earth in your day to day through grace. If you'll commit to trusting, I'm good. And I'm with you again. Back from moving from sin conscious. I focused self-reliant to unconscious water walking. Jesus centered Christianity that, by the way, and he's not out there somewhere, he's inside of each of us as we're.

We're even listening. Yeah. And talking right now. 

[00:44:49] Jim Jansen: Father, I wanna give you a chance just to talk about, because I mean this is, none of this is rocket science, but it is radical. Talk a little bit about the fruit of those who've, who've taken up this call, right. Who, right. Who have, again, those associated with the ablaze ministry, those who've gone through the Encounter school of ministry, just some of the fruits, uh, of their life as they're, they try and live this way out of their Right.

Their new identity. 

[00:45:19] Fr. Voithofer: Right. Well, what I would say first of all is this is ordinary time. I know we're anesa right now, but the church in the liturgy, most of the liturgy is ordinary time. And if you think of the word liturgy, it's god's, god's work among the people, in the people, through the people. The liturgy isn't us just being spectators, watching the mass being celebrated, or us being spectators.

We're, we're in the game guys, we're, we're all on the field. Right now the coach called you off the bench and we're all on the field. Right. And, and if you're on the field and don't know the plays, you're kind of standing around, you're looking at the opponents, you're looking at your players, and you're all, do you ever watch, you know, when you watch little kids on a field or even sometimes once in a while at Blue Moon, you'll run into an adult team at college or even high school or professionals where they have to call time out.

'cause everyone's looking around like, what, what, what's the play? Yeah. And, and I'm here to tell you, Jesus came to coach us into winning. And by the way. I see a lot of times the church trying to play defense when we already have the ball and we're always on offense. Yeah. We have the Holy Spirit. 

[00:46:31] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Can we go there?

Because I, you know, for those of us in the West, and what I mean is like, you know, the United States, Canada, most of Europe, there are beautiful pockets of renewal where the Lord is renewing his church. But for many of us, if we're honest, our experience of the church and our local parish, maybe, you know, our extended family as we see siblings and friends and people we grew up with Disaffiliating for the faith.

Right? It's exp it's an experience of diminishment, of shrinking, of loss, of decline, and it, it starts to make us. Fearful. Right. We, we start to kind of, we get, we get risk averse and we get afraid. Right, right. That's exactly the contrary. I love like kind of one of the, one of the things that you challenge people to is to take risks, right.

For God. Amen. Talk a little bit about that 'cause that is so counterintuitive and I think if there's maybe one or two things that would kind of embody this New Testament living, it would be those who have the freedom to take a risk for God. So talk about that. 

[00:47:42] Fr. Voithofer: We always tell our students at, at our school, you know, and when I say students, I'm talking about adult students in our, like, you guys have the discipleship, right?

Right. Yeah. There's a lot of parallels as well, even in the two schools and what encounters doing in this archdiocese school of discipling. You know, it's like this idea of, I. How do you spell faith? RISK. Okay. That's awesome. So faith is spelled RISK, meaning, okay. I, I'm just gonna share, I, I, I wrote, I have a few testimonials that I just, real short Yeah.

But there's, one woman came to our encounter school, you know, full of, there's anger in their, shame in her life, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Frustration. She, she wept. And it, like, we have, we have something called healing rooms or, or prophetic rooms or identity rooms where people come that are guests. And then we have our students minister to them and, and put into practice what they're learning and mm-hmm.

And sometimes we, we like to go to school, take notes, but then when it comes to game time, like we hesitate to run the play. Yeah. Because we don't take a risk. Why? Because fear, faith don't go together. So do we trust that God will be faithful in the promises? That he's given us as. Yeah. So you have people practice.

Yeah, we do. We call it activation. Yeah. So after every, after every, yeah. Practice 

[00:49:06] Jim Jansen: isn't like a good word. 'cause it's real. Right? You like have 'em like, okay. Yeah. It's Now do it. 

[00:49:09] Fr. Voithofer: Yeah. It should, it should say. Yeah. It's, it's not just practice activating. It's, it's real time. It's happening. So this woman comes full of fear and shame and she wept for the first time.

Someone just said, the father delights in you. They felt the Holy Spirit saying, tell her the father delights in her. So she starts weeping. And that simple prophetic word that came from a student, that came from a student that was resting in their father's love for them personally. Mm-hmm. Allowed them to receive the revelation, to tell this woman, you know, there's nothing earth shattering about saying the father delights in you, but if it's the timing of God to release that word to her.

And so timing matters. It's not just like, oh, I'm gonna go tell everyone the father delights in. That's fine. But we're talking about. I always say we're, we're, we're called the livestream heaven. 

[00:50:01] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:50:01] Fr. Voithofer: It's live, like we're live right now, if you'll mm-hmm. We're live streaming heaven. Right? So that word broke years of self-hatred off this woman, and she's never been the same since.

So look how easy it was to take, like now the student, our students will share, like when they got that word, it's like, you know, is this from the Lord? Am I, I feel weird about going up to a random person and sharing this. 

[00:50:26] Jim Jansen: Right. Inside it feels risky, right? It's like, was that from God? Is that just me? Right?

I don't know. It sounds kind of trite. What if they get mad? Right? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All of the stuff, right? 

[00:50:36] Fr. Voithofer: All these, all the scenarios run through your head and that, that try to hijack the incarnation from happening in that moment for that person. Like the, the Lord wants a visit through your body.

This person and, and another quick story. I'm, we, we sometimes will go out, I know this might sound risky to some, maybe too much for people, but once in a while we'll go out to a shopping center with our students and we'll do street ministry, okay? Where we go and randomly ask the Holy Spirit, like, well, let's say we're in Hy-Vee, Walmart, whatever.

Mm-hmm. We're like, Lord, we're here to pour love into people. We're not here to freak people out. We're we're normal people, but we believe that the Lord wants to teach us how to walk in the spirit. Water walking. Eyes on him. 'cause when those fears come up, you gotta, if you take your eyes off Jesus, what happens?

You sink. 

[00:51:22] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:51:23] Fr. Voithofer: But what does Peter, what does Jesus do to Peter? He takes his hand and says, you have little faith. Why did you doubt? Meaning you've, that took little risks. Why'd you not take a bigger risk? Come on, keep your eyes on me. You can do this. Like, it's like a good coach in a way. It's like, come on guys, I got, I got faith.

You again, back to Peter was sun conscious. When he was on the water. He became self-reliant or sin conscious when he was sinking. And so in these moments of ministry, risk is key. But if you're uncomfortable with the mystery of waiting on and, and expecting the Lord to move. I teach our students. Anytime you're praying with someone, something always happens.

God's never like working or God's like, well, I'm working on a project right now. I'll get to that next week. 

[00:52:09] Jim Jansen: There's a lot going on in the world, I'm saying. 

[00:52:11] Fr. Voithofer: Right, right. So, so the Lord is very involved. Yeah. He's there and, and this is going back to that g go, when that gecko jumped out and looked at me, the Lord says, Michael, I care about that G go.

And that Lord was showing me. There's a lot of things in my life that I don't think God cares about, but that's a lie. Hmm. God cares about everything. Just like a dad. You wanna know what your, your kids are going through no matter what, how, whether it's small or big, I'm interested in my kids. Mm-hmm. I wanna know what my kids are experiencing.

So I'm at Hy-Vee. It's a, it's a shopping center. Where we get food and stuff. So I'm there and I'm praying, Lord, show me somebody in the ministry too. Well, I'm looking at carrots and celery, but I'm really like, you know, like, holy Spirit, please show me. 'cause I'm trying to, I'm trying to take risks and research and develop what it's like to live prophetically from my identity.

[00:53:04] Jim Jansen: Right. You're well, you're trying to retrain your mind, right. To expect Right. The Lord to use you as a gift. 

[00:53:10] Fr. Voithofer: Right. And and then what is it like when he does use you in hindsight to reflect back? What was it like when I heard him? Mm-hmm. Because we all gotta get used to like, what's it like to hear and know the voice of God in our lives.

And he speaks in very tons of ways. And so I'm there and I look over and I see this gentleman stop. It's like he's about, I don't know, 50 feet away. He's a good ways. And I just felt like the Lord's saying, you know what, we were doing this for a while, so it wasn't the first opportunity, but I look over and I see this guy and the Lord says, you know, just walk up to him.

Now here's the risk part. I don't even know what I'm gonna say. Because I'm walking up to a stranger, and I know this might be maybe sometimes too much for some people to step, but I would encourage you to believe that God wants to use us all in the people we meet each day. He, he really does want you to be salt and light in different ways.

It might be a smile. Hello? Being just kind. It's prophetic. Okay, so I walk up to this guy and I wasn't wearing my priest clothes at the time 'cause I didn't want him to. I wanna, like sometimes I was in camo, I will camouflage. My priests weren't, clothes weren't on. Not because I don't wear them, but because it was just like, sometimes I want people to not just go into ministry mode right away, right?

Oh, there's this priest, therefore he's coming for the church. No, I want him to know like I'm just another person with you. Mm-hmm. The Lord's put you on my heart. And so I just said, Hey, we have this school where we're learning how to hear God's voice. A few of us are just, you know, walking around and asking the Lord, and I felt like the Lord put you on my heart.

Would it be okay if I said a blessing with you in a prayer? And you'd be amazed. 99% of the people would be like, well, sure. And so what did I do? I, um, prayed with him and he was kind of blown away. And I said, by the way, I am a priest here in the, in the diocese. He was so frozen. And he's like, here's what he said.

He goes, you're not gonna believe this. I've been looking for a way to come back to the church and I've been afraid to go to confession and God just sent me a priest in a grocery store. Maybe just maybe he's talking to me right now. What do you think? 

[00:55:24] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:55:24] Fr. Voithofer: And I was like. 

[00:55:26] Jim Jansen: Maybe. 

[00:55:27] Fr. Voithofer: Maybe. Right? It's like, yeah, for sure.

So my point is this. What was it like looking at celery and carrots? Looking over, seeing a guy highlighted. When we say highlight, I mean, it's like the Holy Spirit just like draws you to them. Yeah. So what was it like? And we teach this again in our encounter school and in, in ablaze we, we do a lot of, uh, a ablaze.

I'm talking about a lifestyle of being online, transferring the data of heaven's account into the earth. Mm-hmm. Because we have dual citizenship. We, we are in Christ at the right hand, but we are also on earth and we're called to live under an open heaven to be streaming heaven all day. And, and this is this ordinary, so I'm giving you a few stories, but. 

[00:56:08] Jim Jansen: Right. But you're teaching. Your students to like, Hey, remember when the Lord spoke to you? Right? What did that feel like? Right. Because he's speaking to you all the time. Right. And he's gonna do it again. Right. 

[00:56:18] Fr. Voithofer: I so exciting. 

[00:56:19] Jim Jansen: And the more we, it's like, all right, the more you get used to hearing him, the easier it is to respond without that second guessing, without the confusion, the hesitation.

[00:56:30] Fr. Voithofer: When you get a history. Yeah. Of seeing the breakthroughs in people. Like another example, I went to Michael's not too long ago. Again, street ministry. 

[00:56:39] Jim Jansen: For, for, for the guys. That's like a craft store. 

[00:56:41] Fr. Voithofer: Right, right. Craft store. Like, yeah. I went in there not to get crafts, but I went in there to minister. So I'm walking around asking Holy Spirit again, the highlights.

Show me somebody, you want me to pour the father's love? Remember this? Jesus came for one reason, to reveal the father's love and to, you know, taking away sin is a huge part of the revelation of the father's love for us, right? Mm-hmm. So you can't ever separate the removal of sin from the father's love.

Look at the Prodigal son story. It's, it's a two for one. It's, it's impossible to separate and I would say the greatest sin is self-reliance. Meaning me centered God can't help me. Or this is, I'm never gonna, I'm never this, I'm never that. Right? 

[00:57:22] Jim Jansen: Oh yeah. Both sides of it. Right. It's like the God can't help me or me don't need God's help.

[00:57:29] Fr. Voithofer: Right. Right, right. 

[00:57:30] Jim Jansen: Either one, me is at the center. 

[00:57:31] Fr. Voithofer: Right. That unworthiness, that shame and guilt. It's like these ridden people. And, and, and that's why Jesus has come to me or labored and burdened. I'll give you rest. So this woman, I'm at mass at St. Matthews where, you know, been Bellevue. Yeah. Where I was preaching just last week, the other day at, at Easter Sunday.

And the woman I invited at Michael's came back to church. Wow. And she brought her sister and they said, we've been away from the church for a long time. Why did she come? What did I do? Checkout. 'cause I like to, sometimes I just, I I like to buy something 'cause I feel like I'm in this story, you know? 

[00:58:09] Jim Jansen: Yeah, thanks for giving me a place to love people. I should I to buy some prayer candles. Yeah. I should buy some prayer candles. Sure. 

[00:58:14] Fr. Voithofer: So I'm in there and I said, is it okay if I prayed with you? I said, and I introduced myself. I said, you know, I'm a priest here in the diocese and I just, I'm really, you know, learning how to hear God. And I, and I put myself in a posture of learner.

Mm-hmm. I'm a learner. And we all should be learners. We should never be like, I, I got that. Or that's not, don't, don't dismiss yourself from the mission field because you don't think you're worthy or you're not capable. I mean, Mary Magnum was the first one to announce the gospel. A pro, a former prostitute being invited to be the first one to tell the first bishops of the church he's alive.

Now tell me God doesn't have a reason he did that. He did it because he wants to come against the mindsets that say, well, you know, I could never do that. And I would say, please don't say I can never, because all the apostles did things they thought they could never do because like today's gospel, the crippled guy, I don't have silver gold, but I have a give you in Jesus name, rise and walk.

Mm-hmm. Well, they weren't like, yeah, we can do this. We got this. No. They were like, Hey, we're gonna try this gospel thing out. We're gonna see what happens. We're gonna pray with this crippled guy. So a crippled mindset would be the orphan mindset that robs you. And remember, this is a, that those are lies.

And the father of lies kill still and destroy. What's he wants to kill is your life in God. He wants to rob you of what it's like to wash dishes as a son and daughter, not as a slave, as a toiling and laboring, burdensome lifestyle. You don't have to live that way anymore. I'm just here to say, everyone listening, you don't have to live that way.

That's my heart at Ablaze is to a culture of worshipers that received the love of the father through the priesthood of Jesus lived out in us. He brings the father's love into our souls, hearts, bodies, minds, spirits. And then we release that love prophetically out into the world. And then as a king priest, prophet king, as kings, we reign over life situations as sons and daughters, and we look for the lost that God brings us, and we go after the one I'm big on, looking for the one God's putting in front of me, not just going after the, you don't need a stage, you don't need a microphone.

You just need to know you are. The one and the only beloved daughter and son that will never be repeated. The father delights in you. He can't wait for you to get this truth renewed in your mind. Wake up in the morning, and when I wake up now, here's what God says. He's Mike. Michael, get your coffee. Hurry up.

We, he's like, he's like eager to get out. He's like, we gotta go. He's like, there's I, I got kids. I wanna love through you. Mm-hmm. And I'm calling your name Michael, or whoever's listening. I'm calling your name, the Lord says is, and I need you to know that you can be a blaze. You can live a blaze, you can be a house of prayer for all people.

You can be a, a vessel that, a gate that releases heaven to the people in your day-to-day. You don't have to live in this humdrum. You're not a social security number. You're a son and daughter. So like, yeah, you're beloved. You're belong. Like you're in the family, guys like, did anyone listening? Let me ask, did anyone listening?

Earn their last name. No, it was given to you. 

[01:01:36] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[01:01:36] Fr. Voithofer: So you're, I'm talking right now to my brothers and sisters. We're a family. The church is a family. We're not just an institution, we're a family. And so Jesus comes, he, he's excited. He's, he's like, he's like a child. He says, that's why he said, we must be become like children.

[01:01:53] Jim Jansen: Mm. 

[01:01:54] Fr. Voithofer: To enter the kingdom. So there's a, there's a connection between entering the kingdom and child likeness. Not childish, but childlike. So what does that mean? It means what is a child good at trust. 

[01:02:05] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[01:02:05] Fr. Voithofer: Jesus. We're, we're in right. The divine mercy. Jesus, I trust, trust in you. You. And remember when that image was being painted, Fuina was not gonna put that at the bottom.

And Jesus was like, Hey, no, no, no. You must put at the bottom of the divine mercy image, Jesus, I trust in you. So risk, risk, trusting that God is in you and God through you can change. Lives. Yeah. And simple countenance, lifestyle of God is good all the time. Prophetic live it out and he wants to do it. He can't wait.

I mean, he's like, he's like, he's giddy about it. He's like, he's like excited. It's like, I mean, I mean, this is why you see Jesus was so frustrated with the Pharisees and Sadducees because they were weighing, as it says, putting heavy burdens on people, but not lifting a finger to help them. So it's, it's Galatians five, six, faith, working through love, faith, working through love.

[01:03:11] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Father, our time is just totally flown by. I I want to give you a chance, just, you know, for those who are like, ah, they right, they, they feel it, it's a lot. They want this, but there's maybe something kind of holding their heart back, right? Or maybe they just, they just don't know how to get started. What, what do you wanna say to them? 

[01:03:30] Fr. Voithofer: So, so I would say this is three years ago I was discerned to begin, or actually I should say in 2016 or seven, I can't remember exactly, it was August 15th. The feast of the assumption, when we were able to receive and purchase the land that is now a blaze house of prayer, it's 40 acres, that property being dedicated and consecrated to making all god's people a house of prayer that burned before him.

We, we say this in the Eucharistic prayers. It's, it's a privilege to minister to God. Thanks and praise for him setting me free from me. I'm so happy that I don't have to worry about me. And so I'm excited to think about him and what he wants to accomplish through me as I hope everyone in their own journey is.

But you could check out our website. 

[01:04:26] Jim Jansen: Yeah, we'll we will link to it. Ablazeworship.org. We'll put it on the show notes. 

[01:04:31] Fr. Voithofer: Yeah. You, you have to put yourself in an atmosphere where people are doing these things and, and I should say people that want more than just the hum jump status quo. Go through the motion Christianity.

That's not what God wants for the church. Mm-hmm. And, and we are in a season of leaving maintenance that mission from maintenance to mission. You know, we're leaving behind the old and, and it does say in scripture, the dead will bury the dead. And that's because there's no life. So the Lord wants to bring life and there are people out there that are.

Risking to step into, right? Their inheritance, their royal sons and daughters, and their prophetic identity, their their kingly royal dimension. 

[01:05:16] Jim Jansen: Yeah. They're living out of Right this, right, this prophetic, like I am loved. 

[01:05:22] Fr. Voithofer: Right? So, so in our school, in our encounter school, like we're finishing up, I should say before we finish, say that we're finishing up right now a building that's about 12,000 square feet.

That will be a day and night where we're involving churches around the city to come and minister thanks and praise to God, and I would call it prophetic intercession, where we will worship prophetically. And what that means is we'll let God produce the song in our heart that he wants us to sing, so that he can reign down his presence into teacher's lives, into carpenter's lives into.

Church leaders' lives into this region and beyond and, and really stop asking for small things. Let's, let's ask for the nations that God wants us to cry out to. The nations 12 apostles did great things and we can do great things. He says, you'll do what I did in greater things than these. So let's think big and, and just let the Holy Spirit move.

So like that building will be dedicated for that purpose where people will come and just worship and minister to God, seek his heart. Now, currently, if you go to our website, you'll see we have adoration from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM every Tuesday and Thursday. There's people coming for prayer in our chapel.

We have a lot of wonderful relics there. You can call on the saints. We have a prayer group on Monday evenings. Again, this is all on our website, but like I, the big thing I wanna highlight to you guys is, um, once every first Friday, we have a worship event at St. Gerald's on 96 and Q called a Blaze. And it's an event, an evening of renewal of the mind with teaching, we do worship again, activating the priesthood of our souls and lives.

[01:06:55] Jim Jansen: What, what night is it again? 

[01:06:56] Fr. Voithofer: Uh, the first Friday of every month. 

[01:06:58] Jim Jansen: First Friday, yeah. 

[01:06:59] Fr. Voithofer: Seven to 9:00 PM You come and go as you want, though. It's not like you have to come, you come and go as you're able, I tell people, bring their kids, bring their families. Mm-hmm. Come and experience. You know what we do? We do very expressive worship.

And, and I don't have time to teach on that, but it's all through the Psalms. The our bodies are meant to express his love and clapping, dancing, singing, raising your hands. You can say quiet, you can do whatever, however, the Holy Spirit's inviting you to worship, but becoming and, and glorifying God and that atmosphere, when the people of God are activated to worship his priests, the presence comes.

I should say he's already there, but we become aware of him. Right. And, and, and then we begin to cooperate with him. And then we see healings, people delivered, set free. When I say deliverance, I mean just mindsets. Huh? I, I, I thought I was unimportant and now I walk away out of a blaze. I feel now a different value for myself based on what God revealed to me.

[01:07:56] Jim Jansen: Well, and through all of this, I hear you saying like, man, if you want this and you wanna get started, you don't have to do it alone. No. Like community. That's, in fact, don't do it alone. 

[01:08:05] Fr. Voithofer: That's key. That's key. That's key. Yes. Community. And so I would encourage you to check out our website and to look at, we have a couple of events coming up in May.

Yeah. A school of identity, again, May 9th and 10th. It's a Friday evening Saturday. It's, it's an introduction to the identity renewal of the mind teachings that we offer through our full two year encounter school. It's so fun to watch as a priest, again, as a priest, as a spiritual father, to watch these kids, if you will.

I'm talking about adults that are kids of the kingdom. We're all kids in the kingdom, right? Yeah. But these adults, after we have worship in class, you have numerous adults getting up that are in our school, talking about how they prayed over someone and God healed them. I had a, one of our missionaries at our property, her name's Jan, we, she just told a story last night.

She, she was feeling really tired, really, like, you know, outta sorts, kind of disconnected, you know, we have our days right? And she was asked to go pray with her son-in-law's father. Okay. So she was not feeling it at all. Okay. Yeah. But she obeyed. Obeyed, yeah. Obeyed she went, said yes. And this guy got so much healing in mind, body, and soul that he, he was weeping with joy.

He had an encounter. 

[01:09:24] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Yeah. 

[01:09:25] Fr. Voithofer: Through somebody that felt like, I don't have anything to give, but God's faithful and, and now she didn't learn this through the school, through community, through people that were walking her into living from the realm of heaven. From the kingdom realm living in the kingdom.

Remember the, the kingdom is the domain of the king. Mm-hmm. He's the king. When you yield to the king, you're in his domain and things start happening in the spirit. 

[01:09:50] Jim Jansen: Yeah. She knew that like, I don't have to feel powerful. In fact, the Lord might move even more. Right. Because I don't need to be afraid of being weak.

Exactly. Exactly. Oh, father, this is all so good. Thank you. Yeah, man. Thank you for everything you're doing. Thank you, Jesus. We're gonna, we'll link to, uh, the Encounter School, right of ministry, uh, blaze worship.org. We'll put all those and all the dates for the School of Prophecy, the school of Identity, the summer intensive, all those things are on, on the website . 

[01:10:18] Fr. Voithofer: They're all phenomenal ways to like begin to, I always say, you know, if you've never tried a food.

Try it. Yeah. Taste test. Yeah, take it. 'cause what you're gonna find out, like when I first started the encounter, when others start, they'll say like, you know, I wasn't sure. Like, I can't tell you how many students are like, you know, I didn't know if this would be for me. Then like a year in, they're like, this has changed my life.

I love it. And again, why? Because it's nothing new under the sun, but we've somehow managed to not put ourselves in that greenhouse. Yeah. I think of it as it, a greenhouse environment. 

[01:10:51] Jim Jansen: A place that where it's safe to experience and grow, learn, grow. Yeah. And you'll wave the cover charge for Quip cast listeners.

What's that? You'll wave the cover charge. 

[01:11:00] Fr. Voithofer: Yeah. Yeah. Right. 

[01:11:01] Jim Jansen: I'm just kidding. There's no cover charge. 

[01:11:02] Fr. Voithofer: There. There is a, um, the, the, the, well, the School of Identity and the school of Prophecy are, those are just registered. They're free. 

[01:11:09] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Yeah. 

[01:11:10] Fr. Voithofer: The summer intensive there. I was gonna say too, I was gonna share, there's a promotional code for like half off the summer intensive, which is in July.

And that's just, just type in the, the promotional code. Free. F-R-E-E-F-R-E-E. And, and, and you'll get half off. 

[01:11:27] Jim Jansen: Beautiful. 

[01:11:27] Fr. Voithofer: If you join, um, in that promotional code. And again, bring family, bring friends, bring people. 

[01:11:34] Jim Jansen: Yeah. That's awesome. 

[01:11:34] Fr. Voithofer: It's great. 

[01:11:35] Jim Jansen: Thank you for this. 

[01:11:36] Fr. Voithofer: And you know, I also wanted to share, if it's okay.

[01:11:38] Jim Jansen: Yeah.

[01:11:38] Fr. Voithofer: One more thought is I have two books on Amazon that I recently written. I have just been putting my prayer journal back together and I wrote some stories based on how to live in this realm. And one is called Awakening to More, and the other is called From Wounds to Worship. From Wounds. I just actually just released wounds to worship, to, uh, they're, they're very simple story.

Yeah. On Kingdom Living, and they're very much, they have reflection questions. Awesome. There's spiritual insights and renouncing lies declaring truth in a prayer. Really, I, I'm really about. Again, activating the kingdom lifestyle. Yeah. And that's what these two books basically come out of. Some of my journaling and just some of the ways to, because I find sometimes when you, when I go to a conference or I go and do a teaching or people are wanting more, and like you said, they can re-listen to the podcast and if they even want more, they can grab books, they can come to our events, stuff like that.

[01:12:36] Jim Jansen: Yeah, we will, we will link to those. Yeah, please. Okay. Wounds to worship and awaken. 

[01:12:41] Fr. Voithofer: From wounds, to worship, from wounds to worship and from and awakening the more. 

[01:12:44] Jim Jansen: And awakening the more. 

[01:12:46] Fr. Voithofer: Yeah. To more. Yeah. 

[01:12:47] Jim Jansen: Some of you, you're listening to this, you know, you need to share this with a friend. You actually know you need to re-listen to this.

Like, uh, like, you know, like you can't listen to this one. You know, this is whiskey. You can't listen to this one on, on two and a half times speed. You gotta go back and you gotta listen slower and, and let the Lord, uh, speak to your heart and mind. So when you are at your destination, if you're walking the dog or driving when you're safe, you uh, change your speed back to back to normal.

You send this out to a friend and, uh, thanks for being with us everybody. Thanks for listening to Thep Cast. We hope this episode has inspired you to live your faith and equip you to be fruitful in your mission. Stay connected with us by going to equip dot arch omaha.org. God bless and see you next time.