304 | Pursuing Visions, Journaling Daily, and Hearing God’s Prophetic Voice (Ken Helser)
Episode Description
This episode revisits a profound conversation with Ken Helser. He shares timeless fatherhood wisdom about enjoying intimate time with God, making dreams a reality, and raising children who can become your best friends.
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Ken Helser and his wife, Linda, co-lead A Place for the Heart with their son and daughter-in-law, Jonathan and Melissa Helser. Ken and Linda pour into the hearts of the students who come for the 18 Inch Journey. They are blessed with four adult children and several wonderful grandchildren.
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· You’re most blessed when you’re most in need of God.
· The enemy’s greatest strategy against you will always be miscommunication.
· Focus on raising kids you can become best friends with.
· The hardest thing in the Christian life is to let God love you, and the second hardest thing is to be still.
· God wants to speak to you more than you even want to listen.
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Podcast Intro: [00:00:01] Being a great father takes a massive amount of courage. Instead of being an amazing leader and a decent dad, I want to be an amazing dad and a decent leader. The oldest dad in the world gave you this assignment, which means you must be ready for it. As a dad, I get on my knees and I fight for my kids. Let us be those dads who stop the generational pass down of trauma. I want encounters with God where He teaches me what to do with my kids. I know I'm going to be an awesome dad because I'm gonna give it my all.
Ken Helser: [00:00:39] Isn't that the greatest joy of being a daddy, that the children just want to get to know you and climb up your lap? And he says, when you journal, you're climbing in my lap for me to tell you what's on my heart and for you to write it down is your history with me that you have for the rest of your life.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:01:00] What's up, guys? Welcome back to DadAwesome. My name is Jeff Zaugg. Today, Episode 304, I'm going to revisit a podcast conversation that was released about a year and a half ago. So, episode 238 and 239 was with Ken Helser. And this was a and I say this about maybe other conversations as well when I say this was a special conversation. This is a conversation, though, that has continued to resurface. And it feels like right now, personally, and for our ministry and for I think you, any dad listening, I think this is a timely conversation. Ken goes into talking about vision. We have a vision for our family. We have a vision for our business, ministry, our life. And the vision actually takes root in the valley. You might feel like you're walking through and this is a non ideal season, but man, the opportunity in these valley moments for vision to really take root for the long haul. He talks about hearing God's voice. He talks about being corrected when our kids actually correct us. He talks about always living in transition. We're going to go into topics about being needy for Jesus, dependent on Jesus. He's going to talk about wisdom coming from failure, that actually failure being caught in falling on our face, that's where freedom is found. We'll talk about journaling God's voice and enjoying time with Jesus in our kids and grandkids see us enjoy time with Jesus. So this is a rich conversation. I've been so thankful for, kind of, some ongoing phone call conversations with Ken over the last year and a half since I met him. Ken turns 79 years old next month, and as he seen now what God's doing through him, his wife, Linda, their kids, their grandkids, it's this is a beautiful conversation. I'm so glad you guys are listening. So here's, recorded a year and a half ago, my conversation with Ken Helser. I think it would be helpful just to give us a snapshot to start with of the current season of Dad Life. So talk about your four kids, the grandkids, just give us a little, little snapshot of what's the current season look like today of being a dad.
Ken Helser: [00:03:42] Well they're all grown. I mean, our daughters are same age you are. And I'm not going to give away your age, but the most beautiful thing that has happened in Linda and I's life is we always prayed that our children could go past us. And everything I've done in life to dream and to develop a dream and make it a reality, many people can dream. Oswald Chambers, one of my favorite, I've been reading My Utmost For His Highest for 53 years come July. He said, God takes us a mountain top to give us a vision, but nothing is ever made reality on a mountaintop. There's rock up there, nothing grows and He always takes us in the valley for the dream and the vision to become reality. So my daughter, our oldest daughter, had a dream for nine years of some kind of eatery, and she called it The Table from the scripture that says, and on the road to Emmaus, they bid Him to stay and when He broke the bread at the table, their eyes were open and she prayed to have an eatery, coffeehouse, bakery where people from that simple atmosphere, somehow their eyes would be open. And so then our daughter Jodie, tremendous business minded person and has taken business to ends I can't even dream of. Jonathan, the musician, I've always been a writer and a songwriter and a recording artist and etc. His music has gone way past mine. And then my daughter Sarah, you looking over at the wall, I gave her a watercolor less when she was 5 and Bill Gates actually has one of her originals in his home, which I'm only saying that. And so one time I was talking about my children and I thought, Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, Lord, I shouldn't be talking about them, you know, I mean it's not pride, I'm just so grateful. And the Lord said, it's okay, I brag about my son all the time. And the Father brags on Jesus. And when our children have followed the Lord and done what they were created to find what they were made for, which is the big thing that that we do here at A Place for the Heart is to try to help people realize if you, Ephesians 1:3, for, you know, He called before the creation of the world, He saw us and called us to become holy and blameless. If God called you to that, then He also called you with a destiny. And it's tragic that most young people today, many, many people today, work at jobs that cannot stand and they've never been able to do that one thing they were created for. So that's in the snapshot, that's daddy all over the place.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:06:25] And you've got 12 grandkids.
Ken Helser: [00:06:28] 12 grandchildren. From the age of 3 up to 30.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:06:31] And then you had a couple of bonus grandkids because three of your grandkids are married, I believe.
Ken Helser: [00:06:37] That's correct. And I got to marry him. Hallelujah!
Jeff Zaugg: [00:06:39] Well, I was asking Linda questions about just even the pond that you have here on the property and how you've baptized people in the pond. She's told me stories about just like these, there's marker moments when it comes to our kids and grandkids and I mean to marry and do the pre-marital counseling for your grandsons. I mean, I can't imagine. I can't imagine. I'd love for you to go in a little deeper to the vision on the mountaintop, but where it takes root and flourishes and where it's in the valley. And maybe there's a couple stories, maybe start with one that that is an example of like you had the vision, but man, it took a lot more time to come about. And man, it took a lot of pain to see that vision start to come to fruition, because I think a lot of us dads listening, we have some vision, we have some hopes, we have like we believe for certain things, but like we feel in the valley right now, we're not seeing the vision taking place. And so give us hope with maybe a testimony story of yours of what happened.
Ken Helser: [00:07:36] Well, for example, is that when, I was a rock and roller, crazy rock and roller. I did stuff on stage that, anyway, that was the old man. And so when I met the Lord and came to Him and gave Him my life, that's too long story. But two weeks after that, the Lord said, I'm going to give you a piece of land. So I'm ready for this piece of land, went out looking for it. 16 years later, we got, from 1970 to 1986. So many times when God gives you the vision. It's gonna happen. It's in the future. It will take place, but He doesn't tell you when. Because it's not so much that I had a vision. God has to shape me into the place of the vision. It's what He has to do in me. Because one of the greatest things is for God to be able to give you something without what He gives you having you. To have music in my life, and and I gave up my whole career. Tour with the Allman Brothers, recorded in New York, getting ready to move down to Capricorn Records and Macon with the Allman Brothers, the Marshall Tucker Band, Leonard Skynard all that, and I'm right on the brink of it. And I go into the preacher's office and ask him if I could hear God and the preacher says, one and a half hours of stories of being shot down twice in an aircraft carrier in World War Two. Unbelievable. And when he got through, I said, can I hear God like that? He said, No. And I said, Why? And he says, Because your God is music. I said, I don't worship music. He said, Anything you look to for your identity, rules your life. And my whole identity was being up on the stage and wowing the crowds. And so anyway, it's the how long it takes for that vision to become reality is the work He has to do in me so that I could have this place, which is so unbelievable. You saw it today, it's beautiful without the place having me.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:09:45] Yeah. It is called A Place for the Heart.
Ken Helser: [00:09:48] A Place for the Heart. And it came from a man who was dying, who had a healing ministry, who prayed for psoriasis was 90% of my body, and the only thing I have left is that little speck here on both elbows.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:10:02] You're healed.
Ken Helser: [00:10:02] So. Here he is dying and nobody knows why. And I went to say goodbye to him and he was almost in a coma at home. He looks up at me and he says, You can't say goodbye to me because death cannot separate us. I said, What are you telling me? He said, I've been reading Hebrews, there's only one Mount Zion. He said, When you worship God, you come to Mt. Zion, don't you? I said, yeah. He said, I will be in Mount Zion. And he said, When you worship God, you'll rub shoulders with Him but don't go looking for me and you'll see Jesus through faith, but I'll be looking at Him face to face. He said, Death cannot separate the life we've had together here on Earth, and there will always be, even in heaven, and you on earth, there'll always be a place in my heart for you. Because we rubbed life together. The life doesn't end because I go to heaven. And he said, his last words, there will always be a place in my heart for you. I cried all the way home and in my tears, there's a place in my heart just for you. It's a special kind of place. And God made it just for you. So come take up that place in my heart. And my heart will become your heart to. And that song, I sang it all over the world. Everybody on the street. I don't care. I just sang the song. So it was obvious that we were going to call this A pPace for the Heart. And ours really is a heart ministry. So it's 18 inch journey because you asked me about it. So here it is in a nutshell. If you tell me, Jeff, Matthew says it's more blessed to give than receive. I hear that. I believe it because it's in the Bible, but it comes in as information. And it remains as information unless I act on it. And if I act on it, which we have done and live by faith the past 52 and a half years, everything you saw down the hill was built by faith. It moves from information to revelation. And so someone said, well, that's not in the Bible. I said, oh yes it is, it's the last thing Jesus said, the Sermon on the Mount. He said, The man who builds his house on the rock is the one who hears my word and applies it. So, so really, when you want to talk about Daddies, there's nothing more important in all the world, that the children really see the gospel in me. And Jonathan David, such a story about him with the Lord told us we would have him. And we were two weeks away from, from, my wife had cancer of the uterus. We were two weeks from a hysterectomy. Here comes a prophet that I didn't even know, you're going to have this son named Jonathan David. He's going to play the harp, has the voice of an angel. His music's gonna go all over the world, which last year, Raise a Hallelujah, did go number one. But anyway, so I had this baby and it happened. The Lord healed my wife of cancer, I had this little baby and I said, Wow, My first two children, I was lost. I wasn't a Christian. So, God, I get to have this new opportunity to raise this little boy as a daddy in Jesus. I didn't, I didn't know You then. So, Lord, what do you, what do must, what can I do for Jonathan to be, to love You and make You Lord of his life? And the Lord said, All you have to do is love your wife. I said, What? He says, if you love your wife in his presence, he will always trust you and believe you. But if he ever sees you abusing his mother, he will never trust anything you ever say to him. The most important thing you could do is love his mother, in his presence, always. And you know what, it not only worked, when he was six or seven years old, we could play ring toss when he was 3. He had to beat me. There's something in a little boy that has to beat his daddy. And I could not figure out. We go out and play one on one basketball. I am six feet, and I don't think he's three feet yet. And he gets mad because he can't make a layup over my head. I didn't understand this competitive nature. We were riding to school one morning and he's quiet and when a six year old boy's quiet, you know something. I felt him to see if he had a fever. I say, you okay, son? He said, yeah, I'm just thinking about something, Daddy. I never seen him think about anything. Just give me a ball. Let me play, man. I said, okay. I said, what are you thinking about? He said, You know, Daddy, I've been thinking about Mommy. Mommy is different than you. Yeah. She smells different then and her skin is so smooth. And I just love to cuddle with Mommy. And I've been thinking about it daddy. I bet I get to cuddle with Mommy more than you do. I dropped him off at school. And I say, Sir Jeff, you don't know this about me, but when I came into the Kingdom, I came in with this idea that in everything that happens, God can speak to me. In everything God has a voice. The reason we don't hear, we never ask. And I said, Lord, what was that about? He said, Well, you know, this competitive nature, you have the woman he's in love with. And if the family is what it should be, he will not settle for a wife any less than his mother. He's getting all the images of what he wants one day in a woman, and it will be someone of all the good virtue and wonderful things he sees in his mother. And I said, That's right. I got his woman right now. So that's why he's so darn competitive with me.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:16:22] I love that story. And and just even remembering that that's for my four daughters, like that is what I, how I am walking, how I'm hearing God's voice, how I am like interacting with my wife, Michelle. Like like they're watching, they're always watching. We have dreams as dads and we have goals that we're trying to accomplish and we're trying to lean into whether it's ministry, work, professionally. I believe there's a point where we start thinking beyond what we're going to accomplish and start thinking how can we help create even a foundation for our kids to go accomplish their dreams? A pivot point that I just sense and I've seen so much, even today, in the tour that you took me on, that like that's happened for you. There's a pass off of other people leading their dreams and going beyond you.
Ken Helser: [00:17:18] And I don't know what age that happens because when you're young and you're trying to pay the bills and you're trying to make a living, it's not just, you're just trying to find a way to make it all work. And you got this family. You feel this incredible burden. But there comes a point where all of a sudden you realize you don't want to, you don't want to just leave a legacy. You just, everything that you've learned about the Lord, you want them to have it and go past that. And and you really care about what you're going to leave with them. That really matters more than anything. And for the generational thing, one of the things I learned early in ministry, I had a man that mentored me who had ghostwritten 98 books, three bestsellers when he died. And he always told me, he said the key to communication is identification. And I just didn't catch it. And then one day it clicked. No one, the greatest communicator in all the world is Jesus Christ. But His communication was so on the money because He spoke the language of the people. When He spoke to women, He talked about yeasr and bread. When He spoke to farmers, it was different soil conditions and what kind of crop and fishermen pearl of great price in the nets. So He spoke the language of the people. And I think one of the key things and communicated with my children, is being able to speak to their world and bring them into my world. And, you know, I hadn't thought about this before, but I did make you pizza for supper and we did roll out the red carpet for you. But every one of my children have the gift of hospitality. Every one of them. And where do they get it from? It was nothing for me to pick up two hitchhikers and call in and say, Darling, can you make, make the meal go a little bit further? So they grew up with people around our table all the time. And so the way we lived our life became the natural thing. And they built their dreams subconsciously of doing the same thing because it was life to them. So that, that has really meant a lot that every one of the children really do have hospitality, because my wife has a gift of hospitality.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:19:48] Yeah. They soaked it in and now they're living it for others and in their own spheres. Yeah. The the gift of friendships is, I'm just so thankful for the friends God has given me, and I don't think right now, it's just not very often about my girls being some of, you know, my friends. I think of myself, I'm in the I'm in dad mode right now, not as much friend mode. But what I saw today in the interaction with you and your kids and their spouses is is really like I was like, that's a snapshot of what I want. Is this like they want to be together and there's a deep friendship there. Would you explain a little more of what, I think it was Linda was sharing, your wife more than you, just around like looking forward to and raising kids that you could become best friends with.
Ken Helser: [00:20:39] Well, that was the story I told you when Jonathan came home from YWAM. I said, Well, Jonathan, what are you thinking about doing? He said, Well, Daddy, I want to do what you do. Now that one, I cried because they saw the parts when I came home tired and the phone rings and all, dang I got a, Oh man, I just don't want to talk to somebody about Jesus right now. But I'd do it anyway, so it looks a little hypocrite. They saw all the bad stuff. But above all of that, Jonathan said, Daddy, I want to do what you do. And that tore me up. Because he saw beyond my messes. And he wanted to do what I do. And I said, Well, I'm sort of scared for you to work with me. He said, Why? And I said, Because I don't want to be your daddy anymore. I want to be your friend. Because I'm afraid that moment I will act the way I used to when you were my child. And you're not my child anymore. I want us to become friends. And Jonathan and I had an experience. One day, I was up here where you are now and down the hill, where the barn is down there, it's 200 yards more. And the Lord spoke to me. And the Lord spoke to Jonathan. We hadn't even seen each other that morning, and it was so powerful. That I took off running down the hill. I wrote it down. Well, at the same time, the Lord spoke to him and he wrote it down and he's running up to see me. And we ran into each other. And I said, Jonathan, the Lord just gave me a word. And he said, Daddy, the Lord just gave me a word to. This is what the word was, and because we had both written, it was the same word. The enemy's greatest strategy against you will always be miscommunication. And in a friendship, that thing of where you think you misunderstand, but you press on in to make sure you heard it right. And no verse in all the world epitomizes friendship, like if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship. To walk in the light with somebody is to bear your bosom soul, your heart, your mess. And it's okay. And to accept each other. And when you have that kind of fellowship of walking in the light, baring your heart with one another, there's a thing that happens that's incredible. Supernatural. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from it. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship and the process of fellowship is the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us. And when two people, in the presence of the Lord, haven't shared their the worst about themselves in the light and the blood of Jesus cleanses them, then you have a friendship that's beyond anything the world can ever produce. It's better than playing golf or going fishing or going hunting or going camping. We do those things, but the greatest thing of all is walking in the light. And Jonathan, I have done that. Jonathan has caught me and ministered truth to me that killed me. He said, Daddy, I remember when it happened. I got all, I got so upset at something somebody did at the farm, because of the way they handled the blackberries, and I was real proud of the blackberries.He said, Daddy, Do you want the fruit of Blackberries or do you want the fruit of making disciples? And I got recorrection from my son. And I've had, I think in the last ten years I've gotten more correction from Jonathan than I've given correction to. And when your children correct you, and you know, it's God, you don't like it at first, but it's really heavenly.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:24:48] Right. Right. Oh, man, I've already experienced those moments with my eight year old and my five year old. I'm like, Yup, that's actually really good.
Ken Helser: [00:24:55] You know, Jeff, the Lord said this to me one time, He said, I didn't give you children for you to teach them as much as I gave you children for them to teach you.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:25:07] The idea of transition and just expecting that there's not an arrival, but there's the next, what's the next? God's going to unveil the next. And transition is hard. You've walk through so many rounds of like, Yes, I have a dream, but there's another transition season, another transition. And we were chatting on the walk about just that, that is that is the better way to live than to think that we can arrive and stay. Let's keep taking ground. Why is that important for all of us dads to to think and be prepared that there's always going to be the next thing?
Ken Helser: [00:25:42] Well, as the Lord said to me one time, He said, as long as you're following Me, you will always be in transition. And what that means to me, is I am more deeply in love with my wife now, soon to be 56 years than I've ever been. And the reason for it is 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17. If any man is in Christ he's a new creation. And that means tomorrow morning when I wake up, I'm going to be married to a new creation. And the moment I think I've got my wife figured out , I've blown it. And we treat each other from what we know of the past and never allow them to change and to see them as a new creation. And we react to one another because, well, doggone it, you always do the same old thing, that never gives them an opportunity to get, to grow past that. So I guess the most beautiful thing in all the world is to say that I'm married to someone brand new, and I absolutely did not know my wife. If she's created in the image of God, she is a mystery. Every human being is a mystery and living together, the most beautiful thing is God reveals the mystery. But if you ever think you've got them figured out, it's almost like it's over. That's an incredible transition that that alone is a plus, my perspective of things should always be changing. And at 77 years old, soon to be 78, there's something I've learned about the way of life in the spirit through age. There's a big difference in me and you right now. You're 40? You know what the biggest difference is? I need God more than you do. Because Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit. And the longer and the closer you get to Him, the more needy you become. You're most blessed, poverty, Poor in spirit. You're most blessed when you're most needy for Him. Because if I don't need him and I can do things on my own. Where is the relationship with Almighty God? For Jesus Christ to say, in myself, I can do nothing. I can only do what I see my Father doing and I can only speak what I hear my Father saying. And because I've said a whole bunch of stuff and done all this stuff on my own. Oh, God, I don't want to do anything anymore that's not You. I don't want to think I can ever do anything. I am more needy for You now at 76 than I was when I first got started on this thing.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:28:38] And if we find ourselves, like if I find myself, like with less of that neediness that need, the desperation, God, like, I need You to show up here. Like, what would you suggest if we, if we find ourselves living in a place of self dependance? What would your suggestion be?
Ken Helser: [00:28:58] Well, read this morning, this thing I've been able to cast every single care on the Lord. It's easy to say that. It's easy to read it and think, Well, that's true. But sometimes I'm amazed at how much I carry until God just really lets me see. I've given up a lot here. I've walked away and let the kids have that farm. I've let them have and do the ministry. And I seldom go down. And sometimes it's painful for me because I still want to do things. But you know what? I'm up here doing it with you right now. Oswald Chambers says the Sermon on the Mount, that He preached that sermon to produce despair in us. And when you read the Sermon on the Mount and realize I can not make myself poor in spirit. I can try to be pure, everything in the Sermon on the Mount is what we will become if we follow and walk with Jesus. Jesus teaches what we should be, but then He makes us what He teaches we should be. I cannot do it without Himself. And that's where my dependency is more than ever. And one of the, some people say, well, when you get older, you have wisdom. I tell you what, wisdom comes from failure. I've had much more failure in the last 53 years than you can imagine. And every time, and I love it when God catches me, I used to I didn't. But when I get caught, that's freedom. And I'm just constantly, I mean, if you fall on your face enough, then one day you wake up, say, you know, I can, I can't do that anymore. And I'm not even supposed to do that anymore. Except, Jesus, do it, I cannot do it. I am helpless. That sounds like real despair, doesn't it? It's not despair at all. It's a wonderful thing when you realize you can't do it, but He can do all things through Him.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:31:04] Yeah, And just even remembering over the years, all of God's goodness and faithfulness. I know journaling is something that you train others on. When did you start keeping a journal?
Ken Helser: [00:31:16] There's an old man, Okeechobee Florida, down where the alligators are mean and green. And he was a Jesus loving cowboy named Mickey Evans. And he has, he's passed now, but he had one of the most successful recovery ministries in the United States. And how did I know? The Chinese government actually came because addiction is a worldwide problem. And they visited there several times to know what to do with addicts. The Russian Orthodox Church sends over a delegation every year, and Mickey had 78 men in recovery. That's huge progress.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:31:58] Yeah.
Ken Helser: [00:31:59] And then, not only recovery, then if you get through the first phase, which is ten month program, then you can come back with your wife and children and stay for two years to rebuild family, where thre addicts where. Long story short is, when I first went down there and realized what an incredible place it was, we ministered, with a little band I had, and I said, Mickey, yours is an incredible, successful program. He says, every man journals the voice of the Lord. I said, Mickey, you've got addicts writing their most honest prayers, this is journaling. You write your most honest prayers, skip a line, meaning give God some space and say, what do you want to say to me, Lord, about the prayer I just prayed? And you write what you believe to be the voice of the Lord. Which comes straight from Scripture in Habakkuk. How long oh Lord must we endure this? And then the next verse 5, look and see, I'm going to do something good. Sometimes when you're reading the Prophets, you don't know when God's speaking and when their speaking. And when you get in that kind of relationship with the Lord, it's back and forth because that's what it is. So Mickey asked me if I was journaling because I wrote things down. I said, Yes, I am. And after about seven or eight years going down there, he looked at my page and he took my little journal, threw it across the room, it hit the wall, fell on the floor, he said, Boy, that ain't journaling. That's keeping a diary. And so I went off with him and he spent five days in the mountains of North Carolina. He drove all the way up from Florida. He spent five days with me to teach me how to journal the voice of the Lord. I spent one year doing it, and then I began to teach at YWAM here and all the schools all over. Everywhere I've gone, I've tried to teach how to journal the voice of the Lord.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:34:03] And for us listening, who are, like, hungry for more coaching, more guidance, is there, is there a way to, without being in one of those rooms that you're teaching, is there is there any any way for us to learn more? Is there any even coaching you can give right now in this conversation?
Ken Helser: [00:34:24] After teaching, now for 31 years or more to people, the biggest question that I get every time I teach journbaling the voice of the Lord, Mr. Helser, How do I know if it's me or if it's God? And finally I said, Lord and He said it's it's faith. You have to believe that God wants to speak to you more than you even want to listen. And by faith, when you ask God a question and you get the impression you step out in faith with the first thing, you write the first word and let it flow. If, if it's of the spirit, Jesus said out of your innermost being would flow rivers. And a lot of people never journal because they're afraid to write the first word. And I have learned to write the first word down and if I do that by faith, it's like Peter stepping off the side of the boat. As I exhort faith to write the first thing I think I'm hearing, it begins to take a flow and it becomes so prophetic it's unbelieveable. I, on the morning of 9/11, I journaled that morning, but went on about my day like everybody did. I journaled 6:30-7:00 that morning. I mean, all of a sudden, how in the world can a plane fly in to the Trade Centers? By the time I get home, I quit everything, I rushed home and Linda's in tears in front of the TV. The second plane is flown and then we watched the drama and all of a sudden people are calling, we get in a prayer meeting, here at the farm. And I forgot that I had journaled that morning. So, I said, Wonder what I got that morning? It didn't make any sense, when that morning, when I said, Lord, is there anything? Looks like a great day today. Is there anything you want to say to me? He said, Yes. Love your enemies. Do not fear the one that can destroy the body, but fear the one that can also destroy the soul. I say to you, once again, love your enemies and pray for those who will come against you. That's what God gave me that morning of 9/11. He knew what was coming. That's why I always say people journal first thing in the morning because you don't know what's coming in your day. Sitting over there on that couch one morning, I'm journaling, and it was it, it was not an intense day. It was just, well, I feel like I should do this, Lord. So here I am. Is there anything you want to say to me? He says, the Lord said, I'm glad you asked. I'm glad, God says, I'm glad you asked Me if there's anything I want to say, because there is something I want you to know. Your daughter is getting ready to have surgery, and you haven't even prayed for her. And I said and I said, Lord, but it's just a little thing up there on her ear. He said, any time they cut an ear, it's frightening. It's scary. And this is your daughter. I want you to go into town, I want you to anoint her with oil, take her out to lunch afterwards. Go out in the car and pray for her, anoint with oil, before her little surgery, this afternoon. And when you go, I will put my angels about you and no harm and no fear will be yours and you will come home safely. That added part didn't make any sense to me at all. What I did not know is I would have a head on collision with a woman who hit me a 45 miles an hour. I threw it in reverse. She was having a diabetic coma. She threw me across two lanes of traffic and almost went through the window at Arby's. Now, this is the part about journaling when you journal, and then that happens, do you realize what that does to your faith that you can hear God? Oh, I wish people would do that because hearing God's voice, how can you have a relationship with someone you never hear? And God does want to speak to us more than we want to listen. So that in a nutshell, is, and then, of course, what's happened with journaling is when you journal the voice of the Lord, you are practicing hearing the prophetic voice of God for yourself. And if you're diligent with that., as he said to Timothy, stir up the gifts that's within you. When you journal, you're stirring up that prophetic gift. And then it becomes natural to be able to be prophetic with people around you.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:38:52] Well, I, I mean, you filled me with a bunch of hope and courage to go try. To go, to, why would I not ask, God, do you have something for me today?
Ken Helser: [00:39:02] You have something you want to say?
Jeff Zaugg: [00:39:03] Something you want to say to me today? Yeah. Well we've covered a lot of topics already, Ken. And I'm so grateful. And I know you've, you've hit on a few of these things already, but when you think about your 12 grandkids. Nine of them are grandsons, right? Or is it ten? Ten and two grandsons?
Ken Helser: [00:39:23] How did you remember that? Two daughters. Two granddaughters and ten grandsons.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:39:27] Two and ten. That's right. And three of the grandsons are married. When you think about all of those grandkids being married and Lord willing, all of them having kids someday and being dads, would you think, is there anything top of mind you like, I'd want to share this? When they go about stepping into this, this new chapter of being a dad, an intentional dad, what are, what are some of the other, two or three things? You mentioned, man, love your wife. Like you mentioned hear the voice of God, we talked about that. Thinking generationally, we've covered a bunch of things, but are there any things you'd like want to add an exclamation point to of like grandsons and spouses of granddaughters, like, I want you to know this as you, as you become dads?
Ken Helser: [00:40:18] I think the most important thing, I know that the hardest thing in the Christian life is to let God love you. And I believe the second hardest thing in the Christian life is to be still. And one time the Lord said to me, He said, I was in Australia. Kookaburras woke me up at 430 in the morning. And when I woke up at 4:30 I thought, Wow, this is wonderful. I'm going to shower right quick. I got the coffee going, Lord, I get to have 2 hours with, 3 hours before my first cup. And when I got back to bed and I sat down on the bed, the Lord said, you love being with me, don't you? I said, Lord, I'm glad the Kookaburras woke me up. I got hours just to be with You. And the Lord said to me, you enjoy me, don't you? I said I do. He said, Most people don't enjoy me, they endure me. And my quiet time, my intimacy with the Lord is so special I can hardly wait to wake up. And that didn't get there overnight. It was discipline. It was difficult. But I want all of my kids and grandkids to know the most important thing about their Papa, is my secret intimacy, wonderful time that I have with the Lord. You cannot survive without that. That's the most important thing of all, is that intimacy that I enjoy with Jesus. And I would, it would break my heart to find out that they did that endlesslly with the Lord, because that's what Papa did or that's because what you're supposed to do to be a good Christian. That's enduring God. But to be able to enjoy God. You know, and that and make a note about that, this is one of the most profound things that ever happened to me in journalism. This is the most profound thing. I was journaling one morning and when I finished, the Lord said, Thank you. I said, thank you? He says, Yes, thank you for, thank you for putting yourself in a place where I could speak to you. He said, Remember when your children were little and you would want a discipline about something and they didn't have time for you. And they hurried along their way, you know? He said, Nothing brings me joy, more joy, then when I as, Daddy, have a child that's willing to climb up on my lap, and say, Daddy, what do you want? Tell me the stories of your heart. What do you want to share with me? He said, do you know how that feels when your children do that? Isn't that the greatest joy of being a daddy? That the children just want to get to know you and climb up your lap? And He says, when you journal, you're climbing in My lap for Me to tell you what's on My heart. And for you to write it down, is your history with me that you have for the rest of your life. And I would want that for my grandchildren more than anything else is to have that secret kind of intimacy with Him that they can climb up in His llap and talk to Him about anything and allow Him to respond. Oh, I don't know of anything I want more. That to me is the greatest prosperity, abundant life that you can have. Everything else is second to that, Jeff. And I mean that with all my heart. I know, and how did I get there? The Lord has asked me how, how did you get there? And one of the things is from hitting my head against the wall, that every time I got in a hurry and run out of here, I made big mistakes. I have a granddaughter named Haven. And her mother and father, Jonathan and Melissa bought her little IKEA piece of furniture. IKEA is not exactly the most expensive piece. She would put her foot in the bottom drawer to reach the top drawer. Her mother said, one day that thing's going to break. So I'm going to get you a little step stool so you can get to the top. Now, use that. One day she was in a hurry, ran upstairs and they could hear it down below. That thing went into 100 pieces, just crash. She comes walking up the long face and Melissa, says Haven, did you use the step stool? She wanted to lie. We all want lie and get away. She said, No, I didn't, Mama. She says, well go back into the room because this is the way Jonathan and Melissa discipline their children. If they go across the boundaries and make mistakes, they say, Well, we told you that when you do that, we want you just to sit with God and let Him tell you why you did that, to get to your heart. So she went upstairs and she'll sit there and she was only eight or nine years old. But they started them when they were little. God will let you know why you did that and it'll be over. It's not punishment. There's a difference in punishment and discipline. But this is your discipline. She came out of the room, 5, 10 minutes later and Jonathan and Melissa look up and say, What did God say to you, Haven? She said, the Lord told me that every time I get in a hurry, I break things. And look at my life and look at your life and look at all of our lives, every time we hurry, we break things. And that's one of the ways you learn to be still. After you've broken enough things, it's about time it starts to sink in.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:46:36] I should know this by now. Yeah.
Ken Helser: [00:46:37] Lord, I repent. I don't need to, I don't need to keep living like this. And I am so, you know what I'm so glad, I'm glad about? I'm glad that when we sew a bad thing, we reap a bad thing.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:46:50] Yeah. It's a gift.
Ken Helser: [00:46:51] It is. It is a gift. Because, if you got the favor anyway, because I never would have learned how to get life somewhere, right? And you know what? Not a lot of people don't do life well. God wants to live life well.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:47:13] Ken, I'm very thankful for this conversation. And I wanted to ask, would you take a moment and pray for, pray for me, pray for all the dads listening? Pray for your great grandkids as they become dads. Like, I just love to invite you to pray over all of us and and pray that God helps us to put, to take steps of closeness, of slowness, of intimacy, of journaling. I mean, the things that you've shared that God would guide us to what our next steps are.
Ken Helser: [00:47:43] Father, I thank you that you're the only perfect Daddy. You're the only perfect Father. And I pray that all of us fathers, would just find the mercy and grace to realize we'll never get it as well as You. But when I let you follow me and I just become your child, that's where I really learn how to father my own. And I just pray for that intimacy that, that calling You have for us to just come and sit and be with You. I remember Mickey Evans saying the Lord said to him, Mickey, would you just come and sit with me? Is that that hard to do? I just pray that that gets into our heart and gives us encouragement and great grace to father, not only our own, but another generation. In Jesus name, Amen.
Jeff Zaugg: [00:49:39] Thank you so much for joining us for episode 304 with Ken Helser. The conversation links, the transcripts, the quotes and links to A Place for the Heart and the Cageless Birds, links to some of the worship songs that we featured are all going to be at dadawesome.org/podcast. And I want to encourage you guys to check out Cageless Birds. So this is Jonathan David Helser and his wife, Melissa Helser, they're, they're collective, they're the artists and worship leaders and everything from I mean, they've got from coffee to ceramics to leather working to online courses about freedom. And then they've got this amazing 18 inch Journey school that they do in Sophia, North Carolina. So many resources that kind of come from, not Ken specifically, but his kids. So I want to encourage you guys to check out the show notes this week. Also next week is Thanksgiving. We have a special Thanksgiving episode around remembrance that we'll be dropping, it'll be a much shorter episode. This was a longer episode this week. Next week will be a much shorter episode, but we pray it will be helpful and a moment also to celebrate. It's been three years since I was able to go full time into Fatherhood ministry with DadAwesome. So it'll be us also sharing some remembrance around what God has done through the ministry, DadAwesome. So guys, thanks for listening this week. Thank you for choosing to be a DadAwesome. Thank you for pursuing the hearts of your kids, for praying over them. And let's take a step this week, there's so many action steps. So, let's take a step this week into journaling the voice of God, asking questions and being willing to put pen to paper and say, man, this is, this is what I feel God is saying, this is what I feel the Holy Spirit is whispering back and let's just see what God does. Have a great week, guys.
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· 4:14 - "God takes us a mountain top to give us a vision, but nothing is ever made reality on a mountaintop. There's rock up there, nothing grows and He always takes us in the valley for the dream and the vision to become reality."
· 13:39 - "What can I do for [my son] to love You and make You Lord of his life? And the Lord said, All you have to do is love your wife. I said, What? He says, if you love your wife in his presence, he will always trust you and believe you. But if he ever sees you abusing his mother, he will never trust anything you ever say to him. The most important thing you could do is love his mother, in his presence, always."
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