A hilltop encounter · June 2011
The early-morning walk
Some callings are born under bright lights. Others begin where no audience can see—on a quiet road, before the day has properly begun, with a heart turned toward God.
In June of 2011, I woke early in the morning to pray. As I often did, I decided to walk. Walking alone while talking with the Lord had become a way for me to express what was in my heart and listen for His voice without distraction. I would usually head toward the tops of the hills that surround our community.
There was nothing unusual about that morning. I was moving through a cove and making my way up the hill, waiting on the Lord for direction in prayer. The landscape was familiar. The habit was familiar. Yet the Lord was about to place one unfamiliar word in my spirit—a word that would send me back into Scripture, begin a long study, and eventually become the burden of a book.
That setting matters. The encounter did not begin with a platform, a title, or a plan. It began with prayer. Before there was a message to carry publicly, there was a private place in which to listen. This is often the order of God: He forms the hearer before He enlarges the hearing.
The language of Isaiah is not hurried. The ear is awakened. The servant listens as one being taught. A Zadok calling begins here—not in the pursuit of visibility, but in the posture of a disciple whose ear belongs to God.
The interruption
The word came twice
After some time had passed, I heard the Lord’s voice whisper a single word:
My first thought was simply, What—Zadok? I had read of Zadok in Scripture, but I had never undertaken an intense study of who he was or what position he occupied. The word was recognizable, but its meaning for that morning was not yet clear.
I continued walking. My prayer turned toward a church where I had been invited to speak, and I began to intercede for that congregation. Then the Lord spoke the same word again—this time with intensity:
The first whisper awakened a question. The second hearing established weight. Repetition does not permit the listener to dismiss the moment as a passing thought. When the Lord places the same matter before us again, wisdom does not rush to explain it; wisdom gives it attention.
I knew enough not to ignore the word of the Lord. But neither did I assume that recognizing the name meant understanding the message. I began to inquire: What did He mean? What was He trying to tell me?
That distinction is vital. A true word from God should not produce spiritual presumption. It should produce holy inquiry. There is a danger in running with half a revelation—building a conclusion before the Lord has revealed the burden. The faithful priest does not merely hear; he waits, asks, searches, and allows God to make His intention clear.
The recorded testimony
The word I received
After waiting on the Lord, I heard this word. I recorded it as it came to me:
“The next great move of my spirit will be carried through the Zadok Priesthood. I am calling forth the Zadok Priesthood to stand before me and lead my people into a place of their proper calling and positions. The Abiathar priesthood are not the ones that I have chosen, for they are more concerned about themselves and their own gains, than to know my heart for the nation. They are always in it for a title, or a position, but I am calling forth righteousness and justice to rise and take the proper position in my body. Do not relent in your pursuit, for this will come forth and will not delay, even as I declared over Eli the priest that his arm would be cut short, so I am saying to you this day, now is the time of fulfillment.”
I left the hill with joy in my spirit, yet also with a burden. The joy came from having heard the Lord. The burden came from knowing that the word required more than celebration: it required me to dig deeply into Scripture and discover what the Lord was saying and how it related to the future of the church.
The burden was heavy enough that I did not delay. I began to study the Zadok priesthood—to research, listen, and follow the thread God had placed before me. That searching became the foundation of The Zadok Priesthood.
Five marks of a calling
What the hilltop word reveals
This encounter is personal testimony, but its pattern carries instruction. Before we study Zadok’s history, the posture surrounding the word already shows us something about the kind of priesthood God is calling forth.
God speaks to those who walk with Him
The word did not come in a crowd. It came in the secret place, within a practiced life of prayer. Our public ministry cannot substitute for private communion. If we would know what is in God’s heart, we must first learn to remain before Him when there is nothing to perform and no one to impress.
God repeats what we must not miss
“Zadok” came once as a whisper and again with intensity. The first hearing invited attention; the second demanded response. There are words the Lord returns to because they carry an assignment. What has God been repeating in your prayer, your reading, or your burden for His people?
A true word produces inquiry, not assumption
I did not immediately turn the name into a sermon. I asked the Lord what He meant, then waited. The Zadok posture is not eager to appear knowledgeable; it is willing to be taught. It refuses to make the voice of God serve our need to be seen as significant.
Calling carries promise and burden together
The word brought joy, but it also placed weight on me. Its promise concerned a move of the Spirit and a priesthood after God’s own heart. Its burden demanded prayer, study, righteousness, justice, and perseverance. If what we call a word never costs us anything to carry, we should examine how deeply we have received it.
The spoken word drove me into the written Word
The encounter did not become an excuse to move beyond Scripture. It became the reason to dig more deeply into Scripture. A genuine prophetic burden must bow before and be illuminated by the written Word. The name “Zadok” was not the conclusion of the matter; it was the doorway into biblical study.
The ancient promise
The biblical anchor
The final sentence of the hilltop word reached backward into the house of Eli: “even as I declared over Eli the priest that his arm would be cut short.”
This language anchors the encounter in 1 Samuel 2. There, an unnamed man of God confronts Eli’s house and declares that God will raise up a faithful priest—one who will do according to what is in God’s heart and mind. The contrast is already present: self-interest against faithfulness, position against presence, a priesthood that takes for itself against one that ministers before the Lord’s anointed.
The hilltop word names the conflict but does not leave us focused on corruption. Its centre is God’s action: “I am calling forth.” God is not without a people who desire His heart. Righteousness and justice do not rise by human ambition; they take their proper place as men and women answer His call to stand before Him.
This is why the promise of 1 Samuel 2:35 stands at the entrance to this teaching. God says, “I will raise up for myself.” The priest is His before the priest is anyone else’s. The work is “according to what is in my heart and mind.” And the ministry is defined by nearness: “before my anointed one always.”
The next teaching will open that prophecy itself—two priesthoods, two governing desires, and the reason faithfulness matters to God. For now, the Introduction leaves us at the threshold. Before we identify with Zadok, we must allow the word to examine what we seek.
A closing call
What are you pursuing?
The word on the hill places a simple but searching question before every reader: are we in ministry for a title and a position, or are we answering the call to stand before Him?
A title can be received without intimacy. A position can be occupied without knowing God’s heart. But a faithful priest is formed by pursuit—by returning to the secret place, listening without distraction, inquiring instead of assuming, and allowing every burden to drive us deeper into the Word.
The call is not to romanticize one man’s encounter. It is to examine our own posture before God. The Lord is calling forth righteousness and justice to take their proper place in His body. The question is whether we will relinquish self-interest long enough to hear Him, and whether we will remain in pursuit after we have heard.
- Where have title, recognition, or position begun to compete with the desire to know God’s heart?
- What matter has the Lord repeatedly brought before you that now requires prayerful inquiry?
- Has the word you carry led you deeper into Scripture—and into faithful obedience?
- What would it mean for you, in this season, to stand before Him?
Do not relent in your pursuit. Let the whisper lead you to the Word. Let the Word expose the heart. Let the burden become obedience.