by Miranda Nelson
Many people ask me how I stepped into ministry. To be quite honest, it was a journey. I was released into full time ministry at the early age of 23, having preached and taught and moved in the prophetic and healing gifts long before that age, but truly started on my international platform of recognition at the age of 23. As a woman in ministry, and a young woman at that, it wasn’t an easy feat and I faced a lot of challenges, the biggest being the many times I was overlooked by pastors and leaders around the world and ignored because of the honor they had for my husband. I was proud of my husband and was always thankful for his gift and calling, but it was hard when we would go places that would honor him and not me, knowing that I was called, chosen, and gifted too. Ladies, do not lose heart in doing good, for in due season you will reap if you do not grow weary (Galatians 6:9). Know that even when man does not acknowledge you, God does. He sees every little or big thing you do for Him, and He believes in you! He will always make a way for you when there is no way and He will always open the right doors at the right time (Isaiah 22:22), as you remain faithful to Him.
I want to share with you a bit about my journey into full time ministry and the keys to promotion according to my experience and the Word of God. After all, everyone wants promotion, don’t they? I’ve been a Christian all my life and have been blessed with having gone to a Christian high school and ministry schools. I know that all these things were training grounds for me, but I also know that for anybody- whether saved as a child or just discovering Jesus later in life- abiding in Christ, humility, and servant-hood are the real keys to promotion. In fact, you can have all the training you want, do all the seminary or ministry schools you want, but if you don’t live in a place of intimacy, humility and servant-hood, you won’t go far. Jesus modeled this. I love Philippians 2; it truly shows the lifestyle that Jesus walked.
“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.” (Phil 2:3-9)
Promotion (as seen in the life of Jesus) comes from humility, obedience, and servant-hood. Jesus laid down His life for others, even before it came time for Him to fully lay His life down on the cross. He empowered others, believed in others, and loved others well. He was a man of grace and truth (John 1:14). He is our model. Humility is the key. I knew since I was a little girl that I was called into ministry, but I also didn’t know how it would look exactly. When I was fresh out of high school, the Lord spoke to me to do a Discipleship Training School with YWAM (Youth With A Mission), and from there the journey into ministry started. God is looking for radically obedient lovers of Him- ones whom He can trust with His words, spiritual gifts, and supernatural nature. A huge part of humility is laying down your rights for God’s; it’s utter dependence on God. When you listen to His voice and obey whatever He says to do when He says to do it, you’re laying down your rights for His and you’re walking in one aspect of humility. God tests our hearts by looking at our actions and our response to His voice. Do you heed His voice and obey every little prompting He gives you? From the time I was 17 years old and I was filled with the Holy Spirit, I really began to hear His voice, but He would often ask me to believe for the impossible. Isn’t that like God? He asks us to believe for the impossible so that He can reveal His greatness to and through us. (1 Cor 1:24-25 and Luke 1:37) Many times He asked me to give all my money to another minister/ missionary in need and give into their vision and call. (This is what it looks like to put another man’s vision before your own, and in due season, God will raise you up.) He always provided for me. You’ve heard the saying, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”; I believe (and have seen firsthand) that when there’s a call, there’s a way. God always provides for the call He has set before you. And when you sow (whether in finances, time, or energy), you will always reap. He asked me to go places and do things I could have never done on my own, except by His Spirit. These were all tests of obedience, which would later bring promotion.
As much as I gave financially (even as a teenager between the ages of 17 and 20 years old), I always reaped back provisions AND I began to walk in supernatural authority and power. I began to see and decree and see manifestations of the Kingdom of God in very tangible ways. I began to see the rains stop and weather patterns change as I did what Job 22:28 says: “Decree a thing and it will be established for you”. I also began to see healing miracles take place and began to grow in my prophetic gift. I didn’t have an international platform at this point, but I got to travel the world and grow in the gifts God gave me. As I shared my gifts with others, praying for the sick when I had opportunities (both on the streets and in church meetings and conferences), I was not only serving others, but God was watching me. He watches to see if we’re faithful with the little, so then He can entrust us with much. Through my late teens and early twenties, I did everything I could to serve ministries that I honored and admired, serving freely with joy, not even expecting anything back. I worked book tables, cleaned bathrooms for ministers I loved, and volunteered at ministry events and conferences. I went to early morning prayer meetings, served in youth groups, and gave my time to the work of the ministry, even before I had a real platform. This was the key to my promotion. I didn’t serve to be promoted; I served to honor God and people with a heart of joy and love, and as a natural principle, I reaped what I sowed. It was only a matter of time before people saw my prophetic gift, recognized the call of God on my life, and began to open the door wide for me to preach, teach, prophesy and move in the gifts in full services. As a young married woman, my husband was invited many places worldwide, and some places asked me to speak, and others didn’t. I learned to be content in the place God put me in. I learned to be content when I had the platform to preach (and sometimes it would be a massive platform with massive influence, other times not so large), and I learned to be content when my husband was the respected one and I would only be given the mic to prophesy, but not to preach. That’s ok. In due season the Lord would lift me up, and it was really only a matter of time before I became known worldwide, not as “Jerame’s wife”, but as Miranda Nelson, prophetic voice and preacher in this generation. I continue to serve and give to spiritual fathers and mothers, doing my best to live a lifestyle of servant-hood and humility and of course intimacy, understanding that no matter how promoted we become, there’s always more in the Kingdom. We must decrease so He can increase (John 3:30).
No matter what your call is, be content in the season God has you in. Know your call and don’t lose heart when you don’t see the fullness of it right away, but also know that God sees you, knows you, and believes in you. As you serve and honor your husband and his calling, as you sow generously into other peoples’ callings when the Lord leads, and as you love God and people extravagantly, you will see that He will raise you up. He will always open the doors that He wants open and close the doors He wants closed for those who love Him, know Him, follow Him, and walk with Him. In the meantime, do not fear the gifts He’s put on you, but use them as opportunities arise, both in the little and the large places. I guarantee you that as you step out in both the little and the large opportunities, you will find satisfaction and joy because God is using you.
More about Miranda: Miranda Nelson is a prophetic revivalist with a passion for purity, no compromise, and intimacy with God. She moves strongly in the prophetic, and demonstrates the Kingdom of God through her gifts of healing, miracles, and the supernatural. She preaches the Word of God with wisdom, passion and youthfulness, and she carries out her creativity through various forms of art and fashion. Miranda has a heart to see a pure and spotless bride arise who hears the voice of her Beloved and walks out her destiny in Christ. Miranda also has a passion for souls and one of her greatest loves is preaching in mass healing and evangelistic crusades worldwide. Miranda and her husband Jerame are the founders of Living at His Feet Ministries and together they travel the world full time, ministering the Kingdom of God through signs, wonders, and miracles.
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