God’s Timeline is Growing Short, Part 2

Part 1 ended with several questions

• If God’s timeline is growing short, what should believers do about it, if anything?
• What should I myself do about it?
• And specifically — what does it have to do with intercession?

I asked the Lord those questions, and the first thing he answered was, “Think Daniel.” And so I did.

I found an interesting passage in Daniel 9:1-19. Daniel had found the prophecy of Jeremiah about the captivity of Israel and discovered that it would last for only 70 years. Instead of just saying to himself, “Oh, good, time’s up! Good, good, good!” and waiting for it to happen, he began to pray.

“And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:” (Daniel 9:3 KJV) The content of his prayer? Confession for the sins of Israel. Repentance. A plea for mercy.

I read David Guzik’s commentary on this passage in The Blue Letter Bible.  (https://www.blueletterbible.org/) He says this:

“The number of years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah: Daniel knew that effective prayer comes out of knowing and praying both God’s word and our present circumstances. His study of prophecy showed him a specific number — the 70 years described in Jeremiah 25:11-13 and Jeremiah 29:10, and his knowledge of the times led him to know those passages applied to his time.”

In the book of Ezra, I found this reference: “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.” (Ezra1:1-2 KJV)

David Guzik’s commentary about Daniel in this passage:

“It is quite possible that the prophet Daniel was instrumental in this stirring up of Cyrus. He may have showed the king the prophecies of Jeremiah 25:8-13 and Jeremiah 29:10-14, which refer to the punishment of Babylon and the end of Israel’s exile. And if he showed Cyrus such prophecies, he almost certainly would have included Isaiah 44:28-45:5, which mentions Cyrus by name some 150 years before he was born.”

In Daniel’s prayer, I found it interesting that he didn’t ask God to return the people to their land, now that the seventy years were up. Here’s what he did ask:

“O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. 18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.” (Daniel 9:16-19 KJV)

Daniel asked God for mercy. For forgiveness. And for God’s face to shine upon the sanctuary in Jerusalem.

Did Daniel, and perhaps others, have to pray, to confess, to repent for the sins of his nation, and to intercede for mercy, in order for Jeremiah’s prophecies to be fulfilled? I think so. Here’s why:

“And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30 KJV)

Also, in Isaiah 59:15-21:

“Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. 16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. 17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.

“18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. 19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. 20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.

“21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.” (Isaiah 59:15-21 KJV)

Because he didn’t find a human intercessor, God provided one: Jesus.

Reminder, the definition of intercessor is one who meets with someone else, to intervene for or against another person. In the Isaiah passage it is from the Hebrew word “paga,” to strike, or to meet. The New Testament Greek word “entunchano” has a similar meaning: “to fall in with, meet with in order to converse; to make petition,especially to plead with a person, either for or against others.”

If an intercessor wasn’t necessary in the situation, why did Father God need to provide one?  Why send Jesus to be our primary intercessor, in conjunction with the Holy Spirit? And why send the Holy Spirit to inhabit Christians, those human beings who believe in Jesus?

There is one critical fact to keep in mind:

When God created planet earth, he gave the management of it and authority over it to human beings. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26 KJV)

In Adam’s fall, the enemy took it over, and he has done his best to wreck it and kill all the human beings he can ever since. (John 10:10)

Jesus’s work on the cross and his resurrection restored the management of planet earth and its control back to human beings. Satan’s most useful weapon is deceiving people in general, and especially keeping Christians from ever learning about or exercising that legally restored authority.

For those who do know about it, however, perhaps we should re-read Isaiah 59:15-21 and ask ourselves this: What words is God putting into their mouth? What power is in those words? Or in their behavior, as a result of those words?

Here are several examples:

• • The account of Aaron and Hur holding up Moses’s hand while Joshua led the army to fight and beat Amalek, Exodus 17:1-16. Hand up, Joshua won. Hand down, Joshua lost. Strange way to win a war.
  • The first part of Chapter 17 is great too; another strange solution to a bad problem, no water. What to do?! God says, Strike a rock… huh?
  • Then there’s the day the sun and moon stood still, Joshua 10:12-14. This passage is also pretty strange. Joshua talked to the Lord first, then turned and talked to the sun and the moon. It doesn’t tell us what Joshua said to the Lord; after all, God had already promised them the victory (verse 8). Did he ask God what he should do, exactly? And did God then instruct him to speak to, i.e. take authority over, the sun and moon? Probably.
  • Consider Abraham’s intervention, in Genesis 18:17-33. God himself came in human form bringing along a couple of angels, to meet with Abraham in person. After an initial conversation, he described his plans to destroy the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah where Abraham’s nephew Lot lived.

To me, several verses in this Genesis passage are quite fascinating:

“And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” (Genesis 17:17-19 KJV)

Abraham was upset at God’s plan, knowing that his nephew Lot and Lot’s family lived there. He had the guts to argue with God!

“That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25 KJV)

And so Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy righteous people with the wicked. Maybe thinking surely with Lot and all of his family, there are ten… and thus he stopped his request at ten righteous people. Unfortunately, there weren’t even ten. The cities were destroyed, although Lot and his two daughters were rescued through Abraham’s intercession.

Back to my questions:

• What should believers do about God’s timeline growing short, if anything?
• What should I do about it?
• And specifically, what does it have to do with intercession?

Well, we already know some things. First, we know it is not God’s desire that any should perish (be destroyed): “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 KJV)

And we know that God himself provided a way of escape from destruction, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 KJV)

But many will perish. Without intervention — including intercession — they will perish.

A word of caution: Without hearing and heeding God’s direction, his leading about even what we should pray in the first place, and then what to speak (command, declare and decree), we may pray “hit and miss prayers,” praying our own will but missing God’s will.

We may be tempted to quit trying, telling ourselves “This doesn’t work.” Don’t quit! Keep praying, keep listening to God’s voice, asking for and listening for his directions. Keep speaking the words he gives you to speak and doing what he tells you to do.

Some of it may seem odd, considering the examples above. Say it anyway. Do it anyway.

With the voice of the Holy Spirit putting his own words in our mouth, we partner with him to accomplish those words, God’s will — the confession of sin and repentance leading to the rescue, deliverance, and salvation of many.

Revival. Awakening! If time is short, how diligent, how determined should we be?

Revive Us Again? Is that a real thing?

A week or so ago I woke up hearing the old hymn “Revive Us Again” being sung by a church congregation in my mind. I had not heard it sung or even thought about it in many, many years. And so I went to the computer and looked it up on YouTube. Memories came trickling, then flooding back.

In the late 1950’s and early 60’s, I played for several small tent revivals in my area of South Carolina. The man who owned the tent invited various pastors and evangelists to come for a few days or a week or so and preach. Posters would go up around town, and when the meetings began the tent was usually full.

Although I didn’t play regularly for church as I did in later years, simply because I could play the piano and already knew most of the old hymns, I was asked to play for those services.

It was a little nerve-wracking and exciting, but I did it.

I don’t remember the people, the speakers or the sermons, but I remember the music. Those wonderful old hymns! “Revive Us Again” was certainly one of them.

This past month several “revivals” have sprung up at colleges in the United States, with thousands of people driving many long hours to attend. They are nothing like those tent revivals, however. These are not orchestrated by a man with a tent – although I see nothing wrong with that if the Lord has inspired it, and I believe he did and still does – these seem to have been orchestrated by God alone. Do an online search for Asbury 2023 and you’ll see what I mean. Here’s one report: Asbury 2023

The reports in the media have been met with enthusiasm by many, and criticism by many others. Are they real? Really real? Personally I believe they are.

While the English word “revival” (and the common concept that word brings to mind) doesn’t appear in the KJV of the Bible, the English word “revive” does. The Hebrew and Greek definitions are simple; basically to restore life.

The events of the past several hundred years (and longer) that various people term “revivals” or “outpourings” of God’s presence, certainly do that. Life — mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and sometimes physically also — has been restored. Many miracles have accompanied revival events over the years, and still do.

Here are several Bible verses to consider:

• Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? (Psalm 85:6 KJV)
• Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. (Psalm 138:7)
• For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name [is] Holy; I dwell in the high and holy [place], with him also [that is] of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (Isaiah 57:15)
• O LORD, I have heard thy speech, [and] was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2)

Father God has answered those prayers on multiple occasions, as Christian history attests. While teaching on the Principles of Intercessory Prayer several years ago, I did hours of research on historical revivals. I soon discovered, no two have been alike.

Every time such an occurrence takes place, the cultural circumstances beforehand including the condition of the world at large, and the appearance of the events as they happened, have been quite different.

But the results for many of those affected have been remarkable, long-lasting and permanent, whether the people were already Christians or became new believers.
Those people who have appointed themselves to judge the authenticity of 2023 current events should judge the long-term fruit, if they can. Revitalized lives, proven over time.

To read certain online comments these days, you’d wonder if the commenter believes that God himself is uninvolved in the process of these “revivals.”  Perhaps He is ignorant and unaware, or maybe he’s just uninterested. How sad.

I believe their concept of the goodness, the bigness, the mercy, grace and forgiveness, the very person of God himself, needs re-thinking.

Dutch Sheets, interview transcribed

Flashpoint Interview 24 Jan 2023

Host Gene Bailey: Let’s go back, Dutch, to September 11th that week, 2001. What happened?

Dutch Sheets: Well, I was scheduled to go speak at a conference in Boise, Idaho, and as most of the people watching us will remember, everything shut down. The nation was in shock, just fear and dread. It was just a surreal time, and throughout the week we didn’t know really what was happening. The airlines shut down so I could not get to the conference that I was supposed to speak at until Friday. You know that 911 was a Monday.

I didn’t know if it would even take place, but it did, and it’s one of the only times in my life I’ve ever been scheduled to do something as far as speaking and dreaded it. I didn’t want to go. I thought, I have no answers, I don’t know what to say. No one knows what to say right now. And I did not have a word from the Lord.

But I went in obedience and and honoring my commitment, and when I got up to speak that night, I don’t know what I was saying, I don’t remember what I was saying. I don’t think it was all that significant or important, but I had an experience that I’ve only had twice in my life. This was what I would call an open vision.

While I was speaking, with my eyes wide open, I began to see not what was natural, but I began to see things in the spirit. And what took me back so much was that it was with my eyes wide open. I saw as though it were an invisible hand.

This was a large room, 1500 people perhaps. I saw like a hand begin to write on the back wall, the far back wall of the auditorium and it looked like a neon light as it was writing. And it wrote Acts 3:19. I mentioned it a while ago. I knew what the verse said. I was obviously distracted by this. I didn’t stop and tell them what I was seeing yet but I was having trouble speaking because this was so distracting, and I knew it was God.

I knew what the verse said but I didn’t know what to do with it, so in my mind I just sort of told the Lord or said to myself, as soon as I finish this point I’m going to Acts 3:19, he obviously wants to say something from this passage.

When I had the thought, I will finish this point that I’m sharing now, the sign began to flash, on and off, on and off, on and off blinking. And I knew God was saying, I don’t want you to finish your point, I want you to go there now!

It’s really encouraging when you’re up speaking and you realize God’s not interested in what you’re saying, obviously he had something else he wanted to say.

And I went to the verse and told them what it said. It’s after the lame man had been healed and a crowd gathered, Peter began to preach. This is shortly after Pentecost. He seizes the moment and he says, If you will repent and turn to him, times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord.

Times is (the Greek word) kairos, opportune, strategic times, not just general time. Very significant, very strategic. Peter was saying, this is a special moment, this is a very strategic time.
Refreshing is a weak translation, it’s okay, but the word there is anapsyxis, and psyxis which means to blow or breathe, that’s the root word, ana gives it repetition and intensity. So a really good amplified definition of this word is the blowing of the breath again intensely.

Peter said, it’s a strategic time. What happened to us in that Upper Room on the day of Pentecost — he’s not finished, there’s a wind for you too, and if you respond right now as you should, that wind will blow again intensely.

And as I shared this word, just the spirit of God filled this room and the presence was so strong, and duddenly I saw not just the sign flashing on the back wall, I began to see like a movie, it was like the entire back wall of the church became a movie screen, like I was in a movie theater.

And I told the people, I said I’m having a vision and I started narrating what I was seeing. I expected this to last for a minute or two but it lasted for probably 30 minutes, maybe 40 minutes, and I just — this was obviously supernatural and different. I’ve never had anything else like this. I just began to narrate what I was seeing for this 40-45 minutes.

You could hear a pin drop in the room. People were just captivated, their eyes closed, listening, and I was relating what I was seeing. And what he showed me was what this revival would look like, this blowing of the breath again intensely. I saw the fire of God coming to America. It wasn’t the fire of judgment, it was the fire of Revival. But what he highlighted and showed me specifically, was this fire coming to the Youth of our nation, the young people. Campuses, college campuses, high school campuses.

The fires of Revival began to burn and he literally showed me campuses where this was happening, and I said I see it on such and such and I named the university and I would talk about what I was seeing. And then I said I see it on this campus and I talked about what I was seeing, and then I realized — this is going to the nation, I don’t want to keep mentioning one or two and people think it’s only that one, because what I saw was this was springing up everywhere and what what I saw was unlike anything I’d ever seen.

I described it at one point in this vision as a violent love, it was coming with such intensity. God said, I am coming to save this generation and nothing is going to stop me.

It was so much passion from God, so much intensity that I turned to the speakers and I turned to those in the room at one point, and I said, nothing is going to stop this. Nothing can stop it.

And so as this broke out, obviously signs and wonders began to take place, and the students would gather into rooms and they would begin to talk about what happened, and it grew in its intensity. And the next thing that was happening was the size of the groups gathering grew, and there were thousands of kids, young people all across America gathering, talking about Jesus. Completely grassroots, completely spontaneous, led by no person, controlled by no person, planned by no person. God just began to hover over these universities.

There would be a room of a thousand of these young people in an auditorium and God would start moving. There was no one in charge, there was no one up preaching. Someone would begin to scream in the back that they were healed of this disease or that disease or their eyes were healed, and over here someone else would do it, and someone else would do it over here, and kids would begin to get saved. They would just — they they didn’t know much, they would just start crying out to Jesus and Jesus was saving them. I saw this moving across the country.

I saw people trying to stop it, some of the administrators in the universities. I saw gatherings of leaders and those in charge, saying we have to get these kids to go back to class, because they didn’t want to go to class.

Sporting events were canceled,classes were canceled, not because the sport events are bad, but because they didn’t want to do anything else. This was so powerful they wanted to get together and talk about what was happening.

And as the administrators would walk into these auditoriums to try and stop them, the power of God would be so strong they would just fall under the power of God and they couldn’t do anything. They couldn’t stop it. And so this just began to take place. I saw mass deliverances. I’ve never seen anything like this – yet.

It rocked my theology, because no no one was speaking. They were just singing maybe a chorus or a song that they knew — they didn’t know a lot, Amazing Grace, perhaps, and the spirit of God would begin to hover in the room and students would begin to be delivered from addictions, bondages, demonic strongholds in their life. No one touching them, no one’s saying this is about to happen.

It was like when Jesus would go into the synagogue and the demons could not stand his presence and they would begin to scream and shout, leave us alone, leave us alone. Well, the presence of God came into these rooms with such intensity that the demons simply could not stay.

I saw these kids being interviewed and they were asked, What is happening, what? Explain this to us? They had no answer. They stopped doing drugs, they stopped some of the perverted or sinful lifestyles that they were involved in. I saw them being interviewed saying, Why did you stop this? Why aren’t you doing these things anymore?

And the student simply said, I don’t know. I just don’t want to do it. I love Jesus. I want to please him. Something in me tells me it’s wrong. I don’t want to do this.

It became a Holiness movement but it was not like any Holiness movement we’ve ever seen in a Revival. No one was preaching it to them. No one was telling them how to live, their hearts were simply changing and they wanted to please him. I saw this go across the nation. It was intense, it was powerful, it was unstoppable. And the other thing I saw was, it was so raw.

These kids, you know it’s not like they changed the way they looked, dressed or acted, they didn’t look like they were going to church, they didn’t change their attire, they just showed up as they were, and God began to move and then they wanted more of him.

And what I saw also was they really didn’t want religion. They really didn’t want our forms. They didn’t want somebody to to preach at them, they wanted to know about Jesus. They wanted a relationship with him, but they didn’t want religious form. They wanted something different.

And they came with their problems, they came with their past, they came with with their — frankly, they came with mates and people that they they shouldn’t have been with, but they wanted this Jesus.

And I found myself looking at all of this, thinking because of the sheer volume, because this was thousands, tens of thousands of young people were being saved around the nation, I found myself thinking, what do we do with this? How do we steward this? It was coming so quickly, how do we teach them?

They want to know God but they don’t want our religion, and they’ve been taught that they can do this they can do that, how do we teach them without trying to put them in a form and a mold that they know nothing about and don’t want? How do we teach them relationship without religion?

And finally as I was watching this, 20-30 minutes into it, just relating what I was seeing, I turned to the leaders on the platform, and I was so serious when I said this, I said, this is going to be incredibly difficult to steward. It will be like the book of Acts. They just had to learn on the fly. It would be like Joshua who was told, you’ve never been this way before, the only way you can do this is to follow the cloud, follow me, follow the ark, because you’ve not been this way before.

And what we’re about to experience, we don’t have a formula for. We don’t have a pattern for thousands upon thousands, tens of thousands, I believe eventually hundreds of thousands and millions of young people in America coming to Jesus. We’re going to need to be ready to take them into his presence and allow Holy Spirit to shape them, allow Holy Spirit to teach them, to show them what he wants, who he is.

And so just to summarize it, I saw incredible power, incredible fire, the fire of Revival. Incredible signs and wonders, incredible passion, love for God, worship, spontaneous out-breakings of Holy Spirit, until the entire nation was on fire with the fires of Revival.

Gene Bailey: Wow. Dutch, those of us that are old enough to have lived through the Jesus movement, it’s like you’re describing that again, except all at a different level, a higher level.

Word for 2023 — WAR

I’m not through making the dark, darker, the Lord said.

Talking with the Lord about the upcoming New Year several nights ago, I asked him the question:  “What is going to happen in 2023, Lord? What will you be doing?”

His answer was surprising to me.

WAR.

That is the only word he said. I waited, but there wasn’t any further answer. I thought to myself, well, maybe that was just my imagination. I kept thinking about it, wondering about it.

Finally this morning, I asked him for more. I had in mind writing and posting an article about the coming year, as I have for some years now.

“I’m not through making the dark, darker,” he said. He reminded me of what he’d said about that last year, what I had posted then and re-posted a little while later.

He’s quite serious about it. He is NOT through. WAR is what he said, and WAR is what is coming. Not a physical fighting war, although he didn’t rule that out, but a continuation of the fierce spiritual war that has been going on this year.

I went to the Esther’s Petition blog site on my computer and began reading the original post. Here it is… apparently this is still happening and will continue into the next year. It is not a fun prospect.

“There are still a few slivers of gray and white among the dark places, and I am closing those gaps and making it all dark. Very dark.”

I knew that wasn’t all there was to it, and it wasn’t. He continued.

“I’m also making the light, lighter. Brighter. The contrast will become ever more evident around the globe, as those who have preferred the dark are beginning to long for the light.” For Jesus, the Light of the World.

I knew that Father God is not responsible for the darkness and so I waited for more discussion. He went on to explain.

Making dark places darker is making them much more obvious, much more evident. Far more repugnant to those who have loved the darkness… up until now. That love is turning.

A spiritual revival has sprung up in various places around the planet in recent years, growing more widespread; gaining more attention.

It is a precursor of a soon-coming global outpouring of the Holy Spirit with tremendous worship and joy, miraculous signs and wonders, miracle healings, salvations and deliverances. Years-long prayers and intercessions are coming into fruition; patience is paying off.

At the same time persecution and murder of believers is worsening. The battle for the Faith — the faith of believers — is certainly not new. It started with the apostles.

But Christians worldwide, and particularly prayer warriors, have been under many deadly and increasingly vicious attacks in recent days, some insidious or temporary irritations, but some long-lasting disasters.

All are designed to distract from the Word of Truth and from the work of the intercessor. The enemy assumes (rightly so in many cases) that it’s hard to minister to other people when you’re in real distress yourself, physical, mental, emotional, financial, family, or community.

Never mind!

The increasing supernatural darkness can never stop the Light from coming, the overwhelming, engulfing glory of God.

2022 (and 2023!) will be a year of contrasts, challenges, conflicts, and confusion. And a year of confirmations and celebrations.

Gaming the System

“They’re gaming the system.”

That’s what the Lord said to me, several days ago. I was praying, as so many people were, about the runoff election in Georgia.

“What do you mean?” I wondered, when I heard His words. What does that mean, exactly, “gaming the system?” (I looked it up online this morning. Basically it means using rules and procedures meant to protect a system to manipulate that system for a desired outcome, instead.)

His answer wasn’t long in coming.

Patriots are hoping. Conservatives are hoping. Hoping to reverse the current status-quo with one, important election. Voters who are struggling against high prices and inflation worries with Christmas coming up fast, are hoping.

Unfortunately, our hope has been worldly hope. You know, with a 50-50 chance of success. Scriptural hope is confident expectation of future success, not quite the same thing.

Some folks have been planning, meeting, discussing and arguing. Strategizing over best ways to achieve short-term goals, like getting more like-minded voters to the polls, appointing poll workers and poll watchers. Thinking up every way possible to prevent the lying, deceiving, cheating and stealing that has most certainly happened in previous elections.

They have been drafting volunteers, holding training sessions and providing persuasive scripts. Using phone calls, emails, tweets, blog posts, snail mail, social media as well as door-knocking in chosen neighborhoods they are repeating communications in a wide variety of formats throughout the state — and no doubt irritating, annoying and aggravating some people on the receiving end of those pleas.

And behind all this, the Lord continued, all the while many believers are “gaming the system.” Praying, praying and more praying; they’re not just requesting but begging and pleading. Fasting. Reading more Bible than usual. Making promises and commitments to attend church more often, enroll in Sunday School, attend a Bible study, volunteer somewhere, and of course, contribute more cash to worthy causes and in the offering plate.

They are bargaining with God for this short-term but oh, so important positive answer.

There is nothing wrong with all of those things, the Lord told me. They are good habits to cultivate.

But did they ask Me what I wanted them to pray? Or did they assume they knew, they just KNEW that they knew what I wanted and made that the basis for their prayers, their actions and activities, in this short-term effort? All that energy!

Too few of them did. Understand this: My desire, My plans and strategies are quite different, because my goals are different.

I play a long-term game.

Many of MY people, called by MY name, are “desperately” praying for revival across America. Just how desperate are they? They are desperate when they themselves or ones they love are hurting, sick or broke, their situation seeming hopeless.

That’s simply not enough. There won’t be revival, real revival that results in real change of hearts without the key ingredients: Grief. Mourning. Weeping. Conviction! Confession! Repentance.

Over what, though, I wanted to know? Aren’t we the born-again, washed-in-the-blood clean ones, the righteousness of God in Christ ones? Don’t we live the most honest, most moral life we know how to live? What is there for us to weep over?

You have gotten used to the way things are, He said. You have gotten into the mind-set of “I vote. But I’m just one person, there’s only so much I can do, after all.” You have turned your eyes away from the frequent reports of the ugly, sinful, evil behavior and destructive damage being done across this nation, sometimes saying a short prayer as you turn the page, or scroll down the screen, or turn off the TV news. “Help, Lord!” You pray.

But you don’t acknowledge any real responsibility or feel any remorse. YOU didn’t do it, after all. So who is responsible, then?

None of the evil being done in America could have happened without the silence of the people who should have stood up, looked up, showed up and spoken up. No, YOU didn’t do it, but MY PEOPLE did it by their silent, passive acquiescence.

And now when they themselves are “feeling the heat,” they cry out for revival, for an outpouring of my Spirit.

And one is coming, but not like they envision. An outpouring of conviction from my Spirit.

Revival will not come without repentance from the very people who yearn for revival. II Chronicles 7:14 was written with them in mind.

“If MY people, which are called by MY name, shall humble THEMSELVES, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from THEIR wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive THEIR sin, and will heal THEIR land.”

Change the focus. Change the prayer. Change the behavior. Then I’ll change America, and the world, to what I want it to be: Mine.

 

Making the dark, darker

Talking with the Lord on Saturday, December 3, 2021, as usual I asked him the question:

“What is going on right now, Lord? What are you doing?”

And he began telling me, as he nearly always does.

“Making the dark, darker,” he said.

“There are still a few slivers of gray and white among the dark places, and I am closing those gaps and making it all dark. Very dark.”

I knew that wasn’t all there was to it, and it wasn’t. He continued.

“I’m also making the light, lighter. Brighter. The contrast will become ever more evident around the globe, as those who have preferred the dark are beginning to long for the light.” For Jesus, the Light of the World.

I knew that Father God is not responsible for the darkness and so I waited for more discussion. He went on to explain.

Making dark places darker is making them much more obvious, much more evident. Far more repugnant to those who have loved the darkness… up until now. That love is turning.

A spiritual revival has sprung up in various places around the planet in recent years, growing more widespread; gaining more attention.

It is a precursor of a soon-coming global outpouring of the Holy Spirit with tremendous worship and joy, miraculous signs and wonders, miracle healings, salvations and deliverances. Years-long prayers and intercessions are coming into fruition; patience is paying off.

At the same time persecution and murder of believers is worsening. The battle for the Faith — the faith of believers — is certainly not new. It started with the apostles.

But Christians worldwide, and particularly prayer warriors, have been under many deadly and increasingly vicious attacks in recent days, some insidious or temporary irritations, but some long-lasting disasters.

All are designed to distract from the Word of Truth and from the work of the intercessor. The enemy assumes (rightly so in many cases) that it’s hard to minister to other people when you’re in real distress yourself, physical, mental, emotional, financial, family, or community.

Never mind!

The increasing supernatural darkness can never stop the Light from coming, the overwhelming, engulfing glory of God.

2022 will be a year of contrasts, challenges, conflicts, and confusion. And a year of confirmations and celebrations.

 

Acceleration, happening now

18 October 2021

Last night the Lord quickly answered my prayer question, “What’s happening now, Lord?”

Acceleration, He said. More and more things are happening fast, and faster, and faster. Some are visible, some invisible.

Some people – believers and unbelievers – have been blase up to now, simply shaking off news of behaviors and actions of ungodly people. Now they have begun to feel uncomfortable. They wonder if perhaps they should pay closer attention to current events. Their discomfort is growing more intense by the day. Soon their discomfort will have to be addressed.

Some ungodly ones who thought their way of doing things would benefit them and their friends are noticing unplanned results instead. Their ideas have brought results they didn’t anticipate and don’t like. Things are worse for them today than yesterday and will be worse tomorrow than today. They’re wondering what to do, but none of their ideas will be better than their past ones. Indeed, they will be worse. Some will be much worse.

Yet things are better today for many who now have life. Yesterday they had death; they were working for the wages sin brings, and that is death. Yesterday they came to a decision, decided right, and today they have life. Today many others will come to that same decision, will decide right and also have life. Their numbers are increasing exponentially.

The acceleration is working both ways. Watch for it. Pray about it.

If MY people, God said

I have spent more time than usual meditating and praying for the last couple of weeks, praying in tongues more than usual, and just listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit as to what or who to pray for. Or command, declare or decree about. It’s like listening or waiting for the “other shoe to fall,” if you know what I mean. I sense something unsettling going on in the spirit world.

Again I am receiving “positive” blog posts and “happy” emails from prophetic believers who predict another Great Awakening in the almost immediate future. I don’t sense that, however. The church has gone through that sort of prophesying before, in recent years. A lot of happy people were praising the Lord for those wonderful predictive words, looking expectantly for it to happen in America, any day now, any day now!

But it was more like wishful thinking, than actual prophecy. Situations in this country didn’t get better immediately, as so many expected — they got worse.

And I have a distinct feeling that the worst hasn’t happened yet. The enemy hears those exciting prophecies and makes his plans, causing chaos and havoc, stirring up hate and murder, destroying people and property, and the church at large didn’t seem to see it coming.

It’s past time for the militant church to take authority over the enemy, to truly discern the motives and behavior patterns of the enemy and take action. Some preachers are doing that, preaching and teaching how to do that, but there aren’t enough who are. Yet. That’s another one of my ongoing prayers.

“If MY people,” says that scripture – not those other people, not the pagan people, not the unbelieving people – God’s own people have to heed his words:

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

All that’s not to say there isn’t another Great Awakening ahead. I believe there is. Many hundreds of people are being born again in various nations of the world.

But here in America, the enemy is having too much success in creating disasters, inspiring and instigating more and more evil behavior in ordinary people – many who were law-abiding people just a few months ago, joining the lawless crowd already at work.

Flashpoint . Critical mass . Paradigm Shift . 2019

Late in 2018 I read many opinions and prophecies from around the world about the year ahead, from both secular and spiritual sources. The majority were optimistic and encouraging, although some did contain warnings about continued opposition from certain areas.

“Overall things will improve,” they said, “socially, politically, and spiritually, eventually. There may be a bit of conflict beforehand — but 2019 will be a good year, even a great year.”

That was thought-provoking to me, considering these messages came from all corners of the world, from varied spheres of interest. Spiritual leaders encouraged continued prayer. And so I prayed about it.

“What should we expect in 2019, really?” I asked the Lord. Here’s what he told me:

“Confusion and uncertainty will affect many in the body of Christ. ‘Am I believing right? they will ask themselves. Am I praying right? Did I vote right?’ “

“Why?” I asked him. His answer was brief: a short list with no further explanation:

Flashpoint — Critical Mass — Paradigm Shift

And so I did quite a bit of research to be sure I knew just what those things were:

• Flashpoint: Chemically, the lowest temperature at which vapors of a volatile material will ignite, when given an ignition source. Gasoline and spark plugs in a car engine, for example.

In International Relations, a flashpoint is an area, or a dispute, that has a strong possibility of developing into a war. Political pundits today include the Middle East as a major flashpoint.

• Critical mass: The smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction, such as in a nuclear power plant. (A supercritical mass would result in an explosion, such as the atomic bomb in WWII.)

This concept is used in other contexts, such as group dynamics, where it refers to the smallest percentage of people in a group needed to trigger a change. On occasion it takes quite a long time, not to mention lengthy persuasive arguments, to acquire the needed percentage. Amending the U.S. Constitution to allow all citizens to vote, for example.

• Paradigm shift: Paradigm refers to a pattern, model, or overall concept accepted by most people in an intellectual community, because of its effectiveness in explaining a complex process or set of data. A paradigm shift is a change caused when someone discovers data that disproves the pattern or concept.

One notable scientific paradigm was believing the Earth is the center of the universe, that the sun, moon and stars all revolve around the Earth. That changed with the discoveries of Copernicus and others (telescope) in the 17th Century.

“Justification is by grace alone” (Romans 1:17) was a major paradigm shift in the religious world, instigated by Martin Luther and resulting in the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century.

Apparently those things would happen — or begin to happen — in 2019.  Any one of them would cause or contribute to confusion and uncertainty around the globe, including across the church world. “Optimistic and encouraging?” Not exactly.

After a while I prayed again and asked, “How should we respond to those things?”

“Having done all to stand, STAND,”  he said, emphasis on STAND. 2019 is going to be an interesting year, I thought to myself.

I was right.

---

(Originally published January 1, 2019; slightly edited to republish June 10, 2020.)

 

God is building a wall

Late Friday night March 15, 2019 I was sleepily praying about many things including politics, the President’s southern border wall proposal and the opposition to it, when the Lord interrupted my prayers.

Quite clearly, he said, “I’M building a wall.”

Okay Lord, YOU’RE building a wall, I answered, visualizing the wall of a house.

“No, bigger than that,” he said. So I imagined a much taller wall, although still part of a house. A bigger house, maybe two-story.

“It’s a wall that divides,” he added. “I’m not through with America yet. Now is the time for people to choose; to put themselves on the right side of my wall.”

Oh, wow. Wow. As I considered that, the image expanded, becoming more like the Great Wall of China.

“It will become a tower.”

I recalled towers I’d read about in scripture, such as those built in the center of vineyards. Watch towers.

“Think more like this,” the Lord said, and showed me the city wall around Jerusalem, with tall, broad, high guard towers at intervals.

Slowly the image expanded again; the wall grew higher, and broader, and longer, encircling a much greater distance than any one city. It was still growing when our conversation ended, but my thoughts didn’t end there.

I couldn’t go to sleep. I praised and thanked God for his message, and prayed. As I did, the faces of many people and accounts of horrible situations ran through my mind like a newsreel. Occasionally I dozed off only to wake up a short time later, still praying. More faces. More needs. More lost souls!

When Saturday morning dawned I was still praying. Eventually I got up, fed my hungry kitties, made myself a cup of coffee, and meditated on what the Lord had said. I jotted down some notes.

I knew he didn’t mean a wall in the natural world somewhere.

But like a physical wall, I knew this spiritual wall is becoming more obvious as it goes up. It is indeed a divider, between good and evil. God is creating a wall and drawing a line, making people choose. By their words and actions, they are revealing their hearts publicly.

And I understood more clearly, too, the purpose of the call to pray that is spreading across the world today. The intercessions of God’s people are the building blocks for his wall, brick by spiritual brick.

I spent some time Saturday researching definitions and uses of the words wall, tower and fortress in the Bible. I discovered that God himself is our strong tower, our defense, our fortress.

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runs into it and he is safe.” (Proverbs 18:10) I remember singing that verse many years ago, and now I find myself singing it again.

Over two years ago the Lord gave me specific words to pray, more like a command or decree: “Out and oust.”

That meant, reveal those (in government, or business, or media, or entertainment) who are opposed to God’s work, and remove them from any sphere of influence. Since then I have watched the answer to that prayer play out publicly, again and again.

God’s wall is going up, spiritually. He is drawing the line. And people are being forced to choose which side of God’s wall they want to be on, when the final bricks are laid.