There are some voices today that sound more like angry social commentators or perhaps gifted people operating in the wrong covenant. They claim to speak for God, for Christians, for accuracy.
When I don’t see righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit coming through a message, I don’t believe it’s a kingdom message.
When I don’t see faith, hope and love coming through someone’s words, I don’t believe it will stand.
When I don’t see the fruit of the Spirit in the tone, I don’t hear the Spirit saying something to the church —or the world.
When what I do see are behaviors, tone and words that are plainly considered works of the flesh, like slander, divisiveness, dissension, selfish ambition, hate or rage—or things that God says to get rid of like bitterness and anger—I recognize that the person claiming to speak for God may not know the ways of God. And I stop paying attention.
There are some prophetic voices I trust. They have a proven track record of accuracy and a humility that looks like Jesus. I pay attention.
I called my 92-year-old prophetic friend—an incredible man of God who has ministered all over the world. I felt strongly prompted to do so. Sometimes when that happens, I wonder if that’s because of the limited time he has left in this life, while he looks forward to being absent from the body and present with the Lord. He wants his reward; I want whatever I can get from him while he’s here. But he’s still healthy and sharp. And he consistently hears what the Spirit is saying to the church, so I pay attention.
This time when I called, he said God had put me on his heart for several days and had been praying for me (what an honor). So the timing was a God-thing.
I asked him what God was putting on his heart these days. Over the years, I’ve heard him prophesy about a coming mighty move of God—I believe that. He also says, privately, that he sees a lot of hardship coming. Despite this, he doesn’t feel like he’s supposed to speak into that. He knows the mighty move of God will be stirred in the midst of hardship that the world has never seen before. He places his focus on God, not the hardship.
Here’s what he sees now. The COVID pandemic is of the enemy—a step to move the world toward the Antichrist. God has been using it to purge and prune His church. As a whole, we aren’t getting it. We’re only seeing what the enemy is after rather than what God is doing.
The church in America is asleep. God is wanting to wake us up to our first love, to where we press into a move of God like what is seen in the book of Acts. God is disappointed with the church in America because we’ve gone along with the world, wanting things to go back to what it once was, to what was normal. It won’t.
Where His church repents and searches after him—that remnant out of the “church”—He will use them in triumph and great things. It will be a quick work. However, it’s been hard to wake up the church because most just want to go back to the way things were.
Twenty years ago, on 9/11, there was a repentance that lasted about a month, and then things went back to what was. This time there has been less repentance even for a shorter period of time. We’re not responding correctly.
God wants people hot or cold. He can deal with either. He doesn’t deal with the lukewarm. He spews that out of His mouth. The thought that we’re OK like we are or always have been is a Laodicean thing.
This means it’s time to be earnest and repent.
This means God disciplines those He loves.
This means He’s standing at the door and knocking. If we hear His voice and open the door, He will come in.
My prophetic friend saw three groups: the hot ones on fire, who want God rather than what was comfortable; the cold, who aren’t at all where they need to be; and the lukewarm, in-between. He can and will work with either the hot or cold, convicting the cold and stoking a fresh fire upon repentance. But the lukewarm are those He won’t deal with; He will spew the lukewarm out.
To get where we need to be, we need the Holy Spirit. If we position ourselves wholeheartedly after the Holy Spirit and His move in this time, we will get there.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the church. {eoa}
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