The chaos, confusion and fear generated by our nation’s preoccupation with the presidential elections and the COVID-19 pandemic have led many in the body of Christ to withdraw not only from their normal life patterns but also from their divine assignments. God is the Lord of the harvest (Matt. 9:38), and He will soon bring into the church the greatest harvest of souls in one period of time in human history. It is our responsibility to be ready to husband the harvest God brings us and to ensure that the fruit of the laborers He sends into the field is ushered safely into the fullness of Christian maturity. In this way, Jesus Christ will receive the full reward for the sufferings He endured while He was physically on earth.
It is certainly not unusual for Satan and the powers of this evil age to anticipate a great move of God and work to prevent or limit its effectiveness. We see this in the Egyptians’ attempt to preempt Moses’ work as the deliverer by killing male babies and in Herod’s attempt to stop the coming Messiah by killing infants under age 2 after the birth of Christ. We in the body of Christ must not remain passive observers while God’s enemies marshal their human partners to interdict His plans. Prayer, praise and repentance must be the foundation of everything we do now, but we cannot be passive observers as the principalities, powers and forces of wickedness in heavenly places impose their demonic agenda on the earth. We cannot hide in our homes in fear, but we must be bold to prepare ourselves, our families and our communities for the heavenly agenda God is about to release.
What can we do to prepare the way of the Lord for the coming great awakening (Mark 1:3)? Consider these five steps:
First, we must repent for every sin in our lives and cleanse ourselves of all generational iniquity. This would include overt sins as well as sins of disobedience and generational sins attached to involvement in demonic secret societies, criminal activities and addictions. We certainly need to repent for lukewarm spiritual attitudes and worldly lifestyles.
Second, we need to be sure our finances are in order with God’s plan. We need to get out of debt, break and repent of business and personal covenants not in alignment with God and ensure we are preparing a place in our personal lives to receive the harvest God is sending. A business-as-usual attitude that avoids any and all nonessential inconvenience and stress will not be capable of the kind of effort and hard work needed to reap, gather and preserve the wave of new believers and the sudden maturing of previously nominal Christians that will soon occur.
Third, fivefold ministries will need to learn how to put aside personal agendas and work together in spiritual unity for the sake of the kingdom and the eternal welfare of the new believers. The purposes of God in great awakenings always go far beyond the growth and blessing of one church, stream or denomination. Groups who fail to put God first, ignore the work of the Lord of the harvest and choose to criticize the work of the Holy Spirit in other churches and ministries will find their groups withering while others flourish.
Fourth, we cannot afford to tell God what we will and will not do, where we will and will not go and whom we will and will not associate with when the revival arrives. The Holy Spirit will not only show the hand of God in power, but will insist that those who say they are His follow His leading. In great revival, it is extremely dangerous to ignore the Spirit when He tells you what to do. The Spirit is the Lord (2 Cor. 3:17), and He expects God’s children to obey Him.
Finally, the anointing of the Holy Spirit to heal the sick, prophesy and deliver the demonized must be given a prominent place in ministries that seek after revival. New believers and newly awakened believers need to have a new spiritual foundation built on the power of God, not human wisdom (1 Cor. 2:4), or their conversion experiences will quickly come into conformity with godless ideologies and worldly behaviors. This must not happen if this next great awakening is to be a world-transforming movement. Be prepared for God to mightily use you!
Joan Hunter is an author, healing evangelist and host of the Miracles Happen! TV show with her husband, Kelley Murrell.
This article was excerpted from the March issue of Charisma magazine. If you don’t subscribe to Charisma, click here to get every issue delivered to your mailbox. During this time of change, your subscription is a vote of confidence for the kind of Spirit-filled content we offer. In the same way you would support a ministry with a donation, subscribing is your way to support Charisma. Also, we encourage you to give gift subscriptions at shop.charismamag.com, and share our articles on social media.
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