Get Ready!
I am not finished teaching on the subject of authority in these daily posts, but want to deviate from it somewhat today. There is much more to share regarding this subject. By the way, thank you for all of the positive feedback I have received regarding the posts. Today, however, I want to talk with you about preparing for the coming revival.
God does not pour out His life and blessings when He “finally chooses or decides to.” As the eternal God who sees the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), He does not have to “finally decide” whether or not He wants to do something. His works and ways are predicated on principles and truth, not His mood or emotions.
Where revival is concerned, God must do so when hearts are hungry and ready to receive Him. Therefore, He uses the desperation and needs of people to create this hunger, and uses the prayers of His people in this process. He also prepares the hearts and understanding of His people to be able to work with Him in these outpourings of His Spirit.
Obviously, these things take time. The Bible says much about times and seasons. I have often spoken about “time” on the GH15 posts because discerning the times and seasons is critical if we are to cooperate with God. We can miss an opportune time, and we can get ahead of His timing. He alone sees and understands all the parts of His overall plans, and we must discern and be led by Holy Spirit in order to successfully partner with Him (Romans 8:14). This is why the prophetic anointing of Christ is so important for the church.
Let’s review for a moment. The Scriptures speak of chronos times and seasons. This is general time, a season of time (Strongs 5550). We get our English word “chronology” from this Greek word. In the life of a farmer, this would be the season of plowing, sowing, tending to the growing crop, and the many other practical aspects of producing a harvest.
Kairos is a word meaning a strategic or opportune time (Strongs 2540). Again, where a farmer is concerned, this is when the harvest is ripe and must be reaped. For an investor, the kairos time is when they must pull the trigger on buying or selling. For a pregnant woman, it is birthing time. Abraham was told that he and Sarah would have a son. Most of us would expect the child to come within the next year or so. They certainly did. Instead, however, they entered into a 25-year chronos season of preparation. Then, Yahweh appeared to them again, saying it was time (Genesis 17:21) and Sarah would have a child a year from that moment. Understanding the times and seasons is important.
There is also the word horaios. This is “the right time.” The now time (Strongs 5611). For the delivering mother, it’s time to push. For the farmer, the combine had better be in the field. This is the word used in Acts chapter 3 when Peter was used to heal the lame man at the gate called Beautiful.
“Beautiful” is this Greek word, and does not mean pretty or attractive. It means “a right time.” It is only translated as “beautiful” in the context of circumstantial beauty. When circumstances come together in the right way at the right time, this creates a beautiful thing. In His sovereignty and foreknowledge, God had named it this to paint a picture. Then He made sure this lame beggar was positioned daily at the “right time” gate (Acts 3:2). Jesus passed by him multiple times and did not heal him. Why? He was saving this miracle for “the right time.” He wanted it to demonstrate to all of Jerusalem that Christ was truly the Messiah, and had risen from the dead. All of Israel knew of this man who sat at the gate, and the miracle performed in Christ’s name launched the early church into an entirely new season. The chronos season of Christ’s life and ministry had led to the kairos season of the Cross and Pentecost, which led to the horaios right time for this miracle and the outpouring in the book of Acts.
The last word associated with time in the New Testament is pleroo, which means fullness (Strongs 4137). This is the fullness of time when a season has reached its culmination. A new one can now begin.
It is becoming clearer each day that we are in a kairos season of spiritual harvest. Many horaios (right time) occurrences will take place: breakouts of revival, miracles, supernatural conversions and transformations, and more. Like Peter and Acts chapter 3, we must be prepared. Although it was time for the miracle, he (Peter) still had to hear Holy Spirit’s alert and respond in faith, seizing the moment.
It would be hard to believe that the outpourings at Asbury and elsewhere, coinciding with the Jesus Revolution movie, are coincidental. Could God be telling us that the Great Awakening, which some of us have been speaking of, is about to go to another level? I feel that He is.
Anyone with any discernment whatsoever knows there is no other hope for America. But we’ve been in equally low places in our nation before, and God has saved us through powerful and massive revivals. This will happen again. Since we know He uses our prayers to operate, we must continue to diligently pray.
We must also prepare in other ways. As was presented in the Jesus Revolution movie, which I recommend you see, revival comes in unexpected ways and through unlikely people. And it usually gets messy. Stewarding it can be incredibly challenging. Many leaders in the church will reject it because of the baggage brought by new believers, others because it doesn’t fit their theology. I saw an Instagram clip regarding the Asbury outpouring, in which the entire post was arguing that it wasn’t yet a true revival, so shouldn’t be called one. As though the term used to refer to it is what matters most. Religious spirits will always seek to divide us and impose their theology. God is moving - rejoice!
We must prepare in numerous ways, sharpening our sickles and trimming our lamps (Matthew 25:7). We must make sure they are filled with fresh oil. We should be allowing more time in our services for prayer and worship, giving Holy Spirit more opportunities to move. We should be looking for ways to work with other people and groups. It is not a time to critique; it is a time to partner in every way possible.
Churches and leaders should be preparing their people to lead others to Christ. Make sure they know how to do this. Create entry points in the life of your congregation for unbelievers to enter. Begin discussions with your leaders on how you will handle challenging and delicate situations. How will you treat the same-sex couple, the prostitute, the drug dealer, the smelly homeless person, the gang member, etc., who enter your congregation looking for hope? How will you protect the innocent and the children, discerning the predators, without rejecting the true seekers? How will you feed and clothe the poor? Revival can and will be challenging. We must prepare.
Watch the Jesus Revolution movie (it’s currently in the theaters). It tells the story of one part of the Jesus People revival of the 60s and 70s, the Calvary Chapel movement under Chuck Smith and others. The overall Jesus People outpouring occurred in thousands of churches all across the nation with millions of young people coming to Christ. Yet, the movie gives us a good picture of some of the challenges we will face. Watch it. Allow Holy Spirit to dream through you of this happening again. And allow Him to prepare your hearts.
Pray with me:
Father, we are confident in Your wisdom and understanding. Your ways are always right. You are never having to react to satan‘s or man’s actions, hoping You are making the right decisions. You have been planning and preparing for another great season of harvest around the world, and You have been preparing Your people as instruments of this revival.
We recognize the times and seasons. We can discern with our spiritual eyes that the harvest is ripe. As Your harvesters, we know we must prepare. Help us to do so, Holy Spirit. Sharpen our sickles. Fill our lamps. Fine-tune us to Your gifts and voice. Give us Your ideas and instructions on how to prepare. Awaken the watchmen to sound the alarm even more. Awaken Your leaders to the fact that we cannot conduct business as usual in this hour.
And regarding this harvest, we call it in with Spirit-led decrees. We decree that it will not be lost or stolen. We prophesy to the wind of Your Spirit, just as You instructed Ezekiel to do, “Blow wind of heaven, blow!” We decree that every strategy and plan of hell to stop this will fail. We decree that the veil of darkness covering the hearts of entire people-groups and nations will be lifted in this season. We decree that America shall be saved, and light will come to the nations of the world. And we pray and declare these things in Christ’s name.
Our decree:
We decree: it IS time for worldwide harvest, and the reapers are ready!
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
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