“17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of
Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient
to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
There have been some things happening in America lately that if
you told me 20 years ago it would be this way, I probably would have told you
that you were crazy. I never would have
thought that gay marriage would become the law of the land, that profiteering from selling
baby body parts would go unprosecuted, that citizens openly calling for the murder of police officers would be tolerated, that the
legalization of drugs for recreational purposes would occur, and the most shocking to me of
all is that Christians are now being arrested for refusing to violate their
standards of holiness.
This morning, as I went into my prayer time, many of these
issues were on my mind and as I prayed I could hear the Holy Spirit asking me,
“Are you ready?”
My response at first was, “Yes Lord, more than I have ever
been.”
My mistake was that I was assuming that the Lord was asking
this question in reference to His eminent return. I was thinking I’ve confessed my sin,
repented of my former life, I have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, been washed
in the blood, I’ve been baptized in Jesus name, and I am filled with the Holy
Ghost. I am ready!
But then I sensed that the Lord was speaking of something
more than just knowing I was saved, and then I heard the Holy Spirit ask again,
“Are you ready?”
In that moment I began to somewhat grasp what He was
asking. He was asking me,
“Are you prepared for action, or are you ready for immediate use?”
When I was younger I was a part of a Christian scouting
program called Royal Rangers. The Motto
for the Royal Rangers is “Ready for anything.”
The meaning of the motto is: Ready to Work, Play, Serve, Obey, Worship,
Live, Etc.” That’s what ready means, it
means that you are you mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and even physically
prepared for what is coming.
Then the above scripture in the Gospel of Luke came to my
mind. This passage of scripture is
referring to John the Baptists ministry as a forerunner of Jesus. The entire
purpose of John’s ministry was to get people ready to receive the ministry of
Jesus. John was preparing them mentally,
emotionally, and spiritually so that when Jesus came in the power of the Holy
Spirit, the people could be benefited by it, instead of overwhelmed or
destroyed by it.
The ministry of John was the baptism of repentance from sin.
In Essence he was preaching for the people to change their way of thinking, to
change their way of speaking, to completely change their way of living, and to
put away their lives of sin. He was
telling them, “I'm baptizing you in water unto repentance to get you ready and
to prepare you for the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire.
I kept on hearing the Lord ask me, “Are you ready?”
He showed me in the Spirit that John's ministry was to
prepare people so that they could cooperate and participate with Jesus' ministry
in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Again I heard His voice ask, “Are you ready?”
I don’t know about you, but I can be a little slow catching
on at times. Finally I had to just ask the
Lord to be a little more specific about what it was He was trying to show me. Finally
I heard the Holy Spirit speak to my heart, “I'm not concerned about you being
prepared for my return. I know that you
are saved, I want to know if you’re finally ready to do the work I called
and saved you for, are you ready to fulfill your purpose?”
I have always said, God must really have His hand on my life
considering all the stupid choices I've made, I should have died of a drug
overdose on more than one occasion, I should have gone to prison for some of
the things I participated in, my wife should have left me, my children should
hate me, and six years ago when I hit a minivan head on with my motorcycle at
45MPH because I was drunk, stoned, and going too fast for the turn I was in, I
should have died. But God had something
else in mind.
Thank God for His grace, by His mercy and the blood of Jesus
I am free from that life. But the Lord
was asking me if I was ready to step out in faith and walk the path He has
chosen for me. The Lord was asking, “Are
you ready to occupy the land? Are you
ready to advance the Kingdom of God? Are
you ready to invade the darkness, to undo the works of Satan, to cast out
devils, and to lead the bound and oppressed to the same freedom that you have found
in Jesus? Are you ready to see God’s
power manifested in your life? Are you ready
for the shaking?”
Habakkuk 2:1
“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and
I will watch to see what he will say to me, and what I shall answer when I'm
reproved.”
I believe that the Lord is showing me that it is my turn to
stand a watch, that right now I am a watchman, and to stand my watch means to
be faithful to prayer, faithfulness to prayer gives us spiritual insight and
advance warning of what is coming. I do
not consider myself to be a prophet, but it is my turn to be the watchman. As a watchman my first responsibility is to
the remain in God’s presence; secondly it is to watch and to have eyes to see
through the Holy Ghost what is coming, to proclaim what I see coming, and then
sound the alarm.
As a watchman I don't have the liberty to say whatever I want
to, or to just echo what’s popular. I don't have the liberty to speak what is
comfortable and convenient. My
responsibility as a watchman is to pray, see, listen, and obey. If you think I like relaying this type of
message, you're wrong! I’m very
uncomfortable putting my voice to what I see coming, but I must be faithful.
Never, in my wildest imaginations, did I think I would live
to see any of what's happening in this nation today. I never thought I would see the day that I
would have to say America has turned its back on God. Never!
I don't even recognize this nation anymore. We murder babies in the name of convenience
and call it choice. In the years since
Roe - v - Wade sixty million babies have been murdered by abortionists. And now this monster called Planned Parenthood
has been caught red handed admitting to selling the body parts of the babies
they have slaughtered. It disgusts
me!
Now it is open season on police officers who have sworn to
protect and serve us, and the “great” leaders of the liberal progressives seem
to have forgotten that all lives matter.
In my heart I cry out for God's justice on these lunatics!
People are walking on and burning the American flag in
public, and the law comes to protect their rights to do it. The president of the United States projects
the image of a rainbow on the White House to rub in the face of the majority of
Americans that marriage is no longer a sacred union sanctioned by God in
America. And just last month a Judge put
a Christian woman in jail for not issuing a marriage license to two gay men.
I heard the Holy Spirit said to me, “Are you ready?”
Are you ready for prayer to be outlawed? That’s impossible right? No one can outlaw prayer. Let me remind you of Daniel and how it was
against the law to pray but Daniel prayed anyway and he was thrown into a
lion's den. Are you ready?
Are you ready for ministry to be outlawed? Paul and Silas were thrown in jail for delivering
a woman from demon possession.
Are you ready for the Bible to be outlawed, it's coming to
America, it's already illegal in many parts of the world to own a Bible.
Are you ready? For assembling together to worship Jesus to be
outlawed, for preaching the gospel of repentance to be outlawed, for God's judgment on the sins of this nation, and for wars, natural disasters: earthquakes,
floods, tsunamis, tornadoes, drought, famine, pestilence, volcanoes (These are
the things that Jesus said would happen before he returns).
I know there are a lot of people who don't want to hear
this, and you think that I’m just paranoid. But I watched bits and pieces of the Democrat’s
debate, and when they start talking like Robin Hood, and people cheer them on,
communism is just around the corner.
Study the history of the Chinese and Russian revolutions, talk to some
current Chinese and former Soviet citizens, and then tell me I’m paranoid.
And I know that multitudes of people including many
believers have the idea that everything is fine and wonderful and everything’s
getting better and better and that people that talk like this are just fear
mongers. I take no pleasure in causing
people to fear, but my assignment is not to incite you to fear what is coming,
but to prepare you for what's coming.
Tonight I am ready to be the voice:
Isaiah 40:3
“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
When you are prepared, equipped, ready, then you won't fear
what's coming. Noah heard the voice of God and he prepared an
ark to save of his family. Joseph heard God’s voice and was sent by God to Egypt
to save many people.
There is a major shaking coming to the United States of
America and to the world.
Hebrews 12: 25 -27
“Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who
is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to
listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we
reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! 26 When God spoke from Mount Sinai
his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will
shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” 27 This means that all of
creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will
remain.” (NLT)
And then I heard the words ask of me once again, “Are you
ready?”
And I thought to myself again, “Ready for what? What else can there be? I don't think I can take much more Lord.”
And then the Holy Spirit spoke to me once again and said, “Are
you ready for the greatest revival that this world has ever seen?”
He allowed me to see and understand that this last day revival
is going to pour out in full measure, everything that has been poured out during former revivals in a limited measure.
Everything will be in place and his people will function together in
perfect order as one body. The Word movement,
the faith movement, the charismatic movement, the healing movement, the prophetic movement, the teaching movement, will all come together in Apostolic fashion as signs and
wonders and the gifts of the Spirit all come together for this last day
revival.
I wondered out loud, Lord how can this be? There is so much darkness and evil in this
world and it is surrounding your Church, how can these things take place in the
darkness that surrounds us?”
The Lord directed me to the passage in Isaiah chapter sixty
and I heard Him tell me, “I said it would be this way. I told you that the darkness in the world
would be the backdrop for the manifestation of my glory.”
Isaiah 60:1-3
“Arise shine for thy
light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, for behold the
darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall
rise upon thee, and His glory she'll be seen upon thee, And the Gentiles shall
come to thy light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising.”
It doesn’t matter what happens in this world, how dark it
gets, or how evil and perverse this world gets, the true Church of the Lord
Jesus Christ is going to rise to the top!
Greater is he that is in us, than he that is in the world. Just like Noah’s ark, the higher the flood
waters rose, the higher it lifted the ark and the ark rode on top of it all.
The best part of the assignment I have been given today is
to tell you: The Church is not leaving this world like a whipped puppy with its
tail between its legs. We’re not going
to be sneaking off in the middle of the night while everybody is sleeping. No
sir just like Israel coming out of Egypt: Israel left with the upper hand. And
when the Church goes out of this world, we’re going out in a blaze of Glory! The True blood washed, Holy Ghost Filled, Holy
Ghost anointed and empowered Church of the Living God is getting ready to stand
up, and we're going to see the Church in her full glory.
The book of Acts was the New Testament church in her infancy
but Before Jesus returns we're going to see the church in her maturity, full
grown, in her full glory, in her full power.
There is no way God is going to let our last chapter be less than our
first chapter. The glory of the latter
house shall be greater than the glory of the former house. He's saved the best for last
Are you ready?
Well said, chaplain!
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